1 00:00:12,639 --> 00:00:16,720 Good afternoon everyone and thank you for tuning in from across 2 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:21,119 the country. I'm delighted to welcome you all today, 3 00:00:21,119 --> 00:00:24,640 to today's USPTO speaker series event with 4 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:29,679 Dr. Marian Rogers Croak. These events are truly special because they give us an 5 00:00:29,679 --> 00:00:34,960 opportunity to engage with inventors, learn their stories and give a personal 6 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:39,680 dimension to the work we do. We've been fortunate to have incredibly 7 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:44,079 accomplished innovators share their struggles and triumphs, their 8 00:00:44,079 --> 00:00:47,920 inspirations, their dreams. Today's guest is no 9 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:52,320 exception and in fact she was a trailblazer in a technology 10 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:59,359 that we are using to communicate with right now, voice over internet protocol. 11 00:00:59,359 --> 00:01:02,960 In addition when hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, 12 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:09,119 Dr. Croak was inspired to create text to donate technology which facilitates 13 00:01:09,119 --> 00:01:15,680 rapid receipt of donations via text. Dr. Croak is now vice president of 14 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:19,200 engineering at Google where her focus is on reliability 15 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:24,080 engineering to improve the performance of Google systems and services 16 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:29,280 and she's a source of inspiration for many including myself. 17 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:34,640 I'm also proud to introduce my friend and colleague Director Andrei Iancu 18 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:40,640 who will interview Dr. Croak. Director Iancu. is Under Secretary of Commerce for 19 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:44,399 Intellectual Property and the Director of the United States 20 00:01:44,399 --> 00:01:50,000 Patent and Trademark Office, before joining the USPTO he was a 21 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:54,000 partner at Irell & Manella in the great state of California where we both 22 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:59,360 hail from and represented clients from across the innovation spectrum 23 00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:03,200 including those associated with genetic testing 24 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:08,560 the internet and tv broadcasting among others. 25 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:12,879 Like Dr. Croak and myself, Director Iancu is an engineer 26 00:02:12,879 --> 00:02:16,800 and prior to becoming a lawyer he worked at Hughes Aircraft in Los 27 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:22,000 Angeles. His dedication to protecting and improving our IP system 28 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,840 and defending American inventors is invaluable 29 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:29,200 especially during these challenging times and I 30 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:32,879 am honored to be serving alongside of him. 31 00:02:32,879 --> 00:02:36,000 Despite these challenges we are proud to see how smoothly 32 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:39,760 everyone at the USPTO has adapted to full-time telework. 33 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:44,800 Our productivity is up as our patent filings for small and micro entities and 34 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:47,760 trademark filings. Which is an indication that 35 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:50,239 entrepreneurs are looking forward to 36 00:02:50,239 --> 00:02:55,280 introducing new and perhaps life-changing innovations. 37 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:59,599 We are glad that all of you can take a break away from your busy schedules to 38 00:02:59,599 --> 00:03:03,360 join us for a chat with Dr. Croak today. 39 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:07,120 Please join me in a warm welcome for Director Iancu 40 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,640 and Dr. Marian Croak. 41 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:15,920 All right, thank you very much Laura for the kind introduction. 42 00:03:15,920 --> 00:03:19,760 Good to see you once again Dr. Croak Welcome. 43 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:26,560 Thank you so much for having me and I want to welcome 44 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:30,319 everyone who's tuning in. I know that when we 45 00:03:30,319 --> 00:03:35,599 first started these events a couple of years ago when I first 46 00:03:35,599 --> 00:03:39,599 arrived, the initial impetus was to introduce 47 00:03:39,599 --> 00:03:43,680 our examiners patent and trademark examiners and the rest of the PTO staff 48 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:48,480 to the amazing inventors and entrepreneurs who come 49 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:52,239 before us, but these events have grown and now we 50 00:03:52,239 --> 00:03:56,400 have opened them up to others in government and to the 51 00:03:56,400 --> 00:03:59,360 public and in particular I'm especially excited 52 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:03,840 that we often get students and children from across the united states to join 53 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:08,959 and today is no exception. I know that we have students from across 54 00:04:08,959 --> 00:04:12,959 the united states and I know that some of you have already 55 00:04:12,959 --> 00:04:17,840 prepared questions and send them in and I will try to 56 00:04:17,840 --> 00:04:21,120 ask as a result fewer of my questions and ask 57 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:26,400 some of the questions that we have received from the public 58 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:31,120 and especially the students. So just a bit of a warning Dr. Croak, 59 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:34,720 we have a very diverse audience from really 60 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:38,560 highly trained experienced patent examiners 61 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:44,400 to students all the way down to kindergarten and 62 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:49,120 everything in between. What's really amazing though is 63 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:54,000 that here we are, in the middle of a pandemic normally we would have had you 64 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,680 come here to the PTO we'd have sat side by side and have this chat in front of a 65 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:03,199 live audience but we can do that right now and instead 66 00:05:03,199 --> 00:05:07,520 as many other people are doing we're doing this via video conferencing. 67 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:11,520 Which is remarkable that we're capable of doing this 68 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:16,400 and one of the big reasons we're capable of doing this is because of your work 69 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:23,039 with voice over ip or voip technology which enables in large part these types 70 00:05:23,039 --> 00:05:26,560 of communications. So let me just start there 71 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:29,360 maybe you can first 72 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:33,600 describe briefly what is voip? What is voice over ip? 73 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:37,919 Oh sure would be happy to first of all I want to thank you for 74 00:05:37,919 --> 00:05:42,240 the honor of being here with you in the interview and I also want to just 75 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:45,280 acknowledge the work that your office is doing 76 00:05:45,280 --> 00:05:52,240 in bringing these inventors to the general public and the immense 77 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:55,199 work that your examiners have done. I 78 00:05:55,199 --> 00:05:59,280 really appreciate it, they must have fantastic jobs and I would love to 79 00:05:59,280 --> 00:06:02,560 interview them one day. I would love to sit and just watch all 80 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:06,400 the innovation coming in and decide what is worthy of being 81 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:10,080 patented or not. That must be one of the best 82 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:15,680 jobs on the planet. So VOIP is really the ability 83 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:22,080 for us to communicate with one another through sound waves you know, 84 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:28,000 like, when we talk our speech is like a wave 85 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:34,639 and let's see in order for us to transmit that 86 00:06:34,639 --> 00:06:40,720 type of sound over the internet so when we when we talk to each other 87 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:46,880 we're making, like, a sound wave and prior to the 88 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:52,240 use of packet technology the whole wave used to be communicated 89 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:57,440 across a telephone line. With the advent of the internet which is 90 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:01,440 mostly packet technology you could actually 91 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:06,800 encapsulate, break up that sound wave into information bites 92 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:11,280 