Apple looking to patent sharable apps, considers calling them ‘seeds’
You know that killer new app you just got for your iPhone? Could you beam us a copy to try
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: apple, application seeds, demo, engadget, might-as-well, p2p, patentapplication, patently-apple
Apple patent application offers promise of stronger, scratch-proof stainless steel
As with all patent applications, it's a bit early to get too excited about this one, but a recently published filing from Apple dubbed "Nitriding Stainless Steel for Consumer Electronic Products" is one of the more interesting we've seen from the company as of late, especially when you consider its recent acquisition of Liquidmetal's intellectual property.
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: apple, applepatentapplication, even-cellphones, light, liquidmetal, nitride, patentapplication, seen-the-light, Stainless, stainless-steel
Palm creating palmtop computer with detachable, dockable cellphone?
Hold on to your Foleos , folks, because it looks like Palm still hasn't given up on the idea of a little laptop that pairs with a phone for wireless communications. However, where that former ( failed ) experiment called for entirely disparate hardware, here the relationship between the two would be rather more formal. In a patent filed in April and just dug up by Unwired View , Palm describes a "compact removable voice handset" and an "integrated palmtop computer." The two can communicate wirelessly, but more interestingly they can be coupled such that "there is minimal increase to the overall size and weight" of the palmtop -- in other words, the "phone" bit isn't particularly large, making it more comfortable to hold up to your face in a conversation than your Streaks and the like
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: dell, entry, foleo, handset, laptop, little-laptop, making-it-more, palm, patent, patent application, patentapplication, streaks, voice-handset, words
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
Microsoft seeking patent for Windows Phone 7 Series panoramic GUI
The US Patents and Trademark Office has today made public a Microsoft patent application (serial no. 240,729) related to the graphical user interface found on the hotly anticipated Windows Phone 7 Series mobile OS. Filed in September 2008, this application describes a "contiguous background" that extends beyond the dimensions of the screen (either vertically or horizontally, but not both) with anchored "mixed-media" elements being littered atop it -- all of which is to be served on a "media-playing device." That should sound pretty familiar, given that it's the central navigational concept of both Windows Phone 7 and the Zune HD , and as such it makes a lot of sense for Microsoft to seek to legally protect its uniqueness
Categories: htc, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: application, graphical, gui, htc, patent application, patentapplication, patents, phone, uspto, windows phone 7 series, windows-phone, windowsphone7series
Motorola patent combines multiple devices to make one large display
It seems to us that if you indulge in mobile video from time to time, you're either lugging around a device with a decent display size (netbook, tablet, whatevs) or more likely than not you're watching your Britain's Got Talent! clips on a handset -- either solution is obviously less than ideal.
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: display, either-solution, indignity, multiple displays, multipledisplays, netacgi, obviously-less, parser, patentapplication, pto2, result, screen-display, technology, thinkpad