A Major Revision to Google's 'Project Ara' Patent may indicate that it could fill the need of extending a Smartphone's Life Cycle

 

Patently Apple covered Google's Project Ara in-depth back in February 2014 and Patently Mobile covered the U.S. Patent Office granting Google two design patents related to the project in March 2016. Google had inherited the project when acquiring Motorola.

 

The executive behind the project, Regina Dugan left Google in May 2016 for a new position at Facebook. Dugan was also behind a patent pending freaky idea of having consumers wear an e-skin tattoo that would give you authentication to your devices, your office or home. It was also be able to inform employers if their employees were not telling the truth or speaking falsehoods.  How creepy is that?

 

 

In September 2016 Reuters reported in an "exclusive" report that Google shelved Project Ara months before it was to launch.  

 

If Project Ara is really dead, then why did Google go to the trouble of filing a major update to this invention two and half years later?  

 

Project Ara may have simply been too ahead of its time. With new conditions in the market today, consumers may be ready for such a concept.  With larger pools of consumers holding off updating their smartphones due to nose bleed pricing, it might be appealing for budget conscience consumers to be able to simply update one or two modules and keep their current smartphone humming rather than shelling out $1000 or more for a new smartphone every two or three years.

 

Google's latest patent update published earlier this year "cancels" the entire original 20 patent claims replaces them with 41 new patent claims.

 

What stood out instantly, for me at least, were 22 patent claims from #39 to #58. It would appear that Google is stating that they'll be the one to make an entire base model of the smartphone and leave room for customization.

 

The original idea of having a basic smartphone display and frame alone and having consumers decide what modules to add may have been too daunting for most consumers to handle. Only the super geeks of the world would have known how to customize such a smartphone in their sleep.

 

So what modules is Google prepared to take control of instead of relying on third party developers to start with? Google's patent claims #39-58 lays it all out as follows:  

 

39. The modular electronic device of claim 21, wherein the modular electronic device comprises a handheld device.

 

40. The modular electronic device of claim 21, wherein the identified module comprises a pulse monitor.

 

41. The modular electronic device of claim 21, wherein the identified module comprises an oxygen level monitor.

 

42. The modular electronic device of claim 21, wherein the identified module comprises a credit card reader.

 

43. The modular electronic device of claim 21, wherein the identified module comprises a camera.

 

44. The modular electronic device of claim 21, wherein the identified module comprises a microphone.

 

45. The modular electronic device of claim 21, wherein the identified module comprises a speaker.

 

46. The modular electronic device of claim 21, wherein the identified module comprises a flashlight.

 

47. The modular electronic device of claim 21, wherein the identified module comprises a visual battery life indicator.

 

    48. The modular electronic device of claim 21, wherein the identified module comprises a display.

 

49. The modular electronic device of claim 48, wherein the display comprises a rear-facing display.

 

50. The modular electronic device of claim 21, wherein the identified module comprises a wireless communications interface.

 

51. The modular electronic device of claim 21, wherein the identified module comprises a Wi-Fi interface module.

 

52. The modular electronic device of claim 21, wherein the identified module comprises a cellular data module.

 

53. The modular electronic device of claim 21, wherein the identified module comprises a short-range wireless radio module.

 

54. The modular electronic device of claim 21, wherein the identified module comprises a battery module.

 

55. The modular electronic device of claim 21, wherein the identified module comprises a USB interface module.

 

56. The modular electronic device of claim 21, wherein the identified module comprises a diversity antenna module.

 

57. The modular electronic device of claim 21, wherein the touch of the modular electronic device by the user comprises a physical touch of the identified electronic module by the user.

 

58. The modular electronic device of claim 21, wherein the touch of the modular electronic device by the user comprises a touch of a display screen that is displaying an interactive module removal graphic that depicts at least some of the plurality of electronic modules, and wherein the input sensor comprises the display screen.

 

Is Google's Project back on track with a new vision? While that's difficult to confirm from a patent filing alone, the fact is that the project was dead for close to 30 months so why revise it now with such a complete refresh of the invention's basic concept?

 

In the retail and real-estate spaces, you may have heard the saying that success is all about "location- location- location." In other types of businesses it's all about the timing to market. Being too early to market is just as bad as being too late.

 

Could Project Ara with a new vision finally make it to market in the next few years – or is this some kind of legal maneuver to fend off competition from stealing the idea? As always, only time will tell.