because a lot of times when we're speaking to each other surprisingly 93 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:17,520 there's silence. There's a lot of signals which is our words that we're 94 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:20,160 communicating with each other but then there's also 95 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:24,960 periods of surprisingly, long periods of silence 96 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:29,120 and that allows you to break up the sound wave into discrete 97 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:34,080 Packets. That you can then encapsulate and send over 98 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:41,280 an internet communication network. One way I think about this and correct 99 00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:45,759 me if I'm wrong. If you take all the sound and if you can 100 00:07:45,759 --> 00:07:50,240 imagine you as you said break it up and you put it in little envelopes and 101 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:54,080 you seal the envelope. You put it in the mailbox and off it 102 00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:57,120 goes and you do many of these envelopes and 103 00:07:57,120 --> 00:07:59,840 they go all over the United States and then they 104 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:04,160 eventually end up at the destination point and then somebody 105 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:08,080 there's a little guy or a little gal at the end 106 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:11,199 point that opens up the envelopes and then has 107 00:08:11,199 --> 00:08:15,039 to rearrange the packets in the order that they were 108 00:08:15,039 --> 00:08:19,120 transmitted. Exactly, and so you can think of the art 109 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:23,840 the way that we're communicating as information and as data you can turn 110 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:27,280 it into data and the data has an address on it an 111 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:30,400 identifier with it and the order of it is known 112 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:33,440 and that as you said that's a brilliant way to describe it 113 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:37,120 is all encapsulated in envelopes and it can go. 114 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:40,880 It can take all different routes, you Know, it doesn't all have to go in a 115 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:44,959 continuous line and then at the end point it's all 116 00:08:44,959 --> 00:08:48,800 converged together again and we get the information 117 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:53,440 that we're communicating. It's amazing. I still think of it as a miracle, 118 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:58,720 you know. I still, even though I know how it works, it's still a miracle to me. 119 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:03,440 So, it's very complex technology but it's absolutely amazing that it works as well 120 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:08,160 as it does. What did you invent? I know you 121 00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:14,160 have, so Dr. Croak has over 200 patents. Most or many of them in this 122 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:19,279 Area. What, what? I know that you have many inventions but 123 00:09:19,279 --> 00:09:23,120 maybe you can pick one of the major ones and describe that a little 124 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:27,519 bit. Sure so there's a whole class of my patents that 125 00:09:27,519 --> 00:09:33,360 focus on creating better voice quality and quality of service 126 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:36,560 over the internet and reliability over the internet for 127 00:09:36,560 --> 00:09:40,720 voice traffic. So by that I mean, when we used to 128 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:48,000 communicate over what was called the public telephone network. The PSTN. 129 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:52,080 It was completely dedicated to voice Communication, and it was 130 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:57,360 just crystal clear. It had very, very high reliability meaning whenever you picked 131 00:09:57,360 --> 00:10:02,160 up a phone rarely did you get any type of noise or 132 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:06,720 distortion or the service would go down. It was just 133 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:11,680 tuned for voice communication. The internet was very different than 134 00:10:11,680 --> 00:10:17,680 That. The internet was just a lower layer kind of network and it was mostly geared 135 00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:20,800 for the transmission of something that it 136 00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:24,880 didn't matter whether it was in real time or when it got there or if 137 00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:29,040 the information was, you know, distorted. 138 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:32,640 It was mostly store and forward what you call 139 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:36,880 Almost, like, electronic mail. Voice is real time. 140 00:10:36,880 --> 00:10:41,200 You know, I make a sound, you make a sound back to me and that's how we communicate. 141 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:46,399 That takes a lot of effort to make sure that it's going to be 142 00:10:46,399 --> 00:10:49,279 Reliable, to make sure that it's going to work. 143 00:10:49,279 --> 00:10:52,399 So when I first started working in this technology 144 00:10:52,399 --> 00:10:58,160 area, it didn't work. It didn't work. The voice would sound very distorted. 145 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:03,600 A lot of times the network would just fail and the more traffic you would put 146 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:08,880 on the network - meaning the more conversations - the worse it would become. 147 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:13,279 So a lot of the patents that I received 148 00:11:13,279 --> 00:11:16,320 were all focused on creating more reliable 149 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:22,240 and more scalable communication using the internet and 150 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:25,040 Using, being able to transmit voice 151 00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:29,519 communication through it. That was a whole class. 152 00:11:29,519 --> 00:11:34,880 Yes. We saw a few minutes ago of an image of your patents I don't 153 00:11:34,880 --> 00:11:40,399 think we need to put it back up again, but that's just one of the many that 154 00:11:40,399 --> 00:11:44,959 you have in this area. But once an inventor always an inventor 155 00:11:44,959 --> 00:11:49,600 and you didn't do just VOIP. I understand 156 00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:55,120 that you have an invention that has something to do with American Idol. 157 00:11:55,120 --> 00:12:00,240 Or at least it started, you got an idea while you're watching American Idol-- 158 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:04,959 first of all, I probably should not ask, you know, how often you watched 159 00:12:04,959 --> 00:12:10,000 American Idol and why-- but what is that all about? 160 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:13,440 Yeah, so it's very interesting. As part of my job 161 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:18,480 I had to watch American Idol because even though it was on quite late at 162 00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:24,320 night, it was after work. We were... a lot of American... 163 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:28,560 I was responsible for the reliability of the operations of 164 00:12:28,560 --> 00:12:35,360 AT&Tís voice network, and American Idol used AT&Tís network in order for people 165 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:38,399 to call an 800 number and vote on their 166 00:12:38,399 --> 00:12:42,480 favorite star. And it would be- especially towards the 167 00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:46,000 end of the season when there was a massive amount of voting, 168 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:50,959 because you could vote as many times as you wanted, those networks would start 169 00:12:50,959 --> 00:12:55,279 failing, and we would have to reroute traffic. This was the reliable network I 170 00:12:55,279 --> 00:12:59,200 was just talking about, but there was such a surge of traffic 171 00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:02,800 with people being so excited in terms of trying to get in as many 172 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:06,560 votes as they, they possibly could for their favorite star 173 00:13:06,560 --> 00:13:10,160 that the networks would go down, and we would have to reroute traffic 174 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:14,320 and it was a nightmare, a nightmare. So I would watch it, 175 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:17,519 but I would also be on the phone the whole time 176 00:13:17,519 --> 00:13:23,519 trying to get the traffic rerouted. So you know, quite cleverly, we came up with 177 00:13:23,519 --> 00:13:27,040 this idea that we would have to offload the traffic from the 178 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:30,880 reliable network onto something else, 179 00:13:30,880 --> 00:13:34,320 and we thought well why don't we just allow people to text 180 00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:38,959 and use what was called SMS, or it was a different signaling network, 181 00:13:38,959 --> 00:13:43,040 Signaling System 7, and, and let them text their 182 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:47,680 