Crossover: 2014

Chapter 104 The Zero-Sum Game

Eve Carly: "Are you referring to the patent "A New Method for Text Judgment, Screening and Comparison"?

That patent is an algorithm patent in the subdivision of natural language processing 'word sense discrimination'.

Word meaning discrimination used to be a very important research direction in natural language processing.

But these were all seven or eight years ago.

It is precisely because of the attention that many universities in the United States have devoted a certain amount of energy to research on the direction of word meaning discrimination.

As of today, there is not much research in the field of word meaning discrimination.

Except for a small number of people who are still delving into the direction of vocabulary screening in the professional field, basically no one is doing this direction.

For most scientific researchers, this is already a very old research direction. "

Ewald Cherry: "Do you mean that LIN HUI re-proposes an ancient direction in an attempt to dig holes for later generations and lead others to the wrong technical direction?"

Eve Carly: "Maybe, anyway, it's common in the scientific world to 'cross the river and tear down the bridge and then build a bridge in the wrong direction'.

But do you think it is necessary for LIN HUI to do this?He's already far ahead. "

Ewald Cherry: "Perhaps that patent of yours can have a magical effect on vocabulary identification in professional fields?"

Eve Carly: "Impossible, the patent I studied back then, even from today's perspective, can only process some simple texts, and it is impossible to handle those professional vocabulary.

If it weren't for the innovative idea of ​​that configuration, it would be in line with the innovative principle of the patent.

I feel that this patent could not be applied for back then. "

Ewald Cherry thought for a while, and said, "So you think it's the configuration in your patent that caught Lin Hui's attention?"

"Although there were some innovations in the configuration of this patent back then, these are all old things.

The development of technology is very fast, and many technologies that were a year or two ago are now outdated.

Not to mention the technology seven or eight years ago.

The most important thing is that the algorithm patent at that time was not considered advanced when it was proposed.

All in all, the patent back then is of no use today.

Such patents may have some reference value for laymen who have never conducted NLP research.

And LIN HUI has even made a breakthrough in text summarization, one of the most classic problems in NLP. How can you be interested in this kind of theoretical research on the introduction of NLP?
Now I seriously doubt the reliability of your source, are you sure LIN HUI really wants to acquire that patent?I really can't figure it out.

I feel that no one wants this patent for free. After all, there is a regular fee. "

Ewald Cherry: "Well, if you really want to give it away, please consider me first. After all, this is a patent worth $70."

Eve Carly: "$70? Are you sure you're not joking?"

Ewald Cherry: "Maybe I'm kidding, but real money doesn't.

If you don't believe it, you can log on to the patent trading website to check it yourself. For your patent, LIN HUI even offered a price of 70 US dollars.

If you really want to sell it.

You only need to upload all legal documents related to "A New Method of Text Judgment, Screening and Comparison" on the patent transaction website.

After these legal documents are approved, you can trade with LIN HUI.

The transaction is also very simple, you only need to click to confirm the transaction on the purchase interface issued by LIN HUI.

After that, you just need to wait for the money from the transaction to reach your bank account.

The whole process didn't even take 10 minutes.

If this is a 'joke', how I wish this 'joke' came to me.

Although I haven't made any academic achievements in the past few years, I still applied for a lot of patents a few years ago..."

Eve Carly said in her heart that those patents of yours should be forgotten.

A random list of patents is the one with an asterisk:

A new type of advanced video detection method based on frame image analysis, based on...

The dignified Ph.D. of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a disgrace to MIT for doing partial work every day.

……

Eve Carly used an unused computer in Ewald Cherry's office to log on to the US Patent Office's official patent transaction website.

In the search bar, after Eve Carly typed "LIN HUI".

Then enter the personal public interface of LIN HUI.

In this interface, Eve Carly can not only see the public patents owned by LIN HUI's personal patent column.

You can also see a series of developments in intellectual property rights of LIN HUI.

In the dynamic list of LIN HUI, Eve Carly found that LIN HUI is indeed seeking a series of patent acquisitions.

The patent "A New Method for Text Judgment, Screening and Comparison" is indeed among the patents that LIN HUI is seeking to acquire.

Moreover, the intended purchase price offered by LIN HUI is actually US$70.

Although this acquisition price is not the most expensive among the several patents that LIN HUI is seeking to acquire.

But $70 is a steep price to pay.

Although she has always lived in an ivory tower, Eve Carly has no concept of money.

She works at the MIT Natural Language Processing Research Center.

