Changing the World One Invention at a Time: Acting on Your Ideas Using the Creatively Inventing Framework - Softcover

Rowe, Richard Edward

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1450219837 ISBN 13: 9781450219839

Publisher: iUniverse, 2010

Synopsis

Changing the World One Invention at a Time is intended to motivate everyone to act on the ideas they have. Learn how to develop new ideas and evolve existing ideas while incorporating an easy-to-use framework to transform ideas into meaningful products and patent applications.

The easy-to-understand and fun-to-read style will help you comprehend and effectively navigate the challenging invention process. The author's natural problem-solving methodology uses examples that demonstrate how to organize and integrate creative ideas into valuable assets and provides easy-to-understand instructional steps as part of an organized framework.

The ultimate goal is to get you excited about your ideas and to motivate you to tap into the steady stream of ideas fl owing around you. More importantly, this book is for those of us who have asked ourselves the question: "What do I do with this idea I have?"

Changing the World One Invention at a Time not only explains the creative inventing process but also goes into the detail needed to understand patents and how patents can protect your ideas. You do have the power to change the world and all it takes is one good idea. Perhaps it will be your idea that changes the world!

About this title

About the Author

Richard Edward Rowe is President/CEO of Think Tek, Inc.-Think Globally, an intellectual property development and consulting firm in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has over thirty years experience developing, inventing, managing and deploying products, and consulting. He is an inventor with over one hundred patents covering a wide range of technologies.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Changing the World One Invention at a Time

Acting on Your Ideas Using the Creatively Inventing FrameworkBy Richard Edward Rowe

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2010 Richard Edward Rowe
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4502-1983-9

