A new Apple patent filing for movement-aware interfaces on the iPhone also depicts a front facing camera. Apple is known for filing patents that it never intends to build (why make money on a product when you can make it through licensing?) though this particular filing appears that it might make its way into a new iPhone. If it happens to get into the one expected this summer, well I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.
Okay, so this is pretty cool. Apple has filed a new patent that shows iChat AV acting like an answering machine, and though this isn’t one hundred percent new, there are a few significant changes from the last time around.
Apple is being sued by Elan Microelectronics, a Taiwanese chip designer, over alleged infringement of two touchscreen patents by its MacBook, iPhone and iPod touch ranges. According to Elan, the contended IP covers technology used to recognize the position of a finger on a touchscreen or trackpad; they’re now pushing for an injunction against the contentious products, which – if granted – would freeze much of Apple’s range.
Sony are looking to patent a robot gaming peripheral that would interact with both a game and the user. The patent, submitted in June 2008, describes a mobile robot equipped with a camera, microphone and speakers, together with a display.
After Psion stepped into the netbook fray, not with a model of their own but a whole lot of legal talk that they own the “netbook” trademark, we’ve all been waiting to see which company will step up and contest it. Dell has obviously decided to be that challenger, filing a petition with the United States Patent and Trademark Office requesting that the Psion trademark be cancelled.
According to an unnamed Android team member, Google actively pulled multitouch support from the Android platform after Apple requested its removal. The decision, which the source claims was done to avoid souring Google’s ongoing relationship with Apple, left the T-Mobile G1 with hardware that would support multitouch but a platform that restricts input to just a single finger.
Various hacks have surfaced recently, demonstrating how to adapt the Android platform to enable multitouch, including suggestions that Google themselves commented-out relevant code that had been active in pre-production builds. The source claimed that Google’s key priority was avoiding a legal contest over IP, such as seems to be brewing between Apple and Palm with regards the multitouch and gesture implementation in the iPhone and the Pre.
Apple’s recent patent award for multitouch and gesture-based interfaces used in its iPhone and iPod touch ranges has flung patent law and prior art contests back into the headlines; now there’s word that a so-called global community working to “legitimize the validity of patents”, Article One Partners, have given a $50,000 prize fund to two researchers that turned up evidence potentially letting Garmin off the hook in a patent dispute of their own. Article One have now launched seven more patent studies, each with cash jackpots, one of which addresses Apple’s touchscreen IP.
Microsoft are attempting to patent a so-called Smart Interface System whereby a smartphone could be docked and used as a basic PC with full-size peripherals. The application, titled “Smart interface system for mobile communication devices”, describes an intelligent cradle that acts as an interface between the mobile device and the peripherals; it’s this cradle that sets the Microsoft idea apart from previous, ostensibly similar inventions.
Sony are attempting to patent a digital photo printer the top-surface of which is a touchscreen display, and which could wirelessly access photos from a digital camera placed on top of it. The patent, entitled “Image forming device, having an ejection tray, and a display is mounted to a cover”, details a printer with a form-factor more similar to that of a flatbed scanner and, similar to how the Microsoft Surface multitouch table can access photos from a compatible device placed on top of it, is capable of displaying content from any device ” is placed on or immediately over the display.”
Apple exec Tim Cook’s recent posturing over touchscreen and multitouch patents during the company’s financial conference call surprised many by how unexpected and direct it was. Now, it looks like we might know why the COO was quite so forthright: what Cook knew - and at that point most of us didn’t – was that Apple had finally been granted their infamous “Touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics” patent, number 7,479,949, which had been languishing in review at the patent office for more than two years.
SlashGear Japan
