Patently Apple

Apple Reveals iPad Display Technology & New iPhone Audio Plug

 
On March 11, 2010, the US Patent & Trademark Office published 28 patent applications from Apple and in this report we point to one of the patents behind Apple's iPad display technology, a new patent revealing a new audio plug for the iPhone and iPod touch that is positioned on the right side of the unit which may suggest that the audio had to be moved to make way for a new component such as a video calling camera perhaps? And lastly, Apple reveals their secret sauce behind the iPod Touch assembly – which I can't wait to try at home – ha!

Apple Reveals "Quick-Start" - A Template System for Workouts

 
On March 11, 2010, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals one of the next chapters for Apple's media players used in the gym or private workouts. Apple's latest patent is all about the user creating their own custom workout templates so that they could kick start their workouts faster than before. No more starting your workout from scratch. I enjoy using the Nike + iPod system that provides me with all the stats that I need. In the future, I'll be able to set custom templates for other types of workouts be it for using a rowing machine, weight lifting or other type of exercise. Apple indicates that voice commands will be available in the future which is interesting. Apple also revisits the "virtual competitor" which was first covered in September 2009. This will allow users to compete on a treadmill against friends working out at another gym across town – to help with the monotony of routine workouts.

Apple Trademarks "New Music Tuesday"

 
On March 10, 2010, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple's latest trademark application for "New Music Tuesday" under application 77950076. Apple has filed their trademark under two International Classes covering retail store services, podcasts and e-publications in the field of entertainment. If you don't subscribe to Apple's iTunes music email service, then you could always check out what's new at the iTunes Store at their "New Music Tuesday" website, here. The question becomes, why did it take Apple almost seven years to file for this trademark?

Apple Abandons Time Tunnel Trademark, Wins 3 Industrial Designs

 
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 6 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today which includes a patent for their Universal Dock along with 3 industrial designs covering the MacBook Air, iPod Shuffle and USB Power Adapter. Additionally, two documents confirm that Apple has abandoned their Time Tunnel trademark - which shouldn't have any material effect on their product Time Machine.

Great Advances are Coming to Apple Remote & Apple TV

 

The USPTO was down for most of last Thursday, which made it very difficult to access Apple's latest patent applications. One of the reports that we were able to post was in regards to Apple TV's remote controller. Yet hidden within the patents that we weren't able to access - was a little gold mine. After careful scrutiny of this patent over the weekend, let me tell you, Apple has some great ideas in mind for their Remote iApp. Better yet - Apple's patent presents us with a unique overview of a future version of Apple TV that we perhaps hoped for from the very beginning and disappointingly never received. All we can hope for now is that Apple delivers this next generation Apple TV for at least Christmas this year. C'mon Apple – make it happen!

Apple's Power Advertising Patent May Stir the Crazies into a Frenzy

 
In October 2009, Patently Apple posted a report titled "Apple Prepares to Rock the Market with Hardware Subsidizing Program" and when All Things Digital decided to post my report - it took off like a bat out of hell. The report was clearly about subsidizing hardware in exchange for having users watch advertisements on their system which would happen to include some interaction with a few ads so that the advertisers would help to flip the hardware bill. Fair enough. Well, some noses got out of joint with that news – In fact, Robert X. Cringely took on Apple's proposal - calling it a Patently Crazy idea. That report seemed to ignite some kind of negative undercurrent or cult that culminated in the recent "Cracked" report titled "5 Reasons You Should Be Scared of Apple" that has since racked up more than 1.13 million hits! Hmm, how a simple, logical idea about subsidization turned into Apple being an evil empire is beyond me. So I could only imagine how the crazies will react to today's patent report that carries along on that very same theme of free television programming coming to computers and portable devices that will – yes, enforce ad participation. Yet for those of you who understand how the real world works - today's patent could actually shed some light on what Steve Jobs could have discussed with the networks when proposing Apple's new 99 cent content deal. The patent in fact points to a multiple tiered ad content system that could be set to a sliding price scale. And lastly – the patent indirectly provides us with some insight into how Apple could utilize their recently acquired Quattro Wireless ad service in the future.

