The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 53 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover Apple's inventions for a small form factor spherically curved high-resolution camera and a docking station supporting audio and much more. We wrap up this week's granted patent report with our traditional listing of the remaining granted patents that were issued to Apple today.

Granted Patent: Docking Station with Audio Output

Apple's newly granted patent covers their invention relating to docking stations for the iPhone and/or other iDevices that facilitate communication with one or more various accessory devices. It was one of Apple's first docking station patents that was designed to work with their lightning connector as noted below in patent FIG. 14.

Features of the dock include having LED's to indicate status settings, such as do-not-disturb and alarm status settings; Touch pads or buttons may be used to control playback volume through an audio channel. The touch pads or buttons may be used for snooze or mode select functions; and a display may be used to indicate time, mode of the device, weather, news, or other data.

Apple's granted patent 9,244,492 was originally filed in Q3 2013 and published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office. See Patently Apple's original March 2015 patent application report for more details.

Apple has invented many docking station styles over the years from the strange (strange 2) to those with inductive charging (one and two) and beyond and yet they've never ventured beyond the absolute minimum.

Granted Patent: Small Form Factor Spherically Curved High-Resolution Camera

Apple's newly granted patent covers their invention relating to camera systems, and more specifically to high-resolution, small form factor camera systems that include a spherically curved photosensor along with a new lens system.

Apple's patent FIG. 6 shows us a three-dimensional oblique view of an example spherically curved photosensor #120. Note that the photosensor in this example is shaped like a slice off a hollow sphere.

Apple's patent FIG. 1 noted above illustrates a camera including a lens system with three lens elements and a spherically curved photosensor.

Apple's granted patent is broken down in distinct chapters covering 'Example Lens System and Photosensor Parameters,' 'Alternative Embodiments' and 'Distortion Correction.'

While the new camera will work with future iDevices, it may also be incorporated into Macs, a future television, Apple TV and no doubt future wearables like a second generation Apple Watch.

One additional twist to this camera lens is that it could be a part of future "projection applications." Whether that's referencing a future pico-like system is unknown at this time.

Apple's granted patent 9,244,253 was originally covered in a Patently Apple patent application report back in Q2 2014.

The Remaining Patents granted to Apple Today

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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. About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Comments are reviewed daily from 5am to 6pm MST and sporadically over the weekend.