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.
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 15 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our first report of the day, we cover Apple's patents relating to Light Transmissive & Ambient Light Display technology as well as Apple's latest design patent win for MagSafe.
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 18 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our first granted patent report of the day we covered Apple being granted a major patent relating to both tablets and a possible future iMac Touch Display. In this second granted patent report of the day we cover two original 2007 touch-related iPhone patents that kick-started the smartphone revolution in earnest. One covers Apple's iPhone display using an electrostatic model for functionality and the other covers how content including video, switches between portrait and landscape modes.
How appropriate it is for Apple to have been granted a major patent relating to touch displays for both tablets and an iMac touch. In the shadow of yesterday's World Wide Developer Conference where we once again saw that OS X Lion will borrow some of iOS's features – we are subtly reminded that we may also, one day, see an iMac Touch desktop emerge when the right technologies converge.
Last year Apple was granted a patent for a "Display that emits circularly-polarized light." We reported on that granted patent in March 2010. Earlier this week the USPTO published Apple's divisional patent application 20110124260 which claimed priority from both 2006 and 2010 patents which were covered in Apple's granted patent. The illustrations found in this latest filing were identical to those used in Apple's granted patent. Considering that the technology was in-hand as far back as 2006 and that the granted patent actually illustrated the technology being used on an iPod Classic, it's clear that Apple was far beyond "exploring" this technology as others have incorrectly reported on this week. Today's report provides you with the reason why Apple filed their divisional patent application this week.
The US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application of Apple's yesterday that revealed one of the next chapters for Apple's top line displays. The patent describes a method of allowing a user to steer display light beams in various directions to effectively provide themselves with a new privacy option. The new privacy option mode only allows those directly in front of the display to view its content. Anyone on the periphery would simply see a blank display. A number of professions may find this feature very appealing. The patent also vaguely points to this technology being used in association with a future pico-like projection system and/or 3D Holographic Display.
In respect to new Apple patents, it was a very interesting patent day yesterday indeed. The day began with learning about Apple's latest research into a new peer-to-peer technology followed by a new compass bearing feature for future iPhone cameras. If that wasn't enough, we discovered a huge batch of new patent applications dealing with Apple's obsession over advancing backlit LED Display brilliance. The new display technology would be able to deliver superior FaceTime conferencing experiences as well as delivering crystal clear viewing photos, videos, 3D imaging and perhaps Television too. Now that would be the most brilliant benefit of all.
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 18 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our first of two reports today we cover design wins for Apple's 2007 iPod touch and iPhone 4 in addition to covering Apple TV and a key RFID patent. The RFID patent covers technology that will be built right into future iOS devices that will enable such things as wireless transfers of data from an iPhone to a desktop with just a simple shaking motion or even allow a user to open up a keyless hotel or car door with a simple swipe. It will also likely play a role in Apple's forthcoming iWallet feature set.
The first Apple patent of the day that surprised us was all about an incredible smart bezel using a secondary printed segmented electroluminescence display that would allow for hidden illuminated controls on devices such as the iPad. Apple's second patent surprise of the day is all about Apple devising a next generation iPhone that would effectively offer us a smart hybrid display that could switch between a standard LCD and an e-Paper display. In fact, it's so smart that the display could actually subdivide itself into quadrants that could intelligently switch display types depending on the content that the user is running. That would work very nicely with Apple's proposed use of Spaces on future iOS devices.
Apple's Research and Development teams are definitely on a roll in respect to searching for the next round of advanced display technologies that could storm the market in the coming months and years ahead. On Tuesday we covered Apple's work on displays that could incorporate new hovering sensory technologies and just yesterday we covered Apple's research into OLED multi-touch displays. In today's report, we see that Apple is working with new Optical In-LCD Sensing Panels that will be able to read barcodes, OCR and QR codes easier and more importantly, allow your iPhone or iPod Touch to double as an advanced scanner or even a mouse – for games and more. What will they think of next? Update 11:30 AM EST: News of iTunes upgrading to 24 bit quality was revealed at yesterday's HP event.
In case you haven't caught on yet, there's a multi-touch centric device revolution going on. Late this morning, HP entered the ring (Update: see the new TouchPad Video) and this heavyweight is out for blood and marketshare. While the latter will suffice, the point is that the market that was once Apple's alone, is about to dramatically change. HP's latest round of trademarks points to a duo-display type of unit that's on the way and they're going to provide consumers with a lot more diversity in terms of design and price points. And joking aside, even Motorola is now on the warpath. In order for Apple to Keep their edge on these competitors, they're going to have to kick things up a notch on all things touch. In a new batch of patents that have come to light, we see that Apple is focused on bringing OLED displays to iOS and other types of devices sometime in the coming months or years.
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 18 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. The notables within this first group includes one that relates to Apple's portable device retail packaging that Steve Jobs lent a hand in somehow and another for invisible light transitive displays that have, in-part, already been put into action on MacBooks. Lastly, Apple has won their fourth and fifth Light Sensitive displays in the last four months. The proof of a future display working with an advanced light-pen is certainly gathering steam.
