Patents Archives - Foresight Valuation Group

Lynn’s Picks: Foresight’s Patent of the Week – US Granted Patent 11,905,190: Reusable bath bomb vessel (Andrew Dillow)

Posted on February 23, 2024 8:35 pmModified on February 23, 2024 8:36 pmby Lynn Dudinsky

Lynn’s Picks: Foresight’s Patent of the Week – US Granted Patent 11,905,190: Reusable bath bomb vessel (Andrew Dillow)

Disclaimer: This blog was created for informational purposes only and does not represent Foresight’s or the author’s opinion regarding the validity, quality or enforceability of any particular patent covered in this blog. Foresight is not a law firm and no portion of the information contained in this blog was intended to serve as legal opinion.

As a parent, I am well versed in the struggle with the daily routine of giving my 5-year-old son a bath or a shower. In the beginning there were aisles worth of inventions to contain a newborn in the sink, such as this “Thermally buffered, circulating clean water flow, universal, temperature indicating baby bathing tub”. Then my son graduated to the standard set of bath toys such as this “Toy Duck” which was protected by a design patent filed in 1947 by sculptor Peter Ganine. However, recently I made the mistake of pointing out a bath bomb to my son on a routine trip to CVS and ever since, whenever it is time for a bath, he now requests a bath bomb instead of the plethora of toys at his disposal. If you are unsure of what a bath bomb is, they are single use, spherical blends of effervescent material that usually includes scents, such as fragrant extracts and essential oils, that dissolve when placed in a bath, a picture of a typical bath bomb can be found below:

As the lore goes, bath bombs were first invented by Mo Constantine in her garden shed in 1989 after being inspired by Alka-Seltzer tablets and her first design was named Aqua Sizzlers. Fast forward to 2024 and there is a growing market for bath bombs targeting children, including bath bombs with Paw Patrol characters inside, Grinch inspired bath bombs, and bath bombs with hot wheels inside.

Amongst a sea of bath bomb options, the pick for this week combines the excitement of a bath bomb with a more environmentally friendly approach that no longer includes disposable packaging and plastic wrap for each single use bath bomb. The pick of the week is patent number 11,905,190, titled: “Reusable Bath Bomb Vessel” was created by inventor Andrew Dillow. When selecting the patent of week, I try to identify something that is either new technology that I feel should be highlighted or is something I come across in the patent gazette that sticks out as something I should have thought of and could immediately use in my day-to-day life. The reusable bath bomb vessel falls under the latter category, as I could easily see myself, and my son, filling the vessel with the desired bath bomb materials as we fill the bathtub, as seen in the image below:

In addition to the functional benefit of having the option to create out own bath bombs, Mr. Dillow considered the various embodiments of the claimed invention which includes various forms of the vessel. These forms can be spherical, like a typical bath bomb, or can take the shape of a duck or other bath themed configurations. While other companies are focusing on what toys can be added to the inside of a bath bomb, this patent shows the potential appeal of the vessel itself being the toy in addition to the bath bomb.

This patent was not selected simply based on the ability to have a duck shaped reusable bath bomb; there are technical features included in the claimed invention that enhance the performance of the vessel. While the ability to open and close the vessel to add the bath bomb ingredients is necessary for it to be a reusable vessel, the inventor also considered the movement of water and the release of effervescent material when drafting the claims. Included in the claims are a series of influx one-way valves, as seen below, to allow water to enter the inner chamber and react with the effervescent material when submerged in water.

These inlet valves are also pressure valves which close when the internal pressure of the chemical reaction begins. This increasing pressure would be a safety risk, but-for the inclusion of outflux holes which also contain a one-way valve configured to eject effervescent material from the inside of the vessel into the bath while preventing further water intrusion. An additional benefit of this pressure build-up and release mechanism, as described in the patent, is the ability to orient the outflux holes in such a way to cause a desired propulsion effect, such as spinning or moving in a certain direction. This inventor really thought about all the different aspects of creating your own bath bomb, and I really look forward to seeing this product in the market soon!

Have you come across any interesting patents you would like us to feature in future blogs or did you invent a technology you would like featured? Please send us an email at media@foresightvaluation.com or call our office at (650) 561-3374.

