Appletell

Apple has been granted four new patents today by the US Patent & Trademark Office. The patents cover four inventions that relate to Apple’s multipurpose dock, QuickTime’s transmission of differently formatted media, measuring network bandwidth between two computers, and a communication between media servers and media clients.

Stand invention (US Patent D567800) does not offer a detailed explanation as to why this dock is much different than other docks on the market. Apple only provided a one sentence explanation in the patent filing: “The stand, which can be utilized as a dock, is used to support an electronic device, such as a media player, media storage device, cellular phone, PDA and/or the like.”

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According to the latest iPhone firmware release, Apple is currently working on an iTunes controller for your iPhone called, you guessed it, iControl.  This application would allow you to wirelessly browse your iTunes library from a local source and stream your music and other content.  This information came from a group of strings in the latest beta release of the new iPhone software and could be one of the apps Apple will be releasing themselves when the SDK comes out.  If you’ll remember, back in July, Apple applied for a patent for this sort of thing.  That patent stated:

A portable multimedia player (such as the iPod. manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.) is used to wirelessly access and control a media server (such as a personal computer running iTunes software) that is streaming digital media by way of a wireless interface to a media unit (such as a stereo/speakers in the case of streaming digital audio).

This all sounds pretty cool to me and would be another great addition to the phone.  However, it leaves me wondering whether or not, like above, other iPods will get the same functionality.  It may be kind of hard at this point considering all iPods (besides the Touch) have yet to receive some sort of wifi connectivity.  Could this be a sneak peak of things to come?

Via [TUAW]

Apple has applied for a patent for a new type of head mounted display that would use lasers and lenses to allow for more lightweight and comfortable goggles than are currently available.  This design would separate the laser engine from the image generator via a fiber optic cable so the laser engine could be away from the actual goggles themselves.  By making the goggles like that, Apple can reduce the weight of the goggles as well as the heat they create while making longer battery life possible.  Furthermore, this “Head Mounted Display System” would plug into your Apple iPod and play your movies and pictures.

Another benefit from this apparatus would be a possible wider field of view for the user.  Based on the patent application and the drawings provided, this device sounds like it could be a pretty nice addition to the iPod.  Not only that, but the use of lenses could allow these to possibly double as actual glasses.  However, in my opinion, the design would have to be pretty spot on for anyone to go around wearing something like this.  Would you buy it?

Not quite a clamshell, but a flip-phone. Apple submitted a patent application for something that looks like an iPhone with a flip-phone design and a “dual-sided trackpad device.” The design would have a touch screen on the top and bottom. Think of it as a RAZR, with a large touch screen on the top and bottom. The design would eliminate the need for those thick and bulky cases that make your iPhone and iPod Touch look ugly. Though patent submissions don’t always happen, this may be Apple’s jump to make a whole line or iPhones. iPhone… Mini, iPhone… Classic?

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Another lawsuit involving Apple has been filed by ZapMedia, who claim that syncing media between the store, iTunes, and iPods violates two of their patents. It is important to note that ZapMedia only have two patents, so they’re suing for everything they have. Though, in the end, all they want is Apple’s sweet cash that they haven’t been getting any of.

ZapMedia’s original patent called for “System and method for distributing media assets to user devices via a portal synchronized by said user devices” as well as “System and method for distributing media assets to user devices and managing user rights of the media assets”. Although ZapMedia’s concept sounds like iTunes, it describes more of a basic, general DRM system rather than something complex like iTunes. Of course, ZapMedia never ended up making any products, but this fact may contribute to their case.

Via [ArsTechnica]

Apple has been a big supporter of Podcasts by putting a directory for them in the iTunes Store, and on the 14th, Apple published a patent application for “podmaps.” This could be a method for delivering maps and other media files associated with a podcast. Podcasts have become very popular over the last few years and I even host my own podcast. Something that is becoming more popular is geo-tagging. Geo-tagging is tagging a photo or blog post about a city. You could geotag a photo, by putting a location of where it was taken.

