Patent Attorney and Founder
Hi, I’m J.D. Houvener, the host of The Bold Today’s Show, where you, the inventor and entrepreneur, get your daily dose of inspiration to make the world a better place. Okay, we’re in part two of our flying animal series, and today we’re talking about one of my favorite animals of all time, my favorite bird: the peregrine falcon. The fastest animal on the face of the earth and the skies, the second fastest animal in the world, bar none. It can go up to speeds of 200 miles an hour. This thing is beautiful, fast, and unbelievable the way it detects its prey, making a mid-air interception of a bird. It actually hits the bird, knocks it out by pure impact coming from above. The perfect falcon makes its attack by patiently waiting, flying up to high altitudes, and has amazing vision, watching other birds as they fly down at lower altitudes. It waits, plans, and then finally makes its move in full dives down at faster than terminal velocity for the bird.
What does that mean? Well, it means that the bird makes an airfoil shape, goes down into this super aerodynamic form so that it’s able to fly down faster than it would if it were just falling. Pretty incredible. So, at speeds up to 200 miles an hour, it can knock out a bird and then is able to take it as prey. It’s a big predator. So, your challenge for today is to make like the peregrine falcon, right? Take some serious time and plan, be patient, plan what you’re going to do for the upcoming day or upcoming week, and on that day, in that moment, boom, strike. Take a solid two hours and hit that project super hard. Alright, dive, take it to the furthest degree you need to and invest all your effort, all your energy towards that one activity.
So, we’re going to take a look today at one of the major issues with air flight and airplanes: bird strikes. I’m often talking about seagulls if they’re close to water or geese, large animals that can collide with planes and have major issues for landing. For small airplanes, it could even be fatal because it could hit that one engine, that one propeller blade, and cause the airplane to lose its airfoil and lift, and crash to the ground. So, this invention here was patented in 2007, and its main technology is about a three-dimensional azimuth that’s able to detect birds near airports and sound an alert. It’s a unique radar that bounces off avian Haven, the general term for any type of bird. It does this by raising and lowering this beacon and alerts pilots and air traffic control. It’s a pretty neat patent, so take a look at it.
One of the things I wanted to have you look at about this patent is the fact that there are no definitions in the specification. Usually, definitions are located just above the brief description of the figures. Now, it’s not required to have a definition section, but what it can do is more good than harm. The major pros to having a definition section in your spec is that it actually provides a nice basis for the examiner. They’re able to say, without any squabbling about what a word means. It’s quite interesting to know that in a patent application, an inventor is able to define specific meanings to words outside of common definitions of words. They can even have words that have different meanings than those found in the dictionary. So, it’s called lexicography, and the inventor, a patent attorney, can be their own lexicographer when they write their patents.
I know I’m talking a long time about definitions, but it is important because if a patent ever goes to litigation, this is what a jury or a judge would look at to see what the claim actually means. And if there’s no definition section, it’s going to be up to the jury to decide what that word means. So, if you’re being a wise inventor, you’re going to want to put a definition section so that you’re sure to not have any chance. Alright, so all being peregrine falcons out there and attacking your problems of the day, think about sharing this version of The Bold Today’s Show with anyone you might be interested in getting more information about specifications or filings. And if anyone’s interested in filing a patent or getting more information about that, please visit boldpatents.com and feel free to visit the website and schedule a free consultation. I’m your host, J.D. Houvener of The Bold Today Show. Have a good day! Go big, go bold.