The Eureka Method: How to Think Like an Inventor

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The Eureka Method: How to Think Like an Inventor

The Eureka Method: How to Think Like an Inventor

Authors: John Hershey

Published: August 2011

eISBN: 9780071770408 0071770402 | ISBN: 9780071770392

Cover

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

PART I: Thinking Like an Inventor

CHAPTER 1: The Three Questions That Should Follow a Eureka! Moment

How Can I Broaden My Invention?

Application-Agnostic Inventions

How Can I Protect My Invention from Becoming Obsolete?

Foreseeing the Evolution of Memory

Do I Understand Who Benefits from My Invention?

Patent Searching

Recap

Discussions and Reflections

CHAPTER 2: Improvement Inventions

Building a Better Mousetrap

How Small Things Add Up

Using Analogy to Help You Improve Inventions

Microwave Ovens and Cell Towers

Persistent Improvement in the Ski Industry

Improvement Invention Opportunities in Infrastructure Upgrades

The Railroad Classification Yard

Traffic Lights

Focusing Your Attention Where It Counts

Selectivity and Moore’s Law

Tricks of IP Mining

Recap

Discussions and Reflections

CHAPTER 3: Developing an Inventive Mindset by Gaming the System

Examples of Gaming the System

Gaming the Game

How Criminals Game the System

How to Seek a Eureka! Moment by Gaming the System

Recap

Discussions and Reflections

CHAPTER 4: Increasing Dimensions to Spark Eureka! Moments

Examining New Dimensions

Language Dimensions

Sales Savvy

A Combinatorial Conundrum

Adding a New Dimension to an Old Space

Choosing the Right Dimensions

Combining Dimensions: Considering Climate in Risk-Based Pricing

Changing a Dimension: Visualizing Speech

Recap

Discussions and Reflections

CHAPTER 5: Combination Inventions

Combination Invention and Emerging Technology

The Web and the Camera

Bar Codes and Cooking

Subliminal Channel Concept: Locks and Alarms

A Wartime Countermeasure

Frequency Hopping

A No-Holds-Barred Approach to Combination Invention

The POP Score: A Measure of Invention

The Technology Linkage Diagram

Barriers Dissolve with Time

Recap

Discussions and Reflections

PART II: Seeking a Eureka! Moment

CHAPTER 6: Law, Regulation, and Standards

Safety Regulations and Invention

T. J. Hooper Case

GPS

Radio Spectrum Spur to Invention

How Standards Can Stimulate Invention

Patent Pooling

Standards and Cryptography

Recap

Discussions and Reflections

CHAPTER 7: Overcoming and Using Constraints

Energy Limitations in a Mechanical System

Power Limitations in the Railroad Industry

Geographic Constraints

Nonlinearity Constraint

Proving a Negative: Detecting a Null Condition

Recap

Discussions and Reflections

CHAPTER 8: Be Driven by the Bottom Line

Mature Technology Married to New Technology

Invention and Productivity in Agriculture

Caterpillar Patents

Making Snow for the Ski Industry

Making the Most of What You Already Have

Focusing on Bottom-Line Invention

Recap

Discussions and Reflections

PART III: Appendixes

APPENDIX A: Patents: Mileposts of Invention

The Patent Art

Getting Started

The Claims

Patentability, Infringement, and Design Arounds

When a Patent Is in Your Way

Types of Patents

Le Mot Juste

Why Bother with Dependent Claims?

Speed Is of the Essence and Will Become More So

Patentability: §101 Revisited

Sometimes It’s a Secret

Claim All of It

Recap

Discussions and Reflections

APPENDIX B: U S Patent 6004596 “Sealed Crustless Sandwich”

APPENDIX C: Inventors and Inventorship

Who Are Inventors?

Failing Your Way to Success

Success Has Many Fathers

Recognition and Compensation

The Meaning of “Inventorship”

Inventing as a Passion

Abraham Lincoln

Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard

Kelly Fitzpatrick

Recap

Discussions and Reflections

Index