Contents

Acknowledgments..........................................................................................................................................xvPrologue.................................................................................................................................................xviiChapter 1: In the Beginning, There Were Questions, Lots of Questions.....................................................................................1Our Fast-Paced Lives.....................................................................................................................................2Organizing Your Time.....................................................................................................................................3Asking the Right Question................................................................................................................................5Basketball Example: Acting on Your Ideas.................................................................................................................5Example: Reflective Disposable Tissue Container..........................................................................................................8Answering Questions......................................................................................................................................10Refinement...............................................................................................................................................10Problem Statement........................................................................................................................................11Example: Pet Toys........................................................................................................................................11Example: The Remote-Controlled Dog Toy...................................................................................................................14Part I: Four-Step Opportunity Spotlight..................................................................................................................17Chapter 2: Creative Prototypes and Experimentation.......................................................................................................18Creatively Developing Ideas..............................................................................................................................20Example: The Zucchini Trellis............................................................................................................................20Understanding the Problem to Solve.......................................................................................................................20A Preliminary Design.....................................................................................................................................22Defining Problem Statements..............................................................................................................................25Building a Prototype.....................................................................................................................................29Experimenting with Prototypes............................................................................................................................31Three Weeks Later: Reassessing the Project...............................................................................................................35Final Thoughts on the Zucchini Trellis Design............................................................................................................40Chapter 3: The Innovation Foundation, Birthplace of Ideas................................................................................................42Invention and the Inventor...............................................................................................................................42Invention Definition.....................................................................................................................................43The Process of Innovation................................................................................................................................44Innovation Definition....................................................................................................................................44Filing Date..............................................................................................................................................45The Patent Professional..................................................................................................................................45Invention Disclosure Form................................................................................................................................46Inventor's Notebook......................................................................................................................................49Example: The Self-Contained Automatic Watering System....................................................................................................52Problem Statement Detail:................................................................................................................................52Problem Statement: How can a range of stationary houseplants be automatically and sufficiently watered for extended periods of time?.....................53Example: Plant Watering System...........................................................................................................................58Problem statement: It is time consuming and inconvenient to manually water multiple plants throughout an office or home..................................58Example: Invention Disclosure Form.......................................................................................................................60Detailed Description Of The Invention....................................................................................................................65Chapter 4: Inspirational Innovation and the "Ah Ha" Moment...............................................................................................67Passion and Curiosity....................................................................................................................................67Inspiration Triggers.....................................................................................................................................69Example: Golf Cart Method and Apparatus..................................................................................................................69Part II: Three-Step Inspiration Boost....................................................................................................................73Chapter 5: Go, Team, Go: Innovation Strategy for Teams...................................................................................................74Brainstorming............................................................................................................................................75Part III: Seven-Step Strategic Planning Process..........................................................................................................78Action Plan..............................................................................................................................................79Patent Professional Support..............................................................................................................................80The Innovation Summit....................................................................................................................................80Innovation Summit Checklist..............................................................................................................................81Examples of Possible Idea Categories.....................................................................................................................84Example: Sample Ideas-Invention Disclosure Form..........................................................................................................88Example: Sample Ideas-Product Enhancement List...........................................................................................................89Five Points to Remember for the Facilitator..............................................................................................................90Chapter 6: Ready, Set, Go: The Patent Application........................................................................................................91A Few Good Reasons.......................................................................................................................................92Justifying the Cost......................................................................................................................................93Starting the Process.....................................................................................................................................94Obtaining a Patent.......................................................................................................................................95US Patent Types..........................................................................................................................................96Provisional Patent Application...........................................................................................................................97Dissecting the Patent Application........................................................................................................................99The Patent Application Publication Format................................................................................................................99Patent Application Publication Breakdown.................................................................................................................101Cover Page Information Sections..........................................................................................................................102Abstract.................................................................................................................................................103Field of Invention.......................................................................................................................................104Background...............................................................................................................................................105Summary..................................................................................................................................................106Description of the Drawings..............................................................................................................................107Drawings.................................................................................................................................................107Detailed Description of the Invention....................................................................................................................109Claims...................................................................................................................................................115Chapter 7: That's Obvious, or Is It?.....................................................................................................................117Patent Prosecution.......................................................................................................................................117Obviousness Definition...................................................................................................................................118Time, Money, and Research................................................................................................................................119No Guarantee.............................................................................................................................................120Helpful Rules of Thumb...................................................................................................................................121Company-Related Efforts..................................................................................................................................121Key Points to Remember...................................................................................................................................122Chapter 8: Prior Art, It Came Before.....................................................................................................................123Continuation-In-Part Patent Applications.................................................................................................................126Prior Art Search.........................................................................................................................................126Duty of Disclosure.......................................................................................................................................127Chapter 9: Changing the World with Ideas for the Future..................................................................................................129Ideas for the Future.....................................................................................................................................130Creatively Inventing Framework Recap.....................................................................................................................132A Personal Note..........................................................................................................................................133Epilogue.................................................................................................................................................134Appendix A: What Is a Patent?............................................................................................................................138What Is a Patent?........................................................................................................................................138The Roots of US Patent Law...............................................................................................................................139Types of Subject Matter That Can Be Patented.............................................................................................................140Who May Obtain a Patent..................................................................................................................................142Appendix B: The Patent Application Process...............................................................................................................144The Patent Application Process...........................................................................................................................144Continuations, Continuation-in-Parts, and Divisional Applications........................................................................................147Formal Papers: Oath or Declaration, Signature............................................................................................................147After Filing Process: Duty of Disclosure and Examination.................................................................................................148Applicant's Reply........................................................................................................................................149Time for Reply and Abandonment...........................................................................................................................150Appeal to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences and to the Courts................................................................................151Allowance and Issue of a Patent..........................................................................................................................151Note Regarding Provisional Patent Applications...........................................................................................................152Appendix C: Additional Considerations....................................................................................................................154Additional Considerations for Patent Applicants..........................................................................................................1541. Time Bars.............................................................................................................................................1542. Patentability Search..................................................................................................................................1543. Patent Marking and Patent Pending.....................................................................................................................1554. Assignments and Licenses..............................................................................................................................1555. Maintenance Fees......................................................................................................................................1566. Life of a Patent: Rights Granted and Enforcement......................................................................................................1567. Foreign Applicants for US Patents.....................................................................................................................1578. Foreign Patents.......................................................................................................................................158Appendix D: Infringement of Patents......................................................................................................................160Appendix E: Example Invention Disclosure Form Template...................................................................................................162Appendix F: Web Site References..........................................................................................................................164

Chapter One

In the Beginning, There Were Questions, Lots of Questions

For most of us, it is a struggle to take the time to think long enough about a problem or situation to solve it creatively. We tend to look for quick solutions and then move on to the next problem as we manage our lives in our on-the-go world of fast food, twenty-four-hours-a-day news channels, endless e-mails, and one meeting after another.

