The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 23 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our first granted patent report of the day we mainly focus on a major patent relating to iTravel, Apple's transportation check-in system. The timing couldn't be better for this patent as Apple recently announced that a new feature called "Passbook" was coming to iOS 6 this fall. Scott Forstall, Apple's Senior Vice President of iPhone Software, stated that Passbook would include travel services such as a boarding pass and express check-in which today's iTravel patent covers. The Near Field Communications (NFC) aspect of the patent will also be important for Apple's future iWallet application. To round off our report, we cover two of Apple's latest industrial designs wins and list an additional ten utility patents for the super geeks and legal professionals amongst us to review.
Earlier this week, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a very special granted patent of Apple's relating to a Head Mounted Display system. The Los Angeles Time mistakenly reported that "Apple may be taking a page out of Google's book." No, no, no. Apple's patent predates the iPhone while Google's patent is shown to have been filed be in 2011. So if anything, it's Google taking a page out of Apple's book, again. Admittedly, Google's vision for video glasses does in fact appear to be far more aggressive than Apple's humble aspirations, but it may be more realistic. Apple's main focus is connecting the headset to an iDevice in order to watch movies. Its secondary focus is shown to be working with telephony and the internet. Yet considering that the patent was actually filed prior to the iPhone debuting, the idea was way ahead of its time. Apple's patent presents us with a grand overview of the optical options that they're considering for this device and hints that it'll be mainly aimed at consumer entertainment and gaming.
Industry sources tell DigiTimes that Apple will be making revisions to the next iPad's backlight module by reverting back to a single LED structure in an effort to eliminate overheating issues. The new iPad that is being designed for Q4 will also sport Sharp's new indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) panel technology to allow the device to feature an even thinner design and longer battery life. DigiTimes sources also stress that the changes will not affect the luminosity or clarity of the Retina Display.
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 22 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. this week. This particular report covers three interesting iOS patents covering the creation of music playlists and application windowing. Additionally, we cover one of the key advancements in MacBook Pro's keyboard and several industrial designs including the iPhone face cover and the "Hi-Drive" icon. And lastly we cover twelve utility patents that relate to such things as the assembly of the iPad's display and an editor for program files.
On July 5, 2012, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a series of patent applications from Apple covering a wide range of technologies. In particular, our report briefly touches on inventions relating to a digital signal filter for iOS device cameras, an iPhone wireless headset and Apple's Logic Pro's Surround Panner. For security fans, there's a specific one covering in-place encryption. In addition to patents, it was revealed by the US Patent and Trademark Office that Apple has filed for two iOS 6 related trademarks covering their 3D photo-realistic navigation feature called "Flyover" and their new Maps + Compass Logo reflecting its upcoming "Turn by Turn" feature.
