Chapter 83

There is no gathering that does not eventually disperse. After Donggua slightly improved the next afternoon, she insisted on returning to Jianghai. Liu Meng had no choice but to send her to the airport.

Donggua looked at San Pang without saying a word, just staring. The airport announcement had already started to prompt boarding.

"Go on, when you get there, send me a text!" Liu Meng smiled and said.

Although they hadn't been together for long, they had experienced a lot, and even faced life and death together, which greatly deepened their relationship. Donggua looked at San Pang with some reluctance.

Liu Meng, of course, could feel the warmth in her gaze, but he deliberately avoided it. At this stage, he didn't want to get involved in a relationship, to avoid hurting each other. Things were fine as they were.

"Next time you come to Jianghai, be sure to find me!" Donggua said, a smile on her face, which eased the reluctance.

"Sure, I will." Liu Meng also smiled.

Donggua, leaning on her crutch, extended her other hand. Liu Meng understood her meaning; this was a farewell hug. He stepped forward and hugged her.

She was still too thin, and holding her felt like she could slip through his fingers. Smelling the pleasant scent on Donggua, Liu Meng was also a bit intoxicated, momentarily forgetting to let go.

Donggua also closed her eyes, feeling the warmth Liu Meng brought.

After a long while! The airport announcement prompted boarding again. Liu Meng gently released Donggua and softly said, "Have a safe trip!"

Donggua nodded obediently and walked into the security checkpoint.

After seeing Donggua off, Liu Meng rarely returned to his student identity. The next morning, he got up early and ran around the Long Tower, just like Guo Yunting used to do. Early in the morning, he saw a group of children playing with small airplanes on a large open space in front of the Long Tower, which made Liu Meng marvel at how much fun these small airplanes were.

This also made him more alert, realizing the value of his technology in 2004. While running, he thought about what other technologies could be utilized, what would become very popular in the future but was not yet available.

While running, his relaxed mind was very active. After two laps, Liu Meng slapped his head, wondering how he could have forgotten about MP3 players, smartphones, tablets, electric bikes, and electric cars. These were all high-tech products that were developing rapidly.

Currently, MP3 players were very popular, though the prices were still high. In the following years, the prices would drop significantly. Touchscreen smartphones didn't exist yet, and even Apple was still in the development stage. Tablets were not even on the horizon.

Electric bikes were also a good product, with low technology content, high profit margins, and high popularity. Solving safety issues during motor drive, such as stalling at startup, was key. The main issue was how to monopolize the market for as long as possible to prevent mass imitation.

However, Liu Meng thought about whether he could test the energy recovery system he had developed for electric cars on electric bikes. The principle of this system was to convert the motor into a generator during deceleration and braking, recovering the generated electricity to the battery to save energy.

This energy recovery system was mostly developed, with only the final testing left. The conversion efficiency was as high as 99.7%, meaning that if the motor generated 100W of electricity, 99.7W could be recovered to the battery.

It used high-frequency series resonant soft-switching technology to eliminate switching losses from high-frequency switches like MOSFETs and IGBTs.

As for electric cars, that was still a bit far off!

Thinking about these things made him feel excited. These were all opportunities! Considering the 200,000 yuan he had, a student could live quite comfortably, but it was far from enough for further business investment. If he could get Huang Sheng's lab and workshop, he could start right away with ready-made resources.

Thinking about Huang Sheng's setup, Liu Meng started to brainstorm.

After finishing his run, he took a shower at Zhou's place, feeling refreshed. He then walked to school, planning to check the class mailbox. He had applied for patents over a month ago and was curious if there was any news.

Opening the class mailbox, he found a pile of letters. Since Liu Meng was busy, he usually only checked the mailbox once a week.

He started going through the letters one by one. Jiang Weixin had a few more, probably from his girlfriend back home, a lingering connection that would likely result in a beating from Li Yue if discovered.