votes into the network, and that would offload a lot of the calls, 183 00:13:47,680 --> 00:13:51,120 and so that was very clever. It was fast 184 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:56,000 and the network started working much better. So if you fast forward, I think 185 00:13:56,000 --> 00:14:01,440 American Idol started in 2002, and then if you fast forward a few years, 186 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:07,680 I remember just being at home watching that terrible tragedy that 187 00:14:07,680 --> 00:14:12,240 happened in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, 188 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:16,959 and if you can remember we all thought everything was fine after the hurricane 189 00:14:16,959 --> 00:14:19,760 hit, you know, and for me that meant the 190 00:14:19,760 --> 00:14:22,480 telephone networks were still up and Running, 191 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:26,240 and and we could see that people were fine. It looked as if the hurricane had 192 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:30,800 really passed over, but then the dams broke and the levees 193 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:33,600 broke, and that's when the real tragedy started, 194 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:38,399 and it was horrific to watch what was happening and many people felt helpless 195 00:14:38,399 --> 00:14:43,440 and they wanted to help. And sitting there watching that, and this 196 00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:48,320 is how ideas often happen, like, concepts. So you have to expose yourself to lots 197 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:53,120 of new things all the time. I would, I thought, ìHow can we get help to 198 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:56,160 them quickly?î And that's when I thought about the 199 00:14:56,160 --> 00:15:02,320 concept of using text to donate 200 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:06,800 and, you know, it just took off after that and there have been many iterations of 201 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:10,639 It, and it's been enhanced by many others, and it 202 00:15:10,639 --> 00:15:14,639 allows you just to pick up your phone, and, you know, receive 203 00:15:14,639 --> 00:15:18,399 a message and hit a button, and because you have a 204 00:15:18,399 --> 00:15:22,320 billing relationship with the provider, they can take care of 205 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:26,079 all the back end methodology that needs to happen in 206 00:15:26,079 --> 00:15:31,279 order to get the money to the to the charity or the nonprofit. 207 00:15:31,279 --> 00:15:34,480 It is really an amazing invention actually 208 00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:41,120 if you think about it, and combining charitable giving with 209 00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:45,440 modern technology. I've experienced that in past years going to charitable events 210 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:48,880 and fundraisers, but I got to tell you since the pandemic 211 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:53,920 there are a lot of these fundraising events online just like this, 212 00:15:53,920 --> 00:15:56,639 and I've discovered that it's become even 213 00:15:56,639 --> 00:16:00,240 more important to be able to do it through this type 214 00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:03,519 of technology text to donate when it's online it 215 00:16:03,519 --> 00:16:08,639 makes it much, much easier. Well, obviously 216 00:16:08,639 --> 00:16:14,240 the American history is full of amazing inventors going back to the very 217 00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:18,560 founding of this country and the first patent that was issued in 1790, 218 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:25,279 and we've had great inventors, like Thomas Edison, 219 00:16:25,279 --> 00:16:29,120 Elijah J. Mccoy, the Wright brothers, I could keep going on and on. 220 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:33,279 And what we've done here at the USPTO is to create 221 00:16:33,279 --> 00:16:37,199 inventor cards of some of the greatest inventors in 222 00:16:37,199 --> 00:16:40,480 American history and they're like trading cards, 223 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:44,399 you know, kind of you have baseball cards with players and you can trade them 224 00:16:44,399 --> 00:16:48,240 with your friends and what not and collect them until you get the whole 225 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:52,000 deck. Well, folks should know that we have 226 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:57,519 recently added one of these cards for Dr. Croak 227 00:16:57,519 --> 00:17:05,839 and, Travis, do you mind showing that, please? 228 00:17:08,650 --> 00:17:12,569 [Music] 229 00:17:15,630 --> 00:17:22,780 [Applause] [Music] 230 00:17:22,780 --> 00:17:27,920 [Music] [Music] 231 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:33,840 [Music] 232 00:17:37,039 --> 00:17:40,799 Wow. That, that's so special. Thank you so much. 233 00:17:40,799 --> 00:17:43,840 So, this is the way the card looks. It's, 234 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:47,280 it's like a, you know, it's, it fits in your hand. It's 235 00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:51,280 that size. That's the normal card. This is yours, Dr. Croak. I don't know if you've 236 00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:58,240 gotten some yet, but we've also made a ginormous poster. 237 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:01,919 I don't evenówe tried to figure out how to show it. It doesn't even fit in this, 238 00:18:01,919 --> 00:18:06,720 on the screen, so we're gonna, we're gonna find a way to get it to you. 239 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:14,799 This was just introduced. Let me, with that in mind, let me go to 240 00:18:14,799 --> 00:18:18,160 some of the questions we received from some of the students, 241 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:24,320 actually. A school here in Bethesda, Maryland, the Washington 242 00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:28,640 Episcopal School. There is 243 00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:35,039 Catherine Owen, has a third grade STEM entrepreneurship class. Third grade. They 244 00:18:35,039 --> 00:18:39,679 send many questions, but given everything we've already heard 245 00:18:39,679 --> 00:18:41,679 from you, let me just ask one of the questions 246 00:18:41,679 --> 00:18:46,320 from them. So this is, again, third grade student. Dr. Croak, when 247 00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:51,440 did you first realize you wanted to be an inventor? 248 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:55,120 Thank you, Catherine, that's a great question. 249 00:18:55,120 --> 00:18:58,400 I think I was probably a little younger than you 250 00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:01,440 are, Catherine. I think you must be, if you're in third grade, 251 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:08,160 probably eight or nine. And I was, I was still home 252 00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:14,960 so I must have been about four or five. And I remember, I often tell the story 253 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:19,280 about how my mother used to call my father when 254 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:23,600 something would break, like you know, the, we would have a stopped-up 255 00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:27,760 toilet or the, the electricity would go out and, 256 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:31,280 and then my father would call a plumber or electrician and 257 00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:34,720 and they would come to our house. And I just was so 258 00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:38,320 fascinated with someone who could fix something that was broken. 259 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:41,840 And, you know, when you're little, having a stopped-up 260 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:47,200 sink or something is a big deal, you know, it seems very dramatic and 261 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:51,200 like an emergency. And the fact that someone could come in 262 00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:55,120 and start fooling around with a pipe, and I would follow them around, and I liked 263 00:19:55,120 --> 00:19:59,200 the way that they smelled and I just likedóthey seemed like heroes to 264 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:03,520 me. And so I became very excited with the 265 00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:07,840 thought that I could maybe learn how to fix things, and 266 00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:10,960 thatís kind of what took me off on this journey, 267 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:14,080 and I feel like Iíve been doing that all my life. 268 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:18,159 When my children were young, I would come home from work after 269 00:20:18,159 --> 00:20:22,000 taking care of these big networks, and they would always 270 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:25,360 say, ìThe microwave is broken,î ìMy printerís broken,î 271 00:20:25,360 --> 00:20:29,679 and thatís how I would spend my evenings, is fooling around fixing things. 272 00:20:29,679 --> 00:20:33,440 And, you know, I get annoyed, but then I canít stop, and I, 273 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:39,919 I just want it to work well. So itís been a passion for a very long time. 274 00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:48,320 Another question from the same third grade class is 275 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:51,919 ìHow does it feel to have done so many important things 276 00:20:51,919 --> 00:20:56,000 in your career, and what advice do you have 277 00:20:56,000 --> 00:21:02,400 for kids to follow in your path?