Apple Wins Patents for a Mysterious New Tablet, Apple TV, more
One of the eight granted patents posted today for Apple Inc. by the US Patent & Trademark Office illustrates a mysterious design for a future iPhone or yes, the long rumored Apple tablet. The design carries absolutely no physical buttons and was only filed for this February. Other notable granted patents include Apple's MacBook Air SuperDrive and Apple TV design patents and an important power switching apparatus and method for portables like the iPhone or iPod touch.
Industrial Design Wins
Future iPhone/iPod touch or Mini Tablet
Apple has been granted a design patent that is a bit of a mystery. Apple's patent figures are usually detailed enough to determine the difference between an iPhone and iPod touch. In this case the mysterious design lacks the details of either and the original filing date would suggest that it isn't a first generation iPhone. The front interface lacks the traditional start up button that is present in today's iPhone and iPod touch and in fact, the design has no physical buttons of any kind. This may open the door to a next generation design not yet released. Is this a future iPhone/iPod touch design or the mysterious mini tablet? Apple patent also states that "the article is not limited to the scale shown herein," which furthers the mystery. For now, until this design actually surfaces at a special Apple event, we could only surmise. Let the guessing games begin.
Apple TV
Apple has been granted a design patent for Apple TV which turns your HDTV into a digital entertainment hub. It offers one-click access to all of your music and photos and offers you great content at the Apple iTunes Store.
Apple credits CEO Steve Jobs, Bartley Andre, Daniel Coster, Daniele De Iuliis, Evans Hankey, Richard Howarth, Jonathan Ive, Duncan Kerr, Shin Nishibori, Matthew Dean Rohrbach, Peter Russell-Clarke, Douglas Satzger, Calvin Seid, Christopher Stringer, Eugene Whang and Rico Zorkendorfer as the inventors of Granted Patent D601,583, originally filed in September 2006.
MacBook Air SuperDrive
Apple credits Bartley Andre, Daniel Coster, Daniele De Iuliis, Evans Hankey, Richard Howarth, Jonathan Ive, Duncan Kerr, Shin Nishibori, Matthew Dean Rohrbach, Peter Russell-Clarke, Douglas Satzger, Christopher Stringer, Eugene Whang and Rico Zorkendorfer as the inventors of Granted Patent D601,585, originally filed in April 2009.
User Interface for Computer Display
Apple has been granted a patent for a "User interface for computer display" showing what Apple describes as their "new design."
Apple credits Imran Chaudhri, Cesar Carrera and Patricia Coleman as the inventors of Granted Patent D601,582, originally filed in November 2007. The patent may be referring to their new LED Cinema Display which debuted in Q1 2008.
Granted Patent: Power Source Switchover Apparatus and Method
Apple's patent generally relates to electrically-powered devices, and more particularly to a circuit for switching between multiple power sources.
An ongoing trend (particularly with respect to consumer electronics) is the concept of miniaturization. Electronic devices have become smaller and smaller; many modern electronic devices may perform the same functions as a device multiple times their size could only a few years ago. However, as electronics continue to shrink in size, space for circuitry and electronic components within devices becomes an issue. A premium is thus often placed on fitting the same functionality for a given circuit or component within a small footprint. There is a need in the art for an improved battery-switching circuit and Apple's patent covers this extensively.
The one embodiment of the present invention noted above takes the form of an apparatus for switching from a first power supply to a second power supply. The embodiment may detect the charge or voltage of both the first and second power supply, and power a device from the power supply having the greatest voltage or charge.
Apple credits Christoph H. Krah and Ronil Patel as the inventors of Granted Patent 7,598,711 originally filed in November 2005.
NOTICE: Patently Apple presents only a brief summary of patents with associated graphic(s) for journalistic news purposes as each such patent application and/or Granted Patent is revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trade Office. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any patent application and/or Issued Patent should be read in its entirety for further details. For additional information on any granted patent noted above, simply feed the individual patent number(s) into this search engine. To read this report in another major language, check out Yahoo! Babel Fish.
Think about it. We were told the tablet looked like a large iPhone. This looks like an iPhone and Apple tells you to not pay attention to the patent device's graphic size. So, this sounds like it's the media tablet. Although I was expecting something cooler, I guess that the design patent is just for the basic look. I think it will be a lot cooler when it arrives. The point nonetheless is that this patent kind of proves that it's real.
Posted by: Marcus | October 06, 2009 at 11:22 AM