Oh, patents! Azzedine Alaïa [1935-2017] Le Coeur pumps (3)

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The Azzedine Alaïa Le Coeur (heart), kitten-heel, slingback pumps collection, with transparent sides, and a heart-shaped toe box, is also patented.  The US design patent, USD1040490S1, titled Shoe, was awarded to Tiziana Capraro, on September 3rd, 2024, and assigned to Azzedine Alaïa, SAS. 

Below, the patent Figure 1.6, showing a top view of the heart-shaped toe-box,  together with sample marketed embodiments of the design. A Coeur toe box design, whose scope extends to stiletto and mule versions, in a variety of materials and colors.  

As reminder, a US design patent covers the ornamental aspects of an invention, or the way the invention looks. In contrast, a US utility patent covers the way an invention works, and/or is manufactured. 

 

References
Azzedine Alaïa (website)
https://www.maison-alaia.com/us/

USPTO MPEP – Chapt. 1502-01 – Distinction between design and utility patent.
https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s1502.html

Oh, desires! Azzedine Alaïa (1935-2017) Le Coeur Bag (2)

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Below, a mosaic comprising various embodiments of the Azzedine Alaïa Le Coeur (heart) bag. Launched in Winter 2022 and patented in 2024, Le Coeur crossbody bag comes in a single size, and in a variety colors and materials (leather, patent leather, denim).  

                           

Reference

Azzedine Alaïa (website)

https://www.maison-alaia.com/

Oh, desire! Azzedine Alaïa (1935-2017) Le Coeur Bag (1)

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Brought to you by the Tunisian-born Azzedine Alaïa fashion house in Paris, Le Coeur (heart) bag was launched during the Winter 2022. Le Coeur bag is a leather crossbody bag with zip closures, adjustable strap, and a single cut in the leather, which creates volume for the eye-catching heart shape. 

Immensely popular, this bag was awarded the US design patent USD1020239S1, titled Bag, on April 2, 2024. The patent was awarded to Angela Lauria, and assigned to Azzedine Alaïa SAS, in Paris, France.

Below, the patent Figure 1.1 shows a perspective view of Le Coeur bag, together with an image of the marketed product, in red leather. As a reminder, a US design patent covers the ornamental aspects of a design, or what the invention looks like. Whereas, a US utility patent covers the way an invention works or is manufactured.

References

Azzedine Alaïa (website)
https://www.maison-alaia.com/

USPTO MPEP – Chapt. 1502-01 – Distinction between design and utility patent.
https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s1502.html

Oh, patents! The YoctoMat®

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The YoctoMat®, equipped with embedded load sensors, together with a movement analysis program, is an invention that offers to provide specific-point feedback on Yoga poses, in real-time. Feedback is thus provided based on an analysis of the user’s dynamic Yoga posture, balance and weight distribution, in real-time, directly from the comfort of a living room, without a live instructor. 

This invention comes in response to the problems of the previous art in Yoga self-instruction. For example, problems arising from wearing a monitor that measures body vitals (e.g., blood pressure, pulse and temperature) and only generates information on user fatigue. Or problems arising from using a camera that cannot measure weight distribution, to provide accurate information on balance and alignment.  

The inventive solutions to the problems of the prior art, particularly real-time and adequate feedback on the performance of Yoga poses, are recited in two Japanese patents, for anyone who reads Japanese.

• JP2021037168A - Movement analysis system, movement analysis program, and movement.
• analysis method.
• JP2023029322A - Instruction system having mat-like member having pressure-sensitive element.

In a nutshell, the YoctoMat® collects mechanical load data on the user and the user’s performance of a Yoga pose, which is sent via the internet,  together with camera data, to a movement analysis program. The movement analysis program synchronizes both the mechanical and camera data for the purposes of evaluation. The evaluation is performed by comparing the collected dynamic posture data with dynamic information contained in a normative reference database of Yoga poses. A comparison measured in terms of deviations. Once deviations are computed, specific-point feedback on a pose is provided in real-time, back to the user via a camera, as well as a weight-distribution map, using sensor data, to help adjust balance. 

