The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 45 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover an Apple Pencil patent that clearly notes that it will work with an iPhone for apps such as word processing and spreadsheets. 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: Manipulating UIs with a Stylus

Apple's newly granted patent covers their invention relating to electronic devices with touch-sensitive surfaces, including but not limited to electronic devices with touch-sensitive surfaces that manipulate user interfaces with styluses. Patent FIG. 7a shows an Apple Pencil used on an iPhone.

To clarify, patent FIG. 7A identifies the device as a 'portable multifunctional device.' In Patent point #106 Apple states: Exemplary embodiments of portable multifunction devices include, without limitation, the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad devices from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.

A 'phone' is referenced throughout the patent application. Another example is patent point #325 which states: Some electronic devices use a stylus associated with the device to provide additional methods of input to a touch-sensitive display of the device. For example, some cellular phones, laptops, and tablets have the capability to receive inputs from a stylus.

Beyond acknowledging that the patent covers an Apple Pencil working on a future iPhone, the patent focus is broader as follows: An electronic device with a touch-sensitive display and one or more sensors to detect signals from a stylus associated with the device: detects a positional state of the stylus, the positional state of the stylus corresponding to a distance, a tilt, and/or an orientation of the stylus relative to the touch-sensitive display; determines a location on the touch-sensitive display that corresponds to the detected positional state of the stylus; displays, in accordance with the positional state of the stylus, an indication on the touch-sensitive display of the determined location prior to the stylus touching the touch-sensitive display; detects a change in the distance, the tilt, and/or the orientation of the stylus, prior to the stylus touching the touch-sensitive display; and in response to detecting the change, updates the displayed indication on the touch-sensitive display.

Today Apple Pencil is limited in applications. The patent notes that the stylus will work with other types of apps in the future such as word processing, spreadsheet making, email and more.

Apple's granted patent 9,658,704 was originally filed in Q3 2015 and published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Design Patent: Security Attachment

Apple was granted design patent D787,357 for a 'Security Attachment." Design Patents don't come with any description of a device. You get patent figures and that's it.

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.