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Apple was granted 39 Patents yesterday covering Next-Gen Haptics, Apple Watch Charging Coil, 2 Key Design Patents & more

4 invisible sidewall touch controls

Yesterday the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 39 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. In this particular report we briefly cover two design patents covering the Apple TV 4K Siri Remote and App Clips label. In addition, the report briefly touches on a new styled magnetic charging coil for Apple watch and next-gen haptics that could be used to replace mechanical buttons on an iPhone.  And 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.

Key Granted Design Patents

The two key design patents published yesterday by the U.S. Patent Office covered "App Clips" and "Siri Remote" for Apple TV 4K as presented below.

2 Apple Design patent figs for App Clips and Siri Remote - Apple TV 4K

Apple Watch: Optical Sensors & Rechargeable Battery

Apple's granted patent covers Apple Watch an optical sensor assembly including a light emitter and a light receiver is positioned within the inter volume of the frame. An optical barrier is positioned between the optical sensor assembly and the cover and includes a magnetic material that forms a light blocking-wall between the light emitter and the light receiver. The magnetic material is configured to removably couple the electronic watch with a charging device via a magnetic attraction between the magnetic material and a magnetic component of the charging device. 

The device may also include a rechargeable battery that powers one or more of the components within the device, and a charging system for charging the battery. In some cases, the device may include a magnet that magnetically attracts the device to an external charger. The external charger may wirelessly couple with the charging system to charge the battery.

I was so used to seeing the wireless charging coils residing on the backside of the iPhone, that I assumed it was the same way for Apple Watch. Not so. Below is Apple's granted patent figure 9 showing the patented charging coil versus an X-ray photo of Apple Watch 6 that used "ropey coils of copper."

Note: The image came from iFixit here regarding "Step 8" of an Apple Watch Teardown. Also see pages 01 and 02 regarding the use of this image.

3 Apple patent for Apple Watch charging coil vs ropey style coil of the past

For more details regarding the second half of the patent that focuses on a sensor stack and optical sensors, review Apple granted patent US 11573351 B2.

Apple Inventors

  • Saahil M.: Manager, Health Sensing
  • Jacky Ko: Health Sensing Product Design
  • Siyang Liu: Product Design Engineer – Sensing Incubation

 

Electronic Device Having A Piezoelectric Body For Friction Haptics

4 invisible sidewall touch controls

One Apple patent and project that began in 2014 was to implement a touch sidewall display for controls and icons of key apps like the camera and so forth. Then in August 2022, Patently Apple posted a report titled "Apple wins a patent for a ‘Tactile Friction Feature’ that acts like Invisible Controls on the housing or display of an iPhone, Smartglasses+."

Although the bulk of yesterday's granted patent covers friction sensation haptics to be applied primarily to the glass cover on an iPhone, Apple's patent also touches on the haptics applying to future input controls on iPhone.

Apple specifically notes that in some embodiments, the device includes one or more input devices which is configured to receive user input. The input device may include, for example, touch-activated buttons such as a power button, volume buttons, home buttons, and camera buttons.

Lastly, Apple notes that electronic devices incorporating their newly developed hybrid conductive coating for electrostatic haptic feedback could be applied to other devices beyond iPhone such as an iPad, a MacBook, Apple Watch, a Magic Mouse, Magic keyboard and more.

For more on this, review Apple's granted patent US 11573661 B2. One of the inventors listed on the patent is Xiaonan W., a Senior Panel Process Engineer.

Today’s Remaining Granted Patents

5 Apple Granted patent for Feb 07  2023 - Patently Apple IP Report


5 Apple Granted patent for Feb 07  2023 - Patently Apple IP Report

 

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