On January 3, 2013, the US Patent & Trademark Office published patent applications from Apple relating to their push notifications system and new MagSafe 2 connector. The new MagSafe 2 connector was announced at Apple's June 2012 World Wide Developer Conference in conjunction with the debut of the MacBook Pro 15-inch Retina Display. The new connector was designed to better fit the slimmer notebook designs. In late 2012, Samsung sued Apple over their push notifications system in Korea. It'll be interesting to see if Apple's notification system patent will get approved by the US Patent Office in time for this case – as Apple's system applies to both iOS and Mac hardware which could differentiate their system enough to strengthen their position.
On January 3, 2013, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple's Revolutionary EarPods patent application. Apple's EarPods came to market when they launched the iPhone 5 last September. Apple describes them as a "breakthrough design." The new EarPods provide for a more natural fit with increased durability and an incredible acoustic quality reserved for higher-end earphones.
About two years ago we published a report titled "Apple Could Advance Gaming & Paint in Magic Mouse Upgrade." Today, a supporting patent has surfaced that relates to methods for how the magic mouse could process combinations of kinematical inputs such as force and velocity. According to Apple, the invention may have applicability to any electronic system or application capable of receiving input. For example, embodiments of the invention may be useful with video games, file browsing, interactive navigation, communication systems, control systems, military systems, medical devices, and industrial applications. See our 2010 report for more patent illustrations. A second patent application that surfaced this morning titled "Integrated media jukebox and physiologic data handling application" demonstrates that Apple is still tweaking their Nike + iPod system which was granted yet another patent earlier this week.
Before there ever was a Project Glass from Google, there was Apple's Glass Project in the form of a patent application filed in late 2006, published in 2008 and granted in 2009. Apple's Glass Project seemed to have fallen off the grid until July 2012 when a new patent application laid out some new parameters for their future glasses. The new glasses were being designed to work with augmented reality but more importantly, they were being designed with telephonic capabilities in mind. In one of the new patent reports that we posted yesterday, we pointed to Apple describing future video glasses that would integrate hidden audio sensors within the glass or frame to enhance voice commands capabilities. Little did we know that the best data was yet to come. Late last night, Patently Apple discovered a powerful new patent application that details some rather interesting features that Apple is considering for a future headset. Perhaps that Glass War that we described last month is going to be a lot more interesting than we initially thought.
Apple has invented a very cool next-gen headphone design that could be operated in two modes. The first mode is the normal every day in-ear design that all headphones offer. The second mode is where the fun comes in. It will allow users to rest their headphones on a table or other surface and kick them into true speaker mode with a full amplifier so that they could share their music with others in any room or other social setting. What a fantastic idea! I'll definitely be first in line to buy these headphones.
The World Intellectual Property Office revealed late last week that Apple had filed for a patent to protect one of their latest inventions relating to an all-new iPhone carrying case that's made from a combination of fabric and a plurality of polymer-based films. Apple's process will also use unbelievably accurate lasers to imprint their logo onto the fabric case with consistent impeccable quality.
On October 4, 2012, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals a rather inventive new headset that provides users with a temporary wireless option that's great for when you're working out in the gym or jogging.
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.
Just last week Apple introduced their new 'EarPods' for iPhone 5. The day prior to Apple's Special Event, the US Patent Office cued up Apple's trademark filing but didn't publish it until after Apple's event. To finalize it all, we get to actually see Apple's patent application detailing their invention today. To top off today's report, we'll take a brief look at a few of the key iPhone 5 patents that were fulfilled last week.
Although some may say that Apple should have introduced their new "Lightning" connector with the updated MacBook Pro lineup that debuted in June so as to ensure that the new standard was on all new 2012 hardware by Christmas, the fact remains that it debuted during yesterday's iPhone-5 special event. One of the key points that Apple listed in their new marketing graphic above is that the new Lightning cabling is durable. Two new patent applications published today by at the US Patent Office cover the topic of cable durability with one detailing cables using metal-doped fibers. According to Apple, "This allows for a much more flexible cable and increased cable flex life because the metal-doped fibers are not as sensitive to bending fatigue as their all metal counterparts."
On August 2, 2012, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a mind boggling patent application from Apple that reveals features that they're considering for their next generation Smart Cover. This is obviously a master patent that could play out in several stages and/or in different Smart Cover configurations depending on the user's priorities. Apple's future Smart Cover could include interactive Multi-Touch panels or a secondary display and/or other features that include the use of solar panels, inductive charging, smart pen input and believe it or not, much more.
Over the years, Apple has dreamt up a revolutionary styled docking station, some smart docks, docks based on straight forward inductive charging methods and some with loopy inductive charging methods and yet we still have Apple's plain old boring dock. But it seems that Apple isn't done just yet with designing new docks and today we see that their design team went over the edge with a dozen or more docking systems. And this time around, most of them involve mating a power-clip to a docking station that could also end up being your MacBook or iMac. One of these designs may end up making it to market one of these days or they'll all simply end up in Jony Ive's toy box to rust with all of the other rejected ideas. C'mon Jony – pick a new docking system and get on with it already.
