back to article Amazon tries to patent 3D printers on trucks

Amazon has filed for a patent on a service that would see the company offer 3D-printed stuff on demand. The US Patent Filing [PDF] describes a service where customers can order items to be remotely fabricated and shipped by Amazon – or, in some cases, 3D printed by a mobile unit that delivers the items directly to them. The …

  1. the spectacularly refined chap

    How on Earth is this patentable?

    The mobile manufacture element is only a tiny part of the claim, what is actually being claimed here is essentially a 3D printing bureau service of the kind that has been around for 20 years. The only difference I can see is the introduction of a library of third party designs that can be selected by the user, instead of needing to supply a design at time of order. Hardly a groundbreaking step, indeed it could be argued that making a request "Send me one of your demo models" to a 3D printer vendor is prior art here.

    Yes, I know the US patent system is hopelessly broken but even so I surprised they would think it worth the time even trying to patent this.

    1. MrDamage Silver badge

      Re: How on Earth is this patentable?

      Agreed. Having this patentable, is like having a patent on all those vans driving around dispensing soft-serve ice cream.

    2. Robert Helpmann??

      Re: How on Earth is this patentable?

      ...I [am] surprised they would think it worth the time even trying to patent this.

      Perhaps the idea is not to get a patent but to generate some cheap publicity. Either that or Amazon is taking the throw enough stuff and see what sticks approach.

    3. Rampant Spaniel

      Re: How on Earth is this patentable?

      they have been awarded a patent but it is worth nothing until it is tested in court. The idea is (not sure I agree that it works) is that to keep the cost of patents down the process is fairly simple and virtually no serious verification is done. In theory that comes in court if there is ever a need, so patents that aren't ever challenged don't need to bear the cost of the verification. Sadly this allows for large companies to file for invalid patents then use their size the force smaller competition to cease competing. That and actually challenging them in court usually comes down to who had the most money rather than actual worth of the patent.

      1. the spectacularly refined chap

        Re: How on Earth is this patentable?

        they have been awarded a patent but it is worth nothing until it is tested in court.

        They have applied for a patent.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Black Helicopters

      Re: How on Earth is this patentable?

      I would tell you what I think, but I'm rushing to patent "3D printer on a drone" before someone beats me to it!

    5. macjules

      Re: How on Earth is this patentable?

      Very often (from a UK perspective) one might file a patent in order to mislead the competition or as a way of getting a patent through later on that you know may well be contentious.

    6. MrXavia

      Re: How on Earth is this patentable?

      I concur, there is plenty of prior art. I can already go online, choose something from a catalog, have it printed and delivered to my door...

      In no way is this patent-able.. NOW there maybe something in the patent I missed when skimming that is a patent-able idea about the process.. but I could not see anything that is non obvious...

    7. Eric Olson

      Re: How on Earth is this patentable?

      Actually, this wouldn't be much different than patenting the cotton gin with a feed mechinism on the front. Same basic design, just slightly modified.

      Like it or not, but the patent process was explicitly designed to allow for incremental or additive changes to existing technology. That includes something as simple as adding an electric motor to a technology previously powered with a hand crank. Seems dumb, but when the US codified patent law back in the 1800s, the idea was that a person who improves an existing process, regardless of how minor, they get an exclusivity window on that particular improvement.. assuming they were the first to idea and could prove it if someone else filed first.

      That's how software patents snuck in to the process. They were "improvements" on existing process. No one realized at the time that the sound they heard after approving it was the squeaky hinge on Pandora's Box. Maybe this will be rejected, maybe it will be pre-empted by prior art. But you can't patent what you don't file, so that's what they have to do.

  2. Barbarian At the Gates

    Help feed a lawyer, file a patent with the USPTO

    So, now that "on a computer" patents are out, we're moving to "on a truck". Fantastic.

    1. MrXavia
      Coat

      Re: Help feed a lawyer, file a patent with the USPTO

      I read it as 'on a mobile device' .....

  3. ecofeco Silver badge

    Too early and too obvious

    Self titled.

    1. Ken Hagan Gold badge

      Re: Too early and too obvious

      The fact that they have had this idea long before it is commercially feasible is, for me, strong evidence that it is obvious. And yes, I'd re-iterate all the examples of prior-related-art mentioned by commenters so far.

      But I'd also re-iterate the observation that this is how the system works. It's utterly broken. Get used to it, or else direct your anger at the politicians who have fouled the system rather than at the companies who are simply playing by the current rules.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Really...

    Good thing Xerox never thought to load a photocopier on a truck and patent it.

  5. Mark 85
    Facepalm

    You gotta' be kidding me.....

    If this is the case than any caterer truck (the ones that do tacos, burgers, etc.) could file a patent for preparing food "on the fly". This seems beyond belief to me. What's next, a patent on the configuration of the truck? Let's see... truck, generator, computer, printer, supply of materials... all in a designated area for "optimum work flow". Of course, if there's round corners anywhere, a certain tech giant will claim infringement.....

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: You gotta' be kidding me.....

      There's prior art for catering trucks.

