[orbital-decay]

Did they patent pulse oximetry, though? The referenced patent seems to be for their specific detector design and signal processing method. https://patents.google.com/patent/US10912502B2

[c0pium]

That’s how patents always work; the concept cannot be patented, it’s the method which is. Garmin for instance has their own (patented) method which works differently from the infringing Apple implementation.

[jevoten]

That's how they should work. Unfortunately, concept patents get granted all the time:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Click

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/12/loading-screen-game-pa...

[AlbertCory]

both of your examples are from the 90's.

It's simply incorrect to say "concept patents get granted all the time." No, they don't. You patent an invention. The claims on it may be inappropriately broad, but there have always been mechanisms to address that.

[jevoten]

Unless you have a source showing things have changed for the better, I don't see how the age of my examples is relevant. Especially since they may have been granted in the 90s, but expired only very recently.

[AlbertCory]

You can find sources about the changes in patent law since the 90's. For the most salient example: CLS Bank v. Alice.

Many of the abuses since then have been corrected. That's how the age is relevant.

[c0pium]

Clicking once and having a thing show up at your house is not a concept, it’s a process. There are lots of ways to have a streamlined payment experience which do not violate this patent.

[asadotzler]

You are correct and OP is burying the actual crime. OP is correct, however, that this is Apple's SOP as well. They don't amass tens of thousands of patents for the joy.