Low Vision Computing

< Add A Scanner  Home  Why lowvisioncomputing.com >

In The Public Domain

Patent law is a mess. Find a new use for something that is no longer patented? You can re-patent it for that use.

Think of how many drugs have been repatented to extract royalties from new uses of off-patent drugs. Or ask your doctor. They're very aware of the problem and how it drives up the cost of patient care.

Then there's the stupid patents - like US patent 4,022,227, issued May 1977, for the "comb-over" to hide bald spots.

So a new use for big screen ultra-high-definition (UHD) smart TVs would be something that would attract people looking to extract licensing fees via the broken patents system.

To prevent that, in 2022 I placed all the concepts related to using big screens, with or without computers, to help cope with vision loss, into the public domain.

What this means is simple - nobody has to pay any sort of fee to the developer (me) for a right to use the ideas to help people with low vision.

It's the same as books, music, and movies that have gone out of copyright - anyone can copy them or use them in their own work.

And with some 50" UHD smart TVs going for under $500 CDA, this is definitely more affordable than a $7,000 dorky headset with very poor resolution (less than a cheap virtual reality headset) offered by some companies that requires a new set of batteries every couple of hours and is uncomfortable.

So why don't the second-level businesses and associations replace all those craptops with screen magnifiers that they loan out to clients with big-screen TVs? After all, it's better for the client.

In early 2022, I proposed exactly this to one association for the blind ... giving them a 40-page printed summary of my work, and was completely ghosted.

Thinking back, it's obvious that, while a big screen/computer combo is better for the client, it's NOT better for them, for several reasons:

1. If there's a problem with the setup, instead of having the laptop returned for repair, it now requires a visit the client to diagnose and perform repairs;

2. Most of the people employed maintaining laptop inventory, teaching clients how to adapt to using a screen magnifier, etc., would need to be retrained or laid off as obsolete;

So the best solution for the client is seen as a threat to their business model, one that they will never adopt, because it's "too hard" for them to adapt.

But that's okay - you don't really need them, or me, when you can get a $500 TV, a computer, scanner, keyboard, mouse, and be back online tomorrow for under $2,000.

This is as opposed to waiting for a referral, being evaluated, being assigned a craptop, learning how to use the screen magnifier and screen reader, and dealing with the vertigo from scrolling back and forth all the time.

Just the delays involved cost a lot more, both in terms of earnings and human capital. The big-screen solution would be worth it at 10x the price.

< Add A Scanner  Home  Why lowvisioncomputing.com >
Copyright © 2022, 2023 by Barbra Hudson.
Email: barbra@lowvisioncomputing.com

You may freely use the ideas expressed on this site. You may NOT frame or copy any of the content for use on your own web site or other purposes without permission, except for short snippets for editorial review purposes, in which case you need to:

  1. credit the author;
  2. prominently display a clickable version of the main site's url.

You may not pretend or represent that you created either the content or the concepts embodied herein.

Any sort of framing or embedding of this site, in whole or part, is expressly forbidden.

"AI/chatGPT EXCLUSION CLAUSE"

In addition to the above, under no condition is this site, or any of its' contents, to be accessed, used, or otherwise employed by or used to train AI (so-called "Artificial Intelligence" programs) LLMs (Large Language Models, such as chatGPT), or other similar programs, products or services, including smaller specialized generative or associative/pattern generative or non-generative models.