The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Apple 46 newly granted patents today. Our final granted report of the day covers two patents. The first covers fabric sensing devices in the form of apparel while the second patent covers ARKit and system-wide behavior of 3D AR models. We wrap up this week's granted patent report with our traditional listing of the remaining granted patents that were issued to Apple today.

Fabric Sensing Device

Apple was granted patent # 10,338,755 that covers smart fabrics that could be used in next-gen wearables in the form of clothing, purses, bags, pockets and beyond. The fibers can incorporate a woven interface that may include touch-sensitive buttons to activate features of the product. Apple's 3D fabric extends smart fabrics to office furniture, sofas through to car seats, head mounted glasses and event TVs. Our cover graphic is from this patent.

Patently Apple covered this as a patent application back in August 2017. You could review that report here

System-Wide behavior for 3D Models relating to AR

At Apple's WWDC 2017, Craig Federighi, SVP of Software, introduced Augmented Reality for the iPhone using its TrueDepth camera as noted in the photo collage below.

It was a buzz to see Federighi move items like a "virtual lamp" on an on-stage table and see him move it around on his iPhone with the shadows of the lamp moving in sync. We covered this extensively in a June 2017 report titled "IKEA is excited about their new Augmented Reality App coming to iOS 11 with its Stunning Furniture Placement Accuracy.

Today Apple was granted a patent relating to devices, methods, and graphical user interfaces for system-wide behavior for 3D models.

Apple's patent abstract describes this detailed invention this way: "A computer system having a display generation component, one or more input devices, and one or more cameras receives a request to display a virtual object in a first user interface region that includes a field of view of the one or more cameras. In response to the request, in accordance with a determination that object-placement criteria are not met, the representation of the virtual object is displayed with a first set of visual properties and with a first orientation that is independent of which portion of the physical environment is displayed in the field of view of the one or more cameras. In accordance with a determination that the object-placement criteria are met, the representation of the virtual object is displayed with a second set of visual properties that are distinct from the first set of visual properties and with a second orientation that corresponds to a plane."

Apple's patent FIGS. 12B and 12C below illustrate an animated image and text that prompt the user to move the device (e.g., displayed in accordance with a determination that calibration is needed).

Apple's patent FIGS. 12E-1 and 12E-2 illustrates behavior of calibration UI object #12014 that corresponds to movement of the iPhone (#100) relative to physical environment (#5002).

Apple's patent likely has 100 or more patent figures covering the user interface and how it works with iDevices in granted patent #10,339,721 that appears to relate to ARKit.   

Key Design Patents Issued Today

Apple's key granted design patents issued today cover a MacBook battery (D852,737) and the 'Link Bracelet' styled Apple Watch band (D852,666) as presented below.

The Remaining Patents granted to Apple Today

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