Author Topic: ***Roland's Patents Expire (Mesh head trigger)***  (Read 5063 times)

Offline Hellfire

***Roland's Patents Expire (Mesh head trigger)***
« on: July 03, 2017, 10:25:57 AM »
ChrisK, who is a member here and over at Vdrums.com posted this yesterday on Vdrums.com. I hope you don't mind me copying your post for discussion here.

From Vdrums.com:

Edrum world released from Alkatraz Jail?
Yesterday, 04:14 PM (posted by ChrisK)
According to Mike Snyder (from ATV) The eDrum world delights: In the USA, today is RMHPE Day. #edrums #VDrums #aDrums

and Digital Drummer Magazine facebook group, from Allan L. Today Roland Patents expired, Patents based on applications filed after June 8, 1995, (actual filing date, not priority date), have a term of 20 years from the US filing date. This will allow Mesh head, trigger cone, head and rim zones, positional sensing and separate brushes circuit, among other things could be now available for edrum company in US.


1. A percussion detecting apparatus in an electronic percussion instrument system comprising:
a head the percussion surface of which comprises a net-like material wherein air passes through openings in said net-like material;
a percussion detector detecting percussion with respect to said head as an electric signal; and
a position detector which receives said electric signal and determines position information about the point at which said percussion originated on said percussion surface.
2. A percussion detecting apparatus in an electronic percussion instrument system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said net-like material is prepared by superposing a plurality of nets each of which is formed by combining longitudinal fibers with transverse fibers, and the fibers of adjacent nets superposed cross with each other at an angle smaller than 90 degrees.
3. An electronic percussion instrument system which detects percussion as an electric signal and generates a musical tone based on the electric signal thus detected comprising:
a head the percussion surface of which to be percussed is tunable;
a percussion detector which detects percussion upon said head as an electric signal;
a position detector which detects a percussion point by inputting the electric signal detected by said percussion detector to determine positional information about the percussion point; and
a display for effecting a display corresponding to said positional information of the percussion point detected by said position detector.
4. An electronic percussion instrument system as claimed in claim 3 wherein the percussion surface of said head is composed of a net-like material.
5. An electronic percussion instrument system as claimed in any one of claims 3 and 4 comprising further a position detector which performs arithmetic computations on said positional information of the percussion point, and an arithmetic computation compensator which responds to a tuning state of said head to compensate the arithmetic computations performed by said position detector.
6. An electronic percussion instrument system which detects percussion as an electric signal and generates a musical tone based on the electric signal thus detected comprising:
a tunable head;
a position detector which detects a position of a percussion point upon said head; and
a display which effects a display in response to the results detected by said position detector;
a percussion point positional mark for tuning being provided on said head.
7. An electronic percussion instrument system as claimed in claim 6 wherein the percussion surface of said head is composed of a net-like material.
8. An electronic percussion instrument system as claimed in any one of claims 6 and 7 wherein said display displays a tuning reference mark at a position corresponding to said percussion point positional mark.


Again, I hope you don't mind ChrisK.

To be honest I had forgotten that the patent expired in July. I knew this early in the year, and that is why I stated 2017 is going to be a good year for edrums. With the holiday coming up it had totally slipped my mind.

This is big news for the edrum community at large. This is going to open the flood gates for mesh head center mounted cone trigger pads here in the states and the cost should start coming down. (more on that soon…)

I've attached the patent with the relevant info highlighted for reference.

What you guys think about?
« Last Edit: July 03, 2017, 10:27:50 AM by Hellfire »

Offline Hellfire

Re: ***Roland's Patents Expire (Mesh head trigger)***
« Reply #1 on: July 03, 2017, 07:30:19 PM »
Well, I'm guessing people don't realize what this means for the edrum industry as a whole. So, I'll make it easy.

Now anyone can make a dual ply mesh headed trigger pad with a center mounted foam cone and sell it and Roland can't say it's patent infringement.
Basically, this mean the original Roland mesh trigger pad system is now PUBLIC DOMAIN.

We will start to see many companies making their own version of a Roland trigger pad. Mesh head triggers will come down in price and every Tom, Dick and Harry will be selling them on Ebay.


Offline Dobly

Re: ***Roland's Patents Expire (Mesh head trigger)***
« Reply #2 on: July 03, 2017, 11:08:34 PM »
It will be a very interesting time. Thanks for the heads up on this.

