You already know that something must be unique in order to be patentable. But how different does something have to be in order to be eligible for a patent? Rich outlines the essential criteria for patentability in this third video.
In general, a novel idea is one that has not yet been implemented in the marketplace. However, it must not be an obvious notion to individuals with ordinary skill in the same subject as your thoughts. This means that if your proposal is merely a minor modification of an existing concept, it will most likely fail to meet the non-obvious condition.