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Amazon's working on a less-forgetful Alexa

Plus Nest thermostats for every house, inflatable Amazon packages and other patents from Big Tech.

Amazon's forgetful Alexa

Alexa tends to forget what it was up to. Amazon wants to fix that.

Image: Courtesy of USPTO

Some of the patents awarded to Big Tech this week seem to yearn for that long-ago time when we could convene for meetings in offices or would even be commuting to and from work. Hopefully it won't be long before everyone is able to enjoy the mundanities of normal life again, and these patents will make some of those things a little easier.

And remember: Companies file all kinds of crazy patents for things, and though most never amount to anything, some end up defining the future.

Alphabet

Nest thermostats for older homes

If you've ever used a Nest thermostat, you'll know they work quite well but require you to be relatively handy to install them. Many houses, especially older ones and those in Europe, don't rely on electronic thermostats, instead using bimetallic strips that react to temperature changes to turn on boilers. Good luck controlling those with your phone. Nest wants to fix that, with a patent that outlines a simpler-to-install thermostat. It would plug into the existing sensors in the wall, as well as a power socket. You'd also connect up a wireless receiver to the boiler, which would tell it to turn up or down the heat. It could be a simple way to bring old homes into the future.

Streaming apps

The idea of always-connected devices streaming always-updated apps to phones isn't necessarily new, but the logistics, connectivity and security have always been issues. Google seems to be thinking about a way to make them work as "ephemeral apps," where a user would download a shell for an app to their phone, but the content of the app actually lives on a cloud. This would mean the device would require far less storage space, which could make them cheaper to produce. According to the patent, it could also make it easier for IT managers to revoke or grant access to specific apps as employees need them.

Summarizing voice messages

If you ever call my voicemail, you'll hear my message … saying that I don't listen to voicemail. I tell people this is because it's easier for me to manage email messages, but it's also because I'm extremely lazy. It seems that I might not be the only one: This new patent from Google looks at how AI can be used to summarize voice messages. The system would automatically pull out the pertinent information, like when someone recites a phone number to call them on or a location to check out, and then the app you're using would allow you to call that number directly or pull that location up on a map. It'd be a huge boon for extremely busy lazy people like me.

Amazon

Tracking workers with depth-sensing cameras

This new patent seems designed to bring the tracking technology found in Amazon Go stores to the company's warehouses. It outlines a camera-tracking system that can determine who workers are by looking at their faces and clothes and monitor their progress through the warehouse floor, into break rooms and even to the bathroom (though it doesn't suggest following them in there). The cameras could also see what products workers are picking off shelves and where they're taking them, which would help Amazon keep better track of its inventory and warehouse efficiency. But it might also create an unsettling panopticon where Amazon employees have little place to hide from the all-seeing eye of their bosses.

Helping Alexa remember what you were talking about

If you've used third-party Alexa apps, you've probably had the problem where you ask Alexa quickly to do something else, and she "forgets" that you were using the other app. Fixing this problem, and giving Alexa a better memory, is something Amazon is apparently working on. This patent outlines a system where, for example, someone using a cooking app on Alexa could say, "Alexa start a timer for 5 minutes," and the assistant will do that. Right now, Alexa may then just stay silent after completing the task, but in the situation in the patent, it would remember to return on the cooking app the user was using before. Then again, if Amazon could just get its drone delivery program off the ground, maybe I could have ordered some takeout instead of having to rely on Alexa for cooking help.

Inflatable drone delivery packages

Speaking of which: Amazon is back with yet another way of trying to keep people — and the things they order — safe during drone deliveries. While the division may be struggling to deliver on Bezos' 2013 promise of superfast drone deliveries for Prime members, it's still working on ways of getting those products to them. Eventually. This new patent suggests creating delivery packages that can inflate as they drop to earth, presumably to avoid potentially injuring anyone or anything on the way down. It's like that famous James Bond gadget, but for the stick of deodorant you really needed right away.

