The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Apple 45 newly granted patents today. In this particular report we cover one of Apple's iPhone X inventions and a never before seen patent for HomePod with topside wireless charger built-in and more. Lastly, we wrap up this week's granted patent report with our traditional listing of the remaining granted patents that were issued to Apple today.

Apple's iPhone X

Apple was granted patent #10,425,561 that relates to one of the original iPhone patents. The patent notes that a smartphone is to include a front interface panel that includes components such as infrared facial recognition emitters and sensors, proximity sensors, loudspeakers, microphones, front camera modules, wireless charging interfaces and/or other suitable components. A lot of this particular patent focuses on the backside camera design set-up and integration as reflected in patent fig. 3 below.

The original iPhone X debuted on September 13, 2017. One part of this patent was filed on September 8, 2017 while the full body of this patent was filed on November 29 2017.

Inventors

Dan Jarvis: Manager, iPhone Product Design

Michael Quinones: Product Design Engineer

HomePod with Topside Wireless Charging

Apple was granted patent #10,424,962 that relates to standalone wireless charging stations with one shown to be a "media player" with a topside wireless charger siting on the top which translates to HomePod with wireless charger.

Interestingly, the patent figures also present two smaller media players with a charging assembly. That could mean a smaller HomePod model or a charging coil being added atop to a future iteration of Apple TV.

Whether Apple will choose to bring this feature to future devices is unknown at this time. However, if they did, it would be the first smart speaker on the market to offer a built-in wireless charger. Then again, competitors seeing this granted patent are likely to race this feature to market ahead of Apple as usual. 

Inventors

Paul Thompson: Lead Software Engineer – CoreMotion.

Chris Graham: Product Design Manager

The Remaining Patents granted to Apple Today

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