Patently Apple

Apple is paving the Way for a new 3D GUI for iOS Devices

On January 12, 2012, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals an exciting new 3D GUI for iOS mobile devices. The new UI will work with proximity sensor arrays and will respond to hovering gestures. The Crazy Ones in Cupertino have been working on advanced 3D GUIs for some time now. We first learned of a major 3D GUI project back in 2009 that involved using head tracking technology. Then in early 2010 we learned of Apple's first project relating to a 3D GUI for iOS devices. Later that year Apple 3D multifunctional widgets and over time revealed advanced 3D and hovering based gesturing for CAD users on an iPad. With twenty times the GPU power coming to iOS devices over the next year, Apple appears to paving the way for a new 3D GUI for mobile devices in the not-too-distant future. Update Saturday Jan 14, 2011, 2PM MST: We've added a video to the report.   

Apple Wins More Strategic Patents Covering the iPhone & Smart Cables

On January 10, 2012, the US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of twenty-two newly granted patents for Apple Inc. This morning's patent report covers four of Apple's newly granted design patents covering such things as the MacBook Air and its Solid State Drive. Additionally, our report covers three important patents relating to Apple's original iPhone and associated smart cables. Since late December Apple has been on a roll chalking up original iPhone patents and today's patent wins continue that trend. Considering that there were over 200 patents on the books for protecting the iPhone on the very day that Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone, I would suspect that this trend is going to continue for some time to come.  

 

Apple Invents an Ingenious Security System for the iWallet Era

Make no mistake about it. As we move closer to a point in time when the iPhone could double as an iWallet, security will be the killer feature that consumers will demand. Two weeks ago Apple introduced us to one of their future security systems that will handle auto login using advanced facial recognition technology. That'll be great for iDevices not handling important documents and/or financial instruments such as debit and/or credit. For that, Apple has invented a heavy duty second tier of security that is quite ingenious. The key rests in splitting a user's password recovery secret amongst two devices that are never carried together at one time. And you know it's a serious security project at Apple when Bud Tribble, Apple's VP of Software Technology, is the man behind this endeavor. 

Apple Wins an Original iPhone Patent for Editing Lists and More

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of thirteen newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our last granted patent report of the day we primarily focus on one of Apple's original iPhone patents that relate to editing file or file folder lists easily. Other granted patents issued today cover the technology behind Apple's second generation iPod Shuffle and how the iPhone was redesigned after 2007 so that it could double as an external hard drive.  

Apple Wins a Classic Patent for a Video Conferencing iPod Phone

In our November 2011 report titled "Steve Jobs Secret Meeting to Explore an iPod Phone is Revealing," we covered how Steve Jobs set up two competing teams for creating a next generation tablet enabled smartphone. One team was focused on an iPod styled iPhone while the other was focused on an all-new tablet-centric design. Today we're able to explore a classic iPod styled smartphone patent that surfaced at the US Patent and Trademark Office. The newly granted patent covers the iPhone using call waiting and video conferencing. The date of the patent would strongly suggest that the technology pertained in this granted patent was really engineered for the iPhone as we know it today. It would also appear that Apple's desire to keep the iPhone design a secret until its introduction was paramount, and today's patent proves that out. By October 2006, Apple had the iPhone in hand – and so the patent filing with this dating would confirm that the iPod phone design presented in today's patent was merely a just-in-case cover up to mask the true design.