While Apple Denies Interest in Television, their Patents State Otherwise

 
Tim Cook recently spoke at the Goldman Sachs' annual tech conference in San Francisco and supposedly stated that "Apple TV is a hobby. But "because our gut says there's something there we're continuing to invest in those," reported the Wall Street Journal's "Digit" blog. Seth Weintraub's 9 to 5 Mac went on record with Tim Cook stating that Apple had "No interest in going into the TV market. But still think there's something there." Yes, Apple continues to invest in the area of TV and our TV patent section is trying to document what we can on this very important future product. And while Apple continues to deny that they're working on a next generation television, you'd have to be an idiot reporter for even expecting Apple to say: Oh, yes, we're about to reinvent television and here are the juicy details. Ha! If you know Apple, then you know not to ask questions about "future products "and expect a reply. During every financial conference of Apple's, we continually hear analysts trying to get Tim Cook or Peter Oppenheimer to confess or have a slip of the tongue in the hopes of getting a killer headline. It's not going to happen. With that said, a very simple Apple patent was published today by the USPTO that insists that the company's Apple TV remote is to work with a clearly defined television – beyond what we know as Apple TV - the set top box style unit.

Apple, Clearly in Search of New Cooling Systems

 
Why would Apple want to add liquid cooling to the iMac? That was the question onFebruary 10 and it becomes the focus of several new Apple patent applications discovered today at the USPTO. The Mac community, for some reason, got hung up on Apple's old G5 Mac that was designed with large pipes etc, even though the patent clearly indicated it was about a mini-cooling system. To make this point crystal clear - you could download this four page PDF from Asetech that shows just how small cooling systems are getting. In today's patents, Apple mainly focuses on new thermoelectric cooling systems that could be built into a modified MacBook hinge system. Apple's patents attack the problem from different angles making it clear that Apple is searching and researching new ways to keep all of their future devices even cooler. Considering that Steve Jobs tried to change our perception of Apple in January by stating that they were the number one mobile device company in the world, it stands to reason why keeping mobile devices cool physically as well as esthetically is paramount.

Apple Reveals iFrame Trademarks

 
On March 4, 2010, the US Patent & Trademark Office officially published Apple's latest trademark applications for "iFrame" under applications 77946787 and 77946791 which were originally filed by Apple in late February. Apple has filed their trademark under International Classes 009 and 042 covering Apple as an Application Service Provider (ASP) in all aspects and matters relating to video (editing, extracting, encoding, decoding etc) which is covered in our report in detail. Sanyo was the first camera OEM to support Apple's iFrame video format.

Hmm, Apple has Renewed their Newton Logo Trademark

 
When discovering Apple's latest trademark filings for iBook and iBook Store in the Canadian Intellectual Property Office this week, I also stumbled upon Apple's filing pertaining to their Newton logo design trademark that appears to have been renewed or has been automatically set to renew on October 13, 2010. Hmm, considering that Apple has reinvented or repurposed their iBook trademark from that of a notebook to that which represents ebooks and an ebook store, could Apple be thinking of resurrecting or repurposing Newton for something meaningful once again? Isaac Newton described the three laws of motion, developed a theory of color and formulated an empirical law of cooling while studying the speed of sound. There's certainly a lot of technology that Apple could apply this to - in respect to a future device – to ensure that Apple's Newton goes down in history as a noteworthy success. What say you?

Olympic Record: Congratulations Canada!

With a surge of victories in the final days of the games, Canada ended the winter Olympic Games held in Vancouver Canada with more gold medals than any host nation in Winter Olympic history. With 14 Gold metals, Canada broke the records held by both the United States and Norway at 12 gold metals. More photos could be found here.

