The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 37 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover a magnetic vehicle dashboard accessory as noted in our cover graphic, a patent about virtual terrain maps for gaming development, the iPhone 6s design 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: Magnetic Attachment Unit

Apple's newly granted patent covers their invention relating to a system, method, and apparatus for forming a cooperative system using a releasable magnetic attachment for iPad. Apple's patent FIG 22A illustrated above specifically illustrates a vehicle dashboard mount.

Apple's master patent covering the future use of magnetics in relation to supporting iPad accessories was filed back in 2012 and published in 2014. You could check out our original patent application report titled "Apple Takes a Giant Leap Forward in iPad Attachment Designs," here.

The first granted patent was issued back in 2015 and covered in our report titled "Apple Granted a Patent for a Cooperative Magnetic Attachment System Supporting Various Dual iPad Pro Scenarios & Beyond."

In today's granted patent we're able to see that Apple has focused on protecting its invention related specifically for a vehicle dashboard accessory for iPad. Apple's patent claim #1 states the following:

"An accessory device for a portable electronic device, comprising: an attachment mechanism suitable for magnetically securing the portable electronic device to a dashboard of a motor vehicle; and a communication module arranged to provide a communication channel between the motor vehicle and the portable electronic device in response to the portable electronic device receiving an indication that the portable electronic device is secured to the dashboard by way of the attachment mechanism."

To review all of Apple's new patent claims supporting this application of an iPhone and/or iPad vehicle dashboard accessory review Apple's granted patent 10,037,054 here.

Granted Patent: Virtual Terrain Alteration Systems

Apple's newly granted patent covers their invention relating to Systems and techniques for generating an artificial terrain map can compute a region of a noise map in an N-dimensional space and define a terrain characteristic in correspondence with a value of the noise map at each of a selected plurality of positions within the region of the noise map.

Noise maps having adjacent entries correlated with each other can ensure a smooth variation within the noise map. Such smoothly varying noise maps can be particularly well-suited for use in generating terrain maps for games.

Apple's patent FIG. 11 presented above depicts a three-dimensional space containing a projection of a terrain on a planar region; FIG. 12 illustrates block diagram of a process for altering an artificial terrain; and FIG. 13 schematically illustrates an artificial terrain engine suitable to perform a method.

Two of the three inventors listed on this granted patent have gaming backgrounds. Norman Wang, one of Apple's software engineering managers came to Apple via Sony - Playstation / Entertainment America; and James J Cwik, another software engineering manager came to Apple via Electronic Arts. His LinkedIn page also notes that he was the Lead engineer on Game Controller framework and Partnered with third-party game controller hardware vendors to influence physical game controller design, focusing on ergonomics, comfort, physical response and fit & finish.

Apple's granted patent 10,037,622 was originally filed in Q3 2016 and published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Apple Granted Two iPhone 6s Design Patents

The Remaining Patents granted to Apple Today

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.