î What a nice question. Well, first of 278 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:05,600 all, we all do important things, right? We all 279 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:09,840 do, and some of us, at some points in time, get recognized 280 00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:14,720 for that, and other times we donít, and so donít assume just because 281 00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:18,960 someoneís getting a lot of recognition or rewards that what theyíre 282 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:23,280 doing is any more important than what you do every day. 283 00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:26,559 There have been many periods in my life where I havenít gotten 284 00:21:26,559 --> 00:21:31,120 recognized, and, in fact, Iíve been told that what I was thinking about was silly, 285 00:21:31,120 --> 00:21:35,600 or I shouldnít do it, or something needed to be changed about 286 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:40,159 what I was doing. And I felt, like unimportant, 287 00:21:40,159 --> 00:21:44,320 but I wasnít. You know, it was just that people didnít understand the value 288 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:48,480 of what I was doing. So I would, I would just say to you itís 289 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:53,039 very nice when you get recognized, but if you, you have to learn with, you 290 00:21:53,039 --> 00:21:57,440 have to live with not being recognized and kind of, 291 00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:03,039 kind of try to feel good no matter what, like as long as youíre using your mind 292 00:22:03,039 --> 00:22:06,080 and youíre inventing and youíre thinking of making 293 00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:10,400 the world a better place, take pleasure in that, and sometimes youíre going to 294 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:14,559 get rewarded for it, sometimes you wonít. 295 00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:22,480 You talk a lot about the role of mentors 296 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:29,840 and role models. Let me ask about that. 297 00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:37,039 All of us adults at least have had role models and mentors of some 298 00:22:37,039 --> 00:22:43,120 sort. Talk a bit about the importance of 299 00:22:43,120 --> 00:22:49,039 that for scientists, engineers, and in particular, inventors. 300 00:22:49,039 --> 00:22:56,000 Yes, I think, I think mentors are incredibly important. You know, there was 301 00:22:56,000 --> 00:23:00,240 this one study where, this was even with college students, 302 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:04,000 where they had to list what they wanted to accomplish in 303 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:07,200 life, and they had one set of students just go 304 00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:10,159 ahead and do that, and then one set actually read about 305 00:23:10,159 --> 00:23:15,200 someone that had done something quite spectacular, and then they compared 306 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:18,799 the list of accomplishments, and the ones that had read about a 307 00:23:18,799 --> 00:23:24,000 person accomplishing something extraordinary, their own ambitions were 308 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:27,360 much larger and what they hoped to accomplish. So 309 00:23:27,360 --> 00:23:32,000 just modeling, like having, realizing that, 310 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:35,600 you know, you think that Iím somehow different than youóand Iím not. Iím a 311 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:38,559 person. I have failures, and I have lots of 312 00:23:38,559 --> 00:23:43,600 failures, lots of weaknesses. So inventors are people, and if you can 313 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:47,840 see that by having a close relationship or 314 00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:53,440 being able to read about someone who is an inventor, I think you will then 315 00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:58,880 understand you could be an inventor. And the other thing I would also point 316 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:03,120 out that, is with mentors, they donít actually 317 00:24:03,120 --> 00:24:06,799 have to be real. They can be fictional. You could read 318 00:24:06,799 --> 00:24:10,720 About, you know, some character that does something extraordinary 319 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:15,120 But if you can get it in your mind that maybe you could do that. 320 00:24:15,120 --> 00:24:19,760 I think that helps as well. So and then you don't even have to have just 321 00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:24,960 one mentor, you can like certain parts of one person and parts of others, 322 00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:28,960 and kind of put them all together in your mind as 323 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:34,559 a model for what you would like to be like. I think it just helps us to be 324 00:24:34,559 --> 00:24:39,520 able to be inspired by someone who's human, 325 00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:46,880 and who can somehow make what seems impossible, possible. 326 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:51,520 So, then you start to learn the world is not 327 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:55,360 exactly a stable place, but needs to change, 328 00:24:55,360 --> 00:25:01,840 needs to be modified, and you're capable of doing that. 329 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:07,919 A concern I have with creating more inventors, which I think is 330 00:25:07,919 --> 00:25:10,640 really important for the United States to do, 331 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:18,559 is to make sure that young folks have role models and mentors 332 00:25:18,559 --> 00:25:23,760 close to them in their neighborhoods or folks they can relate to. 333 00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:30,640 I'm wondering what more can we do to get 334 00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:35,919 more people like yourself, more engineers, successful inventors, 335 00:25:35,919 --> 00:25:42,320 scientists and so on out there to 336 00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:49,360 give more exposure to budding up-and-coming inventors to 337 00:25:49,360 --> 00:25:53,919 others who have succeeded? Kids nowadays have a lot of exposure to 338 00:25:53,919 --> 00:25:58,159 athletes and musicians. They're all over the internet, all over the television, 339 00:25:58,159 --> 00:26:01,679 which is fine and great. They're very successful at their trades. 340 00:26:01,679 --> 00:26:08,320 How can we replicate that with inventors? I love that idea. 341 00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:13,440 I've been thinking a lot about that. As you know, I do work for Google and 342 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:17,520 Google has given employees an opportunity to spend 343 00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:20,400 20 percent of their time on something that's going 344 00:26:20,400 --> 00:26:23,679 to help the world, and it may not be directly related to 345 00:26:23,679 --> 00:26:27,840 Google's business. So, think of that as like one day a week. 346 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:30,720 And, so, I mean I would love to partner with 347 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:35,760 you to see if we could start some type of initiative, because I know 348 00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:38,480 many of the people that I work with love to 349 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:43,600 interact with children and people who are interested in STEM. 350 00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:48,000 But maybe either through some type of video sessions, or even 351 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:53,279 physically once we're able to be physically present with each other again, 352 00:26:53,279 --> 00:26:57,120 we could work with the Patent Office and and help it 353 00:26:57,120 --> 00:27:00,799 students to become more motivated and interested in STEM 354 00:27:00,799 --> 00:27:05,520 by seeing what we do. Yeah that's great. I think that's exactly the right approach. 355 00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:08,880 I think I've been talking about having 356 00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:13,360 a partnership between industry, 357 00:27:13,360 --> 00:27:17,120 companies like Google and many others, academia, 358 00:27:17,120 --> 00:27:22,880 universities, schools and the like, and government, offices such as ourselves 359 00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:27,520 and others. I think that's a very good way to 360 00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:34,640 create a relevant network and amplify. What about you personally? Who, 361 00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:38,720 well, I'm sure you had many role models and mentors; Who if you had to pick a 362 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:40,960 couple who would you say were the most 363 00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:45,520 influential in your life? It's so interesting, definitely my father. 364 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:48,880 My father was so interested in my education. 