Now Unpatentable

Submitted by Virge on Wed, Jan 7, 2004 - 06:09
in

After some wide ranging discussions on subjects such as Furbeowulf Cluster Computing and the possibility of keeping a 15 kg binturong as a pet, my esteemed (for freedom of thought) colleague pointed his browser at LavaRnd.org to show me the benefits of using a lava lamp as a natural chaotic source of high quality randomness. It was then that I had my brilliant idea.

IDEA: The Combination CPU Cooler and Chaos Source (now unpatentable since I've just published the idea right here). Picture a miniature lava lamp that attaches to your computer's CPU. A light source (e.g. LED) illuminates one side of the lamp, and an inexpensive solid state array imager is placed on the other side. Heat from the CPU drives the conduction & convection in the lamp which then behaves as a heat pump, cooling the CPU. The pictures of the chaotically changing image are read from the imaging device and blended to create a stream of truly random data. This is a valuable source of irreproducible random data for use by any cryptographic applications or other programs requiring unique random sequences.

On further reflection, this marvelously synergistic idea had still more to offer. My creative colleague added a third application to the idea. The Combination CPU Cooler, Chaos Source and Mood Modifier. For those techno-fashion geeks who have transparent computer cases, the invention provides a mesmerising 60's-futuristic entertainment source and tension reliever. When the spam fills your mailbox like a backed up bog, when your network is lagged like the router is on Mars, when the online discussion gets all-capped by semi-literate AOLers, simply stare into your computer and watch the blobs flow and merge, stretch and split...

Comments

Submitted by Rats (not verified) on Wed, Jan 7, 2004 - 08:15.

That's a wonderful idea! I'd totally go for something like that, and I don't even NEED random data for anything much.

Submitted by Virge on Wed, Jan 7, 2004 - 22:23.

This is just a comment for anyone out there that thinks of this as a serious idea.
The idea wouldn't work at all well for CPU cooling. Since the system described uses natural convection in a viscous fluid it would be slow and very dependent on which way up you mounted your CPU. Most changes that could improve the heat transfer of the lamp would also ruin the mood modification effect. The idea could still work as a Combination Chaos Source and Mood Modifier, still relying on the CPU as a source of heat, but don't throw away your cooling fan and heat sink just yet.

Submitted by Rats (not verified) on Thu, Jan 8, 2004 - 00:35.

Who cares if it's practical--you could have a fan as well for the actual cooling. The whole point, as I see it, is having a lava lamp connected to your computer! I mean, YEAH, baby! Yeah!