Microsoft Seeks 1-Click(er) Patent

theodp writes "Assuming things go patent reformer Microsoft's way, answering multiple choice, true/false, or yes/no questions in a classroom could soon constitute patent infringement. Microsoft's just-published patent application for its Adaptive Clicker Technique describes how 'multiple different types of clickers' can be used by students to answer questions posed by teachers. The interaction provided by its 'invention', explains Microsoft, 'increases attention and enhances learning.' Microsoft's Interactive Classroom Add-In for Office (video) provides polling features that allow students to 'answer and respond through their individual OneNote notebooks, hand-held clickers, or computers, and the results display in the [PowerPoint] presentation.' So, did Bill Gates mention to Oprah that the education revolution will be patented?"

My guess without reading the article...

[Anonymous Coward]

My guess is that theodp has grossly over simplified what the patent is really about and the summary is nothing but a troll. Welcome to Slashdot.

Re:old tech

[ArgumentBoy]

yes. some kids use laptops, some use smartphones, and some use (several models of) dedicated clickers.

Re:old tech

[jmichaelg]

Gee. It sounds like you're describing pollanywhere.com [pollanywhere.com]. I've been using them this year in my classroom in lieu of clickers but judging from the patent claim, Microsoft claims to have invented what they're already doing.

Re:Don't forget to read the claims

[Dachannien]

You can submit your prior art within 2 months of the application's publication date to the USPTO under 37 CFR 1.99 [uspto.gov]. There is a fee of $180 associated with doing so (covering up to 10 references submitted), and you have to make sure you jump through all the hoops that the regulation requires (e.g., you're not allowed to explain the relevance of your prior art, and you have to serve the applicant with a copy of your submission).

The Abstract

[DavidD_CA]

For those of you who are too lazy to click on the link for the abstract:

An adaptive clicker technique is described that provides a standardized polling control and a registration system to support mixed types of clickers and integrate the polling data. One embodiment of the adaptive clicker technique operates as follows. User inputs from more than one type of clicker device (e.g., personal interactive response system device) are received. The inputs from the more than one type of clicker device are formatted with a clicker adapter for each type of clicker to adapt user inputs to a common polling controller. The adapted inputs are then processed with the common polling controller to interface the adapted inputs with a personal response system software application to allow user polling data to be collected and assessed.

So no, there is no prior art as far as I can tell. This is like a middle-man approach so that a variety of inputs can be used in any setting such as a classroom. I presume this means a student could respond to a question via text message, laptop running One Note, a tablet running Chrome, an iPad app, or a generic clicker device hooked up to who-knows-what, and all the data is aggregated together.

The advantage being twofold: the administrator (teacher) doesn't have to somehow write code for 10 different inputs, and the students don't have to standardize on one input device.

Why patent it? Because Microsoft has to. If they don't, then someone else will and they could waste time and money in courts over it. That's why Microsoft and others are pushing for patent reform.