The patent Figure 1, extracted from JP2021037168A, illustrates the YoctoMat® and movement analysis system 1, comprising the YoctoMat® 2 that captures all the mechanical load data, the Internet 5, the camera 3, and a management server 4. The management server 4 comprises a data transmission and reception unit 41, a data storage unit 42, a calculation unit 43, a learning unit 431, and a comparison unit 432. 

Interestingly, the scope of the invention is specified to extend beyond Yoga poses. 

Reference

YoctoMat® (website) 

https://yocto-life.co.jp/en

Oh, patents! At CES 2025 - Kirin electric salt

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

If you have to cut your salt intake for health reasons, and you are dissatisfied with the bland taste of low-sodium food, rejoice! The Kirin electric salt spoon, a CES 2025 Innovation Honoree in the Digital Health, Accessibility and AgeTech category, offered a solution with a gigantic inventive step.  

The electric salt spoon is brought to you by one of Japan’s top-ranking companies, the 150-year-old Japanese Kirin Brewery Co., now Kirin Holdings, in collaboration with the Japanese Meiji University, Miyashita Laboratory of Frontier Media Science, School of Interdisciplinary Mathematical Sciences. The Kirin electric salt spoon replaces dietary salt by applying a patented electric current to the food in your mouth. 

Rest assured, however, that the device has been extensively tested for length and strength of stimulation, according to food type, to eliminate any potentially unbearable sensations. As a result, no worries about running an electric current on the food, in contact with your mouth. An electric current, called electric salt, since it is designed to provide the taste of saltiness, without any of the caveats associated with disobeying professional healthcare orders.

The Kirin electric salt spoon is recited in the European Patent, EP4389198A1, titled Taste presentation device and taste presentation method. A utility patent that discloses the invention, while also reciting all of the associated device-testing research, carried out at Japan’s Meiji University, Miyashita Laboratory. The patent was granted on June 26, 2024, to the Japanese inventors Ai Sato and Homei Miyashita.

The included patent Figure 1 depicts an embodiment of the electric salt invention, recited as the taste presentation device 10. Specifically, the Figure 1 unpacks the invention's components, comprising a first electrode 11, in contact with the user’s body 1, a second electrode 12, in contact with food or drink 2, and a device 13, designed to generate current between the two electrodes 11 and 12. 

More specifically, the Figure 1 depicts the first electrode 11, in contact with the user’s hand, which could instead be the user’s tongue; and the second electrode 12, on a muddler 3a, immersed in food or drink 2. A second electrode 12, on a muddler 3a, which could instead be a spoon, a fork, chopsticks, or even the whole bowl 3, containing the food or drink 2, a dish, a mug, a cup, a straw, etc., without departing from the scope of the invention. Indeed, as long as a current passes through the first electrode 11, in contact with the user’s body 1, and the second electrode 12, in contact with food or drink 2, users were found able to taste varying degrees of saltiness.

However, despite the recited scope of the electric salt invention, that could extend to chopsticks and bowls, a spoon was selected as the first marketed Kirin electric salt product. A selection that was based on survey research results. Results where respondents (29 out of N= 31) ranked ramen noodles and miso soup as the two food items in need of the strongest taste, and therefore as the top two items that needed to be experienced as delicious, when users had been prescribed a bland, low-sodium diet. Recited research results also indicated that the electric salt spoon use, intended to provide the prized strong taste of the two food items, varied according to participants, but all of them experienced increased saltiness.

The patent abstract of the invention is included below. An image of the marketed Kirin electric salt spoon, comprising the two electrodes and current generator with noise reduction unit, is also included above.

In a taste presentation device having a first electrode (11) and a second electrode (12) that are provided to allow an electric circuit to be formed between a food or drink to be taken by a user and a body of the user, and an electric stimulus generation unit (13) that supplies a current for generating an electric stimulation between the first electrode (11) and the second electrode (12), the electric stimulus generation unit (13) includes a noise reduction unit (17A, 17B) that reduces a noise component in the current. [Abstract - EP4389198A1]

