I imagine that in certain situations (such as if you're living in your car or van) this could be quite useful.
In Nov 2015, Daniel H. Abelow was granted
US Patent 9,183,560 for what he called "Reality Alternate." This was "a reality alternative to our physical reality, named the Expandaverse, that includes multiple digital realities that may be continuously created, broadcast, accessed, and used interactively."
I have no idea what he meant by this, or how he obtained the patent. His patent runs to 701 pages, including over 300 pages of cryptic diagrams detailing things such as "Discontinuous Stages of History and Consciousness" and "Stages and Cycles of Discontinuous Evolution."
Some research reveals that Abelow was associated with
a patent-trolling company called Lodsys, LLC that sued companies such as Canon, Hewlett Packard, and Motorola for patent infringement.
Perhaps the "Reality Alternate" patent was an attempt to create a patent so broad and open-ended that it would allow Abelow (via Lodsys) to sue pretty much anyone for patent infringement.
Jerry Perez of Miami, FL was recently granted a patent for a "tunnel-vision mask" designed to help people with ADHD. In his patent write-up he observes:
It is estimated that nearly 17 million American are affected by ADHD. Several treatment methods have been used in the past. None of them, however, include the use of a mask that forces the user to concentrate his/her attention to a pre-defined area.
More info:
Patent No. 12,197,049
Would you wear this device, presumably 24/7/365, to prevent hip fractures? A big band around your waist and a giant pad on either hip? Imagine the new silhouette of the wearer with the hip pads under his or her clothes.
Full patent here.
In its Apr 20, 1972 issue,
New Scientist magazine drew attention to Mildred Olsen's unusual invention (
Patent No. 3,501,849):
The Olsen invention is intended to help illiterates learn typing. (Why we need illiterate typists the patent doesn't explain.) It divides the keys of a typewriter keyboard into eight sectors, each including several individual keys. Each sector has a different colour. The would-be typist wears coloured rings on her fingers and watches a visual indicator, which shows a colour either with or without an arrow. Where there is no arrow, the typist presses her finger with the associated colour directly downwards. Where there is an arrow, the typist first moves the correct colour finger up, down or along one key in the direction of the arrow.
I think
New Scientist was being overly harsh. In the patent itself, Olsen explained that she believed her invention could help students learn to read, as they simultaneously grew familiar with using a typewriter. I can't find any more info about her invention, but I'd be curious to know how students responded to it.
Patent No.
12208507 recently granted to Fikret Korhan Turan and Gül Coruh of Istanbul.
The invention relates to a humanoid interview robot used in the field of human resources (HR), which can conduct job interviews.
Communication with the candidate interviewed by the interview robot according to the invention is provided via camera (U1), microphone (U2), odor sensor (U3), speaker (U4) and touch sensors (U5). The camera (U1) is preferably mounted on the eye of the interview robot, microphone (U2) is mounted on the ears, odor sensor (U3) is mounted on its nose, speaker (U4) is mounted on its mouth, and touch sensors (U5) are mounted on its chin or synthetic skin. These elements enable the candidate to respond verbally or in writing to the questions asked to determine the utility functions for economic, social and environmental qualities by specifying his/her identity information.
Apart from their technical capabilities, U1, U2, U3, U4 and U5 elements are customized to collect all kinds of visual, auditory, tactile, etc. data about the candidate so as to include qualifications or competencies such as the candidate's appearance, his/her self-care treatment, stress status, etc. in the decision-making process.
The interview robot has odor sensors. It can smell your fear.
Mark Piachaud's 2011 patent, granted by the British Patent Office, is below in its entirety (
link).
I think someone now needs to patent a quarter umbrella (or a half-half umbrella).