The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 41 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover the first Apple Watch design patent to surface. We cover two other specific patents and wrap up this week's granted patent report with our traditional listing of the remaining granted patents that were issued to Apple today.

Granted Patent: Oleophobic Coating on Sapphire

Apple's newly granted patent covers their invention relating to surface coatings on substrates. In particular, the application relates to oleophobic coatings and other surface coatings on substrates for uses as windows on electronic devices, including, but not limited to, mobile phones and portable computing devices which of course extends to the new Apple Watch.

In additional embodiments, a window for a portable electronic device may include a substrate having a sapphire glass base layer, a transition layer of alumina and silica on the sapphire glass base layer, and an oleophobic coating (anti-fingerprint). The oleophobic coating preferentially bonds to the silica as compared to the alumina.

Apple credits Douglas Weber and Naoto Matsuyuki as the inventors of granted patent 8,974,924 which was originally filed in Q3 2013 and published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Granted Patent: Hybrid Optical Connector

Apple's newly granted patent covers their invention relating to connectors and apparatus used to carry optical signals, and more specifically to connectors that can carry both optical and electrical signals and to optical connectors with advantageous properties.

Apple's main engineer behind this latest connector is the very same engineer who was behind Apple's "All-New Hybrid DisplayPort/USB 3.0 Connector" patent which was granted to Apple exactly two years ago.

For more information and graphics on this granted patent, see our original patent application report that was posted back in April 2013.

Apple credits Jason Sloey, Albert Golko, Eric Jol and Ian Spraggs as the inventors of granted patent 8,974,126 which was originally filed in Q4 2012 and published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Apple Granted Three Design Patents Today

Apple was granted three design patents today covering the original iPhone ear speaker (D724,078), the fifth generation iPod (D724,102) and one aspect of an Apple Watch (D724,103).

While there are likely a few Apple Watch design patents to follow covering more of the overall Apple Watch design, today Apple was granted their first Apple Watch design specifically related the "slide-in" interchangeable strap system mechanism as noted below. Only the dark outlined areas are what this design patent covers/protects.

The Remaining Patents granted to Apple Today

Note: In order to see a clearer image of the list above, simply click on the image above to enlarge it. Some browsers may require that you click on the image and then a second click on the image to enlarge it fully.

Patently Apple presents only a brief summary of granted patents with associated graphics for journalistic news purposes as each Granted Patent is revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any Granted Patent should be read in its entirety for full details. About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Comments are reviewed daily from 5am to 7pm MST