He saw that there were indeed letters from the Intellectual Property Office, and quite a few. Liu Meng eagerly opened them. Five invention patents had passed the preliminary review, and he received preliminary review qualification notices. Since Liu Meng had directly submitted applications for early publication and expedited substantive examination, he also received notices of entering the process.

Two utility model patents and three design patents had also passed the preliminary review. Since these types of patents are only published after authorization, they can then have their maximum effect.

Invention patents, due to the long authorization time, have a specific publication process. Once published, they can also take effect.

Liu Meng was waiting for the authorization of the utility model and design patents, as well as the publication of the invention patents.

After opening the preliminary review notices for the 10 patents, he found another letter from the Intellectual Property Office. Upon opening it, Liu Meng jumped up in excitement. It was truly a stroke of luck; one of the design patents, the remote control design, had received an authorization qualification notice.

This was indeed beyond Liu Meng's expectations. Based on his experience applying for patents starting in 2010, design patents usually took about three months, but in 2004, it only took one month.

What Liu Meng didn't realize was that the number of patent applications in 2004 was much lower than in 2010. After 2008, the number of patent applications in China surged, but the number of examiners didn't keep up, leading to longer review and authorization times.

Wasting no time, Liu Meng hailed a taxi and headed straight to the Intellectual Property Office in Bingcheng to pay the patent authorization fees and the annual fees for the current year.

Patents, besides the authorization fee, require annual maintenance fees, which increase each year. Therefore, holding a large number of patents is quite expensive, and without the means, it's not advisable to hold many.

If the number of patents is too small, the scope of protection is necessarily too narrow. Experienced companies often conduct patent searches before releasing products to avoid infringing on existing patents. For example, if you protect a screw as a fastener, they might use a nut instead, which wouldn't constitute infringement.

The scope of protection for a patent is defined by the claims. If the scope is too broad, it may be rejected and become useless paper. If it's too narrow, it can be easily circumvented and become useless garbage.

Liu Meng was well aware of this, so to be safe, he applied for 10 patents, with different types of protection overlapping to make it impossible for counterfeiters to avoid, forcing them to surrender.

However, Huang Sheng, the country bumpkin, didn't understand any of this and wouldn't think to play such games. With the formal authorization of the first design patent, Huang Sheng had already begun to infringe.

After paying the fees, Liu Meng came out and coldly snorted. "Huang Sheng, enjoy your moment of glory! I want more now, and I want your workshop and lab."

Back at school, Liu Meng was still in a good mood. He had finally made a breakthrough. He decided to go to the library and, while still in high spirits, continue researching MP3 and electric bike technology. MP3 players were already widespread, and the focus was on increasing capacity, enhancing sound quality, and reducing costs.

Improving sound quality could be achieved through hardware and digital filtering. Liu Meng was proficient in digital techniques like DFT, DCT, and wavelet transforms, but specific improvements would require more effort.

As for electric bikes, the technology was not as advanced as that of remote control airplanes. The main concern was protection. With huge profits driving imitation, the stronger the competition, the harder it was to protect intellectual property.

Once the competition realized you were working on intellectual property, they wouldn't foolishly continue to jump in but would find ways to circumvent the obstacles you set up.

Liu Meng was so engrossed in his reading that he forgot to turn off his phone. The phone beeped, interrupting him. Annoyed, he frowned and took out his phone. It was a message from Teacher Yang Yun: "Make sure to come to class this afternoon, or your regular grades will be deducted."

It was rare for Yang Yun to be less stern now. Liu Meng found it amusing and replied: "Is there anything important? Can I skip it?"

Yang Yun quickly replied: "Important, you must come. You'll know what it's about when you get there!"

Well, she was back to being stern. Liu Meng was grateful for Yang Yun's support during the midterm exam and her leniency in class, so he decided to obediently attend the class that afternoon.

......

Previously, I saw a few trolls on Longkong mocking the 99.7% efficiency in the first chapter. I really want to ask, do you even understand what it means? I specifically explained it in this chapter. This world is like that; some ignorant people always like to mock others with their ignorance, which is utterly ridiculous.

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