There is a legal expression, "res ipsa loquitur", which means "the thing speaks for itself." I think that fits for the patent we're talking about here. In this patent, the inventors basically came up with a slightly improved and specialized version of Skype with a conventional chatbot, but one would think they invented some sort of revolutionary, cybernetic, paradigm-shifting, network of robotic doctors from reading the patent.
The following is a link to a genuine patent, which means an examiner actually approved it: https://patents.google.com/patent/US20160119582 Title: Neurosynaptic network connectivity and collaborative knowledge exchange with visual neural networking and packetized augmented cognition The first claim is about 800 words. It features two non-functional elements: "A network systems apparatus"and "a tele-visual imagery informatics management system". All the other elements of the claim are functional and the claim is loaded with mean-plus-function language. The functional language is where this media software patent just becomes meaningless. Consider one portion of the same claim, Claim 1: enabling at least one or more collaborants to concurrently view, communicate, collaborate, and consult among collaborants using at least one or more sources of streaming imagery data acquired and transmitted by tele-visual imagery informatics management system clini-docks, including live streaming imagery data, archived streaming imagery data, appended streaming imagery metadata, collaborant annotations, and archived collaborated imagery files during a synchronous or asynchronous collaboration session; This entire functional element is basically VOIP and an interface. There are so many of these functional elements that it is essentially impossible to infringe on this patent. Now, what about the specifications? Well, the spec contains language such as: "Medical dicom vismemes allow for networked cognitive enrichment through recursive annotation, tagging, encapsulation and saving, together with value chain knowledge exchange. Value chain knowledge exchange includes knowledge acquisition and mapping, creation and destruction, integration and sharing, replication and protection, as well as performance evaluation and innovation. The invention also provides for networked collaborative innovation and value chain knowledge exchange with multisensory cognitive communications and interactive data visualization. Multisensory cognitive communications includes multisensory [sight-sound-touch] digital data exchange with vision, audition and sensation [semiotics, semantics, somesthetics.]" This isn't gibberish, but it's pretty darn close. Basically, the patent drafter is saying that the software makes people smarter by using AI to exchange various forms of medical data during conversations. All the rest of this is basically just a bunch of big words thrown around, presumably to bother the examiner into granting the patent without much fuss. The invention is like an automated version of a sidekick that chimes in at just the right moment with theoretically useful information during a conversation, except this is for medical conversations through the Internet. Much of the patent just consists of lots of potential examples of simple and obvious features that are just thrown in there to overwhelm the examiner. Now, James Paul Smurro has filed another application heavily borrowing from the 2016 patent shown above: https://patents.google.com/patent/US20190355483 There is also this, very similar patent: https://patents.google.com/patent/US10332639B2/en?inventor=James+Paul+Smurro The current assignee of this patent is a company, Foresight Imaging, and it is a legitimate company in Chelmsford, which is not too far from UNH Law in Concord, NH. I'm guessing that the inventor, James Paul Smurro, filed this by himself. I will try to get in touch with Mr. Smurro and Foresight Imaging because I want to learn more about these patents.
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