Apple seeks to outlaw assistive technology?
Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 4:50 pm
July 26, 2007, US Trademark & Patent Office published US Patent Application ‘Multimedia data transfer for a personal communication device’ (Pub. # US 2007-0173231 A1)
If this patent is granted, vocally impaired people would be foreclosed on the use of their speech synthesizers with any voice telecommunication devices including phones.
I decoded the first three claims by using definitions, that were provided within the document and interpreted ‘multimedia data’ as ‘text message’, and ‘vocalizing’ as ‘text-to-speech conversion’. So, here’s just one possible interpretation of the claims.
1. A method to use a personal computer to convert textual input into speech and transmit the synthesized speech to somebody else’s telecommunication device (e.g., a telephone), and also to receive the transmitted synthesized speech by that device (e.g., the telephone);
2. Method in 1 supplemented with a method to input the text you want to convert into speech and to input the telephone number you want to call;
3. And finally, to listen to the transmitted synthesized speech on the recipient’s phone.
Note that claims 1 -3 exactly describe how speech synthesis programs like NextUp Talker are used to place phone calls.
In fact, the patent embraces millions of other possible uses of speech synthesizers with voice telecommunication devices including but not limited to landline, cellular, SIP, and Skype phones, RF transceivers, walkie-talkies, BT devices, etc.
Vocally impaired people have already been practicing methods described in claims 1 - 3 for years, which makes the grant of patent improper under 35 U.S.C. 102(a), let alone the fact that such a patent would unreasonably incapacitate speech disabled people from using speech synthesizers with essential voice telecommunication devices like telephone.
Computer aided conversion of text into audible human-sounding speech is assistive technology that emerged over two decades ago and has been widely used by vocally impaired people to communicate with others. You just input phrases you want to say and the speech synthesizer pronounces them aloud for you in a natural-sounding synthetic voice. Whether due to disease, surgery, or any other problem resulting in the loss of speech, computer speech synthesizers are helping impaired people regain an important part of their lives by enabling them to talk to others.
Whether users’ text input is being converted into audible speech by a software program like NextUp Talker or a hardware text-to-speech synthesizer like VOTRAX, the use of speech synthesis not only assists speech impaired users in face-to-face conversations but also allows them to place calls and talk to anybody they want to reach over phone or any other telecommunication device.
Such uses of speech synthesizers were a normal practice for years. But now things may change.
If that patent is granted, we won’t be able to use speech synthesizer to place even an emergency call without paying royalties to Apple Computer, Inc.
Perhaps, filing that patent application was just an overlook by Apple or the US Patent Office, but if nobody cares, we shall soon face a new type of economic discrimination against disabled people.
If this patent is granted, vocally impaired people would be foreclosed on the use of their speech synthesizers with any voice telecommunication devices including phones.
I decoded the first three claims by using definitions, that were provided within the document and interpreted ‘multimedia data’ as ‘text message’, and ‘vocalizing’ as ‘text-to-speech conversion’. So, here’s just one possible interpretation of the claims.
1. A method to use a personal computer to convert textual input into speech and transmit the synthesized speech to somebody else’s telecommunication device (e.g., a telephone), and also to receive the transmitted synthesized speech by that device (e.g., the telephone);
2. Method in 1 supplemented with a method to input the text you want to convert into speech and to input the telephone number you want to call;
3. And finally, to listen to the transmitted synthesized speech on the recipient’s phone.
Note that claims 1 -3 exactly describe how speech synthesis programs like NextUp Talker are used to place phone calls.
In fact, the patent embraces millions of other possible uses of speech synthesizers with voice telecommunication devices including but not limited to landline, cellular, SIP, and Skype phones, RF transceivers, walkie-talkies, BT devices, etc.
Vocally impaired people have already been practicing methods described in claims 1 - 3 for years, which makes the grant of patent improper under 35 U.S.C. 102(a), let alone the fact that such a patent would unreasonably incapacitate speech disabled people from using speech synthesizers with essential voice telecommunication devices like telephone.
Computer aided conversion of text into audible human-sounding speech is assistive technology that emerged over two decades ago and has been widely used by vocally impaired people to communicate with others. You just input phrases you want to say and the speech synthesizer pronounces them aloud for you in a natural-sounding synthetic voice. Whether due to disease, surgery, or any other problem resulting in the loss of speech, computer speech synthesizers are helping impaired people regain an important part of their lives by enabling them to talk to others.
Whether users’ text input is being converted into audible speech by a software program like NextUp Talker or a hardware text-to-speech synthesizer like VOTRAX, the use of speech synthesis not only assists speech impaired users in face-to-face conversations but also allows them to place calls and talk to anybody they want to reach over phone or any other telecommunication device.
Such uses of speech synthesizers were a normal practice for years. But now things may change.
If that patent is granted, we won’t be able to use speech synthesizer to place even an emergency call without paying royalties to Apple Computer, Inc.
Perhaps, filing that patent application was just an overlook by Apple or the US Patent Office, but if nobody cares, we shall soon face a new type of economic discrimination against disabled people.