Apple Wins a Patent Covering a Wide Range of iPod Docking Station Variants

Apple has been granted a patent covering a wide range of iPod docking station variants that include a MacBook dock, a stereo dock (which Apple used in their now defunct Apple iPod Hi-Fi Boombox), a MacBook dock and even a personal transmitting station that was foreseen as working well at ski resorts.

According to Apple, the personal transmitter system was envisioned as being configured to at least transmit a continuous music feed to one or more personal tuning devices that each include a receiver capable of receiving information from the transmitter over the wireless connection. As such, the user of the personal transmitting station could perform disc jockey-like functions, i.e., the user could determine what songs to be played on both the personal transmitting station as well as the personal tuning devices.

Apple's First Claim: A docking station for receiving a media player that has a receptacle connector, the docking station comprising: a housing; and a media bay comprising a media bay opening and a male plug connector, wherein the media bay opening is formed in the housing and adapted to receive the media player, and wherein the male plug connector is disposed in the media bay opening and configured to engage the receptacle connector of the media player, the male plug connector including: a connector housing designed to accommodate at least 30 contacts spaced apart in a single row of sequentially numbered contact locations, wherein the sequentially numbered contact locations include: Firewire contact locations 3, 5, 7 and 9 designated for Firewire signals; universal serial bus (USB) contact locations 4, 6, and 8 designated for USB signals; an accessory identify contact location 10 designated for an accessory identify signal that has an associated electrical pull down function to notify the media player of an accessory identification; serial protocol contact locations 18 and 19 designated for serial protocol signals; audio contact locations 27 and 28 designated for analog audio signals; and ground contact locations 1 and 30 designated for ground.

To review Apple's other 43 patent claims and invention detailing, see granted patent 8,050,714. Apple credits Anthony Fadell, Stephen Zadesky and John Filson as the inventors of this patent which was originally filed in Q4 2007.

Apple Wins a Patent for the Mini DisplayPort

Apple has won a patent for their Mini DisplayPort. The Mini DisplayPort delivers a pure digital connection to external displays. It gives you plug-and-play performance with the Apple LED Cinema Display and works with single-link DVI, dual-link DVI, and VGA displays with the appropriate adapters. In April 2010, Apple added support for audio out using Mini DisplayPort in their MacBook Pro product line. This added feature allows users to easily connect their Macbook Pros to their HDTVs using a cable adapting Mini DisplayPort to HDMI with full audio and video functionality. Mini DisplayPort is now being used by HP and Dell.

Apple's First Claim: A connector receptacle comprising: a key formed on a frame of the connector receptacle, the key recessed from a front of the connector receptacle; a latch formed on a bottom of the frame of the connector receptacle; a plurality of fingers; and a board having a first plurality of contacts on a top side and a second plurality of contacts on a bottom side, wherein the first plurality of contacts are surface mount contacts and the second plurality of contacts are through-hole contacts, wherein the bottom of the frame has chamfered corners.

To review Apple's other 18 patent claims and invention detailing, see granted patent 8,047,880. Apple credits Stewart Fields, Matthew Herndon, Min Kim, Ron Larson, Richard Middlehurst, Anilkumar Pannikkat, Glen Wheelock and, Colin Whitby Stevens as the inventors of this patent which was originally filed in Q4 2010.

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