Qball was on Shark Tank this week. What is a Qball? Qball is touted as a foam ball into which a microphone is incorporated. It appears to be designed for a classroom setting, so that the instructor can bark orders into the ball and then throw it to one of the students. Here is the Qball website: https://www.buyqball.com/
The inventor, Shane Cox, was asked by Lori if he had a patent. His answer was that he had a patent pending and that it was directed to a way to turn of the microphone when the ball was thrown. I looked it up to see the prospects of getting it patented. It is a published application that is currently being rejected by the patent office. Here are the details.
| United States Patent Application | 20160345087 |
| Kind Code | A1 |
| Cox; Shane | November 24, 2016 |
THROWABLE MICROPHONE
Abstract
Some embodiments of the invention include a throwable microphone device. The throwable microphone device may comprise a housing. The throwable microphone device may include a microphone, a communication unit, a motion sensor, an orientation sensor, and a processor disposed within the housing. In some embodiments, the microphone may receive sound waves and generate a corresponding electrical audio signal. The communication unit may wirelessly transmit at least a portion of the electrical audio signals. The motion sensor may detect changes in acceleration of the throwable microphone device. The orientation sensor may detect changes in orientation of the throwable microphone device. The processor may be electrically coupled with the microphone, the communication unit, the motion sensor, and the orientation sensor. The processor may mute the throwable microphone device in response to data from the motion sensor and may also unmute the throwable microphone device in response to data from the orientation sensor.
| Inventors: | Cox; Shane; (St. George, UT) |
| Applicant: |
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| Family ID: | 57324965 | ||||||||||
| Appl. No.: | 15/158446 | ||||||||||
| Filed: | May 18, 2016 |
It looks like the patent office is giving the inventor a hard time, which is nothing unusual about the patent office these days. It is more like the un-patent office. What I thought was also interesting is that the inventor changed attorneys and the case is now being handled by one of my former associates. Hopefully he can make some progress. Regardless, I think if he keeps paying the patent office enough money and keeps making arguments, he will eventually get a patent.
None of that seemed to bother the Sharks. Shane accepted a $300,000 offer from Lori Greiner, Mark Cuban and Rohan Oza. Good luck Shane.