Patently Apple

Apple: Plug a Digital Cam into Your iPod or iPhone

Yesterday a couple of oddball Apple Media Player patents came to light and yet each was important in its own right. One was so obvious, that I almost missed it. Being that this might be the year that I finally take the leap into digital photography, I saw Apple's patent present a digital camera, like an EOS Rebel from Canon, connected directly to an iPod. Surely this must be available now, no? NNNNN-No. I called my local Apple Store and explained what I was looking for, what was in yesterday's patent - and asked if they had it in stock. No, it doesn't exist, yet – was the reply. It may be coming to the iPad but no word yet for an iPod or iPhone, stated the Apple Rep. So unless my local Apple Store is full of idiots, Apple's patent has yet to come to life. The patent states that you'll be able to plug a still or video cam directly into your iPod or iPhone. Whether this is being reserved for Light Peak or USB 3.0 is unknown, but this is a very cool idea. The second patent discovered yesterday simply adds a little more proof that Apple is working on a rotatable video camera element that enables you to take regular videos of friends and events while being able to turn the camera lens inward so as to become a video cam for video calling. This is Apple's second patent this quarter discussing this feature.   

 

Scales of Justice: Eastman Kodak Company vs. Apple Inc.

 
The Associated Press reported yesterday that a federal agency that oversees trade disputes will investigate Eastman Kodak Co.'s patent-infringement complaint over digital-camera technology used in iPhones and BlackBerrys. Kodak has filed separate lawsuits against Apple in U.S. District Court in Rochester, claiming an infringement of patents related to digital cameras and certain computer processes. Patently Apple has discovered that the granted patents in dispute are 5,226,161, 5,421,012 and 5,303,379; all of which are Wang Laboratories Inc, patents which must have been acquired by Kodak in 1997. According to the filing, the technology in question goes beyond the iPhone and covers other Apple products such as the Mac mini, iMac, Mac Pro, Xserve Nehalem, MacBook, iMac, iPhone 3GS, and iPod Touch. One of the patents deals with all things "Objects" and on that count, Apple's acquisition of NeXT who invented WebObjects may come into play in this law suit which predates Wang Laboratories Inc, patent dates. This report presents you with the raw court filing related to this case so that you could be better informed.

Apple Getting Serious About Near Field Communication on the iPhone

In November 2009, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that revealed various concepts behind a newly advanced application in development code named Grab & Go. Apple's patent introduced us to simplified data transfer technologies such as Near Field Communication (NFC) Interface and Sony's new TransferJet - which is now closer to being commercial viable. The new application discussed in the November patent would allow users who live in the fast lane to transfer data quickly between devices like their desktop and iPod by simply tapping their iPod against an iMac, for example. In today's patent we see that Apple is seriously detailing how they intend to update the iPhone and other Apple devices with NFC. The focused devices in this patent are no doubt the iPhone and MacBook. Apple provides us with some rather simple examples of how this will work but in concert with their Grab and Go app, we could see that this is a trend that will no doubt work itself to market over the next 24 months or so. The one interesting twist that Apple reveals is how the iPhone with NFC could be used as a work pass-key to enter your office, building or department – and eventually how this concept could expand to open your home or apartment door, car door and in theory, a hotel room door and so forth. Get ready, Near Field Communications is coming to the iPhone.

Apple Wants the Magic Mouse to Rock'n Roll!

   

On February 18, 2010, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals one of the next possible chapters for Apple's Magic Mouse. Apple introduced the world's first Multi-Touch Mouse this past October. The Magic Mouse features a seamless touch-sensitive enclosure that allows it to be a single or multi-button mouse with advanced gesture support. Using intuitive gestures, users can easily scroll through long documents, pan across large images or swipe to move forward or backward through a collection of web pages or photos. In January of this year, we were able to see the first installation of technologies related to advancing the Magic Mouse and today, Apple sheds more light on the advances that they're considering. Today's patent focuses on introducing a "rotatable mouse" using new sensors and a triple-axes gyroscope that detects the roll, pitch, and yaw of the mouse. That translates in allowing the user to tilt the mouse one way to cause a horizontal scroll and another way to cause a vertical scroll and yet another to tilt a graphic as shown above. The other change that you'll notice in the graphic above is that the bottom of the mouse is described in terms of it having a convex bottom design so as to make it easier to cause scrolling and other events by simply rocking or rolling the mouse. It's so simple, that it's brilliant.

Apple Wins Designs for Aluminum iMac, iPhone 3G Dock, iPod Classic, More

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of five newly granted design patents for Apple Inc. today. The designs cover Apple's aluminum iMac, Apple's iPhone 3G Dock, the iPhone "Curl up the Map Page" animated UI, an Apple TV UI and believe it or not, Apple's original iPod Classic. Steve Jobs is noted as being amongst the credited designers on two designs.