The future of Microsoft: What new patents reveal

Patents are actually intended to help protect inventors' ideas. But they have now mutated into a decisive economic factor - even for Microsoft. Here are three new patents from Redmond that could soon cause a stir.

For IT companies today, it is about far more than the functions, design and price of their products. Patents are now also a determining factor. Especially in the business of smartphones, tablets and software, a war worth billions is now raging. Microsoft versus Google, Apple versus Nokia, Samsung versus HTC, Oracle versus Google, Motorola versus Apple, Microsoft versus Samsung - the courts have their hands full.

IT companies: prosecute patent infringements or market patents

No wonder, because anyone who receives a patent has the exclusive right to exploit the idea behind it for 20 years: this is why technology giants such as Apple and Google have recently been pumping more money into new patents than into the development of new products. The aim behind this is clear: to secure market power through patents on innovative inventions and earn money. If the competition wants to use the protected technology, they have to pay for it. The motto: Patent infringements can be legally prosecutedbut patents can sometimes also be marketed successfully.

Microsoft alone collects around two billion US dollars for Android patents, experts estimate. This is because Google's mobile operating system contains 127 Microsoft patents. But what else does Microsoft have up its sleeve and what are the Redmond company's plans for the future? Three interesting examples.

1st patent: Task cloud for Windows Phone

Who hasn't seen them, the so-called cloud tags on websites, in which the currently most searched terms appear particularly large and prominent?

Microsoft is apparently planning something like this for its Windows Phone mobile operating system. The US Patent Office recently published a new patent called "Personal cloud for mobile tasks".

It is used to display frequently used apps and contacts. Example: If you often call your girlfriend, the corresponding contact is displayed much larger in the phone book than, for example, the Christmas tree dealer, who only plays a role once a year. The size should even be time-sensitive: If, for example, the Bundesliga is on every Saturday with your best friend, the contact will appear larger on that particular day.

2nd patent: Are Microsoft glasses coming?

The US side "TechCrunch" reported recently announced that Microsoft had acquired 75 patents filed by wearable specialist Osterhout Design Group at the beginning of the year (see also image above).

Reported cost: a whopping 150 million US dollars. The conclusion is that a concept similar to Google Glass is in the making, i.e. inconspicuous tech glasses with a multi-core processor, WLAN, Bluetooth, GPS and various sensors.

3rd patent: Gesture control for the desk

Gesture control has been one of Microsoft's hobbyhorses for some time now, Kinect sends its regards. However, the whole thing has been stuck in the gaming sector for some time. However, experts are certain that the future belongs to gesture-based control.

This is because it can be used, for example, to give much more complex commands to a machine than a mouse. Microsoft wants to incorporate its technology into a keyboard in this way, as a current patent reveals. This apparently works with the help of individual points of light.

Here is a demo video that explains the technology:

Image above: Osterhout Group, Inc. / www.google.com/patents/US8477425 (screenshot)