Facebook has filed a patent application with the USPTO that details a drone involving two kites. The system, which is simply called a 'dual-kite aerial vehicle,' would use the two kites to maintain a specific altitude while also generating electricity that enables longer duration flights. The application was published by the USPTO on May 30.
There are probably three holy grails of mobile devices: a foldable phone/tablet hybrid, a flexible/deformable device, and a transparent tablet. One of those has more or less become a reality but the other two have yet to even see a prototype. That's not stopping companies from filing patents left and right in a race to "reserve" ideas for future use and it seems that LG has just been granted one of the most ambitious one of all, a foldable device that is almost all transparent screen.
There are patents that make you wish they existed right here, right now. And then there are patents that leave you scratching your head, questioning the thinking process that went into the idea. OPPO's latest patent is, without question, one of the latter. We've all heard of dual screen phones but OPPO's idea of one that slides out definitely takes the crown in terms of oddity and uselessness.
Toyota is throwing open a huge cache of hybrid and electric vehicle patents, offering royalty-free licensing for rivals wanting to get a head-start on EVs and low-emissions cars. The move comes alongside a new offering of technical support for companies wanting to make electrified vehicles using Toyota components like motors and batteries.
We have seen all sorts of ideas, both in simple renders as well as legal patents, that plays around with the concept of a foldable device, be it a phone or a tablet or anything in between. Some of those, like the Samsung Galaxy Fold and the Huawei Mate X, have become actual products. There are a few, however, that might be better off as just ideas. As far as strange patents go, one of Lenovo's latest probably takes the cake, with a fold and a second screen that barely makes sense.
Amazon has patented a drone that can turn into a mini airship, a tech mashup that we'd assume was a late April Fools' joke were it not for the retail behemoth's obsession with UAVs. The patent, filed back in early 2016 but granted today, describes an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) which could switch into a stealthy, quiet-running mode.
While some countries experiment with eagles, drones that launch nets, and signal disruptors, Russia is taking a different approach to dealing with unwanted drones: shotguns. A state-owned Russian weapons company called Almaz-Antey was recently issued a patent for an unmanned aerial vehicle that features a stabilized shotgun for shooting down drones.
Foldable phones have stolen the MWC show in February but those might not be the only kind of foldable devices manufacturers have in mind. After all, when you are not limited by screen space, anything can be folded. The problem, however, is either in the screen, the hinge, or both. Lenovo has patent yet another one of its ideas though, this time, its "connecting assembly", a.k.a. hinge, is something Microsoft will be too familiar with.
It would seem that Sony just patented a game emulator for their next major console, tentatively named PS5. The patent actually suggests that a new gaming console would be able to "interpret" the inner workings of previously-released consoles. The patent goes by the name "Impersonating CPUID for backward compatibility" and was registered first in the official Japan Patent Office as of January 31st, 2019.
There is no shortage of patents on foldable phones and tablets and this year we’ll finally see some of them come to light. The first iterations are, however, expected to not be the foldable phones of fiction and dreams. Because if it comes to a design that makes that foldable device usable and perfect, then Intel’s 2017 patent probably comes closest to that ideal all in one mobile device.
Apple may have found a way to keep its older iPhones in the Chinese market but it’s not going to fly if Qualcomm is to be asked. Following a preliminary court order that banned iPhone models starting from the 6s to last year’s X, Apple pushed an iOS 12.12 update that supposedly addresses the Qualcomm patents it was accused to have infringed on. Unsurprisingly, Qualcomm says Apple’s response is insufficient and it should comply with the Chinese court’s orders to cease sales and imports of affected iPhones immediately.
This week a plan for a future Facebook app feature was revealed in a patent for "Office Trajectories" by the USPTO. In this patent, Facebook detailed a method for determining the current location of an individual - even when their phone is turned off and/or their GPS is deactivated. How might Facebook achieve this, you might scream? They'll just use all the information you've already given them, jam it all in a computer with Machine Learning, and spit out the most likely location - it's easy, really!