When we do actually find the time to think about our ideas, why does the creative process present such a challenge for so many of us? Does one either have the creative gift or not? Why are creative solutions so valuable in today's challenging business environment? I asked myself these questions to confirm the need for a whole book dedicated to the creative process of innovation and inventing, which could be valuable to private inventors, businesses, and engineers. I also asked myself some additional questions:

Why isn't the creative process fun to most people? Is there a benefit in thinking about numerous solutions to a single problem and selecting the best solution? Or is solving the problem quickly a better approach? How can a person or a company get better at the process?

Our Fast-Paced Lives

It turns out the first thing I did in thinking about writing this book was to ask a bunch of questions. I even contemplated the notion of asking questions. Perhaps asking questions is something most people don't do often enough.

I remember the great questions my daughters asked while they were growing up (usually at the most inopportune time). I remember the time my daughter asked me on a busy morning, right as I was dropping her off at elementary school, "Dad, why is the sky blue?" Another favorite question she asked on another day right before school was, "Dad, where does meat come from?"

Of course, I answered the questions with a quick explanation and a commitment to follow up later with more detailed explanations, and then I rushed off to work. Now, many years later, I wonder why she asked those questions at those moments and what she was thinking about at the time. Was she contemplating the meaning of those things we take for granted in our everyday lives, or was it a quick question related to something that had come up in her classroom the day before? Well, since I really didn't take the time to ask those deeper questions in the moment, I will never know. If only I would have asked her more questions. Why didn't I?

In our busy lives and in our busy business environments, taking the time to ask questions and think about answers seems to be a very low priority. Rather, rushing to get the next product into the marketplace, rushing to find a solution to a problem so the team can move to the next top issue, or rushing to drop my daughter off at school so many years ago is how most of us live our busy lives.

What if we slowed down a bit? What if we took some time to ask more questions and explore them deeper? What if we played around in our mind with possible answers to those questions, extrapolated those answers, and empowered our creative self? Where would such answers take us? Now, wouldn't these be questions worth answering?

If we could come up with answers in terms of innovations that helped enrich our daily lives or come up with innovations that might help the bottom line of the businesses we work at, it might turn out to be a very good experience.

Look around you. We all deal with challenges at home every day. How do we pay for groceries that keep increasing in price? How do we fill up our cars with gasoline that keeps going up and down in price? How do we deal with difficult family situations? How do we save money? How do we go on a vacation on a limited budget with limited time to do so?

We all deal with challenges in the workplace every day too. We work hard trying to fix a nagging problem with a product, trying to respond to a product by one of our competitors, trying to get a team to work together and communicate, while trying to figure out what new products consumers want to buy. Challenges confront us every day, and more often than not, we solve those challenges without really thinking and just move on to solve the next challenge. Perhaps we just don't have time to think deeper about our ideas.

Why not organize our lives and allocate time to think deeper about the questions we ask and deeper still about the answers to those questions? What if taking the time to think deeper about our solutions caused us to act on our ideas and solve our problems better, and perhaps even save us time? Now, wouldn't that be worth the time?

Let's start by addressing the first problem identified: taking time to think deeper about the ideas we have. Once we are able to solve our time problem, we can then explore how to act on our ideas and turn them into inventions.

Organizing Your Time

There have been many books written on time management, so let's keep things simple. Why not simply organize your schedule on a personal level and professional level and specifically allocate some time to enable you to think deeper about your ideas and the solutions to those problems nagging you? After all, allocating time for this process could ultimately lead to some rewarding discoveries. By taking the time to ask more questions and by thinking deeper about possible answers, you may be able to solve problems with better solutions and in turn make your personal life more enjoyable and your business life more successful.