References
CES 2025 Innovation Award Honoree
https://www.ces.tech/ces-innovation-awards/2025/electric-salt-spoon/
Kirin Electric salt spoon shop
https://electricsalt.shop.kirin.co.jp/
Kirin Staff (May 20, 2024). Kirin Holdings will begin online sales of "Electric Salt Spoon", a spoon that uses electricity to enhance salty and umami taste*1, on May 20.
https://www.kirinholdings.com/en/newsroom/release/2024/0520_01.html

Terminology – More ADS/LSA 2024 Words of the Year

Copyright © Françoise Herrrmann 

Every year, members of the very distinguished, 136-year-old, American Dialect Society, and more recently the Linguistic Society of America, choose more than one Word of the Year, in various interesting categories, such as: Most likely to succeed, Most creative, Most informal, or Most fun while it lasted. Members also chose the Political and Digital Words of the Year, and deleted the Emoji of the year category.

Below, the list of all the selected terms, including the 'runners up', which are always at least as insightful as the winning terms, in each category. The winning terms in each category are starred. The list, minus the 'broligarchy' illustration, is reproduced verbatim from the ADA/LSA Press Release.

WORD OF THE YEAR (2024) 

* rawdog: to undertake without usual protection, preparation, or comfort (extension of earlier meaning ‘to have sex without a condom’)

brat: someone who exudes a confident, hedonistic attitude (in the style of Charli XCX); also adj./ attrib. as in brat summer crash out: to act irrationally or impulsively; to reach one’s limit; also crashout: a person characterized by extreme emotional reactivity

cooked: totally exhausted or broken beyond repair; humiliated, outperformed or swiftly defeated; hopeless, desperate

sanewashing: downplaying or restating extreme political rhetoric to make it more palatable, esp. referring to whitewashing media coverage

yap: to talk excessively or enthusiastically (valued negatively or positively); also yapper (enthusiastic talker), yapanese (incomprehensible chatter)

 

MOST USEFUL

* lock in: to enter a state of deep focus and concentration

bedrot, bedrotting: the act of lying in bed and avoiding daily responsibilities (also, more positively, hurkle-durkle, n. or v.)

cooked: totally exhausted or broken beyond repair; humiliated, outperformed or swiftly defeated; hopeless, desperate

crash out: to act irrationally or impulsively; to reach one’s limit; also crashout: a person characterized by extreme emotional reactivity

eat (esp. in past tense ate): to execute, accomplish, or complete something remarkably well; also devour, 4+4 = ate

MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED
* unserious: lacking a properly serious attitude, often as a dismissive putdown
aura: charismatic presence, often associated with athletes (also aura points)
girlypop: fun, trustworthy female friend (also as an adj.: cute, pretty, or stereotypically girly)
NIL: name, image, and likeness (means for student athletes to receive financial compensation)
tariffied: afraid of the consequences of excessive tariffs

POLITICAL WORD OF THE YEAR

* Luigi: used in reference to Luigi Mangione, charged in deadly shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, as in Luigi-pilled, Luigification, Luigi intensifies; also as a verb (to get Luigi’ed)
bleach blonde bad built butch body: epithet used by Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Tex.) toward Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) after Greene insulted Crockett

broligarchy: political structure controlled by a small group of powerful men, especially those considered “techbros”
burrito taxi: mocking term in arguments about the rising prices of using food delivery apps, ridiculing the idea that it is a sign of inflation
lib out: to have false or unrealistic hope and positivity for the future from embracing mainstream Democratic politics
sanewashing: downplaying or restating extreme political rhetoric to make it more palatable, esp. referring to whitewashing media coverage
weird: strange, bizarre, out of step with the mainstream (as used by Tim Walz and other Democrats about Donald Trump and J.D. Vance)

DIGITAL WORD OF THE YEAR
* brainrot: mental deterioration from consumption of media/content held to have no redeeming value; also the media itself
AI slop: content generated by artificial intelligence of little value, often intended to flood search results
cope, n: belief or practice that someone uses to emotionally or intellectually deal with a negative circumstance or situation
tradwife: wife who fulfills notions of traditional gender roles, often in line with the white supremacist subculture
Xit, Xodus: mass departure of users from Twitter/X

 

