A Shady Patent

At the simplest level, creativity is nothing more than connecting things which weren’t connected before, in order to bring something new into the world.

This act of connecting the unconnected, could result in a piece of art-maybe even a masterpiece, a solution to a problem that has defied solutions in the past, or a new approach to solving an old problem more effectively, less costly or simply, more elegantly.

Sometimes, when you connect the unconnected and create the unexpected, the only thought that comes to mind is – why hasn’t this been done before? How did we miss this?

What do you do when you stumble across an idea like this? An idea so simple that someone must have thought of it – but despite searching for a prior implementation, you come up dry. No products on the market, no patents pending or otherwise, that you can find, and yet? ALL the pieces are readily available – just not connected… yet.

What to do? Applying for a patent is a possibility, but since the idea is so blindingly obvious you know there will be challenges to it which will require far more resources than you could draw upon to defend. What to do?

You set the idea free.

If the patent already exists? Then nothing is lost by the disclosure. Perhaps more awareness of the idea will prompt someone to act on it.

If the patent doesn’t exist? Well, it’s unlikely you’d have succeeded securing the patent, or could afford the battle to keep it, so nothing is lost.

Consider this to be the Prior Art posted to thwart anyone attempting to create the Patent from this point on. Posted to Linkedin on May 27th 2023 at 2:00 pm EST.

For this idea? We need only connect three things that already exist and are already widely used, to create a solution to a problem most everyone, over the age of 18, has experienced.

1st Part:

???????????Grab hold of any smartphone/table and download any app that allows you to identify celestial objects in the night sky.

For iOS: Night Sky, Skyview, Stellarium Mobile, Sky Guide, Sky Tonight

For Android: Heavens-Above, Star Walk, Universe2Go, Celestron Skyportal

???????????All of these offer an amazing feature. Hold the device up to the sky, what you see on the screen replicates the stars behind the device. As you move the device to the left or right, up or down, the display continues to show what is directly behind the screen.

???????????The application uses several pieces of information to accomplish something that would have astounded Galileo, Copernicus, Kepler, Halley and hundreds of other astronomers born before computers were ubiquitous.

--The Longitude and Latitude provided by the built in GPS receiver and orbiting satellites

--The time at your location provided by a precise timekeeper and updated via internet

--Which direction the device is facing provided by an internal compass

--The precise orientation of the device provided by internal motion sensors.

It takes that information and using some rather sophisticated mathematics, it presents a graphical representation of what the night sky looks like behind the screen.

Everything it displays on the screen is at a ‘fixed’ location on the celestial sphere. ‘Fixed’ is in quotes because while the stars and galaxies are moving? From our perspective, and for the length of time we’ll observe them? They are ‘fixed’.

There are two exceptions – The Moon which we'll ignore, and what we’re interested in - the nearest star. Our Sun moves across the sky, slowly, but it’s noticeable to us. The apps mentioned above, based on the information it has access to, knows exactly where in the sky you’ll find the Sun. Point your device at the Sun, and the device will place it exactly on the screen where it is in the sky.

That’s the first part of the idea. Can you guess where I’m going with this yet?

2nd Part:

???????????In the past decade or so there’s been a few advances in monitor display technologies. This is an understatement.

???????????Companies such as Bi-Search International Inc, Planar, Crystal Display Systems, LG Business Solutions, Pro Display Systems --- all offer transparent displays. In other words, clear glass onto which they can display graphics.

We’re almost there… any guesses as to where we’re going yet?

3rd Part:

???????????Most digital cameras have a feature to remove ‘Red Eyes’ from photos. A minimalist facial recognition algorithm is all that’s required.

That’s it. You now have the knowledge to solve a problem that annoys drivers on a daily basis… at sunrise and sunset.

Have you guessed the problem, and the solution yet?

The Problem.

???????????If you’ve driven a car, then you likely drive into the setting or rising Sun on a regular basis. You’ve deployed various strategies to alleviate the issue of Sun Glare which causes automobile accidents, including deaths, worldwide. You pull down the visor to block the Sun and a lot more besides, hold your hand in front of the Sun to shade your eyes, curse the Sun - which never works, or you wear sunglasses to minimize the problem to some extent.

A Solution --- The Shady Patent.

???????????Turn the entire front windshield, and if you’re obsessed with completeness, the two side windshields, into a large transparent computer screen… install the necessary sensors to provide the information used in those tablet apps we mentioned above… and then? Using that transparent monitor, we place a black circle directly over the Sun on the windshield, to block the Sun light from hitting your eyes directly. Just like what the Sun Visor does – but way cooler.

The system can figure out exactly where your eyes are by using a micro camera and the rudimentary facial recognition algorithm used in nearly every digital camera…

If there’s a passenger in the car next to the driver, a second black circle could be placed on the windshield to shade their eyes as well.

How large is the black circle? The Sun is .5 degrees wide in the sky. Therefore, the size of the black circle will relate to the distance of the windshield (screen) from your eyes at the point where the Sun is on the windshield. This will also be affected somewhat, though minimally, by the shape of the windshield. Similarly, the size is affected by how large the black circle must be to cover both eyes in shade and allow for some movement of the head. Note? I’ve mentioned that the shape of the Black spot is a circle, it might be better to use an oval.

See? All that math we learned in school IS useful!

There are some technical details to be addressed – nothing is ever simple in the real world.

-There needs to be a manual on/off switch for this. No need for black circles on your windshield if it’s cloudy, or the sun is behind buildings/mountains/trees.

-The pitch/roll/yaw of the car needs to be factored into where the black circle is located. The pitch will be the dominant factor.

-No need to show the Black Circle when the Sun is below the horizon – and that’s difficult, not impossible, to determine automatically without a cartographic database.

A forward facing camera might alleviate some or all of these issues and sense when the Sun is visible.

?

The world produces about 66 million cars each year. That’s a huge annual market for cars that can automatically shield the driver’s eyes from the glare of the Sun.

While transparent screens are a new technology, and screens the size of windshields are still expensive, when production numbers are in excess of 10m/annually? Prices drop precipitously. They also drop as markets mature and technology advances.

When I started to look at this problem more than a decade ago? Even the idea of a transparent screen was a pipedream. Now we’re using the technology to display ads on fridge doors in Walgreens grocery stores. The technology is just waiting to be exploited in myriad ways.

How much would you pay for never being blinded by the light again as you ride off into the sunset?

Go out and throw some shade!

Peter de Jager

Toronto, Ont

May 27th 2023

p.s. If any automobile company brings this to market? I’ll happily take delivery of your first model – consider it a way to say thanks for the monstrously huge new market you’ve just discovered.

Peter de Jager is an International Speaker, Writer and Consultant on issues relating to Change Management, Problem Solving and Creativity. Reach him via Linkedin or preferably email: [email protected]