Last week Apple filled a series of seven major patent filings directly related to advancing camera features that will be found in future iterations of Apple's iDevices such as the iPhone and iPad. The new patent applications cover gesture techniques and in-depth detailing of their advanced red-eye technology. Real camera buffs will have a feast in learning about what Apple is working on and we list all of the patent links so that you could dive right in to learn about every little twist and turn. If anything – we know that Apple always updates the iPhone's camera features each and every year like clockwork. Will any of Apple's latest advancements make it to the iPhone 6? Only time will tell. And lastly, we take a brief look at a simple legal update to Apple's original patent filing for Siri that doesn't advance Siri in any way whatsoever.
According to news from Korea, the South Korean SK Telecom has been granted an unprecedented iPhone 5 feature and we'll tell you what it is. In other news, Apple filed for the new 'Passbook' trademark in Europe and Taiwan's Hon Hai acquires some interesting patents. Report Updated October 04, 2012
This year's Intel Developer Forum (IDF) has come and gone and the troops are all psyched up over yet another slick marketing slogan that Intel is so good at crafting. This year's theme was noted as being: The next era of computing: Transparent Computing. There was a definite disconnect between their slick new theme and what they actually delivered during their three main keynotes. Yet, there were a handful of points and future features worth noting, especially one integrating NFC into Ultrabook trackpads for ecommerce. Yet the big breakthrough that Intel shared with the world at IDF 2012, was their ongoing work in digital radios and how that will help wireless carriers save money building out their LTE infrastructure using the cloud and more importantly, eventually allowing carriers to implement next generation wireless standards quicker. Intel's Justin Ratner stated that "This software-defined radio designoffers the versatility to add new radio protocols over time as they're introduced with a simple software upgrade." For tech buffs, that's certainly a breakthrough worth noting.
Texas based Data Engine Technologies has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple. Data Engine Technologies alleges that Apple is infringing on patent 5,463,724 which is a Borland International patent to which they claim in their complaint to "hold all the right, title and interest in." Specifically, Data Engine Technologies claims that Apple's spreadsheet application called "Numbers" infringes on their patent.
Eric Schmidt had a lot to say in yesterday's news conference in Korea. The CEO of Google played it up for the Korean audience and slammed Apple at every turn. In other news, the Japanese site Macotakara is back with another apparent scoop with a supposed video of the iPad Mini and it's worth a look for sure
Yesterday the World IP Organization published a host of unique patents relating to flexible displays. Once you hear the words "flexible displays" your mind immediately conjures up all kinds of contorted smartphone designs because that's what the competition, like Samsung, have been promoting for some time now at tradeshows. And being a hardware centric company, you expect that from them. Yet Apple is a different cat. They're the guys who Think Different, remember? So while the competition is stuck in hardware overdrive, Apple is working diligently at finding unique ways to exploit flexible displays. That's really what yesterday's patents revealed once you got through the camouflage of concave and convex display detailing. Our report shows you a few of the little gems that came to light.
Yesterday we reported on Apple commissioning the production of a mysterious fiber carbon product. We were the only source to point out that Apple was also working on "glass" and/or "carbon" fibers for products ranging from the iPhone to a notebook. Today, Apple revealed information about a new notebook product entry that will have a laminate cover that would conceal a hidden camera and mini display on the backside of said notebook. The display won't be visible until it lights up when the user's hand hovers over it. It's simple a fascinating idea - more so because it could lead to an all-new product from Apple.
When it comes to the topic of Apple + TV, let's be frank. The world is waiting for an Apple HDTV to deliver the next great thing. But like with the iPhone, patents dated back to 1999 or eight years prior to seeing a real world product. It's just a fact of life that Great Products take time to work through the system. Today, Apple has revealed how a future Apple TV set-top-box will be able to access additional information about a TV show, event or movie that you're about to watch. It will be able to provide Apple TV users with contextual information on actors in a movie that you're about to watch or a summary of a keynote, for example. Interestingly, the additional context-base information will be sent to the user's iPad or iPhone that will work in sync with Apple TV and the content being presented on your television via your local cable or satellite provider. While today's invention is definitely not as ambitious as some TV oriented projects have been in the past, and there have been many of them over the years, it's probably a more realistic and humble starting point that seems to be only a stone's throw away.
Many times in the past Steve Jobs had said that Apple had no interest in phones or tablets and thought that network computers were silly with this concept of data residing somewhere in a cloud in the sky. Everything that he said that Apple had no interest in eventually came to be. After Apple's special iPhone 5 event earlier this month, Phil Schiller tried to do the same thing in respect to wireless inductive charging. Was his "marketing speak" just another head-fake? Well, according to a new patent published by the US Patent and Trademark Office, Apple's engineers never got the memo on Apple not being interested wireless inductive charging. In fact the crazy ones in Cupertino hit a home run with a winning in-depth inductive charging dock this time around. This design doesn't have a funny-funky pole like past designs. No, this one has some pretty interesting twists and will come with a handy user interface and much, much more.
The Japanese site Macotakara is reporting this morning that sources known to them are claiming that Apple and Foxconn engineers have commissioned production of a mystery product using carbon fiber, a lighter woven material that Apple has been working on for years.
New reports from Taiwan this morning state that updated iPhone order parts indicate that Apple's target for iPhone 5 sales in 2012 is 50 million units. On another front, suppliers point to Apple reducing the thickness of MacBook keyboards in 2013. And lastly, a reason for the Foxconn riots may have surfaced.
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of twenty newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our second and final granted patent report of the day, we cover patents relating to integrated touch displays and Apple's famed gimballed scroll wheel. We close out our report with links to 5 additional granted patents with emphasis on one covering parallel computing which relates to Apple's OpenCL.
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of twenty newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we primarily cover Apple's newly granted patents relating to smart iDevice keyboards and 4G OFDM channelization. To close out our report we cover five new design wins for Apple and more.
Earlier this month, the Korean Times reported that Samsung officials had stated that the patent dispute with rival Apple has strengthened their innovation drive. Specifically, Yoon Boo-keun, the president of Samsung's consumer electronics division stated to media sources that "Becoming a software-driven company is the main initiative. We will raise the quality of our products and services by pressing further for software, design and solutions." Yet where they're beginning this great initiative is really hilarious if not ironic.
A Delaware company by the name of B.E. Technology doing business in Memphis Tennessee is suing Apple for infringing on two of their patents relating to demographically targeted advertising. B.E Technology lists eight of Apple's products that are allegedly infringing upon their patents.