      1. MrT

        3D printers for food...

        ...also exist, but I've not seen one in a burger van. Maybe Amazon are only concerned with printing on the move...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: 3D printers for food...

          A donut van already 3d prints food, just they only have one shape available, a donut.

  6. herman

    I already patented 3-D printers on drones.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Yes, but I patented a 3D printer self-modifying into a drone then escaping over the horizon.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ahhhh

    I love the smell (and warmth) of a newly printed delivery early in the morning...

  8. MrT

    Good things come to those who wait...

    The picture seems to show a clone army instructing a printer to drop a steaming pile of crap into the back of a truck for speedy delivery to the waiting customer. That Amazon have applied for this to be recognised as an addition to their business model seems appropriate...

    Rich Hall — 'Good things come to those who wait, but sh*t pretty much shows up right away, doesn't it?'

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Good things come to those who wait...

      It's a pretty interesting idea actually. 3D printing as a service, essentially - means you can get access to a far more capable printer than you could (sensibly) afford.

      3DPAAS

      1. MrT

        Re: Good things come to those who wait...

        That's true. I've worked in CLCs where the same idea was used to provide 3D printers, laser cutters and other expensive resources to schools across a wider area. This seems more like an attempt to make productive use of sorts of the transit time (assuming that the printing happens en route). The problems that I can see of truck-based printing (cf agency/office-based) are of limited capacity - relative slowness of production, potentially needing someone in attendance to deal with the parts (not ideal). Or Amazon just resigning to having the truck arrive at one customer, complete the item and then drive off to the next customer location. It seems they would be better served keeping the printers back in a base and using more efficient delivery methods to send the items out.

      2. John Bailey

        Re: Good things come to those who wait...

        "It's a pretty interesting idea actually. 3D printing as a service, essentially - means you can get access to a far more capable printer than you could (sensibly) afford."

        Yes.

        If only someone would offer the service.. Perhaps an online service, where one sends a model, or picks one submitted by someone else, and they print it along with many others to make it more economical, in a variety of materials..

        They could call the company Shapeways..

        Oh look.. Somebody did already.

        BLOODY YEARS AGO.

        http://www.shapeways.com/

        1. MrT

          Re: Shapeways ...

          "If you've created STL models for 6 impossible things this morning, why not round it off by sending them for productiom at Shapeways, the 3D Printing Agency at the End of the Universe?"

          Sorry, Douglas. And all at Shapeways. It made sense in my mind... ;-)

      3. Evil Auditor Silver badge

        Re: Good things come to those who wait...

        Interesting it is indeed. (Actually not so much...) For example IBM has been providing mobile data centres for years - containers on trucks, full of full racks and power generators, delivered to your door step. I wonder if they ever filed a patent for mobile computing.

        I'm not so much questioning Amazon's idea, but much more this being patentable.

  9. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Trollface

    Hitler patents execution commandos on trucks!

    PATENT WAR with STALIN: Use of concentration camps deemed covered by "prior art".

    Japanes file amicus curiae brief, also claims impromptu beheadings by katana are a national first.

    1. Canecutter

      WOW! Godwyn's Law!

      That didn't take long, did it?

  10. Sceptic Tank Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Stability?

    Don't 3D printers require a stable surface? Sounds to me like whatever is being printed will arrive looking like a blob of molten plastic with warts. I would love to see them drive around Pretoria their truck mounted printer attempting to scale a speed bump without landing in a pothole on the other side.

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Stability?

      I'm fairly sure that's not a hard problem to solve in engineering terms?

  11. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

    Been done...

    I remember many years ago, when AutoCAD R10 was still fresh and new and Windows was still the new kid on the block, a "demo" truck turned up at our place of work operated by the MSC or some such Govt. Department pushing technology. On board was a fully automated computer controlled manufacturing plant which made screwdrivers. On the fly injection moulded handles which were then mated to the (pre-made) shanks/bits. It was explained that they could have had a CNC cutter in there which made the flat or Philips bits for the screwdrivers but that added weight and cost. I still have the sample screwdriver, created before my very eyes before and popping out of the slot especially for me.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Mobile Lightsaber topiary next

    Just call up some Jedi's and have your bush neatly formed with barely an errant singe.

    You heard it here first.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Delivery time will now depend on ordered good complexity...

    Overnight service for small simple goods only!

  14. Canecutter

    Hmm.

    "Amazon has a flair for proposing unusual delivery models."

    Amazon also has a flair for patenting prior art.

    A friend of mine used to operate a 3D printer out of the back of her panel van. And that was where I first heard about 3D printing, almost a decade ago.

    I suppose Amazon, if awarded the patent, will figure out some way past the problem my friend encountered that led her to revert to operating the printer in a shop, on a concrete floor. She found that driving around with the machine in her van, despite her best efforts to protect the moving parts, always led to various calibrations going out-of-whack, and she had to spend a lot of time recalibrating. Maybe Amazon has found a way past that that is cheap enough to still turn a profit.

    I wish 'em luck.

  15. FBee

    "...though the idea was shot down by the FAA"

    I see what you did there.

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