Sound Events
News on the taxpayer-funded patent applications published on Thursday February 3, 2022 and more.
Hello from FedInvent,
On Thursday, February 3, 2022, the US Patent Office published 8,552 pre-grant patent applications. One hundred eighty-two (182) had taxpayer funding.
So far this year, the Patent Office has published 39,304 pre-grant patent applications. Eight hundred fifty-six (856) of these applications received taxpayer funding or were the work of inventors at federal departments or federally funded research and development centers.
Here is a link to the FedInvent Patent Application Report. For readers who prefer to start by browsing the patent applications by department, start here.
Thursday's published patent applications feature an unusual collection of inventions focused on some of the vexing problems facing science policymakers and the reachers the government funds. We had to go well beyond the titles and the abstracts. The inventions include using sound to find active shooters indoors, cybersecurity, and tools for battling the evil COVID-19 spike protein. FedInvent found federal digital transformation innovations and R&D involving the metaverse, facial recognition, deep fakes, and the nexus of the digital and the physical worlds. Here are some samples of what we found.
Sound Events
The title of a patent is supposed to be no more than 500 characters. The abstract is between 50-150 words. Sometimes, this compilation of characters and words does not explain what an invention is or what it's used for. Thursday's patent applications include one of those patent applications, Publication 20220036913.
Pre-grant publication 20220036913, "Localization Base on Time-Reversed Sound Events," is a system that determines an event location of an event within an indoor environment based on an event sound generated by the event. Our radar goes off anytime we see a taxpayer-funded patent that determines and collects location data. We usually expect the latest use of cellphones and location beacons sending out data to keep track of where people are or where they are going. We read on.
Claim 7 says, "The method of claim 1 wherein the event is a gunshot." That got our attention.
The application's background section starts with,
"Active shooter incidents have become increasingly common, especially in the United States. The Federal Bureau of Investigation reports that there have been several hundred active shooter incidents since 2000. These incidents have occurred at schools, malls, churches, theaters, and so on. The damage, including the death toll and emotional pain caused from these incidents, is immeasurable … It would be desirable to have a localization system that could effectively and reliably localize in real time an active shooter in such indoor environments so that first responders can neutralize the active shooter incident."
The inventors are acoustic engineers from Lawrence Livermore National Labs, led by Dr. Jim Candy. The team used techniques for ocean acoustics, non-destructive evaluation of materials for detecting cracks, and biomedical applications like blowing apart a kidney stone to create a sound-based method to help responders figure out where the active shooter is in an indoor environment in real-time. Their invention seeks to provide new tools for first responders by overcoming the challenges of how sound moves in indoor spaces.
The invention uses time-reversal localization. Time reversal is a technique to focus wave energy to a selected point in space and time, localize and characterize a source of wave propagation, and communicate the information. A series of transceivers, location devices, and software are deployed in the building. If a locator makes that determination that a sound is a gunshot, the locator can take appropriate countermeasures, such as directing doors to be locked, authorities to be notified, and lights to be strobed. Most importantly, the invention delivers information to enable first responders to find the shooter and end the "event."
Sadly, the scope of the problem in the sound event patent application is probably low. A December 2021 list of mass shootings for that year shows 693 active shooter incidents resulting in 703 deaths and 2,842 injuries. The compound annual growth rate for these incidents is growing at around 20% year-over-year. New tools are needed.
Another Bland Title For An Important Invention
Buried near the end of the list of taxpayer-funded patent applications is publication number 20220038262, "Secure Cryptographic System for Datalinks." This is a cybersecurity invention. The application describes securing wireless data communications between a launcher and a projectile, a missile launcher, and the missile. The inventor, Jonathan Blakely, works at US Army CCDC Aviation & Missile Center, DEVCOM in Huntsville, Alabama.
One of the hardest challenges in military systems is maintaining their digital security. If ever there was a moving target that requires constant attention, it is weapon system security and the cybersecurity of operational information technology of weapon systems of all kinds. Operational IT is information technology (IT), both hardware and software, that is physically part of, dedicated to, or essential in real-time to the mission performance of special-purpose systems. Securing wireless data communications that cause the missile to exit the launcher and hit its target is essential in real-time mission performance.
