The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of thirty-seven newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. Today's report covers patents relating to Apple's iPhone 4's stainless steel bezel antenna structure; the MacBook's speaker grill structure; the pinning feature in iOS device Maps + Compass app, and a number of utility patents covering such things as secret security features, methods and systems for strengthening LCD modules, Flash memory and much more.
Apple Granted Five Design Patents
Apple has been granted five design patents today which cover their Cinema Display, iPod Shuffle retail packaging, MacBook Air Reinstall Drive, a battery related design and an interface design related to the iPod nano.
For the Cinema Display design, Apple credits VP Industrial Design Jonathan Ive and team members Jody Akana, Bartley Andre, Jeremy Bataillou, Daniel Coster, Daniele De Iuliis, Evans Hankey, Richard Howarth, Duncan Kerr, Shin Nishibori, Matthew Dean Rohrbach, Peter Russell-Clarke, Douglas Satzger, Christopher Stringer, Eugene Whang and Rico Zorkendorfer as the inventors of Granted Patent D658,646, originally filed in Q2 2010.
Apple Wins Patent for iPhone 4 Antenna
Apple has received a Granted Patent titled "Antenna for handheld electronic devices with conductive bezels" that relates to the iPhone's stainless steel antenna that's part of the iPhone 4 design.
Apple's patent describes "the bezel may be formed from stainless steel or other suitable conductive materials. A ground plane element in the housing may serve as antenna ground." Apple goes on to state that the bezel is "to provide structural support and to enhance the appearance and durability of the handheld electronic device."
Apple credits Robert Hill, Robert Schlub and Ruben Caballero as the inventors of patent 8,169,374. The patent was last filed in Q2 2011. Apple has also won a secondary antenna patent titled "Antennas with tuning structure for handheld devices."
Final Patent Round-Up
Over and above the granted patents that were specifically reported on today, we present you with links to all of the other granted patents in our Final Patent Round-Up as follows:
8,170,216 Techniques for validating and sharing secrets: A security centric patent.
8,171,498 Adaptive service for handling notifications and synchronizing directories of a file system.
8,170,266 Portable computer speaker grill structures
8,171,432 Touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for displaying and selecting application options: Relates to Apple's Maps + Compass.
8,171,326 L1 flush mechanism to flush cache for power down and handle coherence during flush and/or after power down
8,167,126 Button mechanisms for electronic device cases
8,167,625 Integrated noise reduction connector
8,168,319 Portable computer battery structures
8,169,587 Methods and systems for strengthening LCD modules
8,171,322 Portable electronic devices with power management capabilities
8,171,318 Reporting flash memory operating voltages
8,171,293 Receiver non-repudiation via a secure device
8,171,277 Method and apparatus for booting from a flash memory without prior knowledge of flash parameter information
8,169,806 Power converter system with pulsed power transfer
8,171,258 Address generation unit with pseudo sum to accelerate load/store operations
8,169,764 Temperature compensation in integrated circuit
8,171,240 Misalignment predictor
8,171,195 Media player communication with an accessory using a display remote lingo
8,171,194 Accessory communication with a media player using a display remote lingo
8,171,177 Enhancements to data-driven media management within an electronic device
8,169,236 Frequency detection mechanism for a clock generation circuit
8,169,235 Receiver to match delay for single ended and differential signals
8,171,085 Methods and apparatuses for authenticating electronic messages
8,171,042 Method and apparatus for searching metadata
8,170,828 Test method using memory programmed with tests and protocol to communicate between device under test and tester
8,170,623 Charging arrangement for electronic accessories
8,170,606 Dynamic thermal control for wireless transceivers
8,170,588 Contact information updating via SMS
8,169,246 Dynamic-to-static converter latch with glitch suppression
8,169,388 Color correction apparatus
Notice
Patently Apple presents only a brief summary of granted patents with associated graphics for journalistic news purposes as each Granted Patent is revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any Granted Patent should be read in its entirety for full details. About Comments: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit comments.
