The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of xx newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover Apple's invention introducing us to a solar power panel accessory for mobile devices like a MacBook or iPhone that won't require a power converter. One of the inventors noted on this patent had originally worked at Samsung.

Granted Patent: Power Management Systems for Accepting Adapter and Solar Power in Electronic Devices

Apple's newly granted patent generally relates to power sources for electronic devices. More specifically, the disclosed embodiments relate to power management systems in electronic devices for accepting power from power adapters and/or solar panels.

Apple notes that "a power management system in the electronic device may be configured to accept power from a solar panel without using a converter circuit between the solar panel and the power management system. In other words, the power management system may operate within the electronic device to convert power from the solar panel into a voltage, current, and/or form that are compatible with the battery and/or components of the electronic device. "

The power management system includes a system microcontroller (SMC) and a charger. The electronic devices that will be able to take advantage of Apple's new solar panel include a MacBook, iPad, iPod touch and iPhone.

For more details, see Apple's granted patent 9,348,388 that was originally covered by a Patently Apple patent application report back in October 2013.

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.