I respectfully disagree with your assessment and characterization. This isnt about people admitting they were wrong. And 2nd on your narrow view of an Approval you are failing to understand the value of what a Patent is and what it provides.
Greggs very actions with people created an air of mistrust.
Patents Grant the Inventor the Rights for their "Claims" and here in is the reality. The Claims in this Patent fall into a category of being "Obvious" to a "Practioner of the Art". Patent Applications have to be considered "Unique" and "Non-Obvious" to those in the Industry in which it seeks Patent Rights.
I have several peers that reviewed this Patent and their assessment is exactly what I had concluded. It is a Weak Patent with no or neglible Market Value. At least 2 of the Claims also have the potential to be fought over in court. There a lots of cases concerning First to File vs First to Invent.
Now as far as the key concept/method being Patented, Using a Text Message to Set a Timer Value. That isnt some Grand Invention here. Granted it is a way to accomplish the task, but it isnt the way the Cellular Telecom Industry does this activity. We have Standard's Bodies which dictate how we do certain activities. You can do things outside of the Standards, but it is only in concert with Designing New Solutions and then eventually you get your solution implemented into the Standards. The Telecom Industry choose long ago to play nice with each other on many regards... so we have our oen rukes we abide by so that all the many "parts" that make up the Communication EcoSystem can work and more importantly it is when the system breaks, do we understand why the Standards and adhering to them is the most important aspects.
This Patent also has nothing in it describing how to get accurate locations based in Triagulation. What he did describe is the bare minimum of reading Signal Strength.
You want to review some Strong Patents in this area go look up the Dozens of Patents from PoLTE.
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