Its main salary level is about the same level as that of an assistant professor, and its annual salary is about 14 US dollars.

Of course, this is just salary.

After counting all kinds of messy project bonuses, she can also have an after-tax income of more than 30 US dollars.

In other words, the purchase price of 70 US dollars in front of her is almost equivalent to her two years of work.

$70 is undoubtedly a windfall for her.

But will there really be a pie in the sky?

Eve Carly shook her head disapprovingly.

Ewald Cherry: "You don't want to, do you? This is a rare opportunity."

Eve Carly: "Don't you think this is weird?"

Ewald Cherry: "What could be wrong?"

Eve Carly: "Let's put it this way, what would you think when a leader in a field suddenly buys enlightenment books one day?"

Ewald Cherry: "So you're bothered by this? It can only be said that you've seen too little, too young too simple.

In fact, the best in the field of science, not only buy this kind of enlightenment books, but also often buy nearly a million dollars...

...do you know my father? "

Eve Carly: "Now that you know your father is a distinguished school manager, how many times are you going to mention it?"

Ewald Cherry: "The school manager is just an identity that my father disdains to mention the most. My father is a doctor in computer science. He obtained a doctorate at the age of 31. A degree does not count as genius.

But you need to know how many PhDs in computer science they had in total at that time.

In short, this degree was far more valuable than today's computer doctorate at their time.Afterwards, my father held important positions in many scientific research positions for a long time. Although such a person is not a top expert in the field of science, he should also belong to the so-called outstanding ones in your mouth.

However, such a leader, when I was a child, I would buy those enlightenment books published by the Councilor of Hellus Caton almost every year, and he would buy nearly a hundred books at a time almost every time. Ten thousand dollars, and after buying these books, he didn't even read them...

When I was young, I couldn't understand why my father bought these broken books that he didn't even read.

I later learned that my father didn't invest in these books, he cared about the people who wrote the books behind them.

In the same way, the reason why LIN HUI pays a lot of money to an algorithm that you think is worthless.

It is very likely that what he cares about is not the algorithm patent itself of "A New Method of Text Judgment, Screening and Comparison", but what he cares about is you who got the patent...

After all, according to the public information on the Internet, it is easy to know that you are the main person in charge of the extractive summary algorithm at the MIT NLP Research Center.

There is an old Chinese proverb that if you throw away a peach, you should use a pear to throw it back.

I think since LIN HUI has extended an olive branch to you in the patent transaction, you can try to make a deal.

You have nothing to lose anyway.

$70 comes next, and this is likely to be the start of your partnership.

Maybe you can also go to China and meet LIN HUI in person before making a decision.

This is why I advocate that you go to China with us.

But I suggest that you get in touch through patent negotiation first. "

After hearing these remarks, Eve Carly was already a little tempted.

It is undoubtedly a good opportunity to have a certain intersection with LIN HUI.

And the transaction amount of 70 US dollars is also very important, although she herself does not value money very much.

But I have to say that being stuck in the neck by the gold master is not a good feeling.

However, Eve Carly still has concerns about patent transfer: "You also said just now that I am the backbone of our team. As a backbone, I sold a technical patent to a competitor who once surpassed us, although the patent itself may not be What technology leak is involved, but what will my peers think of me? Will they misunderstand me?"

Ewald Cherry: "I hope they get it wrong soon..."

Eve Carly: ? ? ?
Ewald Cherry: "Do you still think they are colleagues? Today's colleagues may be tomorrow's competitors.

Without enough money to stay connected, there is a good chance that your group is now divided.

In fact, as far as I know, many people in your group have contacted companies like Google and Yahoo in private.

And your trip to the Eastern Kingdoms together is likely to be your last collective action.

In this case, the early sale of patents can not only make money, but also allow these people to obtain false information that they think is valuable to entrap other technology giants. Why not do it? "

After hearing the news, Eve found it hard to accept for a while.

Is the so-called algorithmic competition actually a zero-sum game?
The winner takes all, and the one behind really gets nothing.

All the honors, partners, and money are gone?

It can be seen that Eve has fluctuated a lot.

Ewald Cherry shook his head secretly.

How can there be so many immutable things in this world?

What's more, the computer industry is one of the industries with the highest job-hopping rate.

The world of algorithms is inherently cold, except for occasional bugs that can bring some warmth.

"Okay, think about it for yourself slowly! I'm going to be busy, and I will notify you when I leave!"

After speaking, Ewald Cherry left the office alone.

(End of this chapter)