Lynn’s Picks: Foresight’s Patent of the Week – US Granted Patent 11,858,498: Autonomous Vehicle Loading with Smart Transportation Platforms (Ford Global Technologies)

Posted on February 2, 2024 9:36 pmModified on February 2, 2024 9:36 pmby Lynn Dudinsky

One of the most memorable scenes from the HBO cult show “Silicon Valley” has a character named Jared summon an autonomous car which, in a twisted turn of events, had its route hijacked by its operator who rerouted it into a container ship, leading poor Jared to find himself unable to break free and finally emerge in the middle of the ocean surrounded by containers and robots! This week we are looking at a patent held by Ford Global Technologies carrying the patent number 11,858,498 and titled Autonomous Vehicle Loading with Smart Transportation Platforms, which could have prevented the situation that Jared found himself in. Ford Global Technologies operates as a subsidiary of Ford Motor Company and owns, manages, and commercializes patents and copyrights for Ford Motors. This patent was selected because it highlights a feature of autonomous operations that many people likely overlook, the benefit and cost savings such features can bring to the automotive manufacturer as opposed to the purchaser. Moreover, it highlights the potential revenue generation potential that intellectual property can bring to a patent holder.

Ford Global Technologies’ patent is focused on an application of self-driving that has been featured by other automotive companies, such as “Smart Summon” by Tesla, where the owner can activate this function and have their vehicle drive itself to your location, or a target destination, autonomously. These features have been marketed as a convenience tool to help move your vehicle out of a tight parking spot, through puddles, or to bring your vehicle closer to you while you are carrying packages. However, based on the details contained in the Ford patent, if these features are used by the manufacturer, it is possible to increase the speed of transporting vehicles as well as increase the safety and efficiency of a process that nearly all vehicles go through prior to arriving at the dealership. As seen in the image below, the concept behind this patent is relatively straightforward, by using autonomous driving to load vehicles onto transportation platforms, no longer is there a need for human drivers to move vehicles one-by-one onto the platform.

The patent itself describes the problem that this patent is seeking to solve; namely, the logistical hurdles inherent with loading and unloading vehicles at the scale and throughput required of a major automotive manufacturing company. The logistical hurdles mentioned in the patent specification include damage due to accidents or carelessness when loading and unloading vehicles on transportation platforms such as rail cars, shipping containers and trailers. Additionally, the description notes that this process of loading and unloading vehicles that are being shipped from manufacturers to dealerships or customers requires significantly manpower and time. According to information published on Ford’s website, the company assembled more than 1.8 million vehicles in the US in 2022 and every one of these vehicles need to be transported to a dealership or customer and this process currently involves an employee of physically sitting in each vehicle to load and another person responsible for the unloading process at the point of destination.

The patent is targeting this time, manpower and cost of damage issue by leveraging current and future autonomous features. The embodiments described in the patents do not require autonomy of this process. One example found in the patent requires a driver to be present to select the vehicle to be loaded and then has the option of activating a self-loading system found on the infotainment system and then the driver acts in a supervisory role, having that ability to take control of the vehicle if needed. However, the real benefits to Ford, and other manufacturers or transportation entities that may license the technology, is found in the fully autonomous embodiment. In this embodiment, a small number of employees act as coordinators who are able to select vehicles to activate a self-loading program. Once activated, the vehicle turns on, identifies the instructions related to the assigned transportation platform and order of loading and then the system will orchestrate the loading sequence of one or more vehicles. Within this embodiment, human involvement is limited to designing the specific program for loading on a given day and a confirmation process to ensure that the process is running smoothly. Such a process removes the requirement for a 1:1 ratio of human interactions per loaded vehicle and enables a small number of employees to act in a supervisory role. Not only does Ford benefit from the reduced manpower and time needed for loading, but also benefits from the precision driving that is expected from a vehicle once full autonomy is achieved. An additional benefit to Ford would be the ability to license this technology to its network of dealerships and transportation partners to increase efficiencies across the entire network while also having the option to license the technology to other automotive companies who have embraced full autonomous driving capabilities within their vehicles. So next time you summon an autonomous ride, you can rest assured that you will not end up like Jared!

Lynn’s Picks: Foresight’s Patent of the Week – US Granted Patent 11,859,986: System and Method for Delivery by Autonomous Vehicles (General Motors)

Posted on January 26, 2024 4:37 pmModified on January 26, 2024 4:37 pmby Lynn Dudinsky

In this week’s blog we are returning to the automotive space which was featured in the first blog post of this series (which covered Rivian’s Spare Wheel Container application). This week we are looking at a patent held by GM Cruise Holdings LLC carrying the patent number 11,859,986 and titled System and Method for Delivery by Autonomous Vehicles. This patent could provide a glimpse into the future of autonomous delivery logistics. GM Cruise Holdings LLC manufactures and commercializes autonomous vehicles for deployment in ride-sharing environments. The company was incorporated in 2018 and is based in San Francisco, California. GM Cruise Holdings LLC operates as a subsidiary of General Motors Company according to data provided by S&P Capital IQ.

