The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Apple 59 newly granted patents today. Our final granted report of the day covers a couple of Project Titan related wins covering the making of vehicle panels and windows with specialized glass and system that makes recommended lane changes to either a driver or to an autonomous vehicle system. Today was a big day for design patents with Apple winning one for Powerbeats earphones and many 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.

Project Titan #1:

Glass Vehicle Windows and Housing

Apple's granted patent 10,494,860 relates to Project Titan. Specifically it covers a method that includes forming a glass structure that has a peripheral edge, wherein an exterior surface of the glass structure includes a compound curvature.

The method also includes fractionalizing the glass structure to define a primary portion and one or more panels, wherein the primary portion includes a front window area, a roof area, and a rear window area. The method also includes connecting the primary portion and the one or more panels to a body of a vehicle.

Another aspect of the disclosed embodiments is a vehicle having a vehicle body, a front window, a rear window, a roof, and one or more moveable windows that are mounted to the vehicle body. The vehicle is produced by a process that includes forming a one-piece glass structure having a convexly curved exterior shape that extends upward from an outer edge.

Apple's patent FIG. 6 below shows a process 660 for producing the glazings such as a primary portion 644 and panels 646, and for producing a vehicle 640 that includes the glazings.

The glass structure #600 may be formed by any process suitable for the geometry of the glass structure. Suitable processes for forming the glass structure may include press molding, blow forming, mold forming, sheet forming, glass casting, vapor growth, 3D printing, and injection molding.

Project Titan #2:

Automated Travel Lane Recommendation

Apple's granted patent 10,495,480 covers sensors implemented as part of a vehicle may collect data about an environment surrounding a vehicle, such as the locations and velocities of nearby vehicles and other obstructions, the number and location of lanes available to the vehicle, and other road conditions. A sensor fusion module may collect and process data from various sensors. A lane recommendation module may use the sensor fusion data to identify a preferred lane of travel and recommend the preferred lane to an operator of the vehicle.

Apple's patent FIG. 3 below illustrates a logical block diagram including interactions of a vehicle that implements automated travel lane recommendation

Key Design Patents Issued Today

Apple's key granted design patents issued today cover the iPad Pro with its Smart Connector, iPad 2, iPhone 4, Powerbeats earphones, an Apple Store bench and more.

The Remaining Patents granted to Apple Today