Back in Q1 2016 Patently Apple posted a report titled "A New Apple Invention Covers Inductive Charging Between iOS Devices & even a MacBook." Our cover graphic represents patent figures from that patent application. Then in Q3 2019 Apple was granted a patent for this invention. Apple fans were hoping to see Apple's 2-way charging in the iPhone 11 due to a prediction by Ming-Chi Kuo. The prediction was wrong and Kuo scrambled to walk back his prediction. Apple was then granted a second patent for 2-way charging in December 2019.

Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published a continuation patent from Apple wherein Apple has added new patent claims relating to the magnets in the devices that have to match up in order for 2-way charging to function properly.

There were no references to magnets in Apple's previous granted patent claims. In today's continuation patent, referencing 'magnets' is found 12 times as follows:

Claim #3: The portable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the first alignment component is a pair of alignment magnets positioned on opposite sides of the first inductive coil, and the second alignment component is a pair of alignment magnets positioned on opposite sides of the second inductive coil.

Claim #4: The portable electronic device of claim 3, wherein the first pair of alignment magnets is positioned along a first axis of the first inductive coil, and the second pair of alignment magnets is positioned along a second axis of the second inductive coil perpendicular to the first axis.  

Claim #11: The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the first alignment component is a pair of alignment magnets positioned on opposite sides of the first inductive coil, and the second alignment component is a pair of alignment magnets positioned on opposite sides of the first inductive coil.

Claim #17: The system of claim 16, wherein the second alignment component and the third alignment component are both configured to attract the first alignment magnet to align the first inductive coil of the first electronic device with the second inductive coil or the third inductive coil of the second electronic device.

Claim #19: The system of claim 16, wherein the first alignment component is a pair of alignment magnets positioned on opposite sides of the first inductive coil, the second alignment component is a pair of alignment magnets positioned on opposite sides of the first inductive coil, and the third alignment component is a pair of alignment magnets positioned on opposite sides of the third inductive coil.

Claim #20: The system of claim 19, wherein the second pair of alignment magnets is positioned along a first axis of the second inductive coil, and the third pair of alignment magnets is positioned along a second axis of the third inductive coil perpendicular to the first axis.

Apple's patent FIGS. 7A and 17 below illustrate how multiple inductive charging coils can be placed under the frame of a MacBook that could accommodate charging of multiple devices at one time.

Apple's patent FIGS. 18 and 20 above show how the lid or cover of a MacBook could be laced with inductive charging coils that could act as a charging plate and charge individual devices over a single coil or have sets of devices (iPad mini, iPhone and Apple Watch) being charged over multiple coils.

Apple's continuation patent 20200112195 that was published today by the U.S. Patent Office was filed back in Q4 2019. Considering that this is a patent application, the timing of such a product to market is unknown at this time.

Apple's Inventors

Darshan Kasar: Product Design Engineer

Eric Jol: Director, Product Design

Chris Graham: Product Design Manager

Textured Surface for Titanium Parts

Apple's engineering teams have been working and filing patents related to the possible use of titanium for iDevices and Macs in the future. In 2017 Patently Apple posted Apple's first patent application for titanium titled "Apple explores the use of Titanium, Titanium Alloys and Hybrid Plastics for Future Devices." Then in 2018 we posted a second patent application report titled "New Apple Inventions cover Devices that may use Titanium, Chemically Resistant Compounds & Protective Enzymes."

Today, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published Apple's third titanium related patent application titled Textured Surface for Titanium Parts." This particular invention generally relates to techniques for etching a surface of a titanium substrate. More particularly, the described embodiments relate to systems and methods for achieving a matte surface finish for the titanium substrate that could apply to Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad and Macs.

Apple's patent FIG. 1 presented below simply clarifies the scope of products where matte titanium could apply someday; FIG. 6C illustrates a coated titanium part. According to some examples, the coated titanium part is processed by blasting a titanium part, and subsequently coating an external surface of the blasted titanium part with a physical vapor deposition (PVD) coating.

Apple's patent FIG. 6D above illustrates a texturized titanium part. According to some examples, the texturized titanium part is processed by forming a metal oxide layer over a titanium part via an electrochemical oxidation process, and subsequently removing the metal oxide layer.

Apple's patent FIG. 13 above illustrates a flowchart of a method for forming a metal part.

For deeper details review patent application 20200107462 which was originally filed by Apple in Q3 2019.

Apple Inventors

Todd Mintz:  Materials Engineer

James Curran: Wireless Sensing Engineer; He was previously employed by the European Space Agency as a Radio Navigation Engineer