Apple

Teaching Siri where you are in the house

Apple's ecosystem of smart home devices has gotten pretty robust in recent years, but any automation in those smart home systems has to be set up by the user. I have it rigged so that when my iPhone leaves my apartment, the Home app will turn off all the lights, but I haven't yet set one up to turn them all on when I get back. This new patent suggests a more intelligent version of the app that could suggest automations. It gives the example of someone who always uses the smartphone to close their garage door when they come up at night, and turn on the lights in their kitchen when they walk into the kitchen. In an ideal world, the smart home system would recognize the repeated actions and build an automation for the user. Then again, that user probably isn't going into work anymore, so nobody will be testing this one for a while.

Facebook

Amphibious robots

This new patent from Facebook envisions a zany wheeled robot device that could drive through water, if needed. The main innovation here is putting all the moving parts above the wheels, presumably keeping the entire drive mechanism above any water or other terrain the bot would be going through. But the craziest part of the patent is the last diagram, where two of these bots have been snapped together with a chair and some giant arms, so a person could scoot around and pick things up with their amphibious vehicle. The arms seem like an extension from the high-fiving robot Facebook patented a few weeks ago, but I'm not entirely sure what Facebook could be envisioning using these gangly robots for — maybe making sure we're all staying 6 feet apart?

Clubhouse, but make it Facebook

If you're in tech, you have probably heard of Clubhouse — and maybe even tried to invest in it. (For the uninitiated, it's a social network for short audio clips.) And in true Facebook fashion, the company seems to have patented its own spin on the idea, much like it's done for every other social network that's come along in recent years. The patent, in Facebook's defense, does offer a few ways in which its audio-only social network might actually be useful: for those who are visually impaired and those who may be shy to write long posts on Facebook but may be more willing to dictate them. But I'm not sure how many of those there are, given the treatises I've seen all over Facebook..

Microsoft

Using mobile devices on a connected whiteboard

Collaboration software can get a bit overwhelming, with people drawing over other people and everyone talking over each other. Microsoft's new patent is aimed at tying a person's identity to what they're sharing on a connected whiteboard or computer display. In the system, a user's personal phone would connect over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to the computer powering the display, and a camera would track their motion relative to the display. This would allow people to show up to a meeting room, and the system would automatically know who is who. The cameras would also be able to tell if a user passed their device to someone else to show them something: If that second person started writing something for the big display, it would have their name attached to it. This may make collaboration software a little easier to use, but that seems like a problem for a far away time when we're all back in offices having meetings together. Remember conference room meetings? I actually miss them now.

 Mike Murphy

Mike Murphy ( @mcwm) is the director of special projects at Protocol, focusing on the industries being rapidly upended by technology and the companies disrupting incumbents. Previously, Mike was the technology editor at Quartz, where he frequently wrote on robotics, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics.

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health tech
Protocol | China

Everything you need to know about the Yuanxin Technology IPO

Image: Yuanxin

Yuanxin Technology doesn't hide its ambition. In the first line of its prospectus, the company says its mission is to be the "first choice for patients' healthcare and medication needs in China." But the road to winning the crowded China health tech race is a long one for this Tencent- and Sequoia-backed startup, even with a recent valuation of $4 billion, according to Chinese publication Lieyunwang. Here's everything you need to know about Yuanxin Technology's forthcoming IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

What does Yuanxin do?

There are many ways startups can crack open the health care market in China, and Yuanxin has focused on one: prescription drugs. According to its prospectus, sales of prescription drugs outside hospitals account for only 23% of the total healthcare market in China, whereas that number is 70.2% in the United States.

Yuanxin started with physical stores. Since 2015, it has opened 217 pharmacies immediately outside Chinese hospitals. "A pharmacy has to be on the main road where a patient exits the hospital. It needs to be highly accessible," Yuanxin founder He Tao told Chinese media in August. Then, patients are encouraged to refill their prescriptions on Yuanxin's online platforms and to follow up with telehealth services instead of returning to a hospital.

From there, Yuanxin has built a large product portfolio that offers online doctor visits, pharmacies and private insurance plans. It also works with enterprise clients, designing office automation and prescription management systems for hospitals and selling digital ads for big pharma.