Current encryption techniques are vulnerable to advances in mathematics and increases in the power of computing technology. (Ask the bitcoin minters.) In addition, the emergence of quantum computers can make current encryption algorithms obsolete. Mr. Blakely has invented a new method to overcome the issues with known encryption algorithms and techniques, like conventional public-key encryption. Good.
The Metaverse, Avatars, and Your Face
Federal metaverse innovation news this week featured ClearView AI, the company being sued by every major social media for scrapping billions of social media images from their sites to create one of the largest databases of faces in the world. Clearview AI received a small R&D contract, a little less than $50,000, from the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) to see if ClearView AI's facial recognition software and massive database faces can be integrated into augmented reality glasses. AFRL will research augmented reality glasses that could scan faces to help with security on bases.
Clearview AI just released a press release that it was about to be granted a patent for its face database technology. ClearView's patent, The "Methods for Providing Information About a Person Based on Facial Recognition" patent, US Patent No.11,250,266, claims to be the first patent for a facial recognition company. The patent covers Clearview AI's ability to gather publicly available information from the open internet (social media sites, mugshots, news sites, and more) and then accurately match similar photos using its proprietary facial recognition algorithm. If we have the number sequence right, the patent is due out in two weeks.
The law enforcement community loves the product—copyright intellectual property lawyers and privacy advocates, not so much.
While we are on the topic of faces, the IRS is facing a massive backlash on its privacy-invading, cybersecurity-challenged identity management innovation efforts. The IRS's $86 million contract with ID.ME requires taxpayers to cough up a ton of personally identifiable information, including mobile phone selfies loaded with metadata that includes where you were when you took the picture to access online information about your taxes. Among the things ID.ME can do is to match your selfie image with databases of other images. It doesn't just match your driver's license or passport document to your selfie. The application can go on a hunt to match your images to other images stored in other databases. (Eerily like ClearView AI's pool of pictures.) Oh. And ID.ME will be storing these images for seven years because of, "IRS audit requirements." (A convenient way to store a massive database on a gazillion American taxpayers.)
Our federal privacy compliance guru informed us that the IRS is going to be in a world of hurt if the privacy advocates can prove that the ID. ME technology doesn't comply with all of NIST and FISMA privacy requirements, especially after the as yet unexplained release of the tax data of wealthy American taxpayers.
One of the new questions floating around is why do you need this complex upload-a-selfie security to look at your tax data, but you don't need this identity security when you file your taxes to begin with. The response? The IRS doesn't want to slow down the flow of tax dollars into the Treasury. Hmmmm.
UPDATE: On Monday afternoon, after we hit Publish, the IRS reversed itself on using the upload-a-selfie facial recognition software system to authenticate taxpayers’ identities for online accounts after criticism from lawmakers in both parties over privacy concerns.
Is It Real Or Is It Fake
A metaverse sound event invention comes from the University of Florida. Publication 20220036904, "Detecting Deep-Fake Audio Through Vocal Track Reconstruction," deals with techniques for determining if an audio track is a synthetic voice, a fake, or an organic human voice. Deep fakes are created by artificial intelligence software trained to replace or synthesize faces, speech, and manipulate emotions. Determining whether a video of an individual is real or fake is an increasingly important tool for intelligence analysts and social media companies dealing with content moderation.
In the eighties, the challenge was making recordings where the listener couldn't distinguish between an original human voice and a recording. The "Is It Live or Is It Memorex" commercials touted the improvements in the quality of cassette tape recordings that fooled the listeners into believing they were listening to a human. Thirty-five years later, inventors from Florida are dealing with a more modern version of the same challenge. The National Science Foundation funded this research.
(You can watch the old Memorex commercials on YouTube.)
The Internet of Advertising Things
Facebook is dealing with its ad revenue falling because of the new privacy settings on the iPhone. Meanwhile, the US Postal Service is looking at new ways to engage inhabitants of the digital world with a novel way to get physical advertising content into their hands, not just on their smartphones.
