Like OMG that is way cool. I wonder WTF came up with that 31337 idea to patent it? IMHO it was a brilliant stroke of ICT-oriented geekish genius. lol Sorry, couldn't resist...I'll go back to my holiday hibernation now..... :) Happy New Year, AIR'ers! -rf On Dec 30, 2009, at 22:55 , live wrote:
No, really. IBM was just given a patent for cultural shorthand notations such as LOL?
"These factors have fostered the evolution of shorthand notation, wherein users abbreviate words and phrases to communicate using fewer keystrokes. For example, typing abbreviations like LOL ("laughing out loud") and IMO ("in my opinion") shorten the number of characters required in messages and expedite the communication process. However, as with any nonverbal communication, the effectiveness of text communication is often limited. The use of shorthand in conversational writing can make it difficult for people to understand one another. A complicating factor is that individual users commonly develop their own jargon, so that the shorthand notation of one user does not always agree with shorthand notation of another user."
"The present invention provides a method of electronic communication and a machine-accessible medium containing instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform the method. The method comprises receiving a text communication from a sender, selecting a target term from the text communication, searching a plurality of databases for one or more alternative terms for the target term; and selectively displaying one or more of the alternative terms. The plurality of databases may include, without limitation, one or more of a sender database, a recipient database, a service provider database, and a public database. Typically, the target term is a shorthand term, and the one or more alternative terms include one or more longhand terms defined with respect to the shorthand term. Optionally, the text communication may be displayed with one of the alternative terms substituted for the target term. In a further option, the alternative terms may be displayed along with a name of the database in which each of the alternative terms was found."
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1... in case that url breaks, here it is in a short url: http://bit.ly/53J56s
------------------------- Sharon Greenfield Marylhurst University http://www.sharoncountry.com @SharonG
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