Anyone purchase the Escort iQ yet
01-08-2011, 10:35 PM
#17
Rennlist Member
Valentine Research has 17 patents related to radar, Cincinnati Microwave has 22 (many going back a ways) and Escort, Inc has another 9.
But numbers really don't tell the story: You can get a patent for some simple trick that any second-rate engineer can get around in a heartbeat, or you can get a patent for some fundamentally clever idea like using arrows to show radar direction, or using GPS to qualify false alarms, as a couple of examples.
The V1 lists four patents on the label: 4,878,061, 5,068,663, 5,083,129, 5,250,951... "and others". The third one (5,083,129) is the arrows, and does indeed expire Feb 25 2011. (Links are to Google patents). It doesn't list the expiration date, but prior to '95 it was 20 years from the first filing date (Feb 25, 1991), or 17 years from issue date, whichever is longer.
What is interesting is that of the 17 radar-related patents that Valentine Research has, most were issued prior to 2000. Only three patents have been issued in the last few years: 7,061,423 filed in 2004 and related to POP; and 7,450,051 and 7,579,976 filed in 2005 and 2008, both related to using harmonics to identify false signals. So they are not completely dormant, but without being able to use GPS for screening false signals, I don't see a bright future.
Escort's key patents look like 7,388,537 for reduced emissions (the STI), and 7,576,679 and 7,804,440 for using GPS. (There may be others, patent searches tend to get tripped up when companies change names).
01-08-2011, 10:50 PM
#18
Rest in Peace
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Mike is going to have to pull a rabbit out of a hat to keep his perceived place at the top of the hill.
It's not quite that lopsided, but it might as well be.
Valentine Research has 17 patents related to radar, Cincinnati Microwave has 22 (many going back a ways) and Escort, Inc has another 9.
But numbers really don't tell the story: You can get a patent for some simple trick that any second-rate engineer can get around in a heartbeat, or you can get a patent for some fundamentally clever idea like using arrows to show radar direction, or using GPS to qualify false alarms, as a couple of examples.
The V1 lists four patents on the label: 4,878,061, 5,068,663, 5,083,129, 5,250,951... "and others". The third one (5,083,129) is the arrows, and does indeed expire Feb 25 2011. (Links are to Google patents). It doesn't list the expiration date, but prior to '95 it was 20 years from the first filing date (Feb 25, 1991), or 17 years from issue date, whichever is longer.
What is interesting is that of the 17 radar-related patents that Valentine Research has, most were issued prior to 2000. Only three patents have been issued in the last few years: 7,061,423 filed in 2004 and related to POP; and 7,450,051 and 7,579,976 filed in 2005 and 2008, both related to using harmonics to identify false signals. So they are not completely dormant, but without being able to use GPS for screening false signals, I don't see a bright future.
Escort's key patents look like 7,388,537 for reduced emissions (the STI), and 7,576,679 and 7,804,440 for using GPS. (There may be others, patent searches tend to get tripped up when companies change names).
Valentine Research has 17 patents related to radar, Cincinnati Microwave has 22 (many going back a ways) and Escort, Inc has another 9.
But numbers really don't tell the story: You can get a patent for some simple trick that any second-rate engineer can get around in a heartbeat, or you can get a patent for some fundamentally clever idea like using arrows to show radar direction, or using GPS to qualify false alarms, as a couple of examples.
The V1 lists four patents on the label: 4,878,061, 5,068,663, 5,083,129, 5,250,951... "and others". The third one (5,083,129) is the arrows, and does indeed expire Feb 25 2011. (Links are to Google patents). It doesn't list the expiration date, but prior to '95 it was 20 years from the first filing date (Feb 25, 1991), or 17 years from issue date, whichever is longer.
What is interesting is that of the 17 radar-related patents that Valentine Research has, most were issued prior to 2000. Only three patents have been issued in the last few years: 7,061,423 filed in 2004 and related to POP; and 7,450,051 and 7,579,976 filed in 2005 and 2008, both related to using harmonics to identify false signals. So they are not completely dormant, but without being able to use GPS for screening false signals, I don't see a bright future.
Escort's key patents look like 7,388,537 for reduced emissions (the STI), and 7,576,679 and 7,804,440 for using GPS. (There may be others, patent searches tend to get tripped up when companies change names).
01-09-2011, 05:52 PM
#19
Addict
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
It's not quite that lopsided, but it might as well be.
Valentine Research has 17 patents related to radar, Cincinnati Microwave has 22 (many going back a ways) and Escort, Inc has another 9.
But numbers really don't tell the story: You can get a patent for some simple trick that any second-rate engineer can get around in a heartbeat, or you can get a patent for some fundamentally clever idea like using arrows to show radar direction, or using GPS to qualify false alarms, as a couple of examples.
The V1 lists four patents on the label: 4,878,061, 5,068,663, 5,083,129, 5,250,951... "and others". The third one (5,083,129) is the arrows, and does indeed expire Feb 25 2011. (Links are to Google patents). It doesn't list the expiration date, but prior to '95 it was 20 years from the first filing date (Feb 25, 1991), or 17 years from issue date, whichever is longer.
What is interesting is that of the 17 radar-related patents that Valentine Research has, most were issued prior to 2000. Only three patents have been issued in the last few years: 7,061,423 filed in 2004 and related to POP; and 7,450,051 and 7,579,976 filed in 2005 and 2008, both related to using harmonics to identify false signals. So they are not completely dormant, but without being able to use GPS for screening false signals, I don't see a bright future.
Escort's key patents look like 7,388,537 for reduced emissions (the STI), and 7,576,679 and 7,804,440 for using GPS. (There may be others, patent searches tend to get tripped up when companies change names).
Valentine Research has 17 patents related to radar, Cincinnati Microwave has 22 (many going back a ways) and Escort, Inc has another 9.
But numbers really don't tell the story: You can get a patent for some simple trick that any second-rate engineer can get around in a heartbeat, or you can get a patent for some fundamentally clever idea like using arrows to show radar direction, or using GPS to qualify false alarms, as a couple of examples.
The V1 lists four patents on the label: 4,878,061, 5,068,663, 5,083,129, 5,250,951... "and others". The third one (5,083,129) is the arrows, and does indeed expire Feb 25 2011. (Links are to Google patents). It doesn't list the expiration date, but prior to '95 it was 20 years from the first filing date (Feb 25, 1991), or 17 years from issue date, whichever is longer.
What is interesting is that of the 17 radar-related patents that Valentine Research has, most were issued prior to 2000. Only three patents have been issued in the last few years: 7,061,423 filed in 2004 and related to POP; and 7,450,051 and 7,579,976 filed in 2005 and 2008, both related to using harmonics to identify false signals. So they are not completely dormant, but without being able to use GPS for screening false signals, I don't see a bright future.
Escort's key patents look like 7,388,537 for reduced emissions (the STI), and 7,576,679 and 7,804,440 for using GPS. (There may be others, patent searches tend to get tripped up when companies change names).
H2
01-09-2011, 06:46 PM
#20
Nordschleife Master
My V1 still works perfect. I have no intention of upgrading. It's still one of the best and is very well built. When I bought mine in 2003 a buddy of mine bought a Escort unit and it broke a few years back.
