North American Gunslinger Detective

Chapter 42 Product Prototype

Jimmy now has a lot of time. He patrols and fishes at work to get familiar with various routes and store locations, and then spends his rest time purchasing the necessary equipment.

It took Jimmy 2 weeks to finally assemble the first usable long 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 developed later.

You can extend the length or shape.

The police light is fastened with an iron plate, and the front lampshade is a combination of 5 plastic lampshades, which are removable and alternate between red and blue.

The LED is a single 0.25-watt small lamp. Four of them are connected in parallel to form a lamp ring. The four lamps are combined into a square lamp. Five square lamps are arranged side by side, corresponding to the five detachable plastic lampshades of the police light lampshade.

As for the microcontroller, I hired someone to do it part-time for $500. It has only three functions: short-term power-on for 2 seconds, strobe power-on for 1 second, and power-on in turns.

These three functions respectively realize the alternating red and blue of the conventional police light, the alternating red and blue of the strobe warning light, and the direction of current indication from left to right. These three functions are commonly used functions of later police lights.

The external power supply directly uses the car battery, and then uses a step-down rectifier circuit to control the voltage to 5V, and then drives the microcontroller and LED.

After passing the full-function test, Jimmy will think about the patent.

Applying for a patent in the United States is both easy and difficult. The easy thing is that as long as you find the right patent attorney, all the joint lawyers can help you sort it out. You just need to submit relevant materials according to the instructions and you can wait. The difficult thing is that,

Find a suitable patent attorney.

Professional ethics is often a very idealistic thing. In the United States, there are many unscrupulous lawyers. They will get your information and sell it to another party. The other party has deep connections and reports the patent in advance, and then

You have nothing left.

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

Instead of seeking a lawyer directly, Jimmy took advantage of his vacation and took the prototype to the William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Jimmy parked the car, asked students all the way to determine the location of the dean's office of the law school, and walked directly there. For a person who has never been to college in his past life or this life, walking on the university campus and looking at these peers

Or young people, there will always be a feeling of great envy. Unfortunately, the past days have passed.

Jimmy came to the administrative downstairs and asked at the front desk for the location of the dean's office. However, since he did not have an appointment, he waited at the front desk for a while. Then, under the guidance of the administrative staff, he met Philip Lin, the dean of the law school.

Dayton.

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

"Hello, Dean Linton, I am Jimmy Young, a Pulaski County police officer. I took the liberty of coming here today not because I have any case to deal with, but because I hope to get your help."

"Please tell me." Dean Linton did not just leave Jimmy outside. Since he had asked Jimmy to come in for a meeting, he would definitely listen to what he had to say.

"After I graduated from high school, I went to the police academy, became a police officer after graduation, and then returned 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 patents and trademarks for my products.

By chance, I learned about the Law School Clinic Certification Program, in which law students, under the leadership of their instructors, help us or small businesses with insufficient capabilities to apply for invention patents and trademarks for free.

Dean Linton, I hope to get such an opportunity. As a young police officer, I don't have enough funds to satisfy the appetite of lawyers outside. I have no family and no one else who can pay for me.

I'm not willing to just find a lawyer to handle it. You know, professional ethics often cannot bind everyone."

Jimmy stated his needs and purposes in one breath, which seemed to many people to be too direct. However, this was actually Jimmy's only chance to impress Dean Linton. Once rejected, he would later get help from the law school.

The possibility is slim.

"Oh, kid, I understand what you mean." Dean Linton paused, "The USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) does have a law school internship certification program, but our Bowen Law School is not in this program list.

.Unfortunately, if you came here for this plan, then I can only say sorry for disappointing you."

Jimmy felt his eyes darken. The plan he had heard about before, he thought he was lucky, turned out not to include the University of Arkansas School of Law.

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

After being in a daze for a while, Jimmy stood up, shook hands with the dean, and prepared 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 police lights currently used in the police station. They are prone to malfunctions, have short visual range, lack of brightness, etc. There are many problems. Then I redesigned the police light system and have made a prototype.

The police lights are smaller in size and brighter, and they also have pointing functions that previous police lights did not have, etc."

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

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

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

"Thank you, thank you very much, Dean Linton." Jimmy took out his police business card. He did not make a personal business card. The business cards he usually kept in his pocket were from the county police department.

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

Jimmy left the administration building and drove home.

There was a surprise today. When he heard that Bowen College was not on the plan list, his heart dropped. Then Dean Linton's words just now gave him new hope.

Although he did not say it explicitly, Dean Linton had expressed his intention, and he should have basically agreed to allow students to apply for Jimmy's patent and trademark for free.

It's just that this kind of thing cannot be decided at once. Dean Linton must have other ideas that need to be discussed with others, but for Jimmy, at least the hope of this matter is very high.

In addition to the patent fees, data fees, etc., applying for a patent in the United States also requires a large amount of legal fees from the law firm. For Jimmy, who has only been working for a few months, he really cannot afford this money.

, the patent fees and trademark fees alone cost several thousand yuan.

(End of chapter)