On the last patent day of 2009, the US Patent & Trademark Office published an important continuation patent from Apple that reveals one of the next chapters for Apple TV's remote. Firstly, the remote will implement a new magnetic compass within the remote's casing that will actually float in liquid so as to maintain its position relative to the gravity vector. This will provide the remote with incredible precision movement and fluidity. Secondly, with this new found precision, Apple hints of introducing a new illustration application to showcase this new remote's capabilities which would likely debut as iWork's fourth application. That in itself is great news. In theory, Apple's Keynote application would greatly benefit from such a new tool - in that it could provide the presenter with the ability to mark-up presentation graphics on screen live with this new 3D wand/remote.    

Patently Apple wishes our visitors, friends and industry colleagues from around the world a Healthy and Happy New Year 2010! Cheers!

 
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a newly granted patent of Apple's that would suggest that they may be considering a push button style antenna for future devices such as their  iPhone, iPod Touch or perhaps even a new tablet. According to Apple such an antenna would "ensure high-quality wireless transmission and reception." Although the antenna could be based on a push button design, it may also be designed to be activated via an icon on your media device UI. There could also be an interesting twist to this patent, in that the antenna may utilize a coaxial cable. Coaxial cable is used as a transmission line for radio frequency signals, in applications such as connecting radio transmitters and receivers with their antennas, computer network (Internet) connections, and distributing cable television signals. It's the latter possibility that may be the secret to this patent and one that I think is worth emphasizing. Then again, if New York City is having trouble with the iPhone now with simple data, how would it ever handle wireless television transmissions? That aside, the ability to drive cable content to Apple's media players and/or future tablet is just too delicious an idea to ignore.

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 19 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. The notables within this group include a patent for an Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) Shield that uses a unique Cantilever Spring along with a power series of 11 design patents that covers Apple's MacBook Pro, the iPod Classic's hardware and UI, the iPod nano and OS X features Expose and Stacks. 

 
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of eight new patent applications for Apple Inc. today. The notables within this group includes a crucial patent relating to Apple's advanced touch screen technology having an array of co-planar single-layer touch sensors fabricated on a single side of a substrate for detecting single or multi-touch events. Other notable patents include one relating to a new higher-end earbud system for Apple's media players, another relating to Cryptography and Key Generation and finally, one that relates to a heat-transfer mechanism that includes liquid-metal thermal coupling.

Every once in a while Apple dreams up new ways of whipping the Mac faithful and the press into a frenzy by introducing a new techno-lust delight out of the blue. They did it with the MacBook Air in January 2008. In 2010, their new techno-toy should be the highly anticipated Apple tablet. Yet the question remains, could Apple have more surprises in store for us in 2010? Could one of them be that of a sleek iMac Air desktop to match their MacBook Air delight? Although I personally believe that we'll see Blu-ray finally come to the Mac platform in 2010, many believe that Apple has no interest in doing so. If that logic were to prevail, then the concept of an iMac Air desktop would be a no-brainer. Although such a unit wouldn't appeal to gamers, such a unit would certainly appeal to most casual web surfers and executives who would love to have one grace their desktop. But that's theoretical. It really boils down to what you think about such a futuristic iMac.  Would an iMac Air desktop tempt you?

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of eight newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. The notables within this group include an important win for Apple's iDVD - an app within their iLife suite, another for a universal USB connector, yet another for a MacBook construction method and finally a minor design win for a dock insert.  

Sometimes, you just need a break from all things tech related

The US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple today that introduces us to a very unique music/content playback control form and monitoring system. Finally someone at Apple has figured out a way so that we could take more control of our tunes that makes sense. Some tunes only have a single great riff and that's about it.  With the new iTunes Music Form, you'll be able to set the starting and end points of a tune, set the tune volume and equalizer settings as well. If you like being the DJ at parties, then this could be a very cool tool allowing you to control the length of tunes and how they'll mix and match up with the next tune. The system will apply to all of Apple's media players with a display – including a television. This idea is going to make a lot of music fans happy. 

Over the last year, a number of very interesting Apple patents have come to light concerning various technologies that at the time of their publication were simply seen as islands of information unto themselves. Yet in hindsight, I can now see that yet another major Apple trend has emerged in 2009, that of Augmented Reality. I didn't recognize the extent of Apple's involvement in this area of technology until I had read a recent report filed by Nikkei Electronics Asia on this very subject. Once I saw the examples that were being presented in that report, the related Apple patents were easily recognizable. This report takes a peek at the magic that the Cupertino Mages are now conjuring up for us in future products and wonder if we're not actually looking at the beginning phases of some kind of new sixth sense.  

 
One of Apple's patent applications that were published late last week by the US Patent & Trademark Office almost snuck through without being noticed. This interesting patent generally relates to text messaging, and more particularly to sending and receiving of contact information via text message protocols. For example, a mobile device user may desire to send contact information (e.g., an electronic contact/business card) via SMS. Electronic business cards are typically marked up according to a particular file format (e.g., vCard). Conventional text messaging services are not capable of recognizing the markups associated with an electronic business card. As such, attempts to send an electronic business card as a text message will result in a receiving user being presented with a garbled mixture of contact information and inline markups. Apple's patent provides an excellent solution to rectify this problem. It should be noted that while there are at least eleven vCard apps for the iPhone available today, it appears that Apple is thinking of a secondary vCard solution of their own in the future. Currently, Apple's new iPhone 3GS offers a modern MMS vCard solution which clearly differs from today's patent focusing on a vCard solution for SMS.