INFORMAL WORD OF THE YEAR
* rawdog: to undertake without usual protection, preparation, or comfort (extension of earlier meaning ‘to have sex without a condom’)
cooked: totally exhausted or broken beyond repair; humiliated, outperformed or swiftly defeated; hopeless, desperate
mewing: jaw-strengthening technique developed by British orthodontist John Mew; a do-ityourself facial restructuring method (also jawmaxxing)
mog: to outdo in attractiveness or appearance; to assert dominance based on physical appearance (derived from AMOG, ‘alpha male of group’)
W, adj.: being the best of its kind or an excellent instance of something (as in W rizz or W crashout)
yap: to talk excessively or enthusiastically (valued negatively or positively); also yapper (enthusiastic talker), yapanese (incomprehensible chatter)

MOST CREATIVE WORD OF THE YEAR
* “the X I X-ed”: phrasal template with an invented irregular verb, used as a playful intensifier (as in “the gasp I gusped/guspt,” “the scream I scrempt”)
broligarchy: political structure controlled by a small group of powerful men, especially those considered “techbros”
in da clerb, we all fam: viral quotation used to facetiously assert solidarity, derived from a Broad City sketch
-maxxing (combining form): enhancement to “maximize” one's attractiveness or appeal (as in looksmaxxing, jawmaxxing)

MOST FUN WHILE IT LASTED WORD OF THE YEAR (special category)
* brat: someone who exudes a confident, hedonistic attitude (in the style of Charli XCX); also adj./ attrib. as in brat summer
demure: modest and reserved in outlook or appearance, as popularized on TikTok by lifestyle and beauty influencer Jools Lebron
hawk tuah: the sound or action of spitting, esp. in preparation for oral sex; popularized by Hailey Welch in a viral video
hold space: to create a safe space for a person, concept, or thing; to be present without judgment

References

American Dialect Society

https://americandialect.org/

American Linguistic Society

https://www.lsadc.org/
Zimmer, B. & Dr. K.A. Wright (Jan. 10, 2025). American Dialect Society Selects rawdog as 2024 Word of the Year. Press Release. American Dialect Society, Dept. of Linguistics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.

Terminology – The ADS/LSA Word of the Year 2024 is ‘rawdog’

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

On January 10th,  2025, at the conclusion of the 35th Annual Word of the Year (WOTY) vote, the distinguished American Dialect Society (ADS), since1889, in conjunction with the Linguistic Society of America (LSA), since 1924, selected the term ‘rawdogging’ as the Word of the Year 2024. A term meaning: “to undertake something difficult without usual protection, preparation, or comfort”, that crossed over into mainstream usage from the original slang meaning “to have sex without a condom”. Thus, for example, the uses of the term ‘rawdog’ in the following sentences was selected as WOTY 2024 :

- Forgot my headphones and had to rawdog my treadmill run.

- Raw dogged a 7-hour flight without phone, headphones or water (new personal best).

- Raw dogged my everyday allergies and sinus sensitivities

Three hundred attendees, including linguists, lexicographers, etymologists, grammarians, historians, researchers, writers, editors, students, and independent scholars, were present to vote on the term ‘rawdog’, in a session jointly presided by Ben Zimmer, Wall Street Journal columnist and Chair of the ADS New Words Committee, and Dr. Kelly Elizabeth Wright, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the New Words Committee data czar. The joint statement issued at the end of the session was the following:

Rawdog has recently and rapidly burst its sexual bounds to refer to engagement in any activity without the typical preparation or in stonecold sobriety. In 2024 folks rawdogged flights, family dinners, and final exams. As one nominator commented this evening, rawdog is a great choice for Word of the Year as we collectively rawdog the future of American politics in 2025.

Selection of the ADS/LSA Word of the Year is a much-anticipated event, as the whole process of nominating, deliberating, and final voting, is informed by the longstanding expertise of its members.

References
American Dialect Society
https://americandialect.org/
American Linguistic Society
https://www.lsadc.org/
Zimmer, B. &  Dr. K.A. Wright (Jan. 10, 2025). American Dialect Society Selects rawdog as 2024 Word of the Year. Press Release. American Dialect Society, Dept. of Linguistics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. 
https://americandialect.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2024-Word-of-the-Year-PRESS-RELEASE.pdf