Now, let's define the first step on our journey as organizing your time. I don't mean you need to schedule every minute of your day or that projects need to be organized into a long, detailed, hourly timetable. I simply mean you need to organize how you spend your time.

Spend some time thinking about what you do during the day. Are you using your time most effectively? If you are working with a team, can you organize your team to solve smaller parts of the problem, with periodic checkpoints to verify progress and raise questions?

What about your personal time: Are you using all your available time in the most efficient manner? Are you watching TV when you could be focused on the situations most important in your life?

I recently watched a video presentation on the TED Web site (www. TED.com). The presenter was Deborah M. Gordon, a professor at Stanford University, and the topic was ants, which Professor Gordon studies to understand how organizations work and interact. The presentation was fascinating, as Professor Gordon described the efforts of ants and their roles within an ant colony.

An interesting aspect of her talk that caught my attention related to task allocation. Within an ant colony, a number of key tasks are performed by groups of ants when they are needed. However, approximately 50 percent of the ants within the colony that have not been allocated to a particular task do nothing at all. So I wondered what these ants do when they are doing nothing. Are they waiting to be needed? Are they providing a useful function? Professor Gordon said that these ants were "just hanging around, not doing some smaller task."

Could this be analogous to how we are in the workplace or at home when we are not moving at 100 MPH or not working on a particular mission to complete a task? Don't we just hang around and let our brain go idle and coast for a while?

Sure, everyone needs time to unwind and enjoy life or, like the 50 percent of the ants in the colony described above, just hang around, but how can we use time more efficiently to allocate time for exploring our ideas further?

Let's start by tracking our time by simply writing down the activities we do during a normal day at home or at work. At the end of the day, write down what you do between those activities.

Most people will find they have much more time than they think they do, which could be utilized for deeper problem solving, acting on ideas, or simply asking more questions about activities in their life.

Asking the Right Question

The next step is to start asking questions. When you are in the moment, attempting to answer a question, take a breath and make sure you are asking the right question. Oftentimes, we rush to find a solution and then later realize we have not asked the right question.

Give yourself time to think about the problem and understand why there is a problem. Then start asking questions about the problem. Challenge yourself to validate those questions you are asking. What questions are most appropriate given the scenario or problem?

Take the time to ask the question that is most appropriate for your problem. The following examples demonstrate how asking the right questions can lead to innovative solutions by acting on your ideas.

Basketball Example: Acting on Your Ideas

Let's say you were practicing basketball with your son, and you noticed that every time he shot the ball, it flew straight into the rim, missing the basket. You kept telling your son that if he aimed the ball higher than the rim, it would create an arc and fall into the hoop. But your son didn't really understand you and just continued repeating the scenario over and over. Then one day, you asked the general question: What can I build to get my son to arc the basketball?

You start thinking deeper about a variety of different devices and contraptions. You then begin asking more detailed questions: How can I get my son to aim higher than the hoop? How can I get him to throw the ball higher? Where should I have him aim when he shoots the ball? How should he stand? Are his arms strong enough? Does he have the coordination? Am I being clear to him regarding my instructions?

Each of these questions is important, but in order to solve your problem with a specific solution, it is important to select the question you believe is the one that most accurately describes the problem. You decide the question that most accurately describes the problem is "How can I get my son to aim higher than the hoop?"

You start to think about that question and write down as many answers as you can. You could use a ten-foot stepladder placed in front of your son and tell him to shoot the basketball over it. But you decide the stepladder may partially block his view of the basketball hoop.

You come up with an idea that seems feasible and create a sketch of your solution. You build a prototype of the idea comprising a wooden frame of two-by-four boards with a large opening through which to view the basketball hoop and place the device on rollers. You position it in front of your son. The device provides him with a clear view of the basketball hoop through a large opening in the custom frame.

Now, you ask your son to throw the basketball over the frame while aiming at the basketball hoop. Your device forces your son to throw the basketball higher than the hoop and thus create an arc. In doing so, your son throws the basketball over the frame while aiming at the hoop through the large opening in the middle of the frame, and he starts making baskets. Your prototype works! You did it!

