Trends member Neer Sharma has been rounding up the best corporate patents every week for his must-read newsletter Patent Drop.
![What the latest tech patents say about the future](https://20627419.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/20627419/hubfs/The%20Hustle/Assets/Images/969945787-bicycle.webp?width=595&height=400&name=969945787-bicycle.webp)
Here are recent findings:
PayPal is souping up AR shopping
With this new patent, fintech giant PayPal wants to facilitate payments within augmented reality (AR) glasses:
“Imagine you’re wearing AR glasses as you walk down the street. A stranger passes you by in a cool, pastel-painted, vintage bicycle.
As you look at it, a message appears in your AR glasses – “this is for sale for $100!”. You think to yourself – “wow, this completes my nomad, hipster garments. I gotta buy it”. And through your AR glasses, you make an offer on the bicycle.”
![](https://20627419.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/20627419/hubfs/The%20Hustle/Assets/Images/969945787-bicycle.webp?width=512&height=299&name=969945787-bicycle.webp)
Ford with a VERY forward-looking patent
In anticipation of a world where car sharing is ubiquitous, Ford has a patent for “odor mitigation”.
The automaker is offering up 2 potential solutions:
- An e-nose (AKA electrochemical nose) uses sensors to detect certain scents. It then deals with the smell via a filtration or air freshener system.
- Another option is using something called the human nose. Riders are asked to flag offending smells, which the odor mitigation system can deal with the next time it senses it.
![](https://20627419.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/20627419/hubfs/The%20Hustle/Assets/Images/835643432-Ford_Patent.webp?width=636&height=371&name=835643432-Ford_Patent.webp)
The next frontier of Amazon’s convenience store
Amazon’s convenience store (Go) already lets customers enter, shop, and exit without using checkout. Off-the-shelf items are automatically tallied via computer vision and AI.
A recent patent from the company adds a new wrinkle: it wants to let customers do “no checkout” with customized orders like a made-to-order deli sandwich.
Sounds delicious (and convenient).
![](https://20627419.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/20627419/hubfs/The%20Hustle/Assets/Images/777280769-Amazon_Patent.webp?width=636&height=369&name=777280769-Amazon_Patent.webp)