Offline ChrisK

« Last Edit: July 04, 2017, 03:58:52 PM by ChrisK »

Offline ChrisK

Re: ***Roland's Patents Expire (Mesh head trigger)***
« Reply #4 on: July 04, 2017, 09:06:01 PM »
BUT these are Lawyer affair , there is complex things inside with continuity patents be aware.
« Last Edit: July 04, 2017, 09:39:06 PM by ChrisK »


Offline Hellfire

Re: ***Roland's Patents Expire (Mesh head trigger)***
« Reply #6 on: July 04, 2017, 09:58:07 PM »
BUT these are Lawyer affair , there is complex things inside with continuity patents be aware.

Your kind of right, but you just can't file slight updates indefinitely just to keep a patent in perpetuity. It doesn't work that way. If it did, every company would do that.

Offline ChrisK

Re: ***Roland's Patents Expire (Mesh head trigger)***
« Reply #7 on: July 04, 2017, 10:19:34 PM »
BUT these are Lawyer affair , there is complex things inside with continuity patents be aware.

Your kind of right, but you just can't file slight updates indefinitely just to keep a patent in perpetuity. It doesn't work that way. If it did, every company would do that.

I agree, I read the law on some patents law, when patents get expired you cannot extended except pharmaceutic up to 5 years, but also others things involved complex, apparently the swell and position sensing is not expired.

Offline Hellfire

Re: ***Roland's Patents Expire (Mesh head trigger)***
« Reply #8 on: July 05, 2017, 08:06:22 AM »
I agree, I read the law on some patents law, when patents get expired you cannot extended except pharmaceutic up to 5 years, but also others things involved complex, apparently the swell and position sensing is not expired.

Yes, that is my understanding as well. Keep in mind that the "Position Sensing" really isn't that big of a deal since that is a function of the module mostly and as long as pads are made with a center mounted piezo sensor Position sensing should work with any Roland module (yes, even non mesh head triggers). On a side note, if I'm reading the patents correctly "Position Sensing" only has two more years before it is public domain (at least the way Roland does it).

IMHO things like "Position sensing" and "cymbals swells" as stated by the Roland patent isn't that big of a deal because there are other ways to do those things if module manufactures really want to use features like that. The game changer that Roland had in their hands exclusively for the last 20 years was not "position sensing" or "cymbal swells", it was the center mounted foam cone mesh head trigger and that is now public domain.

Offline ChrisK

Re: ***Roland's Patents Expire (Mesh head trigger)***
« Reply #9 on: July 07, 2017, 07:00:00 PM »
I agree, I read the law on some patents law, when patents get expired you cannot extended except pharmaceutic up to 5 years, but also others things involved complex, apparently the swell and position sensing is not expired.
The game changer that Roland had in their hands exclusively for the last 20 years was not "position sensing" or "cymbal swells", it was the center mounted foam cone mesh head trigger and that is now public domain.


Yes, we will see different manufacture release mesh head pad at lower cost then Roland does, this might starting reducing the need of DIY slowly by time, will get even cheaper, and as for the rest PS, this will eventually also became public domain like you said, we are talking about few years.

Offline ChrisK

Re: ***Roland's Patents Expire (Mesh head trigger)***
« Reply #10 on: July 10, 2017, 12:05:24 AM »
 We can except new things on the market that will be more suitable for new generation of edrummer at more affordable price.
« Last Edit: August 11, 2017, 01:52:06 AM by ChrisK »

Re: ***Roland's Patents Expire (Mesh head trigger)***
« Reply #11 on: August 10, 2017, 06:09:09 PM »
Not everyone has $8k for a edrum kit.., this is music to my ears, no pun.
DM10X kit, DW-3K double pedal, DW-3K tractor throne, 5AN VF sticks, Simmons DA200S, PS4 Gold headset.
Mods:
Remo silentstroke mesh conversion with 1/4" charcoal layer added on top of plates.
Sounds:
Bluejay in Module & EZdrummer 2 on laptop

Re: ***Roland's Patents Expire (Mesh head trigger)***
« Reply #12 on: May 22, 2020, 06:36:07 PM »
Hi,

So now it's may 2020, is waveform analysis (positional sensing) now in public domain ?

Offline Hellfire

Re: ***Roland's Patents Expire (Mesh head trigger)***
« Reply #13 on: May 22, 2020, 10:17:00 PM »
Hi,

So now it's may 2020, is waveform analysis (positional sensing) now in public domain ?