365 00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:52,399 Both of my parents were, but for some reason 366 00:27:52,399 --> 00:27:56,720 I just took to my father because he was 367 00:27:56,720 --> 00:28:00,640 just very proud of me in things that I did, 368 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:04,640 and was very encouraging for me to go into science and 369 00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:10,399 in math, and I appreciated that. As I've grown older, and I don't know if 370 00:28:10,399 --> 00:28:13,919 this is going to sound strange, but I get a lot of inspiration 371 00:28:13,919 --> 00:28:17,120 from people who have gone through very, very 372 00:28:17,120 --> 00:28:23,840 difficult times, and then gone on to do something that benefits the world. 373 00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:29,440 And a lot of times I've gotten inspiration from people that have 374 00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:36,080 Survived, like the Holocaust, or wars and become very resilient, 375 00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:39,279 and have sometimes they just go on to live what we think of 376 00:28:39,279 --> 00:28:43,679 as normal lives. But that is an extraordinary thing to me. 377 00:28:43,679 --> 00:28:49,520 So, you know the world can be a very, very difficult place for many people. 378 00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:52,960 And -- you know -- you have to develop skills 379 00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:57,039 somehow to survive some of the worst things in the world, 380 00:28:57,039 --> 00:29:02,799 and go on. And I get inspiration from people who have done that. 381 00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:08,000 That's great. Let me on a related note, let me 382 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:12,159 go to a question from another question from a student. 383 00:29:12,159 --> 00:29:15,840 Before I go to the question, you've been very 384 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:21,200 successful and accomplished quite a bit 385 00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:27,039 in your life, here is a question from 386 00:29:27,039 --> 00:29:33,520 a STEM class at R.L. Turner High School outside of Dallas ,Texas, one of the 387 00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:38,880 students asks: How did you keep going? And I'll add how 388 00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:42,559 did you succeed when there weren't many black female 389 00:29:42,559 --> 00:29:46,960 colleagues to relate to in your STEM industry? 390 00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:51,440 Yeah, that's a very good question. I appreciate that question. 391 00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:55,840 So, I think what you have to do is, 392 00:29:56,159 --> 00:29:59,840 you know, you can do multiple things in life. And 393 00:29:59,840 --> 00:30:04,399 if what you're passionate about 394 00:30:04,799 --> 00:30:09,120 you're not surrounded by people who are like yourselves in terms of their 395 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:13,200 physical characteristics or their ethnic backgrounds or their cultural 396 00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:16,880 Backgrounds. You need to kind of step out of that. You 397 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:21,279 know, kind of step out of your skin and see what you do have in common with 398 00:30:21,279 --> 00:30:25,279 them. When I'm in a room with other engineers or other 399 00:30:25,279 --> 00:30:29,279 researchers or scientists, we're all alike. You know, we're all 400 00:30:29,279 --> 00:30:34,159 trying to solve a common problem. And you can forget about what people may 401 00:30:34,159 --> 00:30:39,760 look like; where they may come from. Now, your identity on those 402 00:30:39,760 --> 00:30:44,000 issues is important, and I wouldn't say forget about it 403 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:48,399 forever. You know, do have other groups maybe that you can 404 00:30:48,399 --> 00:30:51,840 connect to that can give you that type of cultural 405 00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:58,240 support and nurturing that you need? But you don't necessarily have to have 406 00:30:58,240 --> 00:31:02,159 it in an endeavor all the time. 407 00:31:02,159 --> 00:31:05,919 You know, I hope that that we improve and progress 408 00:31:05,919 --> 00:31:12,559 in society so that all people will be able to do the things that I've been 409 00:31:12,559 --> 00:31:17,120 fortunate enough to do. But it's not as lonely as you think, 410 00:31:17,120 --> 00:31:20,640 because you tend to think like the other people that you're around. 411 00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:28,880 I like engineers. I feel a very kindred spirit with them no matter what. 412 00:31:29,919 --> 00:31:34,640 Let me encourage folks who are watching and did not send questions 413 00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:37,679 already, please go ahead and send your questions 414 00:31:37,679 --> 00:31:42,640 through the link. Feel free to send them now, and I'll ask my team to 415 00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:46,000 please go ahead and put them on the screen as they come in. You can start 416 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:51,279 doing that now if you'd like. I wanted to ask you one question. You 417 00:31:51,279 --> 00:31:55,600 talked about the first Patent, I think you said it was in 1798? 418 00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:59,440 Did you say 17? Yes, 1790. 419 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:08,320 Do you know what that was? Yes, it was for potash, 420 00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:14,720 which is a fertilizer. You know, and so that was 1790. That 421 00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:19,600 was the first patent, and just two years ago we 422 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:27,360 issued patent number 10 million. Wow. And patent number 10 million was 423 00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:35,120 on LIDAR technology. So, LIDAR is like radar, you know, but with light. 424 00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:40,480 Yes. So you're bouncing light off of objects to find out how far they 425 00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:45,279 are, or how fast they're moving, and so on. And what I find is that these seminal 426 00:32:45,279 --> 00:32:51,519 patents, whether it's patent number one, or a million, or 10 million; they are 427 00:32:51,519 --> 00:32:56,559 reflective of the time. So, if you think about the way ó what was important in the 428 00:32:56,559 --> 00:33:00,720 country when it was first founded in 1790, it was an agricultural economy to a 429 00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:04,720 large extent, so they were automatic, you know, 430 00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:08,159 that was what it was about. Patent 431 00:33:08,159 --> 00:33:12,399 number three was to 432 00:33:12,399 --> 00:33:16,080 to an automated grain processing system. 433 00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:24,399 So here we are, in in our age, you know, it's LIDAR technology, 434 00:33:24,399 --> 00:33:28,880 which is very reflective of technology of the day. Itís used 435 00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:31,519 in self-driving vehicles and things like that. 436 00:33:31,519 --> 00:33:35,440 Yeah, that's interesting. You know, I was looking back at my patents, something I, 437 00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:39,120 you know, it's been a while since I've looked at them. 438 00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:43,279 And when I was looking at them, I was thinking ìthat was amazing that this 439 00:33:43,279 --> 00:33:46,000 didn't exist.î You know, because so many of the 440 00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:49,600 things are just so normal now, you wouldn't even think that they would be 441 00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:54,159 Rare. And yet, when you think 20 years from now 442 00:33:54,159 --> 00:33:59,840 what we'll be hopefully looking at does not exist today. Right? It's probably 443 00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:03,519 going to be one of the students that is going to do something that will cause 444 00:34:03,519 --> 00:34:08,960 the world to benefit in some major way. Well, you know what, 445 00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:13,760 this is a great segue way into another question. Here's a question from Chloe, 446 00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:18,800 an eight grader from Apple Valley school, from the Apple Valley school district 447 00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:24,560 outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Two questions, and they're related; let me 448 00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:29,520 ask you the first one. "When you were our age," so again, an eighth 449 00:34:29,520 --> 00:34:33,359 grader, so I guess what 14 or something? 450 00:34:33,359 --> 00:34:36,399 "...What did you think future technologies would be?" 451 00:34:36,399 --> 00:34:40,000 Oh, that's great. 452 00:34:40,320 --> 00:34:44,399 I think you're more impressed with me than you should be. 453 00:34:44,399 --> 00:34:47,760 Because, goodness only knows what I was thinking in eighth grade. I'm sure I was 454 00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:51,679 not as good a student as you were. 455 00:34:51,679 --> 00:34:55,280 You know, I did always want, like the fact 456 00:34:55,280 --> 00:35:00,480 that to be able to carry 457 00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:04,320 a friend around with me. You know, I was the type of 458 00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:09,119 of child who would have a great day at school and then come home and get 459 00:35:09,119 --> 00:35:11,839 right on the telephone and talk to my best friend for 460 00:35:11,839 --> 00:35:15,520 another, you know, few hours, and I'm sure the way people 461 00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:18,800 talk on their mobile phones. So I did 462 00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:22,640 always want this concept because I loved being outdoors as well 463 00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:26,720 and, like, well how do I play, but still have my friend with me? 464 00:35:26,720 --> 00:35:30,640 So maybe there was, like, a little inkling in my mind about 465 00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:34,720 something that was mobile and that had some video presence to it, 466 00:35:34,720 --> 00:35:39,040 but nothing as sophisticated as what we have today with smartphones. 