Last year we wrote about the advertising component of their Informed Delivery program. Informed Delivery is the USPS service that sends you an email each day with images of what you can expect in your mailbox. These emails have a digital-physical connection. Advertising appears at the top of your daily email. Later that day, when you open your mailbox, there's a physical catalog or piece of advertising that matches the ad. A tactile piece of promotional material you can leave all over the house. Before you laugh this off, this email lands in the email boxes of over 39 million users every day,
(You can read Informed Delivery advertising about it here.)
USPS, a prolific filer and owner of patents, added it to its intellectual property pipeline on Thursday. Its latest published application is 20220035948, "System and Method Using A Database for Enhanced User Initiated Requests for Material or Information." This invention enables users to request physical material — catalogs, brochures, and other physical things using a combination of an icon embedded within an app and a database that contains contact information. That contact data "comprises a social network identification, a social network name or a social network name alias." The Postal Service will be updating its databases so you can be trolling around the web using your social media name and click an icon to have the latest catalog show up in your mailbox. This may be the first addition to innovation in the field of the Internet of Advertising Things.
Dealing with the Spike
On the COVID front, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Navy's application 20220034884, "Quantum Dot Conjugated Virus Spike Protein for Cell-Based Bio-Sensing Systems and Drug Screening," was published. The application notes,
"…because the Spike and its binding to the ACE2 receptor plays such a vital role in initiating viral infection, the development of probes to study this interaction are needed by researchers engaged in SARS-CoV-2 drug discovery efforts."
One more tool in the war against the evil spike protein.
If you're interested, licensing inquiries may be directed to Office of Technology Transfer, US Naval Research Laboratory, Code 1004, Washington, DC 20375, USA; +1.202.767.7230; techtran@nrl.navy.mil, referencing NC 113,397. (The Navy means business.)
On to the patent application numbers.
Patent Applications By The Numbers
On Thursday, February 3, 2022, the US Patent Office published 182 pre-grant patent applications that benefitted from taxpayer funding. Here are the numbers.
One hundred seventy-seven (177) patent applications have Government Interest Statements.
Thirty-one (31) applications have an applicant or an assignee that is a government agency.
A federal department is the only assignee on 12 patent applications.
The 182 new patents have 209 department-level funding citations.
These patents are the work of 680 inventors.
The 664 American inventors come from 37 states and the District of Columbia.
The 16 foreign inventors come from 10 countries.
There are 122 patents (67%) where at least one assignee is a college or university, the HERD.
Twelve patent applications (12) resulted from the collaboration between two universities.
Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) received 16 patents.
One patent application was assigned a Y CPC symbol indicating that the invention may be useful in mitigating the impact of climate change. The application that received the Y CPC is focused on battery technology. There are five other battery-related patents that didn't receive a Y CPC. Go figure.
The Big Three States
As usual, California and Massachusetts have the number one and two spots for inventors for both published patent applications and granted patents.
California has 28 first-named inventors and 120 total inventors.
Massachusetts has 25 first-named inventors and 80 total inventors.
Illinois has ten first-named inventors and 28 total inventors.
Patent Applications Count By Department
The Health Complex
The Health Complex 2022 — Year-To-Date Funding Citations
No Bayh-Dole Scofflaws
There are no Bayh-Dole scofflaws this week. We miss the chase of trying to figure out which government entities paid for the usually defense-related R&D.
(Scofflaws are entities that put mumbo-jumbo in the government interest statement instead of providing the statutorily required funding information.)
As always, thanks for reading FedInvent. If you aren't a paid subscriber yet, please consider grabbing a subscription. It will help us keep digging up all these inventions your tax dollar pay for.
We'll be back later this week when the next load of taxpayer-funded patents is released. In the meantime, enjoy your week.
The FedInvent Team
FedInvent tells the stories of inventors, investigators, and innovators. Wayfinder Digital's FedInvent Project follows the federal innovation ecosphere, taxpayer money, and the inventions it pays for. FedInvent is a work in progress. Please reach out if you have questions or suggestions. You can reach us at info@wayfinder.digital.