Microsoft gets 10,000th Patent

Microsoft on Tuesday said it has just recorded its 10,000th U.S. patent, which is related to technology used in its Surface computing platform. The U.S. Patent No. 7,479,950 covers a new technology that lets users to place objects on the computer’s tablelike display and have them associated with the data or media stored on the computer’s hard drive.

Surface Computing

For example, a group of photos from a particular vacation could be associated with a souvenir from the trip. Placing the souvenir on a Microsoft Surface computer might initiate a slide show. Rotating the souvenir accelerates or slows the playback speed.

Microsoft says it spends roughly $8 billion a year on R&D, a figure it says tops any other company in the industry. Microsoft is currently in fourth position among companies with the most U.S. patents. In 2008, Microsoft was awarded 2,000 patents while it’s rival IBM got 4,186 patents, which is was a record for a single year.

Category: Technology | Tags: Microsoft, News, Patents, Surface Computing, Technology