The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 62 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we briefly cover two patents. The first covers a multi-linkage vehicle door hinge system; the second patent covers a possible future "health glove" that could very well end up being a multi-purpose accessory covering VR gaming as well. As always, we wrap up this week's granted patent report with our traditional listing of the remaining granted patents that were issued to Apple today.

Multi-Linkage Vehicle Door Hinge

In 2019 Apple was granted three vehicle door hinge patents (01, 02 & 03) and today is Apple's first for 2020 and the most elaborate to date that is described as a multi-linkage vehicle door hinge. It represents a system that allows for very compact and efficient movement of the door panel requiring very little clearance to each side of the vehicle to open and close the door panel while allowing use of substantially all of the door opening to enter and exit the passenger cabin.

Apple further notes that "a second movement or articulation of the first and/or the second four bar linkages is made to rotate the top portion of the vehicle door panel inward toward the centerline of the vehicle to reduce the door panel movement envelope in a vertical direction. This provides added flexibility for the user in areas where there is limited clearance vertically above the vehicle, for example in parking structures and residential garages or carports."

The initial Apple patent FIG. presented below is from a previous patent report from a year ago that provides us with a proper view of an Apple vehicle with sliding doors.

In today's granted patent we see patent FIG. 1A above presenting a front view of a pair of multi-linkage vehicle door hinges shown in a closed position; FIG. 2A is front view of an enlarged portion of FIG. 1A showing the door panel in a closed position.

Apple's granted patent 10,648,210 was filed in Q3 2018 and published today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office. Review the patent for more details and patent figures.  

Future Health/VR Gaming Glove

Apple's future health glove, as noted in our report's cover graphic, was granted a second patent today. We first covered this technology as a patent application back in December 2018 titled "Apple Invents Smart-Fabrics based Health-Glove that Monitors Blood Pressure and other user Vitals." Apple's first granted patent was issued in October 2019. Today Apple was granted its second patent for this technology. The only thing that changes from the original granted patent is Apple's patent claims with a few tweaks and additions. 

Apple's second granted patent made granular additions/tweaks as follows: 

(Claim 01) … Fabric containing conductive strands of material

(Claim 03) … wherein a portion of the force sensor is embedded in the fabric.

(Claim 07) … wherein the fabric is configured to be worn on a user's finger.

(Claim 10) … A wearable electronic device, comprising: a fabric; control circuitry; and a force sensor coupled to the control circuitry and to the fabric, wherein the force sensor includes first electrodes that extend in a first dimension and second electrodes that extend in a second dimension that is different from the first dimension, wherein the second electrodes overlap the first electrodes, and wherein the second electrodes are separated from the first electrodes by a compressible material.

(Claim 15) … wherein the force sensor is embedded in and integral with the fabric.

Apple's granted patent 10,649,528 was filed on July 29, 2019 and published today by the U.S. Patent Office.

Where a future Health Glove fits into Apple's wearable line of products is unknown at this time. However, with that said, Apple's patent FIG. 4 below illustrates that the glove could work with a main device #34 which could be an Apple Watch, iPhone, a desktop computer, a gaming unit and head mounted display which would possibly make the glove a multipurpose accessory device.

This is supported by two additional patents on the matter here and here.

Apple's smart fabric glove shown above in patent FIG. 4 includes a layer of fabric (#12) and/or other layers of material shaped in the form of a glove. The control circuitry (#16) may have wired or wireless communications circuitry for supporting communications over a communications link (#36) between item the glove and external electronic devices such as electronic device #34 which could be an iPhone, Apple Watch, Head Mounted Display, gaming device, a Mac and more.

The Remaining Patents granted to Apple Today