20 over 20 | Patent no. 20

Are we there yet?, 2012
Another groundbreaking 
innovation of the last 20 years

The kids are hungry. Your bladder’s angry. And the line to get through the toll is backed up for miles. According to the GPS, your relaxing day at the beach should have arrived 90 minutes ago.  

Enter IBM US Patent No. 8,150,611 and the effort to make family trips and commutes a whole lot easier. By combining both real-time and predictive traffic data, we can better determine how long it takes to get from point A to point B, while navigating past traffic jams. What does this mean for you? For starters, a whole lot less time in the car. Good thing, because the kids have started pulling hair and your wife just put on the greatest soft hits of the 70s.

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11 years ago

20 over 20 | Patent no. 19

Self-kewling data centers, 2012
Another groundbreaking 
innovation of the last 20 years

Should Justin Bieber decide to tweet this post into his realm of tween Beliebers—and the Beliebers all retweeted it out at the same time—the Internet’s servers would see a dramatic power spike. 

Luckily, the rock stars behind IBM US Patent No. 8,107,234 have devised a variable-flow cooling system to help data centers better adjust to demand. A rise in eco-friendlier data centers will help save costs, reduce emissions and make the passing fancy of pop idol fame a lot easier on the energy grid. 

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11 years ago

20 over 20 | Patent no. 18

Avoiding green vehicle blackouts of the future, 2012
Another groundbreaking 
innovation of the last 20 years

It’s probably not the best idea to run your toaster, microwave, dishwasher, five halogens and hair-dryer at the same time. Unless you enjoy hanging out with your electrician. Soon, though, we may have something else to stick into the wall—the family car. The Prius, Volt and Leaf all point to an electric-vehicle future. And that brings up a nutty little paradox. With millions of plug-in cars on the road gulping down electrons, won’t we actually need more electricity? And won’t it cost more to run them?

IBM’s been thinking about this for a while, and came up with US Patent No. 8,266,075. It’s a quite clever transaction system that combines energy prices, your car’s current battery level, and your own transport needs. Then it delivers up a schedule of charging times and prices. It’ll mean your little EV can grab some lightning bolts wherever there’s an outlet, without breaking the bank—or the world’s energy grid. Maybe, just maybe, it’s the foundation for the fuel network of the future. Now isn’t that an electrifying thought?

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11 years ago

20 over 20 | Patent no. 15

Shopping in your PJs, 1994
Another groundbreaking
innovation of the last 20 years

Whether you’re in the market for miso ramen flavored ice cream, the hair from your favorite dead celebrity or the latest in steampunk couture, there’s shelf space for even the most eccentric of tastes in that great big virtual store in the cloud we call the Internet.

And finding live Madagascan cockroaches to send to that cheating ex-girlfriend of yours, in just a matter of minutes, wouldn’t be possible, if it wasn’t for IBM US patent No. 5,319,542. This essential invention put the e in e-commerce, by electronically matching what customers are looking to buy with items merchants are looking to sell. It’s hard to imagine a time when computers weren’t our personal grand bazaars for the bizarre. Or just a convenient way to buy books and shoes.

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11 years ago

20 over 20 | Patent no. 16

My fridge knows when my kale is stale, 2012
Another groundbreaking
innovation of the last 20 years

Imagine a world where your fridge is so aware of its environment, it’ll sniff out the wilted veggies in your fridge. That may be in the works, thanks to IBM US Patent No. 8,250,010. 

The electronic synapse is the foundational learning element of cognitive computing—systems that perceive the world just like your brain does. This is a far better and more efficient way to interpret information. By merging data streams of air temperature, odor, color and other inputs, an electric-synapse-based system could be able to understand the difference between crisp and rot. And a lot of other stuff, too. Now only if we could get it to run back to the store. 

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11 years ago

20 over 20 | Patent no. 17

Contortionist consumer electronic, 2012

Another groundbreaking 
innovation of the last 20 years

We all love the convenience of a laptop when flying, but with the onslaught of carry-on baggage restrictions and security checkpoints, sometimes you just want to leave it a home. You can’t blame the computer manufacturer, because really, how could they possibly make them any lighter, smaller or thinner? Well maybe they can, thanks to IBM US Patent No. 8,247,261.

