Facebook Gets Patent To Track Users’ Television Viewing

Facebook (FB) has recently secured a patent for tracking users’ television (TV) viewing by using the device’s microphone, GPS, or camera to capture images, audio, video, or location that reveals what the users are watching. With this patent grant, FB now is allowed to track what the users watch on TV and streamline services and associate the obtained information with the rest of their users’ data.

The Menlo Park-based social media giant applied for the patent “Correlating media consumption data with user profiles” in 2015 but didn’t get the approval until this week. The invention mentioned in the Patent Application was invented by Ramesh Sarukkai, a former engineering director who left FB in the year 2017.

The patent application described ways in which Facebook could determine or capture media consumption data through a media device or by obtaining data from a content provider. For instance, acoustic fingerprinting. The user’s device with a Facebook app running on it could capture images, audio, video, or location data using a camera, microphone, or GPS to pick up data from a TV show the user is watching. The collected data then would be sent to the company to analyze the data, and thus, identify what the user is viewing.

The Patent Registration Application also described how FB could capture and analyze even the images from an incoming video stream. The company could also analyze audio or signals from an HDMI cable to discover which cable provider is broadcasting a given TV show or movie based on the unique time delay of the signal.

According to the patent, that information would enable Facebook to determine if a user is watching something on Comcast. The company then can associate the information with Comcast’s schedule for a specific time of the day.

In recent years, Facebook has come across many privacy advocates for its act of tracking the different types of users’ data. There are complaints that FB tracks users’ data even when they have their tracking services turned off.

In August 2019, Facebook released a tool to let users see which websites and/ or apps have traced them.

As per some reports, Mr.Sarukkai couldn’t be reached for comments in regards to the recent patent. Moreover, Facebook spokesman Anthony Harrison announced that no one at the company was available for comment over FB’s holiday closure. Hence, it is unclear whether the social media giant is currently utilizing the technology. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com

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Microsoft Files Patent For A Possible Virtual Reality Vibrating Mat

A new Patent Application filed by Microsoft with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) hints that the company might be working on vibrating mat to prevent the Virtual Reality (VR) gamers from getting hit by a table, chair, or other devices while being blinded by a VR headset. 

In the application filed recently, the company described that it is planning to come up with a VR-enabled vibrating floor mat that would deal with the real-world issue faced by several VR gamers. Microsoft’s floor mat would house a bevy of tech features capable of influencing users’ VR experience while keeping them away from the risks posed by surrounding walls, tables, or other furniture. Built-in “spatially distributed pressure sensors” and “fiducial markers” would communicate with the VR console to determine the gamers’ physical location on the mat. The data collected could then be utilized to shape the virtual world around players.

The patent also mentions the plausibility of providing the mat with “vibration devices” to make it vibrate. It further uncovers various configurations in the possible VR mats, encompassing one that would list a few customization options so the players can personalize their play space. Besides, one of the images provided in the patent application shows the intended VR mat in the living room, where a spitting-image of a Kinect is visible on top of the TV.

More interestingly, the patent even mentions the mat’s potential that would help the VR players in having a sound gaming experience. The company explained that in some cases, the VR-enabled vibrating floor mat could become a gaming console, while the HMD and peripheral control devices may perform as peripheral to the gaming console.

Furthermore, the application showcases multiple feasible VR computing devices like personal computers, server computers, home-entertainment computers, tablet computers, network computing devices, and more. It even puts light on wearable gadgets and smartphones that reveal that the brand may have been casting a precautionary wide net.  Another point in the application describes that Microsoft could come up with interlocking floor tiles, which would help the users to increase the mat’s square footage if they find the playing space insufficient by adding some additional surrounding tiles.

However, Microsoft’s new vibrating floor mat is predicted to take the users one step ahead as it would tackle a common real-world VR concern ruining the gaming experience of many players; but only if it sees the light of the day. According to several past reports, just applying for a patent isn’t a confirmation that the company will bring the expected floor mat as it is common for the firms to file such patents and then forget to turn them into reality. ✅ For View Source: https://bit.ly/32a2HDm

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TSMC Says Allegations By GlobalFoundaries Are Baseless

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, TSMC has recently responded to the Patent Infringement case filed against it by an American semiconductor fabrication foundry known as GlobalFoundaries (GF).

TSMC said that GF is acting like a patent troll and its allegations are baseless. The contract maker of semiconductors continued by saying that it has obtained more than 37,000 patents worldwide and a top 10 ranking for three consecutive years for the US patent grants since 2016, thus considers itself as one of the leading semiconductor foundries.

Besides, the world’s largest foundry said that it is disappointed to come across a situation where a peer opts to file a meritless case instead of competing.

On 26th August 2019, GlobalFoundries filed the complaint claiming that TSMC, along with many of its customers, and makers of several products, have infringed 16 of its patents encompassing various aspects of chip manufacturing. GF claimed that the 7 nm, 10 nm, 12 nm, 16 nm, and 28 nm nodes of TSMC illegally use its Intellectual Property (IP). Apple, Broadcom, NVIDIA, MediaTek, Xilinx, and Qualcomm are some other names that the company named among the defendants.

The complainant had filed the case in the Regional Courts of Dusseldorf, and Mannheim in Germany, the U.S. Federal District Courts in the Districts of Delaware and the Western District of Texas, and the US International Trade Commission (ITC). Looking for damages from TSMC, it wants the courts to prohibit the products that use infringing semiconductors in not only the US but Germany as well.

On the other hand, TSMC rejected the allegations and proclaimed that it would defend itself in the courts. The foundry reveals that it not only has been granted 37,000 patents throughout its history but also spends billions of dollars on R&D every year.

Typically, high-tech firms counter-sue one another in Intellectual Property infringement lawsuits, so it will not be surprising if TSMC decides to sue GF. TSMC undoubtedly feels that the allegations are baseless and therefore, is planning to defend itself against GF but what if any of the three courts disagree? Then, TSMC and its clients would work out a royalty arrangement with GF. 

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