The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 36 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover two distinct patents. The first Apple patent win is for new iPhone function controls built into the exterior of a head-mounted display system. The second patent covers a hand-gesturing system for possible future Macs and Apple TV. Apple was also granted three design patents today with the most prominent being for the iPad 4.

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: Head-Mounted Display System that retains an iPhone

Apple's newly granted patent 9,595,237 covers their invention relating to a head-mounted device constructed to receive an iPhone to use as the display. Apple filed a continuation patent in November 2016 which added new functionality to the proposed headset that could control the internal iPhone with button and touch controls on the outer surface of the headset. This was new to the original 2010 patent filing.

Apple's patent FIG. 3 illustrates a possible Apple remote working with this future head-mounted display system. See our November report detailing the new features/functions described for this invention.

Granted Patent: Depth Mapping for a Gesture Interface

Apple's newly granted patent 9,594,950 covers their invention relating to methods and systems for three-dimensional (3D) mapping and specifically to extraction of features from 3D map data. Apple later refines their invention to relating to a possible future "gesture-based interface" for Macs (computer) and/or Apple TV (entertainment console).

Today's granted patent was filed in Q1 2015 and published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office. The original patent dates back to Q4 2012.

Apple granted an iPad Design Patent Today & More

Apple was granted a design patent for their 4^th Generation iPad with Wifi + Cellular model as noted below. Apple was also granted design patents for a connector and another Apple Watch band.

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