Granted Patent: Integrating MagSafe into an iOS Device

Apple has been granted a patent for the assembly of a unit supporting MagSafe into an iOS device like an iPad as noted in patent FIG. 7 below. The patent states that "In one particular embodiment, the connector may be a power connector such as the MagSafe." Word of Apple considering MagSafe for iOS devices first surfaced in October 2010 as noted in our report titled "Apple Considers MagSafe for Portable Devices like the iPad."

Central Patent Claim: An electronic device comprising: a first housing having a first magnetic element, the first magnetic element being movably coupled to a surface of the first housing; and a second housing having a second magnetic element, the second housing cooperating with the first housing to form an enclosure of the electronic device, wherein when the first housing and the second housing are brought together at one or more interfacing portions to form the enclosure, the first magnetic element moves relative to the first housing to attach to the second magnetic element, the attachment creating a seal between the first housing and the second housing at the one or more interfacing portions.

The other key claims include claim 10 which covers a "method for assembling an electronic device" pertaining to the magnetic element, and claim 19 covers "a securing system" for the complex assembly.

Apple credits Chris Ligtenberg, John DiFonzo, Bret Degner and John as the inventors of Granted Patent 7,997,906 originally filed in Q2 2010.

Apple Wins another Touch Sensitive Related Patent

Apple has been granted a major patent relating to Apple's advanced "Multi-Touch" displays that made their 2007 iPhone so revolutionary and distinguished themselves from all PC Tablets of the past .

This particular invention relates to the bonding of flexible circuits to substrates, and more particularly, to the bonding of flex circuits to directly opposing attachment areas of a substrate, and an improved flex circuit design for enabling more secure and less error-prone bonding. Technically, Apple's patent is titled "Double-Sided touch sensitive panel and flex circuit bonding."

Apple's patent FIG. 1 illustrates exemplary computing system operable with multi-touch panel and flex-circuits according to one embodiment of this invention; Patent FIG. 2C is a side view of an exemplary pixel in a dynamic (touch) condition; Patent FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an exemplary sensor panel with rows and columns on opposite sides of substrate.

To review the four patent claims supporting this patent, see Granted Patent 7,999,795, originally filed in Q1 2007 and revised in Q1 2011. Apple credits Mark Hamblin and Steve Hotelling as the inventors.

Granted Design Patents: Original iPod, the iPod nano & Two UI's for iTunes

For the original iPod, Apple credits CEO Steve Jobs, VP Industrial Design Jonathan Ive and team members Bartley Andre, Daniel Coster, Daniele De Iuliis, Richard Howarth, Duncan Kerr, Matthew Dean Rohrbach, Peter Russell-Clarke, Douglas Satzger, Calvin Seid, Christopher Stringer and Eugene Whang as the inventors of Granted Patent D643,403.

For credits on the other designs, see granted patents D643,402, D643,437 and D643,436. One iTunes user interface as noted above covers Apple's "Shuffle" feature. The other iTunes user interface covers "Downloads." The graphic associated with that design was too washed out to present in this report.

Other Granted Patents Published Today

Granted Patent 8,001,400: Power consumption management for functional preservation in a battery-powered electronic device

Granted Patent 8,001,314: Storing a driver for controlling a memory

Granted Patent 8,001,211: Convergence-enabled DVD and web system

Granted Patent 8,001,187: Peer-to-peer active content sharing

Granted Patent 8,001,148: Caching permissions information

Granted Patent 8,001,011: Method and apparatus for deferred purchasing of marked digital media items

Granted Patent 8,000,736: User programmable switch for portable data processing devices

Notice: Patently Apple presents only a brief summary of granted patents with associated graphics for journalistic news purposes as each Granted Patent is revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any Granted Patent should be read in its entirety for full details.

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Check it Out: Have you ever seen a true 3D printer that could replicate real products like a wrench? If you haven't, then check out our added feature at the bottom of our latest report. This invention is really Wild and worth a look!

Here are a Few Great Community Sites covering our Original Report

MacSurfer, Business Insider, T3 UK, University of Tennessee, Twitter, Facebook, Apple Investor News, Google Reader, UpgradeOSX, TechWatching, Macnews, iPhone World Canada,WinFuture Germany, CBS MarketWatch, Engadget, Boio Romania, iPadItalia Italy, SlashGear, MacWereld Netherlands, MacNN, TUAW, Macworld France, Gizmodo, phoneArena UK, iPadinfo Netherlands, MobileMac Netherlands, , iSpazio Italy, Apple Headlines, iPhone4 Taiwan, Melablog Italy, GottaBeMobile, everythingiCafe, CNET's Crave UK, iPadevice Italy, TechRadar UK, Neowin.net, Apple Bitch, AppAdvice, DVICE, Cult of Mac, iClarified, PadGadget, Techmeme, ITP.net Dubai, United Arab Emirates (English Edition), iPad3Newsblog, and more.