Apple granted design patent for iPhone 3G, 3GS
Hot on the heels of the "ornamental design" patent covering its original iPhone and iPod touch , we've got a second USPTO patent granted to Apple covering what looks to be the more curvaceous iPhone 3G and 3GS. Jonathan P
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: covering-its, iphone, iphone 3g, iphone3g, nph, parser, patent, uspto, usual
Apple files patent application for NFC e-tickets with ‘extra benefits’
Apple appears to be casting an eye out to new shores, judging by the latest of its patent applications to go public. Filed in September 2008, this primarily relates to adding bonus digital content to event tickets, whereby swiping your entry pass to, say, a concert or a sports event into an electronic device would result in you gaining access to related goodies from "an online digital content service." Additional claims describe the use of an electronic device (read: iPhone or iPod touch) as the carrier of the (digitized) ticket, allowing the user access to the event itself as well as "at least one other event-related benefit." The whole thing is focused on the use of near-field communications as the data transfer method of choice, something that Apple's hardware is not yet equipped to handle. Then again, NFC interaction is also referenced in a separate patent application (from August 2009, see WIPO link below) for peer-to-peer payments, suggesting that Cupertino might have more than a passing interest in the contactless transfer tech
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: apple, concert-tickets, concerttickets, electronic devices, entry, nfcpayments, nph, patentapplication, primarily, separate-patent, tickets, uspto, wipo
Apple granted design patent for original iPhone, iPod touch
Apple may have enough patents and patent applications to wallpaper its entire Cupertino campus, but we're guessing this is one it's been especially eager to get: a design patent for the original iPhone and iPod touch. That, of course, covers the "ornamental design" of the devices and not their functionality, which means that any other devices that look a little too similar are now treading on even more dangerous territory than before
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: apple, fourteen, granted-design, netacgi, nph, other-devices, relevant, uspto
Verizon patents system for location-aware classifieds
It's not often that we genuinely like what these big corporations are doing, so you'd better pay close attention here. We've caught wind of a Verizon patent covering the logistics of setting up and running a GPS-based classifieds service, which matches potential buyers and sellers of goods on the basis of their stated interests and location. Thus, next time you're driving by the home of a carpenter, for example, you might be alerted of his contact details should you need some woodworking done.
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: 2008-indicating, advertising, classifieds, entry, gps, location services, logistics, nph, patent-covering, pto2, verizon-wireless, verizonwireless
Nokia patent application points to flexible phone displays
It may still be quite a ways from realizing its ambitious Morph concept , but it looks like Nokia has been toying around with the idea of flexible displays as of late, as evidenced by a just-published patent application (first filed back in 2008). Covering a "user interface, device and method for a physically flexible device," the application details (among other things) how a flexible display might be used on a phone to do things other than make it more portable. Most interestingly, that includes bending the phone into a particular shape to perform a specific task -- Nokia suggests rolling it into a can to search for a bar or pub, or bending it into a bowl to search for a restaurant.
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: application, concept, flexible cellphone, flexible display, flexiblephone, make-it-more, netacgi, nokia, nph, patent, phone, pto2, result, specific-task