Patents (& tables of HP-34C/11C instruction codes) Message #10 Posted by Karl Schneider on 28 Aug 2006, 11:16 p.m., in response to message #9 by Eric Smith
Hello, Eric --
Thanks for pointing out the tables of function codes and other materials. I'd like to see the table for the HP-15C, if and when that is ready. I once went through the exercise of trying to list all its functions, but my total didn't quite match Valentin's...
The section on patents was intriguing, as well. A few of the granted patents, I think, are questionable. Good ideas? Yes, most certainly. However, a few of them fell well short of sheer ingenuity. For example:
3,892,958 Inverse/complementary function prefix key
3,987,290 Calculator apparatus for displaying data in engineering notation
4,047,012 General purpose calculator having factorial capability
Good grief! Shift key? ENG display? Factorial?
I note that TI, Casio, and Sharp offered models with these capabilities during the period just after the patent application. Did they have to pay royalties to HP? If so, what if HP had instead refused to license those patents? I believe that these patents might have been challenged (if they weren't already), like the patent granted to Amazon.com's "One-Click" on-line ordering method (which wasn't a very good idea, in my estimation).
Other granted patents were deserving without a doubt, such as
the bar-code reader and the HP-01 wristwatch/calculator. The patents took three years to be granted, however...
4,091,270 Electronic calculator with optical input means
4,158,285 Interactive wristwatch calculator
BTW: Shouldn't patents
5,025,403 Fraction entry and display
5,089,980 Double keystroke fraction entry and interface method
5,128,887 Numerical accuracy indicator for rounded numeric value display method
pertain to the HP-32SII, not the HP-32S?
Best regards,
-- KS
Edited: 29 Aug 2006, 12:18 a.m.
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