On the last granted patent day of 2016, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 70 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover Apple's inventions relating to 'Night Shift,' the stain resistant iPad Cover, interactive 3D Maps and a few design patents covering the iPad Pro's Smart Keyboard, and two unfamiliar items covering a 'security attachment' and a 'container.' We 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: Stain Resistant iPad Smart Cover

Apple's newly granted patent 9,527,263 covers their invention relating to surface cosmetics. More particularly, the present embodiments relate to ways of adding a stain proof resin layer to a plastic cosmetic surface without adversely affecting a cosmetic look and feel of the surface. Such a configuration can be utilized to form a cosmetic surface of an accessory device such as the Smart Cover manufactured by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.

Granted Patent: Night Shift

Apple's newly granted patent 9,530,362 covers their invention relating to electronic devices with displays and, more particularly, to electronic devices with displays that adapt to different ambient lighting conditions. The patent covers Apple's Night Shift.

An electronic device may include a display having an array of display pixels and having display control circuitry that controls the operation of the display. The display control circuitry may operate the display in different modes. In a paper mode, display control circuitry may use stored spectral reflectance data to adjust display colors such that the colors appear as they would on a printed sheet of paper. In a low light mode when the ambient light level is below a threshold, the light emitted from the display may be adjusted to mimic the appearance of an incandescent light source. In a bright light mode when the ambient light level exceeds a threshold, the light emitted from the display may be adjusted to maximize readability in bright light. The target white point of the display may be adjusted based on which mode the display is operating in.

Apple's patent FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating how a user may perceive undesirable color shifts when using a conventional display that does not account for the chromatic adaptation of the human visual system to different ambient lighting conditions.

For the record, Apple's Night Shift is now a Registered Trademark (RTM) as of November 29, 2016 under number 5,091,289.

Granted Patent: Interacting with 3D Apple Maps

Apple's newly granted patent 9,529,440 covers their invention relating to multitouch gesture recognition and in particular to disambiguation of multitouch gesture recognition for three-dimensional (3D) interaction.

Apple's patent abstract states that "A multitouch device can interpret and disambiguate different gestures related to manipulating a displayed image of a 3D object, scene, or region. Examples of manipulations include pan, zoom, rotation, and tilt. The device can define a number of manipulation modes, including one or more single-control modes such as a pan mode, a zoom mode, a rotate mode, and/or a tilt mode. The manipulation modes can also include one or more multi-control modes, such as a pan/zoom/rotate mode that allows multiple parameters to be modified simultaneously."

Apple's patent FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate a tilt gesture; FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a process for manipulating an image using gestures.

Apple's Key Granted Design Patents

The Remaining Patents granted to Apple Today

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