Archive for the ‘Apple design patents’ Category

Patents issued on July 10, 2007

Tuesday, August 21st, 2007

D546,277 Battery pack (7 pages)
Design for first gen iPod Shuffle battery back.

7,242,576 Quick release structures for a computer (42 pages)
Release mechanism for the access door on pro-level towers.

7,242,411 Adjustment of color values for optimized image processing (13 pages)
Color space conversion from YCrCb to RGB.

7,242,169 Method and apparatus for voltage compensation for parasitic impedance (14 pages)

Patents issued on May 15, 2007

Monday, June 11th, 2007

D542,808 Media device (4 pages)
Design for iPod nano. This is for the outer shape of the device and does not include the scroll wheel (which is why it is shown with dashed lines).

7,218,510 Computer controlled display device (116 pages)
Related to the construction and mechanical operation of the “lamp base” iMac. This patent describes how this iMac is put together, from a mechanical perspective. Shows a few different views of a gooseneck design (Figures 23A-23F), the straight neck design (Figures 33A-33F), and a telescoping neck design (Figure 47). The claims are directed to a moveable assembly that provides at least three degrees of freedom for a display and a brake device to control the positioning of the display.

7,218,226 Acceleration-based theft detection system for portable electronic devices (12 pages)
An electronic device has an acceleration sensor, and based on the sensor output, a determination is made whether the device is being stolen. Theft can be detected by using an acceleration profile characteristic of theft. The device can determine if the acceleration were due to a shock or an impact to the device. Certain types of movements could be filtered out based on the acceleration frequency generated by the movement (see column 4, lines 28-42). A theft profile can include various acceleration changes that are likely to result during a theft (see column 4, lines 43-62 and column 6, lines 43-57).

Note: I can’t quite figure out how a thief would be profiled. I also think that this could be easily be defeated by a constant motion for a period of time. The opposite could be true – the alarm could go off if you suddenly find yourself running for the bus, and that’s not normal behavior for you.

Patents issued on May 8, 2007

Wednesday, June 6th, 2007

D542,306 Media device (5 pages)
Design for the iPod with click wheel.

D542,288 Computing device (4 pages)
Design for the Mac mini.

7,216,304 Graphical user interface for computers having variable size icons (11 pages)
This patent is related to an application that was published in April 2007 (read that discussion here) about variable sized icons. The claims of this patent relate to a method for varying the size of displayed icons.

7,216,302 Method and system for automatically resizing and repositioning windows in response to changes in display (12 pages)
Repositioning and resizing windows in a GUI based on changes in the display resolution. The claims relate to a method for maintaining the windows in a preferred screen position.

7,215,813 Method and apparatus for color correction (35 pages)
GUI for performing color correction. Users can changes the colorspace of individual pixels, and other pixels will change proportionally in response.

Patents issued on May 1, 2007

Sunday, May 27th, 2007

RE39,610  Systems and methods for replacing open windows in a graphical user interface    (12 pages)
Returning a GUI window to its original screen location. This is used, for example, with multiple stacked windows. The user selects a window lower down in the stack to work in, and then that window is returned to its original position in the stack. This reissue patent added storing an initial location and position for a window to the claims; this feature was not present in the originally issued patent (which issued in June 2000).

D541,799  Electronic device    (5 pages)
Design for flat-panel iMac with the camera at the top front of the display.

7,213,103  Accessing data storage systems without waiting for read errors    (16 pages)
Accessing data on a data storage system that is experiencing a slow access (i.e., access that takes more than a predetermined length of time).

Patents issued on April 24, 2007

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007

D541,299  Media device    (5 pages)
Design for the iPod, 4G and up, in black.

D541,298  Media device    (5 pages)
Design for the iPod, 4G and up.

D541,297  Media device    (4 pages)
Design for the iPod nano.

D541,042  Electronic device holder    (7 pages)
Design for the iPod nano arm band.

7,209,344  Computer controlled display device    (136 pages)
Various embodiments for the old iMac “desklamp” design. In 102 pages of drawings, this patent shows the mechanical aspects of how the screen is supported and moves.

7,209,146  Methods and apparatuses for the automated display of visual effects    (20 pages)
Fade transition effects for video clips.

7,207,104  Hybrid ground grid for printed circuit board    (15 pages)
Printed circuit board layout with ground traces.

Patents issued on April 3, 2007

Tuesday, April 10th, 2007

D539,814 Electronic device (3 pages)
First generation iPod Shuffle.

7,200,836 Menu authoring for automatically performing low-level DVD configuration functions (40 pages)
DVD authoring system.

7,199,805 Method and apparatus for titling (30 pages)
Creating titles and text effects in movies.

Patents issued on March 27, 2007

Sunday, April 8th, 2007

D539,327  Electronic device support stand    (4 pages)
A design patent for the iSight camera stand.

7,196,690  Input device off table switch    (13 pages)
A method and system to handle mousing while repositioning the mouse during a selection process (i.e., keeping the button pressed to extend a selection while picking up and moving the mouse to continue the selection). Useful when a user reaches the edge of a mousepad or other mouse-tracking surface.

Patents issued on March 20, 2007

Wednesday, March 21st, 2007

D538,822  Electronic device    (5 pages)

D538,820  Media device    (4 pages)

7,194,692  Method and apparatus for binding user interface objects to application objects    (24 pages)

7,194,564  Method and apparatus for preventing loops in a full-duplex bus    (32 pages)

7,194,035  Method and apparatus for improved coding mode selection    (12 pages)

Mac mini design

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007

Title:  Computing device

Type:  issued design patent

Patent number:  D537,817

Issue date:  March 6, 2007

Filing date:  June 19, 2006 (priority to December 23, 2004)

Link to PDF:    (4 pages)

AIPW Summary:  This is a design patent for the Mac mini enclosure. The front slot and the rear ports are not part of the design (that’s why they’re shown with dashed lines).

Portable iPod dock connector with lanyard

Tuesday, February 20th, 2007

Title:  Device harness

Type:  design patent

Patent number:  D537,074

Issue date:  February 20, 2007

Filing date:  March 28, 2006 (priority to August 26, 2004)

Link to PDF: (5 pages)

AIPW Summary: A design for a portable iPod dock connector with a lanyard (cord) threaded through the bottom of the connector. It looks more like a lanyard for an iPod Nano, but not the Lanyard Headphones.

Related case:  D527,723    (4 pages) – This design patent covers only the dock connector portion, without the lanyard.