Apple has been granted a major patent victory for their iTunes Store today. Apple's iTunes Store which originally opened as the "iTunes Music Store" back in April 2003 is now fully protected. Today's patent win nails down the very heart and soul of what makes Apple's iOS devices so desirable. Apple's iTunes Store and related software are what differentiates their mobile devices from the pack. Up until this day, Apple's competitors have yet to successfully find the magic bullet to counter Apple's advantage. Today's victory will only make it harder on them to challenge the iTunes Store going forward. Technically speaking, Apple's invention relates to media purchase and distribution and, more particularly, to media purchase and distribution in a client-server environment.
Texas based Touchscreen Gestures LLC is suing Apple for patent infringement. The lawsuit is based on four specific patents covering various touch related technologies that they claim the iPhone and iPad infringe upon. After the "Discovery" phase, Touchscreen Gestures LLC believes that the facts point to Apple's willful infringement. It should be pointed out that Apple is in possession of many granted patents regarding multi-touch technology, the particular type of touch technology that debuted on the iPhone in 2007. Touchscreen Gesture patents don't appear to relate to multi-touch technologies in any way.
In 2009 we learned that Apple began researching new sophisticated in-vehicle navigation systems. Then in 2011 we further learned that they were working on ways to advance their "Maps + Compass" iOS application with augmented reality. And before 2011 closed out, Apple acquired C3 Technologies which is likely to bring photo-realistic mapping to iOS devices in the not-too-distant future. Adding to this momentum we learn today that Apple has invented an advanced magnetometer application and related system. It's designed specifically to provide iOS devices with greater mapping and navigation accuracy. And to be absolutely clear about their market focus, Apple specifically lists navigation systems for vehicles, aircraft and watercraft.
On April 12, 2012, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals a new electronic content authoring tool in the works that's configured to optimize authored content for one or more intended devices. According to Apple, the existing solutions on the market today are simply not adequate to eliminate barriers between content creators and the presentation of high quality electronic content on a variety of platforms. Today's report presents you with a grand overview of Apple's new authoring tool which includes a few cool user interface elements that we're likely to see surface in the not-too-distant future.
Like millions of Macites around the world, I simply love my new iPad with its Resolutionary Retina Display. It's a stunningly crisp display with no equal. I also happen to be in the market for a new smartphone later this year, and so I wanted to be fair and at least take a look at Samsung's new Galaxy Note smartphone. I like taking notes and their smart pen intrigued me. But once I saw the drabness of the Note's display in contrast with the iPad, I just chuckled. Apple has so raised the bar on display quality that it will be very difficult to now want anything short of the Retina Display for any device. This brings us to the very point of today's second patent report: Apple' attention to the tiniest of iOS device details. In our second patent report of the day, we take a look at three granted patents. The first covers Apple's reinvention of the iPhone's backlight unit which may account for its current brilliance. The second patent shows us how Apple wanted to save money on manufacturing costs on a touch display and walked away with a new method for manufacturing a thinner touch display. And lastly, the third patent covers the hybrid playlist mechanism found in Cover Flow. Yes, they're all tiny pieces of a final product, but when added together – they help to deliver that total magical experience found in Apple devices. It's that fanatical attention to detail that Apple's competitors fail to comprehend at their own peril.
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of twenty-two newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. Today's first report covers a granted patent related the iPhone. The patent covers the use of a Multi-Antenna System which includes the key LTE frequency. Apple has had some recent problems pertaining to the new iPad's LTE coverage in Australia and some European countries. Other granted patents highlighted in today's report include the iPhone's Dynamic Audio Parameter Adjustment System and Apple's second iPod shuffle design win in as many weeks. Our Final Patent Round Up section completes our report by listing an additional twelve granted patents covering such topics as "near real-time streaming" related to playlists" and "peer-to-peer security authentication protocol."
Apple's iOS cameras will be eventually gaining very powerful pattern detection technologies. Although the iOS camera system will gain OCR and bar code scanning capabilities, Apple's future system will go far beyond that. The advanced camera system will be able to read IBSN numbers, pricing symbols, phone numbers and much more – all in context. For instance, you'll be able to scan a poster of a movie as noted in our cover graphic. From that you'll be able to scan faces and be given contextual menu options pertaining to that face or scan a phone number and be given the option to put it into your contact information or touch the photo of the movie image and call up a movie trailer or access to show times and other relevant information. You'll be able to scan a URL off of a magazine and then touch the URL on the image on your iPad and be given the option to activate the URL. Is that wild? This is really powerful technology that Apple will be building into next generation iOS devices that will greatly benefit consumers and professionals alike.
Apple thinks it's time for a MacBook Pro to have a kick-ass surround sound audio system. With future MacBooks doubling as our Mobile TV, Movie Theater and high end video conferencing system, it's time to kick the audio quality up a notch so as to compete with PC Notebooks offering Beats Audio. This is definitely a feature that I think that most would welcome with open arms.
The timing of Apple's new micro SIM connector patent couldn't be more perfect in light of the battle between Nokia and Apple over the design of future miniature SIM cards for mobile devices. It's even been reported that Nokia has threatened to withdraw 50 or so SIM card related patents from ETSI if the Apple proposal is approved. Today's patent application sheds a little more light on the subject by illustrating that Apple's proposed SIM card connector could be utilized beyond smartphones and into devices such as Apple's MacBook Pro, iPod touch or even a monitor which could technically cover future televisions. The ability to transfer a SIM from one device to another is perhaps one of the advantages to Apple's design and why the ETSI is strongly considering it as a standard. In the era of mobility and device interconnectivity, Apple's solution may be the winner.
Intel and the entire tech industry have been preparing for the MacBook Air Counter Attack since June 2011. Today, Intel has announced that their official Ultrabook campaign kick starts this Friday. The Intel lead Ultrabook is a copycat styled MacBook Air. By next year, the Ultrabook powered by Intel's next generation processor called "Haswell" will introduce a hybrid notebook-tablet from factor that is bound to help the PC sector gain back some ground on Apple. Our report presents some of Intel's thoughts about their new Ultrabook campaign.
On April 4, 2012, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple's latest trademark application for their "Reminders" App icon under application 85585420. Apple's Reminders App lets users organize everything they have to do by deadline, priority, location, or custom-made lists. And as a due date gets closer, Reminders sends you an alert so you stay on track. As Apple puts it, the reminders app lets your iOS device "seem like a sticky note come to life."
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of seventeen newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. Noteworthy are two patents relating to iOS cameras and one for wireless synchronization. It's unknown at this time if Apple's wireless synchronization patent will be retained for purely defensive purposes or used offensively to challenge competing products.
