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‘patent’ Stories

Apple Multi-Touch Patent suggests next-gen MacBook Tablet interface

By Chris Davies on Thursday, Aug 28th 2008 No Comments

Updated Apple patents documenting how the company envisages larger-scale multitouch displays reacting to all fingers of both of a user’s hands have added further fuel to the suspicion that a MacBook Tablet is in development. The patent, 52 pages in length, suggests a full-touchscreen Mac Tablet with window-based GUI as in OS X; controls would adapt to finger input, expanding to avoid accidental overlap presses, horizontal, vertical or circular scrolling would be supported, and a full on-screen QWERTY keyboard provided.

Apple MultiTouch tablet patent 1

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Apple patents MacBook design, new iPhone stand & speech synthesis

By Chris Davies on Wednesday, Aug 6th 2008 2 Comments

A flurry of new Apple patents have been approved, covering a broad range of hardware and software that includes MacBook design, speech synthesis and the stand for the iPod Touch. While the hardware patents are generally ornamental – i.e. they protect Apple’s industrial design – the others are more technical.

Apple Patent 3

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Sony ‘Tactile Pixels’ patent describes touchscreen PSP with haptic display

By Chris Davies on Monday, Jun 30th 2008 No Comments

Sony have been granted a patent for a portable, handheld device that uses a haptic feedback system. However, unlike the traditional so-called haptics available on a number of cellphones, which basically vibrate the handset whenever you press its touchscreen, the Sony system uses an array of individually controlled “tactile pixels” that physically press through the display. The company has described multiple potential applications, including game console, media player, cellphone and internet navigator.

Sony tactile pixels patent

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Microsoft Veda context-aware mobile device patent

By Chris Davies on Tuesday, Jun 17th 2008 No Comments

Achieving the balance between flexibility and ease of use isn’t straightforward, as Microsoft have found with their Windows Mobile OS. Yes, there’s bags of functionality and a whole army of developers creating add-ons, but the result can be intimidating and actually make completing simple tasks harder. The company appears to be going more context-specific with their latest patent, for the Veda “Multi-mode multimedia device and computing system” that plays the part of cellphone, PMP and mini-notebook.

Microsoft Veda

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Canon DSLR fuel-cell patent; is MTI Micro their hardware partner?

By Chris Davies on Monday, May 19th 2008 No Comments

MTI Micro Mobion fuel cell DSLR grip Canon have filed a patent that describes a compact fuel-cell system primarily intended for DSLR cameras but that has potential for inclusion in other portable electronics. The filing details the company’s solution to dealing with variances in load currents, an issue in applications such as DSLRs where sudden surges in power draw are frequent. It uses a number of individual fuel cells combined, with a DC-DC converter that combines the voltages as required.

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Apple patents suggest possible flip phone model coming to iPhone lineup

By James Allan Brady on Monday, Mar 17th 2008 No Comments

This patent is more for a new type of screen than for any one actual device. The patent describes a touch-screen type of interface that is transparent and can work from both sides of the screen.

apple iphone clamshell patent 1

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Apple Patents hint at DVR with EPG going into iPod soon

By James Allan Brady on Thursday, Mar 13th 2008 No Comments

The patent drawrings below hint at Apple releasing DVR and EPG (Electronic Programmable Guide) technology into the wild. Now it doesn’t say iPod, so they could implement it into OS X, into Apple TV or into what clearly looks like an iPod in the drawings.

apple tv dvr ipod

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Buffalo flash drives not coming to US after all – why’s everybody picking on Buffalo?

By James Allan Brady on Wednesday, Mar 12th 2008 1 Comment

It seems that every time a major lawsuit is launched against a plethora of companies, Buffalo is the first to get hit. Like the one about the WiFi patents from Australia like a year or two ago, Buffalo got hit first and hardest, now SanDisk is suing everyone and their brother in a new flash drive lawsuit and Buffalo gets hit first.

BuffaloUSBdrives

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MacBook Air Patents – ports! Lots and lots of ports!

By James Allan Brady on Thursday, Feb 28th 2008 2 Comments

There is some indication in some Apple MacBook Air patents that they are looking to up the number of ports on the notebook from 4 to 7-8. One of the ports includes and integrated Ethernet adapter.

27 fig7

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IP Donor Card – now all your ideas can be donated, to the public domain

By James Allan Brady on Thursday, Feb 28th 2008 2 Comments

Due to the horrible state of affairs of the copyright laws, no one can use your IP (intellectual property) for 70 years after your death. That means if you’ve copyrighted or patented part of a good idea that you were working on, no one else can work on it for 70 years.

pd donar 800px