GM’s patent is focused on a future application of autonomous vehicles and the system and method of utilizing these vehicles to perform tasks typically done by the individual or by a gig economy worker. The focus of this patent is primarily on the method of facilitating autonomous deliveries using a cubby based delivery assembly that is transported by an autonomous vehicles. The system seeks to overcome some of the limitations of autonomous delivery systems on the market today, namely those based on small robotic platforms or drone platforms. These limitations focus on the capacity constraints of most robotic and drone platforms which restricts the size of the delivery as well as limits the delivery to a small number of packages and/or destinations. These current platforms are also geographically limited due to range logistical considerations, and also typically function in a small geofenced area that requires training of the delivery platform to navigate the sidewalks in the case of robotic platforms, and the airspace for drone platforms. As depicted in the patent images shown below, as well as images pulled from the GM Cruise website, it appears that GM has taken a different route and is planning to implement this patented system in a larger vehicle designed to operate in normal city traffic.

Operating as a traditional, albeit driverless, vehicle enables GM to utilize an existing platform that is already scheduled for use as a driverless taxi vehicle in Japan starting in 2026, and adapt the vehicle to either service a different function or to serve multiple functions by providing taxi services when delivery demand is low and switching to delivery services when passenger demand increases.

As seen in the image above, the patent is outlining the ways in which this service may be facilitate through a control panel alerting the user where their delivery is located. In the patent, a system is described that allows for the authentication of a user receiving a delivery and authorizing the user to access one or more items in a specific cubby. The system described in the patent is one that is pretty straightforward to interact with as a user, and while this may seem like a system out of a sci-fi movie, the increased use of autonomous services occurring around us today, coupled to the growing demand and expectation for near-real-time delivery of orders, highlights the likely demand for such a system as found in this patent. Moreover, with multiple companies working together, such as is the case for the Cruise Origin being developed for the autonomous taxi service in Japan which is being developed through a collaboration between Honda, GM and Cruise, it is likely that in the coming years we will begin to see autonomous vehicles delivering our Walmart, Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s orders right to our driveway.

Lynn’s Picks: Foresight’s Patent of the Week – US Granted Patent 11,861,255: Wearable Device for Facilitating Enhanced Interaction (Apple Inc.)

Posted on January 18, 2024 3:38 pmModified on January 18, 2024 3:38 pmby Lynn Dudinsky

In this week’s blog, we are following up on our first post in the series highlighting Rivian’s Spare Wheel Containers for a Vehicle (link to blog) patent application with a newly issued patent from Apple titled Wearable Device for Facilitating Enhanced Interaction. Apple Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories worldwide and reported $383 billion in total revenues in fiscal year 2023, based on the company’s most recent annual report. In addition to the traditional offerings many of us use throughout our day, Apple is debuting a new form of content consumption, computer usage and productivity called the Vision Pro which is set to start accepting pre-orders on January 19^th. The Vision Pro is a form of spatial computing that utilizes artificial intelligence and computer vision to combine virtual content with the physical world. Many will view this technology as the next step in Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR) and we have seen early forms of this technology in products such as Magic Leap or Oculus (now Meta Quest). While this blog is not an endorsement of the future of spatial computing, Apple’s participation in the market is a sign of market traction and likely growth in rollout of consumer products targeting the typical use of personal computers rather than being driven by gaming applications, which is the reason this patent was selected to be highlighted in this blog series.

As seen in the images below, the issued patent, which was filed in 2018, addresses the person to person interaction element that is anticipated when a user has a computing device covering the majority of their face. Given the intent of this device to be used in a similar manner in which our phones and computers are currently being used, there needs to be a way to allow personal interaction in a fashion that is not currently available in most VR or other head devices. To overcome this issue and to provide the user with awareness of and engagement with the real-world, the patent presents a system with internal and external cameras and displays to facilitate interaction between the wearer and another person or environment.

In order to allow the device to be a practical device for any number of targeted uses, isolating the wearer from the environment while also preventing those surrounding the user to interact with the user in a traditional way, requires the device to have the ability to show human expression which is a critical component of person to person interaction. One could easily argue that such a system is unnecessary but the same has been said about a myriad of technologies that have emerged over the past 10-20 years that we utilize every day, whether that is a personal assistant like Siri or a toaster with an interactive display. The inventive process should not be limited by current habit of the consumer, but rather, the inventive process should anticipate and nudge the consumer into seeing the value and purpose of the underlying inventive concept. This can be seen in other images from the patent copied below. Is it necessary to display the wearer’s facial expressions as if the wearer’s eyes were that of a lion? No, but it is a feature that consumers immediately understand due to the similarity to the endless number of filters we can apply to our faces during facetime or other video calls. Will this lead to enjoyable mishaps like the lawyer on a zoom conference in District Court that could not figure out how turn off the cat filter? It remains to be seen how the consumer interacts with the facial features of the Vision Pro and whether these features are “facilitating enhanced interaction” as the patent’s title says.