"However, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) may run into some resistance along the way, as it's not the first time someone has thought about the ideas it's trying to patent.
"Many Web sites and online services use what are called CAPTCHAs -- short for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. They require a user to prove that he or she is not an online "bot" by interpreting distorted text and numbers in a display box and typing those characters into a text input box.
"CAPTCHAs, also referred to as human interactive proofs, or HIPs, can be used to assure that users visiting a site or using a service, for instance, an e-mail service or a blog, are actually humans and not a code-based scam, like a phishing scheme, for instance."