As it turns out, at least two inventors thought of similar ideas. I have included two examples, a patent application and an issued patent, on inventions similar to that described above.

The Patent 5,642,879 below, issued in 1997, is prior art to the patent application above, which was filed in 2003. We will discuss prior art and its implications later in the book.

Example: Reflective Disposable Tissue Container

Here's another example demonstrating how asking the right questions can lead to innovative solutions. Imagine you are flying in an airplane on business. You may even have a colleague or business prospect in the seat next to you. Then, at the most unfortunate time, you sneeze. Hachoo! Well, you quickly cover your nose and mouth with your hand, possibly disgusting the person seated next to you. You might even reach for that small package of disposable tissue you carry with you when traveling.

Now, that sounds like what you would do, right? Sure, you would cover your mouth and nose with a tissue and then discretely dispose of it as quickly as possible so as not to expose your travel companion or those around you to germs.

What about those embarrassing questions that we all want to ask? "Does my nose look okay? Is it clean?" Well, I doubt you will be asking your business associate sitting next to you to please check if there is anything unseemly remaining on your nose. So what is the question you should ask about this problem?

Before you say, "Why should I bother, since I could just get up and walk to the bathroom?" think about being in a middle or window seat or during take-off or landing, when you are unable to get out of your seat.

How about, "What can I use that is easy to access and disposable and lightweight to check that my nose is not unseemly right after I sneezed when I don't want to get out of my seat?"

Notice that the question is as specific as possible, with built-in parameters that are important to the question. Let's break the question down into those parameters. Whatever I use must be the following:

Disposable Lightweight Easy to access Small

Now, start to solve the problem. I would need a mirror to view my nose. But most guys don't have a mirror now, do they? Besides, mirrors are not all that lightweight or easy to access either, for most men. It might be interesting to have a mirror on your cell phone, but you would still need to locate a tissue for your nose if there was a problem.

What if the disposable package of tissue had a mirror on it? Now, that would be great, but then it wouldn't be disposable and would probably be bulky and may even be dangerous if the mirror was made of glass.

So thinking about this more, you come up with another question. "Is there a material with reflective properties that is inexpensive and could be attached to the package?"

Researching materials, you find a number of materials that are reflective but not inexpensive. You even experiment with aluminum foil but determine it does not provide enough detail of your reflection, and it wrinkles very easily, making the reflection worse.

You try other materials, but no luck. Then one weekend, you are outside in a park on a sunny afternoon and you see a child walking on the grass holding a Mylar(r) balloon. Hey, you notice the reflection of the boy on the silver Mylar balloon material. Ah ha!

You go home and research further and after taking the time to think about possible materials, you finally find a relatively inexpensive, highly reflective Mylar material you can purchase.

There are other similar materials that will work too, but for now we stick with the Mylar material that can be cut to fit on the tissue package and affixed to the disposable tissue package permanently or temporarily in a novel way. Now that answers your initial question and provides the perfect solution!

Next, validate the parameters you previously identified by summarizing the solutions identified:

Disposable => Reflective Mylar Lightweight => Reflective Mylar is lightweight Easy to access => Affix to disposable tissue package Small => Affix to disposable tissue package

Have the questions been answered and has a solution been identified? Below is an image of the patent application I filed on it, which we will analyze and explore in more detail later in the book.

Answering Questions

And now you know the next step: answering those questions you asked. What is the most important concept to remember? Make sure you are asking the right question before you try to answer or provide a solution. Be prepared to ask many questions before you decide on the most appropriate question you want to answer. Then once you have that question, make sure you have enough specifics in your question to focus in on solving the problem.

Make your question as specific as possible and then come up with answers. Write down as many answers to the question as you (or your team) can come up with. Think and talk about each one, break the question down into key parameters, and try to provide a solution to each of the parameters. Finally, work out the details to match the right answers to that specific question.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Changing the World One Invention at a Timeby Richard Edward Rowe Copyright © 2010 by Richard Edward Rowe. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Edition details

• Publisher: iUniverse
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1450219837
• ISBN 13: 9781450219839
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 188