467 00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:42,880 But I had desires, like I always had desires to change 468 00:35:42,880 --> 00:35:47,440 things that I saw and to, you know, if I was annoyed about something, it's like 469 00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:51,520 ìWell, what could we do to make it better?î Like right now even the thing that I'm 470 00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:55,520 most like, just as a aside, like one of the 471 00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:58,720 things I'd like to see happen is: I don't like 472 00:35:58,720 --> 00:36:02,400 wires. I don't like wires. I just think they're unattractive, 473 00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:06,000 and I wish we could do something about them. 474 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:11,040 And so, I'm living for the day when someone can come up with, 475 00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:19,119 you know, enough creativity to figure out a workable power source, so that we don't 476 00:36:19,119 --> 00:36:23,200 have to have all these wires around our homes. I hope 477 00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:26,800 that happens in my lifetime. Yes, I'm actually sitting in my office 478 00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:29,760 right now. You can't see it, but it's full of wires. So, 479 00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:32,960 I'm looking forward to developing that technology. 480 00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:41,040 Yes. Well, this is from the same student, who is asking, 481 00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:45,280 ìWhere do you think technology is going now?î But, let me expand upon it, okay, 482 00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:53,359 and challenge your visions of the future. 483 00:36:53,359 --> 00:36:57,520 Here we are, in 2020. 484 00:36:57,680 --> 00:37:01,839 What do you think the world of technology will look like, 485 00:37:01,839 --> 00:37:06,320 let's say, first, in 2050, which is 30 years from now? 486 00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:13,359 So, when this eighth grader will be about 45 years old. Yes. Yeah, that's 487 00:37:13,359 --> 00:37:19,040 amazing to think about. I could be alive. I could be alive. I'd be 488 00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:24,240 pretty old, but I could be alive. So, I think what you're going to see 489 00:37:24,240 --> 00:37:28,640 is a lot of things that we do now that involves 490 00:37:28,640 --> 00:37:35,040 human labor will be hopefully eliminated, and people can go on and do 491 00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:38,800 higher order things. And by that, I mean there's certain tasks 492 00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:42,560 that we do, like going shopping, and 493 00:37:42,560 --> 00:37:46,400 I know that most of us go shopping online, but even that, you still need 494 00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:49,119 people to pack the stuff, drive it to your house, blah blah blah. 495 00:37:49,119 --> 00:37:53,920 I think-- I'm hoping that all of that will be 496 00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:57,359 automated. But, at the same time that that comes to 497 00:37:57,359 --> 00:38:01,040 be--and I believe there will be self-driving cars-- 498 00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:05,200 I believe that a lot of the daily tasks that we do 499 00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:08,640 that do take up a lot of time will be done 500 00:38:08,640 --> 00:38:14,320 by automation and by software. But, at the same time, because I do 501 00:38:14,320 --> 00:38:19,440 think that shift is going to come, I think it's extremely important 502 00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:24,320 that we start to retrain the labor force, and that young 503 00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:30,160 people start to understand how to transition into a world like that, so 504 00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:33,119 that everyone can be still fully employed, 505 00:38:33,119 --> 00:38:36,560 where as many people that need to work can work, 506 00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:40,880 and that we don't just eliminate jobs, but we create new ones. 507 00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:44,560 I think those two things have to go together. 508 00:38:44,560 --> 00:38:47,680 I think--well just looking at the past history of 509 00:38:47,680 --> 00:38:50,720 human development and technological development, 510 00:38:50,720 --> 00:38:56,560 folks very often are afraid that automation--further automation --eliminates 511 00:38:56,560 --> 00:39:01,680 jobs. That's always been the case. Yes. But as we see, actually, 512 00:39:01,680 --> 00:39:04,960 what happens is more and more people have 513 00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:07,359 jobs and are employed in these highly skilled-- 514 00:39:07,359 --> 00:39:13,280 we can always do better--but historically, at least, technology has 515 00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:17,920 enabled broader employment in more 516 00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:21,520 interesting jobs. I have no reason to think that that would be 517 00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:25,280 different in the future, but, you're right, we need to keep an eye on that. 518 00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:29,599 Yes. Let me ask you, since you're very much an expert of 519 00:39:29,599 --> 00:39:32,880 sending voice and audio over the internet--we 520 00:39:32,880 --> 00:39:35,599 obviously send video over the internet now, 521 00:39:35,599 --> 00:39:39,920 so we have video and audio communication, obviously-- 522 00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:44,720 will it come a time when we can send perhaps some other senses 523 00:39:44,720 --> 00:39:49,280 remotely? Might we be able to send--let me just start with an easy one-- 524 00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:53,920 smell? You know, so, that was, I think, one of my 525 00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:58,640 concepts in the patent that I got, was the ability to do that. And I know people 526 00:39:58,640 --> 00:40:01,839 have experimented with different ways that you can do that. 527 00:40:01,839 --> 00:40:08,720 I do I don't know how it will happen but I do believe it will happen. 528 00:40:08,720 --> 00:40:14,960 I do believe it will happen. Okay. Here's a wild idea. I will not...I will 529 00:40:14,960 --> 00:40:21,920 take credit for this crazy question. What about sending thoughts? 530 00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:25,520 Oh isn't that an interesting thought. Now many people 531 00:40:25,520 --> 00:40:29,280 believe that we do that today, like there's something that we do 532 00:40:29,280 --> 00:40:33,359 where people can actually read your thoughts and that, 533 00:40:33,359 --> 00:40:36,960 you know, they say that that communication is 80% 534 00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:43,599 non-verbal. So imagine if we trained, you know, computers to understand facial 535 00:40:43,599 --> 00:40:47,119 expressions and they could probably read them much 536 00:40:47,119 --> 00:40:51,280 more so than we can. Right? And you were able to at 537 00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:54,720 least intuit emotion. Right? And 538 00:40:54,720 --> 00:40:58,480 and there's some level of that that happens today. 539 00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:04,880 Like in call centers being able to... I remember one call center that this 540 00:41:04,880 --> 00:41:08,480 was years ago and there was a 541 00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:11,920 application where... A call center is when you call, 542 00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:15,440 like, say an 800 number and you're... a lot of people 543 00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:18,800 are calling call centers because they're upset about something. 544 00:41:18,800 --> 00:41:22,319 And usually the person that's answering the call 545 00:41:22,319 --> 00:41:26,240 is overwhelmed, you know, with a lot of Calls. They're trying to help but the 546 00:41:26,240 --> 00:41:30,720 person is so irate. So what we would do is we had, like, 547 00:41:30,720 --> 00:41:34,560 a system that could detect 548 00:41:34,560 --> 00:41:40,480 the level of rage say, or anger that the person was having 549 00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:44,400 by the sounds that they were making. Even by the length of silence 550 00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:48,319 between the words. Because when you're very angry 551 00:41:48,319 --> 00:41:52,079 you're usually not very rapid in your Speech. You'll be rapid and then 552 00:41:52,079 --> 00:41:57,200 a long pause. Right? Because it's a lot of nonverbal information going on. 553 00:41:57,200 --> 00:42:01,040 And then they would then decide how to route the call and who to route the call 554 00:42:01,040 --> 00:42:04,400 to as a function of the emotional level 555 00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:09,920 that the person was experiencing. So very, you know, empathetic. 