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500 'patents' stories December 2010 - May 2020
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Apple patent application describes an iPhone able to make binaural recordings

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy May 4 2020 - 4:52 am PT
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Binaural recordings from an iPhone

Late last year, Apple was granted a patent for AR headphones which would enable the listener to accurately determine the exact location of sounds in a scene from what are known as binaural recordings. This would have applications in both real-life video – like conference calls – and in augmented reality scenes.

A newly-published Apple patent application shows this type of binaural recording being made with an iPhone …


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Apple patent shows landscape iPad use as the new normal, but with a notch

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Mar 31 2020 - 4:41 am PT
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Landscape iPad the new normal

Landscape iPad use seems to be gradually emerging as the new normal. While Apple persists in making them with the logo oriented for portrait use, we’ve recently seen signs that the company has now woken up to the reality that the devices are more often used horizontally.

The 2020 Smart Keyboard Folio, for example, finally swaps a vertical Apple logo for a horizontal one. The upcoming Magic Keyboard likewise has the logo in landscape format …


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Apple patent describes a truly smart home that can configure itself

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Feb 13 2020 - 5:44 am PT
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A truly smart home should configure itself

An Apple patent application published today describes how a truly smart home could configure itself.

Anyone who has ever set up new smart home devices will know that, even with HomeKit, it can be a fiddly and sometimes frustrating experience. When you add a physical smart light switch, for example, telling the app which light(s) it controls isn’t the most user-friendly of experiences…


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After the iPhone, Apple patent imagines the iMac as a single slab of glass

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Jan 27 2020 - 4:14 am PT
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iMac as a single slab of glass

Apple is growing ever closer to its reported ambition to design the iPhone as a single slab of glass, but a new patent application suggests as least some designers in the company share the same ambition for the iMac.

One funky variant even shows how it could allow the MacBook Pro to dock with the iMac, a design that could potentially work for a future Apple display too…


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Apple and others ask Europe to stop patent trolls ‘stifling innovation’

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Jan 16 2020 - 4:06 am PT
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Apple asks Europe to stop patent trolls

Apple and 34 other multinationals have urged Europe to stop patent trolls from effectively blackmailing companies into licensing their claimed technology.

Patent assertion agencies threaten to ask courts for import bans on products found to infringe patents, making it risky for Apple and others to defend such cases even where the claim is weak…


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Future MacBooks could have a screen-based keyboard that looks and feels real

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Oct 3 2019 - 7:01 am PT
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A future Apple screen-based keyboard could look and feel real

A new Apple patent application, published today, describes what appears to be Apple’s end-goal with MacBooks: a screen-based keyboard with a realistic look and feel that still allows touch typing.

Apple has been gradually moving away from physical keys and buttons over the years. We saw the mechanical Home button on the iPhone replaced with a solid-state one, a haptic motor simulating the feel of a click before that was itself replaced by a swipe on the screen.

Apple has also begun that process with MacBooks…


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Apple versus Qualcomm battle set to be world’s biggest case of its kind, worth up to $30B

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Apr 15 2019 - 4:27 am PT
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Apple versus Qualcomm court battle could be worth a staggering $30B

The main Apple versus Qualcomm court battle, which starts today, looks set to be by far the world’s biggest patent or antitrust case, making previous lawsuits seem trivial in comparison.

Apple and four of its suppliers are jointly seeking a staggering total of up to $30B in damages and other payments from Qualcomm, dwarfing even the largest of previous patent and antitrust cases …


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Latest Apple patent again references Face ID on Macs, and Touch Bar on Magic Keyboard

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Apr 12 2019 - 6:55 am PT
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Patent application references Face ID on Macs and Magic Keyboard with Touch Bar

It seems a given that Apple will bring Face ID to Macs sooner rather than later, now that the tech has been extended from iPhones to iPads too. We’ve today seen the latest in a series of Apple patent applications to do just that.

But the patent also suggests the Touch Bar could be coming to Magic Keyboards …


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Apple patent application outlines vehicle unlock system with biometric authentication

Avatar for 9to5 Staff Feb 11 2019 - 5:51 pm PT
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A patent application filing by Apple demonstrates a system where a vehicle can be unlocked via mobile biometric authentication, perhaps opening the door (literally) for Face ID to one day secure our cars. Entitled “System and Method for Vehicle Authorization”, the patent was only published last Friday, however, it was filed over two years ago in February 2017.


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Apple patent covers AirPower’s ‘magnetic vision system’ used to prevent metal objects from damaging mat

Avatar for 9to5 Staff Jan 25 2019 - 7:32 am PT
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Apple AirPower

New patents granted to Apple today reveal some of the possible problems its now-fabled AirPower mat might have needed to resolve before its public release, including what Apple calls a “magnetic vision system”.

Recently, we’ve been hearing reports of AirPower hitting the production stage, however, with Apple still tight-lipped on the product since last year, today’s patents offer another glimmer of hope.


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