The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 38 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover one of Apple's first Apple TV related inventions, dual mode headphones that have yet to surface and a series of design patents covering Beats headphone, an Apple Store display fixture for Apple Watch Sport and 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: Navigation Menu for Apple TV Supporting TV Channels    

Apple's newly granted patent 9,565,387 covers their invention relating to a UI engine that could also manage the generation of navigation menu items for population by the recording engine, TV channel engine, browse engine and search engine as noted at the bottom of the patent figures presented below. Apple later updated their TV box patent to refine it further in 2011.

In January Patently Apple posted a report titled "Original Movies and TV Series could be coming to Apple TV Subscription Service Later this Year." Today's patent dates all the way back to 2006, the year before the iPhone debuted to show you that Apple has been thinking about the TV market for a very long time. The original patent had the iPod as an Apple TV apparatus. With the advent of iOS for the iPhone, their TV ambitions were modified, advanced and supported by a new Apple TV device.

Granted Patent: Dual Mode Headphones

Apple's newly granted patent 9,565,490 covers their invention relating to Dual mode headphones, and methods for constructing the same. The headphones could provide an audio output in two different modes of operation based on a user's use of the headphones. In particular, the headphones can provide audio directly to a user's ears in an in-ear mode, and can provide audio as speakers in a speaker mode.

Patently Apple covered Apple's patent application back in 2012 under the report title of "Apple Invents Very Cool Next-Gen Dual Mode Headphones." The report covered 'Built-In Safety Features,' a new 'Snap Band Design' and more. You could check out the details here.

Apple is Granted Four Design Patents Today

Apple was granted four design patents today. The first design patent D778,255 covers Beats by Dr. Dre Mixr On-Ear Headphones; Apple's second design patent D778,087 is for an Apple Store Display for Apple Watch Sport. Apple won their first design patent for this in June 2016; Apple's third design patent D778,161 is for Apple Watch packaging. Apple's fourth and last design patent D778,278 (not shown) is for Apple iPhone 3GS speakers

The Remaining Patents granted to Apple Today

Note: In order to see a clearer image of the list above, simply click on the image above to enlarge it. Some browsers may require that you click on the image and then a second click on the image to enlarge it fully.

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. Those using abusive language or behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus.