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Watch Skins Selection Application With Blockchain Token

Patent No. US11263607 (titled "Watch Skins Selection Application With Blockchain Token") was filed by Watch Skins Corp on Mar 16, 2021.

What is this patent about?

’607 is related to the field of electronic watches, specifically addressing the issue of scarcity and authentication of digital watch faces. Traditional electronic watch faces can be easily copied and distributed without any means of verifying authenticity or ownership. This patent aims to solve this problem by associating each watch face with a unique cryptographic token.

The underlying idea behind ’607 is to use blockchain technology to create a system where digital watch faces are treated as unique, non-fungible assets. Each watch face is linked to a cryptographic token, and only the owner of that token is authorized to display the corresponding watch face on their device. This creates scarcity and allows for verifiable ownership, similar to physical luxury goods.

The claims of ’607 focus on an electronic watch system that includes a watch display and one or more processors. The processors are programmed to receive a user's request to display a watch face, then verify if the user's blockchain wallet holds the cryptographic token associated with that watch face. If the verification is successful, the watch face is displayed; otherwise, the display is prevented, ensuring only authorized users can access specific watch faces.

In practice, a user would acquire a digital watch face, which is essentially a design file, and a corresponding non-fungible token (NFT) . The NFT acts as a digital certificate of ownership, stored in the user's blockchain wallet. When the user selects a watch face, the watch checks the blockchain to confirm that the user's wallet contains the correct NFT. This verification process ensures that only legitimate owners can display the watch face.

This approach differs significantly from prior methods where watch faces could be freely copied and distributed. By leveraging blockchain technology, ’607 introduces a mechanism for creating digital scarcity and verifiable ownership, enabling new business models for digital watch face designers and providing users with a sense of exclusivity and authenticity. The system also allows for a secondary market where users can buy, sell, and trade watch faces, similar to physical collectibles.

How does this patent fit in bigger picture?

Technical landscape at the time

In the late 2010s when ’607 was filed, electronic watches were becoming increasingly sophisticated, at a time when user interfaces were typically implemented using touchscreens and customizable software. Systems commonly relied on wireless communication protocols to connect watches to smartphones or other devices, and when hardware or software constraints made secure authentication and digital rights management non-trivial.

Novelty and Inventive Step

The examiner allowed the claims because the closest prior art, Wilson, discloses configuring context-specific user interfaces for portable multifunction devices, but fails to teach or suggest, in combination with Vijayan, an electronic watch system comprising a processor, storing a cryptographic code associated with the information for displaying on the display face, and the processor controlling the information to be displayed on the display face responsive to the cryptographic code associated with the information for displaying on the display face indicating exclusive ownership of the information to be displayed on the display face, and the processor controlling the information and not allowing the information to be displayed on the display face responsive to the cryptographic code associated with the information for displaying on the display face not indicating exclusive ownership of the information to be displayed on the display face. Claims 2-6, 8-9 are dependent on claim 1 and are allowable for the same reasons stated above. In addition, claim 11 is analogous to claim 1, and thus is allowable for the same reasons stated above. Claims 12-16, 18-19 are dependent on claim 11 and are allowable for the same reasons stated above.

Claims

This patent contains 16 claims, with independent claims 1 and 9. The independent claims are directed to an electronic watch system and a method of displaying a watch face, respectively, both involving blockchain verification of ownership. The dependent claims generally elaborate on the features and functionalities of the watch system and method described in the independent claims.

Key Claim Terms New

Definitions of key terms used in the patent claims.

Term (Source)Support for SpecificationInterpretation
Blockchain wallet
(Claim 1, Claim 9)		“A user's tokens are stored into a blockchain wallet at 640, and the user who owns the non-fungible token is given a unique identifying block chain “hash” code at 650 which is stored by the user at 660. In one embodiment, both the hash code and the blockchain wallet are stored in an electronic memory on the watch itself.”A digital wallet that stores the cryptographic token associated with a watch face.
Cryptographic token
(Claim 1, Claim 9)		“In one specific embodiment described herein, the number of watch faces which can be created this way is limited by associating each authorized watch face with a cryptographic token, and requiring that the watch face can only be shown on the watch by the owner of the cryptographic token, or when the cryptographic token is otherwise verified as being legitimate for the specific watch face. In one embodiment, the cryptographic token is a blockchain based token. In one embodiment, the cryptographic token is a smart contract, which is a computer program/machine intended to digitally facilitate, verify, or enforce the negotiation or performance of a contract.”A digital token that indicates exclusive ownership of a watch face, used for verification before displaying the watch face.
Watch display
(Claim 1, Claim 9)		“The watch 99 may have, for example, a housing as conventional, with a screen 100 of liquid crystal or OLED face that can display any desired features that are provided from its internal memory and driven by an internal processor. According to a first embodiment, a digital watch 99 is shown with a watch face 100.”A screen on a wearable watch device that shows visual content, including watch faces.

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US11263607

WATCH SKINS CORP
Application Number
US17249847
Filing Date
Mar 16, 2021
Status
Granted
Expiry Date
Jul 23, 2039
External Links
Slate, USPTO, Google Patents