Funny, my Palm 7 knows more or less where I am,
(I suspect it knows the address of the wireless
tower used) and some of the services (eg:
moviefone, and the Weather Channel), make
use of this data to deliver localized information.
This is clearly prior art. The USPTO is in dire
need of overhaul.
Peter
> ----------
> From: Bill Stewart[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Reply To: Bill Stewart
> Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2000 4:01 AM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Patent Office bad decision on cell-phone location services.
>
> This was on Dave Farber's list.
> If the press release is to be believed, it's a patent on
> using a wireless handset to deliver information that's
> dependent on where you are, such as telling you the nearest MacDonald's.
> - handset-based services granted now, network-based pending.
> I'm not sure how broad their patent claims are,
> as opposed to their marketing PR (:-), but it sounds like it's
> way over-broad, steps on lots of things that should be obvious enough
> to anyone skilled in the trade, and sounds like Yet Another
> Stupid Patent Office Trick.
>
> >..."U.S. patent office has conditionally allowed Cell-Loc to claim the
> >delivery of handset-based wireless location content and services over
> >the Internet as its property, regardless of technological method
> >employed."
> >
> >http://www.cell-loc.com/mdnews/NR000516.html
>
[...]
> Bill Stewart, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639
>
