patents - page 2

Apple explores tracking the veins in your hands for gesture controls

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Gesture controls are enabled by scanning for veins.
Finding the veins in users’ hands is the secret to gesture controls in new Apple tech.
Photo: Cult of Mac/Apple

Apple was awarded a slightly macabre patent for scanning the veins in someone’s hands to determine finger position, thus enabling gesture controls.

This technology could potentially be used in Apple Watch or the smart glasses the company is allegedly developing.

Apple dreams up tech for a social distance group selfie

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iPhone X Portrait selfies
Social distancing and group selfies don’t mix. But Apple might have a solution: the synthetic group selfie.
Photo: Apple

Even in the age of social distancing, the group selfie doesn’t have to be an endangered species. For several years, Apple has been investigating automatically merging multiple images into a group selfie.

And now that the company has a patent on the idea, it could be part of iOS 14 or a later version.

Apple explores crazy ways to add touch to MacBooks

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A touch sensitive area could make a MacBook trackpad movable.
A future MacBook might let you put the trackpad anywhere you want.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

Far from resting on its laurels, Apple continues to look for innovative features to build into MacBooks. A patent awarded Tuesday shows the company is considering making the trackpad virtual, so it can be positioned wherever the user likes.

And a second patent goes even further, making the keyboard and the area around it touch-sensitive.

Bendable MacBook could kill traditional hinges

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A bendable MacBook stared in an Apple patent filing.
Instead of standard hinges, consider a bendable MacBook.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

A proposed MacBook design change is radical while at the same time preserving the traditional clamshell design. Apple received a patent today for a notebook computer without standard hinges. Instead, it’s flexible enough to bend in the middle.

Apple wants to let you edit sent text messages

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Autocorrect errors vs. editing sent texts
Autocorrect fails would be a thing of the past if we could correct text messages.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Apple designed a workable system to let people edit text messages after they send them. But now we have to hope it’ll be implemented.

This is potentially great news for everyone who ever wished they could fix an embarrassing text.

Apple explores flexible batteries for folding iPhones and iPads

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This is an early concept drawing from Apple for a folding iPhone.
This is an early concept drawing from Apple for a folding iPhone.
Photo: Apple

It would be easier to make a foldable iPhone or iPad if it could include a flexible battery. Apple is investigating these as a power source, and was granted a patent on the technology on Tuesday.

In recent years, the company received many patents related to computers built around folding displays. They’re proof that Apple is actively exploring using these in future products.

Apple Ring could let you control devices around you by pointing at them

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Apple Ring 1
Will Apple ever make an Apple Ring?
Photo: USPTO/Apple

Apple hasn’t given up on the idea of an Apple Ring wearable that could be used to control Apple devices by performing specific hand gestures. The concept has been around for a few years, but Apple has yet to launch such a product.

However, on Tuesday it was granted a second patent for its invention, offering some more information about the device. Coming soon to a ring finger near you?

Apple might turn MacBooks into wireless chargers

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MacBook wireless charger
Wireless chargers built into future MacBook models remains a real possibility.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Apple hasn’t abandoned the idea of building reverse wireless chargers into its devices. It’s been considering for years the idea of enabling a MacBook to send power to an iPhone without the hassle of wires. And the ability to recharge another handset, or an Apple Watch, was supposed to be a feature of the iPhone 11, but it didn’t happen.

Nevertheless, undeniable evidence that Apple engineers are still working on the technology came to light on Thursday.

Sweet dreams: Apple might make its own sleep-tracking mattress and blanket

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With its new Apple Watch feature, Apple is getting deeper into sleep tracking.
Coming soon to a bedroom near you?
Photo: bruce mars/Pexels CC

The iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and … Apple Blanket and iMattress? That might not sound like the next logical step for Cupertino, but an Apple patent application published Thursday describes a blanket, mattress and, err, camera setup that would monitor users’ vital signs as they catch forty winks.

In addition to sleep-tracking, this could measure users’ movements during sleep, their heart rate, and their body and room temperatures during the night. It could then heat up or cool down accordingly.

Apple wants to make iPhone easier to use underwater

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iPhone XS Max vs. iPhone XS size: Sometimes bigger really is better.
iPhone could soon get some new underwater tricks.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple has been working tirelessly to make the iPhone more and more waterproof over the last four years. Now it appears that the company wants to make it possible to actually use the display underwater too.

Recent patent filings revealed that Apple is putting some serious thought into how to make the iPhone easier to use underwater by creating a simplified UI that lets the user focus less on taps and more on swimming or whatever else you’d be doing underwater.

Face ID for Mac takes a step closer

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Apple shows what a MacBook with Face ID would look like.
An Apple patent filing shows a MacBook with Face ID.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

Evidence emerged today that Apple‘s facial-recognition system will be built into future Macs. Face ID is already a highlight of iPhone and iPad, and there’s solid proof the company is looking into adding it to MacBook and iMac as well.

U.S. International Trade Commission opens patent-infringement investigation into Apple, others

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Apple-Store-logo
Apple is named in the investigation.
Photo: Laurenz Heymann/Unsplash

The U.S. International Trade Commission is opening up an investigation into companies, Apple included, that may have infringed on touchscreeen patents belonging to Irish company Neodron. The ITC also names Amazon in the investigation, in addition to a number of others.

