中秋、周末、生日。下午跑到石门一路、吴江路上的红宝石糕点店买了鲜奶蛋糕，然后去中兴泰富楼下的星巴客喝咖啡。我在盛放美式咖啡的杯盖上，发现了一行小字：Pat No 4589569，一个专利号。出于职业敏感（本人目前还是IBM CSDL Patent Review Board成员），记下了专利号晚上去delphion上查找信息。这个杯盖的专利于1986年颁发给美国Solo公司，主要解决单手取下杯盖和在运动中饮用的防溅出问题。
Delphion是目前世界上最知名的专利数据库之一，它由IBM的专利数据库演变而成。在Delphion网站上有一段关于自己历史的描述：
“ The Intellectual Property Network (as it was then called) was an initiative within IBM. In 1997, in response to the growing needs of individuals, organizations, and governments for more efficient methods of exploring intellectual property information, IBM made the network available to the public via the Internet.
Delphion was spun out of IBM in 2000 and created as a wholly independent entity, incorporating the IBM Intellectual Property Network. Now, with its extensive data coverage ― collections from all over the world ― and value added functionality, it has evolved into one of the most comprehensive sources for finding and viewing patent information. “