Posts Tagged: "consumer products"

Neighborhood-aware networks, which can provide digital services to many homes within the same neighborhood, are the focus of a few filings. Qualcomm is also seeking to protect both an electronic scale with conversion table software and a pair of headphones with a novel technique for overcoming popping and clicking noises when plugging the headphone connector into an audio port. The strength of Qualcomm’s patent portfolio is a major reason why this company is so successful internationally. Most of the patents recently issued to this corporation protect various mobile device innovations, including the use of an inclinometer to detect the incline of a device display and adjusting the way an image is rendered to improve the view relative to the incline. Gesture-based financial transaction completed across mobile devices, as well as methods of providing location information on indoor environments, have also been protected for Qualcomm through patents issued over the past few weeks.

The DRTV Product Summit is a one-day event that will be held on Wednesday, October 22, 2014 at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Inventors will be given the opportunity to pitch their products to representatives of the six (6) DRTV companies on one day in one location. The event is not open to all inventors. Over the past few years the event has grown and there has been significant interest in the inventor community. In order to be considered inventors must submit their inventions to be reviewed by a panel of referees. Thanks to an extended deadline, submissions are now due no later than Friday, October 3, 2014.

While the DRTV Product Summit is geared toward inventors with largely plug and play products, it is still nevertheless aimed at giving everyday inventors an opportunity. The major benefit to inventors selected is that they can present to serious companies that are looking for new products in one day in one location. The deadline for submissions has to be weeks in advance of the event so that proper time can be spent vetting the inventions and inviting the inventors. No guarantee of consideration can be extended to those who submit after September 30, 2014.

We begin with an extended look at one patent application development to comply with strict guidelines in the field of disinfecting solutions for public health concerns. Procter & Gamble has developed a cleaning solution designed to meet tough standards in the field of sanitation developed by the European Union. Products for incontinence and tooth whitening, along with some aesthetic improvements to sanitary paper products, are at the core of a few other patent applications that we noticed. Interestingly enough, in light of the above article from The Hill, we found a patent recently issued to P&G from the USPTO that protects a chemical test kit meant to determine the authenticity of consumer products. It would allow a manufacturer to determine that a counterfeit is being sold under a brand’s name. Other issued patents include a couple protecting methods of improving taste and odor in an array of home and personal care products from toothpastes to heated air wicks.