Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] control curve patent
From: Paul Barton-Davis (pbd_AT_Op.Net)
Date: Thu Nov 30 2000 - 20:15:57 EET
>adjacent \Ad*ja"cent\, a. [L. adjacens, -centis, p. pr. of adjacere to
>lie near; ad + jac[=e]re to lie: cf. F. adjacent.] Lying near, close, or
>contiguous; neighboring; bordering on; as, a field adjacent to the
>highway. ``The adjacent forest.'' --B. Jonson.
>
>Usage: Adjacent, Adjoining, Contiguous. Things are adjacent when they
>lie close each other, not necessary in actual contact; as, adjacent
>fields, adjacent villages, etc.
>...
>
>So this patent doesn't cover a control line lying over the waveform.
Interesting point. I'll talk to my patent lawyer friend about
this. Its notable the the other systems i've seen that allow this
(e.g. samplitude, cooledit, protools) all draw the control line
directly over the waveform. i have no idea if this allowed them to
evade the patent.
>Just incase there is a photo in Road's "Computer Music Tutorial" of
>someone editing control points associated with a waveform (with a lightpen
>or something). The photo was '70's IIRC, certainly earlier than 1989.
its on page 634. the annotation says
"Fairlight CMI light pen drawing envelopes for additive synthesis"
the problem with this is that you're not thinking like a patent
office. yes, you and i know that the basic system here is the
same. but the patent office is set up to reward micro-innovation. it
would not suprise me if, prior to 1989, there really were no systems
that worked the way macromedia's patent describes. the fact that their
description is just a rather specific instance of a technique used for
other things does not invalidate their patent. if this were true, then
many physical-world patents would be invalid because they represent
transfer of an idea from one domain to another. the problem with
software is that this kind of transfer (say, from using a light pen to
control additive synthesis envelopes to using a mouse to control
amplitude envelopes) is generally trivial, and yet the patent office
(in the US, anyway) recognizes the two examples as quite distinct. sigh.
--p
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