Title:   Object selection using hit test tracks

Patent application publication number:  20070019889

Publication date:  January 25, 2007

Filing date:  July 31, 2006 (priority to November 12, 1991)

Link to PDF: 

AIPW Summary:  A method for selecting objects from a video track. The user selects a visual area of a single frame and the pixels in the selected visual area are labeled. The labeled pixels are mapped to an item buffer, which is stored in memory with the image frame. By labeling the pixels in the selected area, when the user selects a pixel in a subsequent image frame, the entire selected area can be readily located and an action can be performed relating to the selected area.

Side note: This application is an oldie – there’s a reference to HyperCard (last released in 1998) in paragraph 0003. There are still some references to HyperCard over at the Apple Developer Connection.

Title:   Method and apparatus for media data transmission

Patent application publication number:  20070022215

Publication date:  January 25, 2007

Filing date:  July 18, 2006 (priority to July 19, 2005)

Link to PDF: 

AIPW Summary:  A method for preparing and transmitting (preferably in packet form) of time related sequences of media data, i.e., the QuickTime file format. This file format uses and manipulates meta-data, which is then used to map to the associated media data. “Hints” for packetizing a sequence of the media data are created and can be stored separately from the media data. A hint is an executable instruction for the server to packetize a portion of the media data (see paragraph 0086). The packetized media data is then sent to an intended recipient.

Title:   Computer interface having a virtual single-layer mode for viewing overlapping objects

Patent application publication number:  20070022389

Publication date:  January 25, 2007

Filing date:  September 11, 2006 (priority to June 20, 2003)

Link to PDF: 

AIPW Summary:  A method for being able to see all of the open windows in a GUI screen, even if some of the windows initially overlap each other (see Figure 3). The individual windows are arranged and resized to be able to be viewed in their entirety (see Figure 5); the claims recite that only at least a portion of each window needs to be visible. The transition between the two modes can be gradually performed, so as to appear animated (one example intermediate view is shown in Figure 4). After all of the windows are displayed, the user selects an active window, and the windows return to their original locations and sizes, with the active window on top. The fact that window contents are buffered in the display driver makes this method efficient, without requiring access to the running applications (see paragraph 0037).

Title:  Glass support member

Type:  issued patent

Patent number:  7,165,362

Issue date:  January 23, 2007

Filing date:  July 8, 2003 (priority to July 15, 2002)

Link to PDF: 

AIPW Summary:  This seems like one of those highly incongruous things – who’d expect a patent on stairs from a computer/consumer electronics company? Regardless, it’s here, and I don’t really have a special category for it. Anyway, this patent is about stair construction (in a specific example), and uses several layers of glass held together by bonding layers with spaces cut out to fit a connector (see the exploded view in Figure 2). This type of patent is nice and easy to follow, as compared to some of the computer science and EE-heavy applications we usually see.