Today’s top minds are creating ultra-thin, ultra pliable circuits by “slicing” already existing technology. This means we’ll be able to enjoy extremely durable, thin, and flexible electronics. Flex circuits can be made 10,000 times thinner than a sheet of paper and will create tons of innovative products from smartphones that won’t break to laptops that could quite literally fold up into your pocket. Sure does free up a lot more space in your luggage for souvenirs and duty-free cigars.

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11 years ago

20 over 20 | Patent no. 14

Separating fads from trends, 2012
Another groundbreaking 
innovation of the last 20 year

You’re browsing your Facebook feed when you notice that something is…off. Instead of the usual teenage drama, you notice your younger cousins are posting an awful lot about doughnuts these days. Different doughnut flavors, doughnut related clothing and, worst of all, maybe getting a tattoo of a doughnut. Are you really that out of the loop? When did doughnuts become the new cupcakes?

All this chatter would be pretty trivial, if it weren’t for US IBM Patent No. 8,200,477 which lets companies like bakeries analyze petabytes of data from tweets, Facebook posts, and Pinterest comments to get a holistic view of the conversations within the noise. That way, different retailers and companies can see trends before they happen so they can plan and adjust accordingly. And hopefully for you, pie doesn’t replace doughnuts as the hot dessert of 2013, ‘cause you really can’t justify any more trendy calories.

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11 years ago

20 over 20 | Patent no. 13

“Who is Bram Stoker?” It’s the Jeopardy! game-winning answer given by a computer system named Watson, and the literary father of Dracula. While it was Watson’s win, the achievement really came on the shoulders of humans and their IBM US Patent No. 8,275,803, also known as DeepQA.

By distinguishing the contextual meaning of the words within a question, cognitive systems have become fluent in the intricacies of natural language—even our quips and puns—to give us better results than keywords alone. 

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11 years ago

20 over 20 | Patent no. 12

Massive video stream monitoring, 2009
Another groundbreaking 
innovation of the last 20 years

Imagine how much great TV you could catch up on if you were able to watch more than one channel at a time. Unfortunately our minds aren’t wired to process that much visual input at once, but our computers are. Hundreds and thousands of videos in fact.

Now with IBM US Patent No. 7,545,978, multiple video streams can provide us with a clear, current view of what’s going on in any given topic, at any given time. Besides being incredibly useful for tracking business and news events around the globe, it will also work wonders with real-time traffic. Something to think about next time you’re stuck in rush-hour gridlock and your favorite show is about to start.

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11 years ago

20 over 20 | Patent no. 11

Shoplifters beware! 2012 
Another groundbreaking 
innovation of the last 20 years

Nothing’s more annoying than getting home from a full day of shopping and discovering the sales associate left the security sensor on your cool new duds. Well, thanks to IBM US Patent No. 8,259,175, those pesky little tags might become of thing of the past.

By leveraging technology that automatically sifts through video sources for redundancy while factoring in time of day and previous thefts, retail stores will be able to better detect shoplifters and their behavior—simply by using video technology. Lucky for you, that means no more beeping at the door and less trips back to the mall to remove sensors.

Learn more about it. 

12 years ago

20 over 20 | Patent no. 10

Charges only where you are, 2012
Another groundbreaking 
innovation of the last 20 years

Today $1,000 cheeseburgers aren’t unheard of at some luxury restaurants and hotels. And while most people wouldn’t dream of it, someone with your stolen credit card information and an expensive bovine habit might have other ideas. 

Thankfully IBM US Patent no. 8,229,853 is there to stand in the way of such pricey ground beef capers. By dynamically cross-referencing your credit card with your indicated location and times, cardholders won’t get stuck with the bill for something they didn’t order. Because if you’re left holding the bill, you better be holding the napkin, too.

12 years ago

20 over 20 | Patent no. 9

Far fewer near misses, 2012
Another groundbreaking innovation of the last 20 years

Ding—You are safe to move about the cabin—and even more protected from calamity thanks to IBM US Patent No. 8,188,907. This enhanced collision alarm system collects aircraft position information in a given area and digitally encodes it over your pilot’s voice communications channels. 

So next time you’re flying 500 mph into the wild blue yonder, go ahead and tear open some peanuts, lean back all two inches, and take comfort knowing there’s another new measure of safety up in the cockpit.

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12 years ago