Patently Apple

Apple Wins Multiple Design Patents and one for a New Camera Control

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of twenty-three newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our first of two reports covering today's granted patents, we cover one of Apple's latest patent wins for a camera control that only came to light as a patent application late last week and also take a look at three of Apple's new design wins and question whether changes are needed to better protect design patents in the future. 

Apple Pounds out a New Round of Camera Related Patents

Late last week the US Patent & Trademark Office published another round of patent applications from Apple that relate to cameras. In today's report we touch on all five of these new camera related inventions that cover such matters as adaptive lens shading correction, new flash exposure controls and more. Apple has been pushing iOS camera capabilities each and every time a new version of the iPhone debuts. Earlier this quarter we posted a report covering two of their latest patented technologies, and today's round of patents raises Apple's camera patent count to twenty for 2011 alone. There's also good news on the iOS camera front for 2012. Apple's iOS cameras will be supporting new advancements such as dynamic contrast enhancements, image sensor compensation and much, much more. These advancements were revealed in a new presentation slide from Imagination Technologies this month. Imagination Technologies is the company behind the graphics processor found in iOS devices today. 

Apple Patent Discusses FaceTime Advancements in the Works

One of the forty patent applications that were published by the US Patent & Trademark Office for Apple this past week focused on advancing FaceTime conferencing. Years ago, the vast majority of video conferences were conducted in controlled studios or conference rooms designed with specialty lighting for optimal viewing. Today that's all changed; the vast majority of video conferences are done on the fly, on the go, in a meeting, in a park, in your car, in a lobby or in your home office where lighting conditions could be insufficient or constantly changing. The standard Auto Exposure (or AE) features found in most mobile phones today weren't designed to adapt to those kinds of quickly changing lighting environments for mobile video conferences. Apple's invention illustrates the intent is to go far beyond the auto exposure standards of today to deliver a solid solution to this problem.  

Apple Patent Delves into New iPhone Camera Technologies

This past week the US Patent & Trademark Office published a pair of patent applications from Apple that revealed another round of iPhone camera technologies. One of Apple's latest inventions relating to a next generation auto exposure algorithm may have actually slipped into Apple's latest iPhone 4S. The second invention revealed this week relates to "Automatic Tone Mapping Curve Generation." Apple has made a number of great advancements in their latest iPhone 4S camera that now makes it even easier for consumers to capture those great at-the-moment photos that make everlasting memories. Other patented technologies that made it into this year's iPhone 4S include video stabilization and face detection. If you happen to be a camera aficionado, then you might just want to delve into an overview of Apple's latest goodies.  

Apple Invents Digital Device Handshake using Next-Gen Cameras & Invisible Inks

On December 1, 2011, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals an all new way of sharing data quickly and securely between two or more devices in consumer, retail and/or enterprise applications. Apple's new system will be used on hardware sporting next generation cameras capable of reading invisible inks and optical coatings – which will hold a special key code. On the iPad, the secret security code for sharing data could be hidden in its face side bezel where no one could even see it. The next generation digital handshake is envisioned to work in future retail stores and pharmacies and work with social networking sites like Twitter, Loopt, or 4square. And to top it all off, the new system will allow users to quickly log in to other devices using their iPhone – which sounds very cool indeed.