If I understand the Roland patent (and its filing date), Yes. As of July 6th 2019 it should be public domain. Keep in mind I'm not a lawyer and you should keep that in mind. If you are planing on making and selling something that uses this tech, you should ask a lawyer. I'm assuming you are because that is an odd first post to a forum, but welcome aboard any way! :D

Re: ***Roland's Patents Expire (Mesh head trigger)***
« Reply #14 on: May 23, 2020, 04:34:07 AM »
Thanks,
Why july 2019 ? All the document I found says it's expired since july 2017...
And we can't see any other brand that use positional sensing.
« Last Edit: May 23, 2020, 12:44:45 PM by Sly »

Offline Hellfire

Re: ***Roland's Patents Expire (Mesh head trigger)***
« Reply #15 on: May 23, 2020, 10:21:01 AM »
Thanks,
Why july 2019 ? All the document I found says it's expired from july 2017...
And we can't see any other brand that use positional sensing.

It's been a couple years since I looked in to this, but if I recall waveform analysis (positional sensing) didn't enter the patent until 1999. The original 1997 patent I don't believe covered the waveform analysis (again, it's been a few years. I could be wrong about that).

Yes, patent protection is based on the file date and not the grant date, but July 2019 was the "safe" date of expiration. Meaning it's much harder to make the case that Roland still has patent protection after July 2019. Again, if you are planning something you should contact a lawyer because I'm not lawyer and I could be easily missing something.

As to why you don't see other brands using positional sensing. It take time to develop new modules and most edrum companies take about a year and a half (up to two years) to develop new products. Plus the current world virus issue I'm sure has slowed things down.

Re: ***Roland's Patents Expire (Mesh head trigger)***
« Reply #16 on: May 23, 2020, 12:44:10 PM »
As to why you don't see other brands using positional sensing. It take time to develop new modules and most edrum companies take about a year and a half (up to two years) to develop new products. Plus the current world virus issue I'm sure has slowed things down.

They all should have been in the starting blocks with a firmware update ready to be download at the exact date of the patent expiration ... It's suspicious
« Last Edit: May 23, 2020, 12:58:30 PM by Sly »

Offline Hellfire

Re: ***Roland's Patents Expire (Mesh head trigger)***
« Reply #17 on: May 23, 2020, 01:57:07 PM »
As to why you don't see other brands using positional sensing. It take time to develop new modules and most edrum companies take about a year and a half (up to two years) to develop new products. Plus the current world virus issue I'm sure has slowed things down.

They all should have been in the starting blocks with a firmware update ready to be download at the exact date of the patent expiration ... It's suspicious

Things don't work that way. Just because a patent goes public domain doesn't necessarily mean every company instantly is ready to go. As an example, the first part of the patent expired in 2017 (center mounted cone with mesh head). Other than Simmons where are all the edrum companies doing this? They're not. Companies still need the money to implement such a feature. Just because it's public domain doesn't mean it's easy to do. Most of these company don't have staff on hand to make the programing changes. These type of things are shopped out. Also, the existing hardware may not support waveform analysis. For instants, you need "mask time" to do any real waveform analysis. Most non Roland modules don't have that in the programing.

So, for a company like Alesis, they would need to first produce center mounted cone pads and then totally rework the entire base programming of the Strike just to make waveform analysis happen. Heck, the hardware may not be able to handle it. Now you are talking new computer module hardware. And Alesis has their own patents with their current system (which was developed right before Roland's went public domain). Should they just throw that out the window? A lot of money went into those patents.

I don't really see anything suspicious about this. It is what it is and the current world virus issue I'm sure has slowed down a lot of new product.

Re: ***Roland's Patents Expire (Mesh head trigger)***
« Reply #18 on: May 25, 2020, 05:15:20 PM »
Hum, at least 2box should have been ready for it, ATV as well as they are ancient from Roland. Roland has made his huge succes on this positional sensing feature (not only but it is a huge part of its success). There's countless posts on forums talking about this feature. Most electronic pad sellers needed to prove that their pads were PS compatible. Even if many drummers has admit that it is not an essential feature, they just can't imagine living without (and I am of those).
But today things have maybe change a little, there's now a war against hotspot, and center cone means hotspot... Unless you get the last Roland patented snare drum. Even if Roland has lost a part of his hegemony, they made a big step forward with the PD-140ds, not only technically, but also economically with their definitly propriatory USB plug. Who could pretend tp make an as good snare as this one  today?
So, I'm still a bit surprised that no other brand has implemented positional sensing yet on their module. Could it be never ?
Three cone trigger may become a standard soon. Grace to ATV.... and Roland