These two adapting technologies could be used by Apple to create so called, “podmaps”. Apple may have requested this patent to make podcasts more popular by enabling listeners to find relevant content based on their location. Another analyst Thomas Claburn, has a different idea, “...a subscriber has no control over the content provided in or with podcasts.” This also may allow listeners to customize what they listen to on a podcast and make a listening experience much better.

Overall, this may mean that Apple is looking for a way to capitalize on users’ affinity for geographic data through iTunes.

Via [news.yahoo.com]

Yet another patent rumor discovered by AppleInsider, this time it sounds really cool: A keyboard with every key containing an OLED display so that the keyboard layout can be easily changed.

“The most common physical arrangements of keys on keyboards in Western countries are based on the “QWERTY” layout (including closely related variants, such as the French “AZERTY” layout). However, in countries that do not use the Western alphabet, the keyboard layout is often very different,”

This is a really cool idea, and I’m sure Apple are not the first to think of it (although first to patent it). Having the ability to change the physical keyboard layout as well as the Cyrillic layout means that no longer will separate versions of keyboards for different countries need to be produced. For example, even the small differences like a £ instead of a $ on a UK keyboard means that Apple has to create a different keyboard layout. And in the future, if Apple decides to introduce new features like the play, pause and next track buttons on their keyboards (like they have on the new Apple keyboards), then these can be added at the click of a button. The only disadvantage is the cost of producing these keyboards will be very expensive. An OLED display in every key also means if a key breaks off, it will be even more expensive to repair.

Via [AppleInsider]
Photo credit [Flickr]

You’re going deaf. That’s what the Daily Mail thinks, at least. The paper says that because iPod users are going deaf due to the extensive volume control on the iPod, Apple is implementing a new, automatic volume control. The patent reveals that soon-to-come iPods may automatically lower or raise the volume, based on elapsed listening time. Volume will also be controlled when the iPod is turned on, making sure not to start a song too loud. Although the Daily Mail thinks this is the real deal, weblog Engadget is weary of automatic volume control making it to iPods in the future.

Via [Daily Mail] [Engadget]

This week on “Lawsuits against Apple” we have a double-whammy. Apple is off to a good start this week with 2 lawsuits filed against them. One pertaining to online receipts, and the other to their notebook power adapters. I also hear that Apple’s legal team in entering the Business Olympics in the lawsuit category, but that is still unconfirmed.

The first lawsuit was filed by two Miami-Dade citizens that claim Apple has “recklessly disregarded” consumer’s rights to have credit or debit card information kept secret. This is under a section of the US federal government’s Fair Credit Reporting Act. This act prevents companies from printing a customers credit/debit card’s expiration date, as well as more than the last 5 digits of the card’s number on receipts. The law firm suing Apple says that Apple has ignored this law and that receipts show more information than allowed under the FCRA. The concern is that if someone gets a hold of one of these receipts, some might be able to use the information steal the identity of the customer.

The second lawsuit is about a patent. Thomas Harvey filed a seven-page complaint alleging that Apple is infringing upon one of his patents. The patent pertains to using an LED at the end of a notebook recharger. If Thomas is successful in his lawsuit, Apple will have to pay for lost profits and pay out triple the damages for the actual infringement itself.

That is all for today’s lawsuits, but stay tuned to find out what Apple gets themselves into next.

Via [AppleInsider]

Apple has filed a continuation of an older patent for a wide touchpad on a portable computer. Now before anyone gets to excited, its not for a touchscreen display. This patent deals with the touchpad that would seem to replace the current trackpad and make it larger and wider and from the look of the patent picture it would go across the entire notebook.

The current trackpad would be replaced by this large touchpad and will have some “multi-touch” capabilities. My first thought was that would be where your wrists would sit or touch while typing, but it seems that Apple has taken care of that and according to the patent filing the touchpad would be smart enough to tell the difference.

Of course, this is still just a patent filing and we could never see anything from it. It would be nice to see some extra functionality via the touchpad, I wonder what Apple has in mind for it to control.

Read [Engadget]