Last week the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals one of the next chapters for Apple's iBooks. For children's books, Apple has devised a number of new gesture options to make reading more fun and interactive. One such gesture will allow a child to tap on a word and have an associated picture, animation or video pop-up to make that word come to life. For those learning a foreign language, Apple has devised a gesture to have a word present itself in the student's native language so as to quicken the learning process. Apple's ideas also seem to cross over to electronic magazines where tapping on certain words could pop up a related widget. For example, when reading a financial magazine article on Apple (AAPL), tapping on its NASDAQ symbol would automatically open a financial widget showing Apple's current stock price. Yet where Apple's patent application really shines is in its description of a new chip that future iOS devices could end up adopting. Our report reveals the nature of this little wonder that could definitely add a little zing to future iOS devices.
There was a series of Apple iPad design patents that surfaced in September, October and November 2010 that clearly hinted that future iPads could very well sport an added landscape connector port. The problem with design patents is that they lack any meaningful detailing that could either confirm or deny oddities found on the design illustrations. Some argued at the time that the so-called landscape port wasn't that at all. Well, the good news has finally arrived in the form of a newly detailed patent application published this week that basically spelled out Apple's position on this feature and even provided us with a little surprise that our report reveals. A second patent application published this week describes a new iPad docking station that could provide sturdier support for iOS devices in the future.
In early June a patent application from Apple surfaced describing a very sophisticated infrared camera system. One of the key aspects of that patent was its potential use with portable devices like an iPhone in places like a museum. The patent discussed the interrelation between an infrared camera in a future iPhone working seamlessly with infrared emitters located throughout a museum, for example. In that scenario, the iPhone user would hold their iPhone up to shoot a video or photograph an artifact while the museum's infrared emitter would send additional information to your iPhone describing said artifact. Marrying the live photo or video with descriptions of the artifact would appear as a seamless image on your iPhone. It would be like having a private tour guide of the museum with you at all times. Today, another piece of that puzzle came together in a new patent application from Apple describing the use of dual transparent displays working in conjunction with dual backside device cameras to provide users with the ultimate augmented reality application.
When HP first introduced the TouchPad's "Touch to Share" feature earlier this year, fans and industry pundits alike applauded them for their innovation. Well, it appears that Apple has been working on something similar for about 18 months now. Of course in typical Apple fashion, the concepts envisioned appear to be far more creative as they implement gesturing with Physics Metaphors. In one example, as noted in our cover graphic, you'll be able to "pour out" files from one device to another in a manner that mimics that of pouring water. Apple lists a host of other examples that include sound effects. One such example includes an iPhone sucking up files from an iPad with the sound effect of a vacuum cleaner. While this newly proposed feature will certainly apply to all of Apple's hardware, it will also eventually apply to other devices such as televisions, whiteboards, projectors and more. Whether this ends up being a spin-off of Apple's forthcoming "AirDrop" feature or not remains to be seen. For now, it's Apple adding some badly needed personality to the boring process of file sharing.
According to our Smart Pen Archives, Apple has now filed more than a dozen smart pen patent applications over the last few years with each one getting more innovative and detailed. One of the most advanced patent applications on smart pens to date was published this past April and one of two patent applications on this subject published today illustrates that Apple is really trying to find a smart pen solution that could also work with ordinary paper. Students and professional doodlers alike could work on ordinary paper and/or notebooks and then simply transfer their data to the device of their choosing when they're done. Other equally innovative ideas that surfaced today include a unique heating element that provides the iPen's tip with smooth action on the display in any temperature and even an integrated iPen dock to charge the Pen's battery. With Apple working on so many advanced iPen options of late, it's evident that the Crazy Ones in Cupertino think that they're closing in on the perfect smart pen.
On July 7, 2011, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals various concepts behind newly advanced 3D gesturing that will apply to CAD applications for product and gaming developers as well as for consumers. According to Apple, next generation iPad and/or other iOS device displays will allow consumers to create avatars for 3D environments or assist homeowners in designing new landscapes and more by using simple 3D gesturing. The new 3D gesturing will control color and textures while allowing users to uniquely rotate objects to gain different perspectives of their designs. This is wild stuff that is bound to give Apple's competitors another huge headache.
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 14 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our first report we mainly covered Apple's granted patents that related to a Karaoke system and advanced roaming point-of-sale system. In today's second granted patent report we mainly focus on three patents. The first mainly covers Aperture's plug-in architecture for exporting digital images while the second covers Apple's original iPhone video conferencing interface that set the standard. The third and final granted patent covered today interestingly covers future iMacs and Macbooks that will integrate NFC antennas and related applications.
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 14 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our first granted patent report of the day we focus on three specific patents. The first relates to a sophisticated roaming point-of-sale system that Apple may use in their Apple Stores, the second is a patent relating to a Karaoke system that few have seen and the last relates to Apple's wireless keyboard design.
