The confusing bit for me, and realize I'm not a patent lawyer but have patented a few things, the referenced articles first publication was in 2008. I was told that in the US (but not in Europe) you have one year from public disclosure to file for a patent. (In Europe you give up your patent rights if you disclose first.) So to patent this you'd want to have filed in 2008. Here it is 10 years later. So why hasn't a patent issued? I've seen them take 3 - 5 years but 10 years seems like a stretch.