冗長的會(huì)議最讓人煩躁。

我承認(rèn)，我就是喜歡看專利文件。因?yàn)橥ㄟ^專利文件能了解世界上在發(fā)生什么，也能了解下瘋狂的大想法如何演化成為沒那么瘋狂的大想法。在數(shù)字醫(yī)療領(lǐng)域里，這個(gè)規(guī)律尤其明顯。

當(dāng)然了，有些想法看起來很創(chuàng)新，但實(shí)際上并不是。最近風(fēng)傳蘋果可能推出的新品，沒準(zhǔn)是戴在手腕上的血壓監(jiān)測設(shè)備。幾乎各家都報(bào)道了，還有好幾處列出最近的專利申請當(dāng)依據(jù)。實(shí)際上，蘋果工程師想做這種設(shè)備已經(jīng)好幾年了（2014年蘋果就曾為“多功能腕戴裝置監(jiān)測血壓”申請過專利）。現(xiàn)在專利局里堆滿了與腕帶式血壓計(jì)類似創(chuàng)意的申請文件，對，說白了還不就是血壓計(jì)，其中有一些幾十年前就有雛形。舉個(gè)例子，1993年就有“戴在腕部測量血壓裝置”的專利（美國專利編號No. 5,271,405）。

不過也有些創(chuàng)意非常有獨(dú)創(chuàng)性，別出心裁，而且可能沒那么瘋狂。拿上個(gè)月公布的IBM專利申請為例，該專利為“通過機(jī)器學(xué)習(xí)促進(jìn)開會(huì)者鍛煉身體。”

Long meetings are the worst.

I confess: I like to read patents. It’s a great way to see what’s around the corner—to get an early gander at those big, crazy ideas that often morph into big, not-so-crazy ideas. And in the area of digital health, that seems to be especially true.

To be sure, some of those ideas look radically new and aren’t. Consider the buzz of late about Apple’s rumored potential-ish introduction-maybe of a wrist-worn blood-pressure-monitoring device—which was covered pretty much everywhere, with many outlets pointing to a recently published patent application as an aha moment. In truth, Apple engineers have been dreamscaping this one for a while (see their 2014 application for “Blood pressure monitoring using a multi-function wrist-worn device”). And the patent office is filled to the proverbial gills with filings for similarly conceived wrist-wearable sphygmomanometers—like I wasn’t going to use that term—some of which date back several decades. Note, for example, this 1993 patent grant for a “wrist mount apparatus for use in blood pressure tonometry” (U.S. Patent No. 5,271,405).

But then, some ideas are genuinely new. And well, fanciful. And well, maybe even not so crazy after all. Take this IBM patent application published last month, entitled: “Machine learned optimizing of health activity for participants during meeting times.”

IBM技術(shù)主管保羅·R·巴斯蒂特和同事寫道，該專利初衷是鼓勵(lì)參與冗長電話會(huì)議的人們加強(qiáng)鍛煉，當(dāng)然得記得按下靜音鍵。“根據(jù)預(yù)測的會(huì)議參與程度、傳感器數(shù)據(jù)，以及參與者健康水平，”IBM團(tuán)隊(duì)在2016年11月首次提交的文件中寫道，“可以確定電話會(huì)議期間適合參與者的鍛煉方式。到時(shí)會(huì)向參與者發(fā)送提示信號，提醒鍛煉。”

實(shí)際上，該發(fā)明中確實(shí)有不少幾處提到“可能”：“可能會(huì)根據(jù)接收的數(shù)據(jù)和位置數(shù)據(jù)預(yù)測電話會(huì)議參與者的參與度。可能接收與參與者相關(guān)的傳感器數(shù)據(jù)……可能將用戶的可佩戴裝置與智能手機(jī)連接，一起實(shí)時(shí)監(jiān)測電話會(huì)議中用戶的參與度。可能直接識(shí)別會(huì)議期間用戶有沒有移動(dòng)實(shí)現(xiàn)，也可間接一些，通過智能手機(jī)中安裝的應(yīng)用分析手機(jī)使用情況（例如，用電話音頻傳感器監(jiān)測用戶參與會(huì)議討論的頻率）。”

雖然有很多假設(shè)成分，還是得稱贊IBM充滿想象力的工程師們，能發(fā)現(xiàn)這樣一個(gè)重要的未滿足需求，還想出解決方案。一想到下次要開漫長的會(huì)，我的背就犯疼，膝蓋吱吱作響，眼皮也開始下垂犯困。如果在手機(jī)里多裝個(gè)竊聽器式的應(yīng)用，開會(huì)時(shí)經(jīng)常提醒著站一站，或坐在椅子里抖抖甩甩，少受些久坐之苦，那也值了。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：Charlie

審稿：夏林

The idea, write IBM Technical Leader Paul R. Bastide and colleagues, is to prompt participants in a lengthy conference call to exercise—presumably with the mute button on. “Based on the predicted engagement level, the sensor data and the participant’s fitness goal,” write the IBM team in their initial November 2016 filing, “an exercise for the participant to perform during the conference call may be determined. A notification signal may be transmitted to the participant to perform the exercise.”

There are, indeed, quite a few “may be’s” in this proffered invention: “An engagement level of the participant that is to participate in the conference call may be predicted based on the received data and the location data. Sensor data associated with the participant may be received…A user’s wearable fitness device may be interfaced with the smartphone, and together they detect in real-time the user’s participation in the conference call. This may be achieved explicitly by detecting whether the user is moving or not during the meeting, and/or implicitly via the app in the smartphone that analyzes the phone’s usage pattern (e.g., how often the user is engaged in the meeting using the phone’s audio sensors).”

Such hypotheticals aside, though, one has to admire the instinct of these imaginative IBM’ers to see a critical unmet need and try to fill it. The mere thought of my next endless meeting makes my back ache. My knees creak. My eyelids droop. If it takes another eavesdropping smartphone app to come up with a few standing reps or seat-borne shake-outs to subdue the scourge, so be it.