North American Gunslinger Detective

Chapter 42 Product Prototypes

Jimmy has a lot of time now. He goes to work, patrols and fishes to get familiar with various routes and store locations, and then spends rest time to purchase the required equipment.

After 2 weeks, Jimmy finally assembled the first usable strip police light in his apartment. The length is only half of the normal police light. After all, it exists as a prototype, as long as it is fully functional, it will be done later Extended length or styling is fine.

The police lights are fastened with iron plates, and the front lampshade is a combination of 5 plastic lampshades, which are detachable and alternate red and blue.

LED is a single 0.25 watt small lamp, 4 in parallel as a light circle, 4 are combined to form a square lamp, and 5 square lamps are arranged, corresponding to the 5 detachable plastic lampshades of the police light lampshade.

As for the single-chip microcomputer, it was made by a part-time job for $500. It has only three functions, 2-second short-time power-on, 1-second strobe power-on, and alternate power-on.

These three functions respectively realize the red and blue alternation of conventional police lights, the red and blue alternation of strobe police lights, and the rotation of electricity from left to right to indicate the direction. These three functions are commonly used functions of police lights later.

The external power supply is directly used for the car storage battery, and then a step-down rectifier circuit is used to control the voltage to 5V, and then the microcontroller and LED are driven.

After passing the full-featured test, Jimmy will think about patents.

Applying for a patent in the United States is both easy and difficult. The easy thing is that you only need to find the right patent lawyer, and all the joint lawyers along the way can help you sort out it. You only need to submit relevant materials according to the instructions, and you can wait.The hard part is finding a suitable patent attorney.

Professional ethics is a very idealistic thing in many cases. In the United States, there are many unscrupulous lawyers. They get your information and sell it to the other party. The other party has a deep network and reports the patent in advance. You will have nothing.

This situation is very common, and in many cases, applying for a patent represents a high risk.

Instead of going straight to a lawyer, Jimmy took the prototype to the William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock on vacation.

Jimmy parked the car, asked the students all the way to confirm the location of the dean's office of the law school, and walked over directly.For a person who has never been to college, whether in the previous life or in this life, walking on the college campus, looking at these peers or young people, there will always be a feeling of envy. Unfortunately, the old days have passed.

Jimmy came downstairs to the administration building and asked about the location of the dean's office at the front desk. However, because he didn't have an appointment, he waited at the front desk for a while, and then, led by the administrative staff, he met Philip Lin, the dean of the law school. pause.

"Hi, Mr. Yang, please sit down."

"Hello, Dean Linton, I'm Jimmy Young, the Pulaski County Police Officer. I'm here today not because I have any case to deal with, but I hope to get your help."

"Please speak." Dean Linton didn't directly leave Jimmy outside. Since Jimmy has been asked to come in for a meeting, he will definitely listen to him.

"I went to the police academy after high school, became a police officer, and then came back to the Pulaski County Sheriff's Department.

During my time as a police officer, I came up with some ideas to improve police equipment, but after making the prototype, I didn’t know how to apply for a patent and trademark for my product.

By chance, I learned about a Law School Clinic Certification Program (Law School Clinic Certification Program), which is for law students to help us or small businesses with insufficient strength to apply for invention patents and trademarks for free under the guidance of their tutors.

Dean Linton, I hope to have such an opportunity.As a young policeman, I didn't have enough money to satisfy the appetites of lawyers out there, I had no family, and no one else to pay for it for me.

I also don't want to find a lawyer to deal with it. You know, professional ethics can't restrain everyone in many cases. "

Jimmy stated his needs and goals in one breath, which seemed too direct to many people, but this was actually Jimmy's only chance to impress Dean Linton. Once he was rejected, he would get help from the law school later The odds are slim to none.

"Oh, boy, I see what you mean." Dean Linton paused, "USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) does have a law school internship certification program, but our Bowen Law School is not on the list of programs .Unfortunately, if you came here for this plan, then I can only say sorry for disappointing you."

Jimmy only felt his eyes go dark. The plan he had inquired about before, he thought he was lucky, but it turned out that the law school of the University of Arkansas was not included.

"Thank you very much Dean Linton for meeting me, goodbye."

After being in a daze for a while, Jimmy got up and shook hands with the dean, preparing to leave.

"Please wait a moment, Mr. Yang, can I ask about your invention? It doesn't need to be very detailed."

"Of course." Jimmy sat back on the sofa.

"I have some opinions on the current police lights used in the police station. They are prone to failure, short visibility, insufficient brightness, etc. There are many problems. Then I redesigned the police light system and have already made a prototype. The new The police lights are smaller in size, brighter, and have pointing functions that the previous police lights did not have, etc. "

"Sounds very good. Did you make it yourself? Alone?"

"Yes, I used my vacation time to buy materials, and it took me a long time to make it. I failed many times before."

"OK, Mr. Yang, can you leave me a business card? If there is any good news, I will let you know."

"Thank you, thank you very much, Dean Linton." Jimmy took out his police business card. He didn't make a personal business card, and the business cards in his pocket usually belonged to the county police department.

"I won't bother you anymore. I'll go back and wait for news. Goodbye, Dean Linton."

Jimmy exited the administration building and drove home.

Today was a surprise. He was heartbroken when he heard that Bowen College was not on the plan list, and what Dean Linton said just now gave him new hope.

Although he didn't say it clearly, Dean Linton has already expressed his meaning, he should have basically agreed to allow the students to apply for patents and trademarks for Jimmy free of charge.

It's just that this kind of thing can't be settled immediately. Dean Linton must have other ideas that need to be discussed with others, but for Jimmy, at least there is great hope for this matter.

In addition to the patent fees and materials fees, etc., when applying for a patent in the United States, you also need to pay a lot of attorney fees to the law firm. For Jimmy who has only been working for a few months, he really can’t afford the money. , Patent fees and trademark fees alone cost thousands of dollars.

(End of this chapter)