Yuanxin's Financials

Yuanxin's annual revenues have been steadily growing from $127 million in 2018 to $365 million in 2019 and $561 million in 2020. In each of those three years, over 97% of revenue came from "out-of-hospital comprehensive patient services," which include the company's physical pharmacies and telehealth services. More specifically, approximately 83% of its retail sales derived from prescription drugs.

But the company hasn't made a profit. Yuanxin's annual losses grew from $17 million in 2018 to $26 million in 2019 and $48 million in 2020. The losses are moderate considering the ever-growing revenues, but cast doubt on whether the company can become profitable any time soon. Apart from the cost of drug supplies, the biggest spend is marketing and sales.

What's next for Yuanxin

There are still abundant opportunities in the prescription drug market. In 2020, China's National Medical Products Administration started to explore lifting the ban on selling prescription drugs online. Although it's unclear when the change will take place, it looks like more purely-online platforms will be able to write prescriptions in the future. With its established market presence, Yuanxin is likely one of the players that can benefit greatly from such a policy change.

The enterprise and health insurance businesses of Yuanxin are still fairly small (accounting for less than 3% of annual revenue), but this is where the company sees an opportunity for future growth. Yuanxin is particularly hoping to power its growth with data and artificial intelligence. It boasts a database of 14 million prescriptions accumulated over years, and the company says the data can be used in many ways: designing private insurance plans, training doctors and offering chronic disease management services. The company says it currently employs 509 people on its R&D team, including 437 software engineers and 22 data engineers and scientists.

What Could Go Wrong?

The COVID-19 pandemic has helped sell the story of digital health care, but Yuanxin isn't the only company benefiting from this opportunity. 2020 has seen a slew of Chinese health tech companies rise. They either completed their IPO process before Yuanxin (like JD, Alibaba and Ping An's healthcare subsidiaries) or are close to it (WeDoctor and DXY). In this crowded sector, Yuanxin faces competition from both companies with Big Tech parent companies behind them and startups that have their own specialized advantages.

Like each of its competitors, Yuanxin needs to be careful with how it processes patient data — some of the most sensitive personal data online. Recent Chinese legislation around personal data has made it clear that it will be increasingly difficult to monetize user data. In the prospectus, Yuanxin elaborately explained how it anonymizes data and prevents data from being leaked or hacked, but it also admitted that it cannot foresee what future policies will be introduced.

Who Gets Rich

  • Yuanxin's founder and CEO He Tao and SVP He Weizhuang own 29.82% of the company's shares through a jointly controlled company. (It's unclear whether He Tao and He Weizhuang are related.)
  • Tencent owns 19.55% of the shares.
  • Sequoia owns 16.21% of the shares.
  • Other major investors include Qiming, Starquest Capital and Kunling, which respectively own 7.12%, 6.51% and 5.32% of the shares.

What People Are Saying

  • "The demands of patients, hospitals, insurance companies, pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies are all different. How to meet each individual demand and find a core profit model is the key to Yuanxin Technology's future growth." — Xu Yuchen, insurance industry analyst and member of China Association of Actuaries, in Chinese publication Lanjinger.
  • "The window of opportunity caused by the pandemic, as well as the high valuations of those companies that have gone public, brings hope to other medical services companies…[But] the window of opportunity is closing and the potential of Internet healthcare is yet to be explored with new ideas. Therefore, traditional, asset-heavy healthcare companies need to take this opportunity and go public as soon as possible." —Wang Hang, founder and CEO of online healthcare platform Haodf, in state media China.com.

Zeyi Yang
Zeyi Yang is a reporter with Protocol | China. Previously, he worked as a reporting fellow for the digital magazine Rest of World, covering the intersection of technology and culture in China and neighboring countries. He has also contributed to the South China Morning Post, Nikkei Asia, Columbia Journalism Review, among other publications. In his spare time, Zeyi co-founded a Mandarin podcast that tells LGBTQ stories in China. He has been playing Pokemon for 14 years and has a weird favorite pick.
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