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If you publish your idea before filing a patent, you will not be able to patent it, because your own publication will be held as prior art.

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Though I'm not an expert I find this hard to believe because even actual commercialized prior art seems to be no barrier to patenting something[1].

[1] https://homepages.cwi.nl/~paulk/patents/isnot/node9.html

The patent application you link to was never actually patented. The USPTO rejected the application and the applicant abandoned it.

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20040230959A1/en

I'm a former patent examiner, and from that experience, I know that attorneys frequently write things in applications that they think probably won't be allowed. They're testing the limits of what will be allowed.

Last I checked, you have 18 months after publication to file the patent in the US.

12 months in the US. And many many foreign jurisdictions will use your publication to block your patent

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