Neodron has asked the ITC to issue cease-and-desist order. This would bar manufacturers allegedly infringing on the patent from selling relevant devices until the matter has been resolved.

Apple AR headset concept improves detection of movement and positioning

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Taeyeon Kim
There’s little room on an AR headset for controls. Apple wants to make them virtual.
Photo: Taeyeon Kim

Interacting with an AR headset would be a breeze if it could project virtual controls into the real world. Apple developed a new method for using cameras to accurately track finger movements, enabling someone to toggle these augmented reality switches and buttons.

Apple spitballs iPhone with wraparound display

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Every bit of this concept iPhone is covered in wraparound display.
Apple’s own designers dreamed up this iPhone with a completely wraparound display.
Photo: Apple

Apple designed an iPhone that’s all touchscreen. Front, back, top, bottom and sides — every bit of the exposed surface is a wraparound display.

And the description shows engineers put quite a bit of thought into the proposal.

Apple restores banned BlueMail app but devs say fight is not over

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Mac App Store
The email app BlueMail finds itself on the outside of the "closed garden."
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Banned email app BlueMail is back in the Mac App Store, just one week after its developers tried to publicly rally other small companies to speak out against Apple’s App Store practices.

Ben and Dan Volach’s eight-month appeal of Apple’s ban ended Tuesday when the App Store relisted BlueMail. But the brothers say they will continue to fight Apple in court on claims the tech giant stole patented features of the app before booting it from the App Store.

Court denies Apple’s appeal in VirnetX patent-infringement case

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Apple wants patent trolls to stop ‘gaming the system’
The lesser-spotted patent troll.
Photo: Andrew Becraft/Flickr CC

Cupertino’s seemingly neverending legal battle with patent troll VirnetX Holding Corp. took another turn this week when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied Apple’s request to reconsider an original patent-infringement decision.

VirnetX and Apple have been fighting in courts for a decade over patents related to FaceTime and other secure communications. VirnetX, which doesn’t produce any products, previously won more than $503 million in damages, but courts subsequently threw out the award.

Apple invents unique, no-crease folding iPhone screen

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Apple invents a unique, no-crease folding iPhone screen
Samsung had no end of problems with its folding handset.
Photo: Samsung

It’s not yet clear whether foldable phones are a temporary gimmick or the future of mobile devices. But Apple’s certainly interested — and in a newly published patent, it describes its approach to solving one of the most often-raised problems with folding phones.

That problem? How to ensure that a foldable device doesn’t become creased or damaged when it folds. Early folding phones, such as Samsung’s troubled Galaxy Fold, have been plagued by this problem. But Apple engineers developed a solution that could help.

Apple dreams up curvy iMac concept

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Patent reveals Apple iMac concept
This could be a sneak peek at the 2020 iMac.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

The design of the iMac hasn’t changed much in over a decade, but Apple is considering a radical facelift. A proposed future model would consist of a pane of glass that surrounds the display, then curves forward to hold a keyboard and a pair of trackpads.

Here’s how iPhones might do interchangeable lenses

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patent illustration for iPhone lens mount
Now that's a camera bump.
Illustration: Apple/USPTO

The camera bump on future iPhones could include an “interlock arrangement” for mounting additional third-party lenses, according to a patent awarded to Apple.

The idea sounds potentially compromising to the svelte design we’ve come to expect from our iPhones. Sure, “the best camera is the one in your pocket” — but in the future, you just might need a bag.

Apple Pencil may soon get additional touch-sensitive controls

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A proposed Apple Pencil with more controls.
The second-gen Apple Pencil has a single capacitive button, but Apple is considering several more.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

Building on the capabilities of the Apple Pencil active stylus, Apple proposes adding additional touch-sensitive controls to the exterior. This would expand the capabilities of this drawing tool for the iPad without making it more difficult to use.

This is just one of several ways Apple is considering to improve the Pencil.

‘Magic Mouse Pro’ might bring this radical redesign

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Is this the Magic Mouse Pro?
This input device is designed to do what a mouse does, but not in the same way.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

As the phrase goes, “build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.” Apple is turning that on its head by seeking to build a better mouse.

Its proposal is for a round mouse that can sense how the user is holding it, so it always performs as the user expects. And rather than moving the mouse to control the cursor, the user tilts it.

Here’s how Apple Car might eliminate blind spots

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Here's how Apple Car might eliminate blind spots
Apple's got some fascinating ideas for Apple Car.
Photo: Aristomenis Tsirbas/Freelancer

Currently, drivers only have the rearview and side mirrors of a car to let them know what’s going on behind them. But a new Apple invention describes an upgrade — that may eliminate blind spots by projecting mirrored images of the surrounding environment onto the window or windshield.

This could give the driver more contextual information about their surroundings, depending on where they are.

Apple completely reimagines the iPhone case

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Apple proposed swinging iPhone case
This is the simplest way of configuring Apple’s highly innovative iPhone case concept.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

Apple engineers dreamed up an iPhone case that’s also a stand and a handle. And maybe a keyboard. It’s surprisingly simple, but also a dramatic departure from typical cases.

And it’s possible the designers see this as more than an add on. They seem to be proposing that handsets and tablets have this case built in.