[ILUG] mildy amusing patent application in the US

[paul]

Hi,

After prompting from a well known Luggite as opposed to Luddite was
going through www.lwn.net and I kept shaking my head, half in amusement
at the weakness of the patent system in the US and half in fear of this
system arriving in Ireland. 
Read this and try to hold off saying you have seen this before when you
read it in detail.
When you have read it, remove the phrase 'limited resource computing
device' and line by line say where you have seen the various ideas
before.

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6,727,830.WKU.&OS=PN/6,727,830&RS=PN/6,727,830

I had a telephone discussion with this person and I maintained that that
in the right circumstances a mainframe would be a limited resource
computing device.

However it is suggested that a hand held device, is such a device, I
would maintain that this term is a fallacy as it is so vague as to
border the on the ridiculous. 
It also suggests that if you get a different reaction to the way a
button is used that you could be in violation of this patent.

With a modicum of literary licence I beg to make the following phrase
relevant  "[The sound of an electric bell is heard.] ... Only creditors
and relatives ring in such a Wagnerian fashion"
Oscar Wilde, using the character Algernon in the 'Importance of being
Ernest' to suggest that pressing the same button in different ways can
obtain different functionality.
I am not a member of the legal profession, so far be it from me to
suggest that this is prior art, however I at this time I find myself
confused.

Regards,

Paul O'Malley