Patent-watch

New Apple Patent Points to Scrollable Menus and Toolbars in iOS, Mac OS X

By Allyson Kazmucha, Monday, Nov 8, 2010 a 12:16 pm

A new Apple patent was just revealed that suggests iOS (and the upcoming Mac OS X Lion) could have scrolling menus and toolbars The idea would be that users could bring up menus and toolbars that apply to whatever application they're in, scroll through them, and select a command from the toolbar itself.

Apple Going Towards Stainless Steel With A Nitride Coating? [Patent Watch]

By Staff, Thursday, Oct 28, 2010 a 1:36 pm

Apple has shown an increasing interest as of late in creating stainless steel devices that are more durable to everyday wear and tear, and have been experimenting with an external coating of nitride to make this possible.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has published information relating to Apple's latest invention of a new application which they call "Nitriding Stainless Steel for Consumer Electronic Products." This describes a cost-effective system that would include placing a layer of nitride on top of the stainless steel exterior to help it wear better over time. The application reads:

Apple applies for iPhone anti-sexting patent

By Leanna Lofte, Wednesday, Oct 13, 2010 a 4:30 pm

Apple has applied for yet another patent; this one is for filtering text messages. Why would one want to filter text messages, you ask? To prevent sexting of course!

Sexting -- SMS text messages containing sexual content -- restrictions could allows the user (or parent of the user) to block the exchange of text-based messages containing any type of content, or to have the offending content removed before the transmission is complete.

Landscape dock port, smart bezel for iPad [patent watch]

By Staff, Sunday, Sep 26, 2010 a 9:40 am

Some Apple patents were made public this weekend giving possible hints at the the future of the iPad, include a landscape dock port and "smart-bezel".

The first one shows a second 30-pin dock connector on the left side for landscape docking. I'm sure this will make the keyboard dock and bluetooth keyboards even easier to use with some apps.

The second patent is for something called "Smart Bezel" which isnt really described well but by the pictures it looks like you touch a part of the bezel and and you can assign that part to a particular action.

Neither of these are bold re-designs, but are they features you want to see in a refresh? Oh, and let us know if you think that's a front-facing camera in the smart-bezel illustration after the break, or just the ambient light sensor...

[Patently Apple via 9to5mac]

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Multitouch casing could finally let Steve Jobs remove all buttons from iPhone [patent watch]

By Staff, Thursday, Sep 23, 2010 a 9:04 am

A new patent recently filed by Apple lays out plans to unleash iPhones and iPads covered with sensors that could make buttons like Home and Sleep/Wake obsolete:

"For instance, holding an iPad-style tablet with one hand could trigger the slate to activate the sensors on the other side of the hardware, so that only the controlling hand can use them. Meanwhile on-screen controls could be shifted across accordingly. Smaller devices could... react to individual or chorded input from the fingers holding the handset; that would allow for single-handed use of an iPhone, for instance."

Apple files patent for dual-mode iMac touch

By Rene Ritchie, Tuesday, Aug 24, 2010 a 8:06 am

I've long dreamt of a world where, instead of launching Front Row's movie interface or DashBoard's widget screen on a Mac, I could just launch a version of iPhone/iPad's iOS and use all my existing apps and games -- and a newly discovered Apple Patent for a dual-mode iMac touch shows Apple might one day may that dream come true.

Or not. As with any patent there's no way of knowing which will ever end up as real shipping products and which will live on only as doodles and descriptions. However, Apple is moving inexorably towards iOS and multitouch so perhaps this one has a shot?

Facebook integration into iPhone OS - Apple patent watch

By Jeremy, Monday, May 17, 2010 a 3:33 pm

Patently Apple discovered a recently published Apple patent detailing an "Add Contact" workflow and "Social Networking" workflow that specifically uses Facebook as it's main example. Now that does not mean this patent will not work with other social networks, but Facebook is the current king of the mountain and it makes sense considering that it was just last week heard Apple was looking to integrate Facebook into iPhone OS 4.

Apple Developing iGroups Social Networking App? -- Patent Watch

By Rene Ritchie, Friday, Mar 19, 2010 a 9:12 am

According to Patently Apple, Apple is laying the foundations for a potential iGroups app that would allow like-minded iPhone (or iPod touch and iPad users, presumably) to set up MobileMe-powered social networks at events like WWDC (Apple's yearly World Wide Developers Conference).

Swipe Backward, Forward, Pause, or Play on Your iPhone via Camera Gestures -- Apple Patent Watch

By Rene Ritchie, Thursday, Feb 25, 2010 a 12:48 pm

Patently Apple brings another interesting Apple proposal to our attention -- this one involving using the iPhone camera to detect swipes backward, forward, and the accelerometer to detect pause or play for things like Voice Mail without having to move the iPhone away from your ear. But that's not all:

Near Field Communication, Multipoint Screen, Video Conferencing, Multitouch Bezel -- Apple Patent Watch

By Rene Ritchie, Friday, Feb 19, 2010 a 7:41 am

Apple patent applications and awards are so voluminous they could fill an entire blog all by themselves -- enter Patently Apple, just such a blog, which brings word of several new and interesting iPhone and iPad patents including near field communication, multipoint screen, video conferencing, and multitouch bezels.