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GEN-ERIC Patent News
Tuesday, September 28, 2004

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HEADLINES (patents issued a few hours ago..)
The Video Alarm Patent of the Day goes to
Two Independent Inventors from Maryland for a
Security alarm system and method with realtime streaming video

The Auto Grade Patent of the Day goes to an
Educational Testing Service of New Jersey for a
Methods for automated essay analysis
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NEWS
Sony Must Pay $82 Million to Immersion for Infringement
http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/news/36851.html
A federal jury in San Francisco has ordered Sony Computer Entertainment and its U.S. unit to pay Immersion Corp., a leading developer and licensor of touch feedback technology, $82 million in compensation for patent infringement , Immersion said Wednesday. Immersion, which is based in San Jose, California, filed a lawsuit against Sony Computer and Sony Computer Entertainment of America with the district court in San Francisco, claiming that the Japanese company used its game technology in the PlayStation game consoles without the company's approval. Immersion has patents on the "vibro-tactile" technologies that can send vibrations to video game players through game console controllers to make them feel as if they are driving a real car.
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Applied Materials to Pay Novellus $8M
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/9753765.htm
Computer chip equipment maker Applied Materials Inc. on Friday agreed to pay rival Novellus Systems Inc. $8 million to settle a patent infringement lawsuit. Santa Clara-based Applied Materials also agreed to waive a claim for $3.5 million in unpaid royalties that it was asking San Jose-based Novellus as part of a 1997 settlement between the two companies. The settlement ends all pending lawsuits between the two rivals. As part of the agreement, the companies also agreed not to file any new patent lawsuits against each other in certain product areas for at least two years. "This agreement produces a positive result for both companies and demonstrates strong motivation not to infringe each other's patents," said Joseph J. Sweeney, Applied Materials' group vice president of legal affairs and intellectual property.
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IGT, Action Game Wins Lawsuit
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040927/lam046_1.html
IGT and Action Gaming received a jury verdict in their favor in a patent infringement lawsuit brought against Alliance Gaming and United Coin Machine. Alliance and United Coin Machine were found to have infringed two patents through their Multi-Play Poker(TM) games. IGT and Action were awarded damages in the amount of $7,361,000. "We are very pleased with the jury's validation of our patents in this case," said Dave Johnson, general counsel for IGT. "IGT has always vigorously defended its intellectual property and will continue to do so against any potential violators whenever it is appropriate." The patents cover multi-hand games including Triple Play Poker(TM). They are U.S. Patent Nos. 5,823,873 and 6,007,066. The inventor was Ernie Moody, the founder and president of Action Gaming. IGT recently purchased the rights to these patents.
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PATENTS OF THE DAY

6,798,344

Security alarm system and method with realtime streaming video

Abstract: A security alarm system that provides secure, realtime video of a secured location to one or more emergency response agencies over a high-speed communications link, such as an Internet link. Realtime video information is therefore placed directly into the hands of those who are called upon and trained to respond to a potential emergency. As such, the emergency response agencies and their personnel are better informed. This, in turn, allows the personnel to be better prepared in their response to the potential emergency, saving manpower, money, lives and reducing the number of false alarms.

Index

6,796,800

Methods for automated essay analysis

Background: An essay is analyzed automatically by accepting the essay and determining whether each of a predetermined set of features is present or absent in each sentence of the essay. For each sentence in the essay a probability that the sentence is a member of a certain discourse element category is calculated. The probability is based on the determinations of whether each feature in the set of features is present or absent. Furthermore, based on the calculated probabilities, a sentence is chosen as the choice for the discourse element category.