Today, The US Patent and Trademark Office published a unique granted patent of Apple's which has yet to surface that could prove to be a very powerful tool for consumers and professionals on the go. The concept involves using an iPhone to control a home computer remotely while on the road, at the office or elsewhere.  According to the patent, an iPhone user will be able to remotely control the movements of a cursor on an iMac or MacBook to select a software application (e.g., email) from a menu or desktop icon, launch applications, control a printer or any other peripheral. Apple's patent describes how the iPhone could have a keypad that is mapped to specific functions - as noted in the graphic above. The patent even points to an expanding application use for Voice Controls, which are limited today. This granted patent is definitely the star of today's patent line-up and worthy of being a separate report to emphasize its importance.

 
On December 11, 2009, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple's latest trademark application filing for Grand Central Dispatch under application 77887646. Apple has filed their trademark under International Class 009 covering software and operating system software specifically. Apple's Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, Bertrand Serlet, introduced Apple's newest OS X technology called Grand Central Dispatch during his presentation at WWDC 2009.  

A Simple Christmas Message

Patently Apple would like to wish all of our visitors, friends and industry colleagues from around the world a very Merry Christmas 2009. Cheers!

On December 10, 2009, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple revealing the next chapter for Media Player navigation. Apple's Media Player revolution began with touch displays for navigating menus and now Apple wants to introduce one-handed acceleration navigation methodologies that could also be used with future systems including a television. The technology will be both built-into future media players and available for older media players via a new accessory. Apple provides us with an overview of the range of motion that acceleration navigation encompasses such as the Flick, Slide Twist, Spin, Tilt, rotation and up and down motions and so forth. If you don't mind looking like a spaz, then this form of gesturing will certainly accelerate your one-handed functionality. That could come in handy while working out, jogging or even mountain climbing. Okay, the last one was a joke - so sue me.  

On December 10, 2009, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple's latest trademark application for 'There's an App for That' under application 77886754. Apple has filed their trademark under International Classes 9, 35, 38 and 42 which basically covers telecommunication services, communication networks, online retailing and various handhelds noted, such as a mobile phone, electronic notepad and an audio player to mention but a few. The chosen classifications also cover all manner of software including games, books, magazines and more - to support their trademark slogan. Apple is building quite a library for that theme which will rapidly expand into publishing titles once Apple's future tablet arrives – whenever that may be. Yet the one app that it doesn't cover specifically is Apple's long gone iCard. I'd like an Apple 'App for That' – again Mr. Schiller.  One could always ask politely, can't they?

On December 10, 2009, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a revolutionary patent application from Apple that reveals an all new Universal Docking station that is designed to be aesthetically pleasing. The revolutionary design will use a new elastic sponge-like material at the bottom of the universal dock that will basically conform to the shape of any portable device you may have – be it an iPod nano, an iPhone or even a BlackBerry or other non-Apple device. If the user only has one type of media player, then the device will conform to it alone. On the other hand, if the user has multiple types of media players, then the device is designed to decompress when the user hits a reset button, returning the revolutionary support-layer back to its original flat surface to accept the next media player's form. The new dock will also come with a remote control. Although it's hard to get overly excited about a new universal dock for media players - this particular revolutionary design is bound to turn a lot of heads when it finally arrives. This one may be hard to resist next Christmas.

 
On December 8, 2009, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple's new trademark application for Think Different under application 77882684. Apple's application makes note that Think Different was used as early as September 28, 1997. In 1997 there wasn't an iPod and this may be one of the main reasons for Apple's new trademark application for Think Different. However, Apple's International Classification 009 now covers the iPod under MP3 audio players in addition to generically covering "Portable and handheld digital electronic devices" so as to cover any future tablet Apple may be contemplating in the future. Is Apple gearing up for something?

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of nine newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. The notables within this group include one relating to Apple's QuickTime VR - which was originally filed eight years ago, Apple's iPhoto, a virtual Japanese Dictionary for OS X and an industrial design win for Apple's third generation iPod nano.

On December 3, 2009, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals various concepts behind a new series of future media player error indicators. The indicators will be used to notify users that the device is unable to proceed with a particular function the user has requested – be it playing a tune, a movie, a TV show or displaying a photo. Apple's patent presents us with indicators that represent a broken DVD, broken CD and alternatives like a broken projector or guitar.  Each of these error indicators will be accompanied by a matching sound effect that is designed to be both fun and handy for those using headphones while in transit or while training.

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of nine newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. The notables within this group include a design win for Apple's cool iMac, a Media Player System patent that covers the iPod's connector, the docking station and a few other interesting concepts that have yet to surface. Rounding off Apple's  more interesting wins today, we see another granted patent relating to a future application for Apple TV that involves live sporting event statistics and a whole lot more. This is very cool technology that hopefully will surface in the coming years.