556 00:42:09,920 --> 00:42:14,240 The call center agent would get the worst calls. So yes, I do. 557 00:42:14,240 --> 00:42:20,400 I do believe that in some sense, you know, maybe not our our deepest thoughts and 558 00:42:20,400 --> 00:42:25,200 maybe not the most complex Thoughts. But at least some level of 559 00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:30,720 trying to understand how the person is actually feeling 560 00:42:30,720 --> 00:42:33,920 and what they're experiencing. Like itís, you know, and 561 00:42:33,920 --> 00:42:38,560 maybe they'll be able to do it more than we can. 562 00:42:38,720 --> 00:42:44,079 Yes, that's amazing. It's already happening, as you say. 563 00:42:44,079 --> 00:42:48,480 Let me go back to a typical characteristic of 564 00:42:48,480 --> 00:42:52,079 invention and inventors. I talk to many inventors 565 00:42:52,079 --> 00:42:57,200 in in my job and one of the things that almost everybody says that it's a 566 00:42:57,200 --> 00:43:02,000 critically important component of a successful inventor 567 00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:06,000 is not to be discouraged by failure. Because 568 00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:09,040 you're always going to fail most likely and you just need to get it back 569 00:43:09,040 --> 00:43:14,480 up on your feet. Here's a question from the audience that just came in 570 00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:20,720 from Darlene Ritchie. She says...she asks of you, Dr. Croak, 571 00:43:20,720 --> 00:43:23,760 have you ever felt challenged to the point that you weren't 572 00:43:23,760 --> 00:43:26,800 sure that you could continue in your work? 573 00:43:26,800 --> 00:43:32,800 Did you continue anyway? In other words, did you ever have to 574 00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:37,760 try multiple times in order to achieve your goal having 575 00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:42,480 failed along the way? Yeah so I would say 576 00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:49,440 if you think about it and I don't think about it always this way but 577 00:43:49,440 --> 00:43:52,640 most of my life has been a series of failures 578 00:43:52,640 --> 00:43:58,880 and I think any one in in any scientific field or research 579 00:43:58,880 --> 00:44:03,200 field or trying to do something different and 580 00:44:03,200 --> 00:44:09,440 and change things will tell you that the thing is that after maybe the first 581 00:44:09,440 --> 00:44:14,560 hard failure it stops feeling bad, you know. You may feel 582 00:44:14,560 --> 00:44:18,480 discouraged for a moment in time, but then you try to 583 00:44:18,480 --> 00:44:21,520 figure out what can you learn from that failure. 584 00:44:21,520 --> 00:44:26,800 Like science is so much failure, right? Most things fail. Eighty percent of 585 00:44:26,800 --> 00:44:31,119 the time it's going to be failing. But you have to learn from it, so that 586 00:44:31,119 --> 00:44:35,119 you then you can go on and figure out how to make it better. So 587 00:44:35,119 --> 00:44:39,359 there are things that are called prototypes and pilots, 588 00:44:39,359 --> 00:44:44,800 and that allows you to just gradually, in a very incremental way, 589 00:44:44,800 --> 00:44:49,520 try out something and test something so that you don't do it all at once, but 590 00:44:49,520 --> 00:44:53,839 you're testing it and refining it as you go. And I think, 591 00:44:53,839 --> 00:44:57,839 I often make the case that, you know, as you walk, you're going to fall. As you 592 00:44:57,839 --> 00:45:01,599 learn to walk as a child you're falling a lot, right, and you're 593 00:45:01,599 --> 00:45:05,760 not saying that baby's failing, right, you're saying the baby's learning 594 00:45:05,760 --> 00:45:09,920 how to walk. And that's what a life of 595 00:45:09,920 --> 00:45:14,720 of bringing change is going to be like. You're going to feel like 596 00:45:14,720 --> 00:45:18,079 you're not getting anywhere, but as long as you keep learning from it, and 597 00:45:18,079 --> 00:45:22,319 refining it, and refining it, then you're gonna get it. And you 598 00:45:22,319 --> 00:45:27,599 have to have someone around you, sometimes, that can help you understand 599 00:45:27,599 --> 00:45:32,960 that you're not failing- it's not you- you're learning, and you're moving ahead. 600 00:45:32,960 --> 00:45:37,119 That is such a great analogy to learning how to walk, but what about 601 00:45:37,119 --> 00:45:41,119 just the process of invention itself? Some people 602 00:45:41,119 --> 00:45:46,000 think about, gee there is like a eureka moment, or like the cartoon of the light 603 00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:50,640 bulb that goes, goes on above your head all of a sudden, and there you 604 00:45:50,640 --> 00:45:53,119 have it the fully formed idea ready to go. 605 00:45:53,119 --> 00:45:57,839 Is that really how it works? Let me relate to this, 606 00:45:57,839 --> 00:46:03,359 the real question from Nathan Coronado, fifth grader from Happy Valley, Oregon, 607 00:46:03,359 --> 00:46:07,440 who asks you, ìHow do you come up with your ideas?î 608 00:46:07,440 --> 00:46:10,800 So that's a great question, and to your point 609 00:46:10,800 --> 00:46:14,000 maybe some people have eureka ideas, sometimes I think 610 00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:17,200 I do, but usually they turn out to be wrong. 611 00:46:17,200 --> 00:46:22,000 Instead it's almost like a discipline. You can think of it as a switch, 612 00:46:22,000 --> 00:46:27,119 and start out by asking yourself why something is the way it is, especially if 613 00:46:27,119 --> 00:46:32,960 you're not happy with it. Like, why do we turn on a switch for lights? 614 00:46:32,960 --> 00:46:37,599 Ask yourself, keep asking yourself questions about why something is. 615 00:46:37,599 --> 00:46:43,040 And what you'll see is that there's a certain conventional way to do 616 00:46:43,040 --> 00:46:47,599 something. It's a status quo. But it's because someone, and then a 617 00:46:47,599 --> 00:46:50,560 group or society decided that's the way it's going to be. 618 00:46:50,560 --> 00:46:53,760 It doesn't mean that it's always going to have to be that way, 619 00:46:53,760 --> 00:46:57,760 things can change, know that things can change, 620 00:46:57,760 --> 00:47:01,040 and then you can actually say to yourself, 621 00:47:01,040 --> 00:47:04,400 I'm going to think of something new once a week. 622 00:47:04,400 --> 00:47:08,319 You know, I'm going to think of a new Idea, a new way of doing something 623 00:47:08,319 --> 00:47:11,520 once a week. And believe it or not it's like a switch, 624 00:47:11,520 --> 00:47:15,760 if you start training yourself to do that, you can see that it will escalate. 625 00:47:15,760 --> 00:47:18,800 So by once a day, maybe a couple of times a day, 626 00:47:18,800 --> 00:47:21,440 you'll just think of something very creative, 627 00:47:21,440 --> 00:47:24,720 and it's like turning your mind on, because suddenly you 628 00:47:24,720 --> 00:47:29,359 realize the world is very elastic. You know, we can change it. 629 00:47:29,359 --> 00:47:32,559 People have changed it. Everything that's here, 630 00:47:32,559 --> 00:47:35,920 you know, has been changed, maybe inspired by God, but 631 00:47:35,920 --> 00:47:39,200 it's people that are making these things, 632 00:47:39,200 --> 00:47:43,040 and making kind of the conventions about, well, we use the knife and 633 00:47:43,040 --> 00:47:48,160 fork. Maybe 50 years from now, we will not be eating with knives and forks, it would 634 00:47:48,160 --> 00:47:52,960 be something completely different. And so you know, if you can turn on your 635 00:47:52,960 --> 00:47:56,960 mind, turn on that switch, it's almost like a discipline about how 636 00:47:56,960 --> 00:48:03,440 to think out of the box, how to think of discovery. It's fun too. It's a lot of fun. 637 00:48:03,440 --> 00:48:07,760 Let me change subjects a little bit, but it's 638 00:48:07,760 --> 00:48:11,280 Related. 639 00:48:11,680 --> 00:48:17,839 A major initiative we have from here, from the USPTO and the Department of 640 00:48:17,839 --> 00:48:22,400 Commerce in general, is to create more inventors. 641 00:48:22,400 --> 00:48:26,079 We have studies from the USPTO and others that show that innovation is 642 00:48:26,079 --> 00:48:31,400 concentrated in the United States. It's concentrated demographically and 643 00:48:31,400 --> 00:48:36,079 geographically. How, 644 00:48:36,079 --> 00:48:39,760 and this may be a very complex question, but maybe at a high level, 645 00:48:39,760 --> 00:48:44,880 how do we make more inventors like yourself? How do we, 646 00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:52,319 How to we enable more inventors, across the demographics and across the 647 00:48:52,319 --> 00:48:59,359 geography of the United States, even away from the traditional innovation 648 00:48:59,359 --> 00:49:06,400 eco-centers, Silicon Valley, you know, and so on? Yes, you know the companies 649 00:49:06,400 --> 00:49:09,680 corporations, especially corporations like Google, 650 00:49:09,680 --> 00:49:13,040 their culture is invention right, and innovation. 651 00:49:13,040 --> 00:49:18,800 But I think to your point, and this is where I would love to, you 652 00:49:18,800 --> 00:49:24,480 Know, work with you, on and because I think to your point, 653 00:49:24,640 --> 00:49:27,920 invention can go on anywhere and innovation can happen 654 00:49:27,920 --> 00:49:30,960 anywhere if people realize that that's what 655 00:49:30,960 --> 00:49:36,640 they're capable of doing and I, I think, I don't think they lack for the 656 00:49:36,640 --> 00:49:41,280 creativity. I think they think of ideas but they don't know what to do with them. 657 00:49:41,280 --> 00:49:46,400 You know, they don't have that big corporation behind them supporting them. 658 00:49:46,400 --> 00:49:53,040 I think if people had more education about the patent process or about 659 00:49:53,040 --> 00:49:57,760 Invention, and had some way of 660 00:49:57,760 --> 00:50:00,960 connecting, you know, what they're thinking in their heads 661 00:50:00,960 --> 00:50:06,400 with that process, it would be a wonderful thing. 662 00:50:06,640 --> 00:50:12,000 I'll come back to education in a second, but what about the corporations? 