Apple Files for 'iBooks' & 'iBook Store' Trademarks in Canada

 
Patently Apple has recently discovered that Apple Inc. has filed for two new trademarks in Canada for "iBooks" and the "iBook Store" or "iBookStore" under applications 1468914 and 1468910 respectfully – in February 2010. Apple's trademark filings cover an extraordinary wide swath of wares and services that may point to future service possibilities – beyond just books. One of them relates to subscription services for which music is one, yet because it also covers subscription services in general, it means that theoretically Apple could introduce the concept of a book rental business – something which would be in-between an outright purchase of a book and a free electronic-book from a public library. This report covers Apple's full class description details along with a few very interesting highlights which includes the mention of a possible "consumer loyalty program." 

Apple Gains Industrial Design Wins for MacBook Pro & MacBook Air

 
On March 2, 2010, the US Patent and Trademark Office officially published three granted industrial design patents for Apple Inc. covering the MacBook Pro, the MacBook Pro's glass trackpad and the MacBook Air. Interestingly, Apple's patent clearly notes that the MacBook Air was or is going to have a black-finish bottom. Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs, is listed in the design credits.

Apple Wins a Patent for an Advanced Battery Recharging System

 
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 13 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today in addition to 3 industrial design patents covering Apple's MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. The notable granted patents presented in our report today includes one relating to Apple's advanced iPod Click Wheel, another relating to the iPhone's alert silencing system and perhaps the most important, a never released battery charging system covering a wide variety of devices. The proposed system would allow batteries to be charged by plugging them directly into a future specialized iMac and/or keyboard slot.

Apple Aggressively Pursues 'Joint Venture' Trademark

 
On March 1, 2010, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple's latest trademark application for "Joint Venture" under application 77942739. Apple has filed their trademark under International Classes 35 relating to retail services; 37 relating to Maintenance/repair and consultancy services; 41 relating to education services and 42 relating to hardware and software technical support. Today, Apple offers various in-store training services such as the Genius Bar, Business, Youth Programs and One-to-One. Their latest trademark would suggest that they may have developed yet another in-store business class service. Then again, could Apple be thinking of something bigger or bolder here, such as kick starting a new venture capital subsidiary? At Apple's latest Shareholder's meeting held last week, Steve Jobs stated that "When we think about big, bold things, we know that if we needed to acquire something, a piece of the puzzle, to make something big and bold a reality, we could write a check for it." Although the former is more likely to fit the bill for their latest trademark filing, the latter can't be easily discounted. For now, we'll let Apple's competition brood over that last possibility for awhile.

Hot off the Press: Apple Files for 'Magic TrackPad' Trademark

 
On February 26, 2010, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple's latest trademark application for the all new "Magic TrackPad." While Apple's trademark filing only covers International Classification 009, it should be noted that Apple covers some very interesting elements under this classification, such as: Touchscreens, Light Pens and Graphics Tablets. In July 2009, Apple was granted a patent for a trackpad that never came to market which covered advanced imaging, infrared & optical emitter-detector sensors that could be used in future iterations of Apple notebooks. The question now becomes, is the "Magic TrackPad" related to the upcoming MacBook refresh or an iPad accessory that will address graphics and light pen text generation. Let the speculation begin!

Apple Reveals New iPhone Auto Adjusted Volume Control, More

Yesterday, the US Patent & Trademark Office published some sixteen Apple patents, some through the names of their own engineers. Amongst these patents were two very cool ideas in respect to a signet based security system and a new way to control some iPhone features like voicemail through simple finger swiping motions across the backside camera. In today's report we'll take a look at three minor iPhone patents. Two of the patents are interesting even though they don't introduce anything overly flashy and breathtaking. Sometimes, practical technology applied just right is just as beneficial to users as the fancier stuff is. The first patent introduces us to a new automatic volume adjuster for the iPhone. In the future, when you pull the iPhone away from your ear, for whatever reason (as indicated in the graphic above), the volume will simply increase so that you don't miss a word. Apple will apply one of two methodologies to achieve this result. The second patent illustrates that Apple is considering advancing their acoustic transducer technology and in doing so will likely change the iPhone's standard earpiece to that of a microperforated grill-like structure.