663 00:50:12,000 --> 00:50:16,000 (Yes) And what about, do, what about the corporate, 664 00:50:16,000 --> 00:50:19,520 creating a culture of innovation? You used to work at the Bell labs, 665 00:50:19,520 --> 00:50:26,640 (Yes) which no longer exists as is it used to, you know, 666 00:50:26,640 --> 00:50:30,720 quite a few of the inventors on our inventor cards come from bell labs 667 00:50:30,720 --> 00:50:34,400 not just yourself now, but Jim West and 668 00:50:34,400 --> 00:50:41,119 and some others. What was it about entities like that, what, what was it in 669 00:50:41,119 --> 00:50:43,839 their culture that created so much Innovation? 670 00:50:43,839 --> 00:50:47,210 And it wasn't just Bell labs, there were a number of those. 671 00:50:47,210 --> 00:50:51,119 (Yes) And ,and what can the modern corporations 672 00:50:51,119 --> 00:50:53,359 in today's world learn from them and maybe 673 00:50:53,359 --> 00:50:58,240 reinstate somehow? Yeah, so thank you that's a great question and I, 674 00:50:58,240 --> 00:51:02,559 you know, I did work at Bell Labs and then that evolved and then slowly died 675 00:51:02,559 --> 00:51:06,640 off. But now being in the Silicon Valley with, 676 00:51:06,640 --> 00:51:10,559 with Google, I kind of see many of the same things. 677 00:51:10,559 --> 00:51:15,520 Where it's embedded within the culture and there's certain things that are 678 00:51:15,520 --> 00:51:22,000 Important. One is that, you're taught that, your job 679 00:51:22,000 --> 00:51:25,680 is to challenge things, you know, to ask the ìwhyî 680 00:51:25,680 --> 00:51:30,640 like I just said. You're also taught to collaborate with each other, 681 00:51:30,640 --> 00:51:35,359 because it's very atypical that you're going to have 682 00:51:35,359 --> 00:51:39,839 an invention all by yourself, but it usually comes as a result 683 00:51:39,839 --> 00:51:45,599 of some cross-functional teaming that you do, you know,we need to 684 00:51:45,599 --> 00:51:50,240 partner with each other. Some, some companies like Google, 685 00:51:50,240 --> 00:51:54,000 they're very intentional about creating spaces where 686 00:51:54,000 --> 00:51:56,480 people, physical spaces where people can come 687 00:51:56,480 --> 00:52:02,400 together and collaborate. And then most importantly I think, and 688 00:52:02,400 --> 00:52:06,240 this even goes into schools, there's this 689 00:52:06,240 --> 00:52:11,760 concept of as you were talking about failure before, like, a blameless culture 690 00:52:11,760 --> 00:52:16,000 so that you're not punished for failure, you don't feel like 691 00:52:16,000 --> 00:52:19,920 everything has to be perfect or that you have to fit in. 692 00:52:19,920 --> 00:52:22,960 You're allowed to be different and you're allowed to 693 00:52:22,960 --> 00:52:28,880 fail as long as you understand what the failure was and then you can 694 00:52:28,880 --> 00:52:33,040 either build something or conceive of something 695 00:52:33,040 --> 00:52:36,480 so that others don't fail in the same way. 696 00:52:36,480 --> 00:52:40,000 I think you know that you need to have that kind of safe 697 00:52:40,000 --> 00:52:44,839 environment and structure in place to encourage 698 00:52:44,839 --> 00:52:49,599 Invention. Yeah it's such an interesting issue and 699 00:52:49,599 --> 00:52:53,920 such an important topic. We're studying this issue as I mentioned 700 00:52:53,920 --> 00:52:58,400 in the USPTO. We've created just recently the National Council for 701 00:52:58,400 --> 00:53:03,680 Expanding American Innovation. If you go to our website at uspto.gov 702 00:53:03,680 --> 00:53:08,160 you can see it and take a look at our activities and 703 00:53:08,160 --> 00:53:13,839 also send suggestions along these lines with what we can do to 704 00:53:13,839 --> 00:53:18,160 improve the culture of innovation across the demographics of the United 705 00:53:18,160 --> 00:53:22,960 States and across the geography. 706 00:53:23,200 --> 00:53:30,160 But it all starts with education and, in my mind, 707 00:53:30,160 --> 00:53:34,559 obviously we need to educate folks in science, technology, 708 00:53:34,559 --> 00:53:39,599 math, and so on. STEM subjects. Yes. Well what about, do you see a difference 709 00:53:39,599 --> 00:53:45,119 between that and then separate innovation or invention 710 00:53:45,119 --> 00:53:49,280 slash entrepreneurship education? A few of the schools that 711 00:53:49,280 --> 00:53:53,920 we got questions from right now seem to have entrepreneurship programs going 712 00:53:53,920 --> 00:53:59,280 down to third grade. Do you see a role of that separate 713 00:53:59,280 --> 00:54:06,319 curriculum of innovation on top of STEM subjects? 714 00:54:06,319 --> 00:54:10,800 I do. I think that's a really insightful question because you can 715 00:54:10,800 --> 00:54:13,520 learn Science. You can learn math and just 716 00:54:13,520 --> 00:54:18,000 think I have to learn what exists now, you know? 717 00:54:18,000 --> 00:54:24,000 Or you can approach it with a sense of Creativity. Well this is what we know now, 718 00:54:24,000 --> 00:54:26,800 but what else is there? You know, what else can we do 719 00:54:26,800 --> 00:54:30,400 with it? And it's more of a mindset that you have. 720 00:54:30,400 --> 00:54:36,319 So I do think that there's a distinction between just going into STEM where you 721 00:54:36,319 --> 00:54:40,480 could just do it in more of a like a robotic way almost, 722 00:54:40,480 --> 00:54:46,880 versus going into STEM with the notion of using it in an applied way to bring 723 00:54:46,880 --> 00:54:51,839 change. And. So there is, 724 00:54:51,839 --> 00:54:55,280 I have a question from an educator from South St. Paul 725 00:54:55,280 --> 00:54:58,880 High School in Minnesota Mike Gilson 726 00:54:58,880 --> 00:55:03,359 who asks along these lines - I guess he's teaching in this area. 727 00:55:03,359 --> 00:55:10,400 He says, ìHow can I best support invention teams especially female teams 728 00:55:10,400 --> 00:55:14,400 as they invent solutions to community Problems?î 729 00:55:14,400 --> 00:55:18,000 And again he's in high school. Oh, I love that 730 00:55:18,000 --> 00:55:22,880 question because. I love that question Because, 731 00:55:22,880 --> 00:55:28,480 you know, what we're experiencing today in the world is very much like the world 732 00:55:28,480 --> 00:55:33,200 that I grew up in. You know I grew up mostly 733 00:55:33,200 --> 00:55:38,160 in the 60s and the 70s and the world was quite 734 00:55:38,160 --> 00:55:41,839 Chaotic. You know, there was there was a lot of 735 00:55:41,839 --> 00:55:46,480 change happening and it was very clear that no one wanted the 736 00:55:46,480 --> 00:55:49,839 the world to stay the way it was. Everyone either said I want to go 737 00:55:49,839 --> 00:55:54,480 back to where it was or we need to progress forward. Almost exactly what you 738 00:55:54,480 --> 00:55:58,640 have Today. So in some sense 739 00:55:58,640 --> 00:56:03,280 it can be a very difficult world right now to live in but it can also 740 00:56:03,280 --> 00:56:07,520 be very exciting because people are open to change 741 00:56:07,520 --> 00:56:13,440 and I love the fact that that person is asking the question, 742 00:56:13,440 --> 00:56:18,160 ìHow can you bring technology to help with 743 00:56:18,160 --> 00:56:22,000 things that need to change in society?î I think that will be 744 00:56:22,000 --> 00:56:25,680 the next application. I was thinking how 745 00:56:25,680 --> 00:56:29,760 your examiners probably have a window into the future 746 00:56:29,760 --> 00:56:33,920 that no one else has because they can look and see what's coming. 747 00:56:33,920 --> 00:56:38,640 Patents are usually years ahead of when the actual 748 00:56:38,640 --> 00:56:43,839 invention will be ubiquitous but it gives you an inkling of how people 749 00:56:43,839 --> 00:56:47,200 are thinking and to think that we can bring 750 00:56:47,200 --> 00:56:52,960 technology to improve society, I love that thought. 751 00:56:52,960 --> 00:56:58,559 Yeah, as I say to examiners here: it's through our doors here at the USPTO, 752 00:56:58,559 --> 00:57:04,400 through our doors walks the future for the reasons that you've 753 00:57:04,400 --> 00:57:09,760 mentioned. So with the time winding down, let me 754 00:57:09,760 --> 00:57:17,280 ask you from a USPTO examiner perspective, 755 00:57:17,280 --> 00:57:20,319 given that you're an inventor and you continue 756 00:57:20,319 --> 00:57:23,599 such important work, what is the role that you see 757 00:57:23,599 --> 00:57:27,040 for invention and innovation in your own life of 758 00:57:27,040 --> 00:57:33,599 patents and the IP system? I have benefited a great deal 759 00:57:33,599 --> 00:57:37,920 from the patents that I've received. It's helped me 760 00:57:37,920 --> 00:57:43,280 just in terms of my own validation that what I was doing was, 761 00:57:43,280 --> 00:57:47,680 you know, a good thing to do. It's helped me in my career; 762 00:57:47,680 --> 00:57:51,280 it's opened doors for me that wouldn't have been opened. 763 00:57:51,280 --> 00:57:58,000 I deeply appreciate the whole patenting process and what it's done for me 764 00:57:58,000 --> 00:58:06,000 and it's just been a tremendous benefit to me. 765 00:58:06,000 --> 00:58:10,160 More importantly, I'm glad that the innovations serve the world 766 00:58:10,160 --> 00:58:15,440 but then, personally, I feel like I've benefited a great deal from the patents 767 00:58:15,440 --> 00:58:21,599 and I can't thank the patent office enough for awarding 768 00:58:21,599 --> 00:58:25,920 them to me. Well, obviously, they're all fully 769 00:58:25,920 --> 00:58:29,680 merited and you have done and continue to do 770 00:58:29,680 --> 00:58:34,079 amazing work, Dr. Croak. It's been an honor to have you 771 00:58:34,079 --> 00:58:36,720 with us on this programóyour stories and 772 00:58:36,720 --> 00:58:39,920 Inspiration, you are an inspiration to so many 773 00:58:39,920 --> 00:58:47,119 folks of all agesó Inventors, entrepreneurs, and everybody 774 00:58:47,119 --> 00:58:50,880 else including myself. Thank you so much for taking the time. 775 00:58:50,880 --> 00:58:55,920 Well thank you so much for having me, I appreciate this. 776 00:58:56,480 --> 00:59:04,559 Bye everybody. Goodbye.