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Apple patents range from touch sensing devices to battery assembly

Posted by Dennis Sellers Nov 5, 2009 at 6:01pm

New Apple patents at the US Patent & Trademark Office range from touch sensing devices to battery assembly. Here’s a summary of each.

Patent number 20090273573 is for a mutual capacitive touch sensing device. The device can include nodes for sensing a touch at the device and for sensing a force applied to the device. Some nodes can perform both touch and force sensing; while other nodes can perform touch sensing. The device can include distinct individual drive lines for driving the nodes and separate distinct individual sense lines for transmitting touch or force signals from the nodes. The nodes can form groups, where the nodes in each group can be coupled to the same drive line and to different sense lines and where each node in a group can be coupled to a node in a different group by the same sense line. Each node can be set up with a different combination of drive and sense lines coupled thereto. An example device can be a click wheel. The inventor is Steven Porter Hotelling.

Patent number 20090273573 is for multi-touch sensor patterns and stack-ups. Capacitive multi-touch sensor panels in which both row and column traces may be formed on a single conducting surface are disclosed. These stack-ups may be made thinner and more flexible allowing them to be particularly well-suited for curved or other non-flat touch sensor panels, such as those that might be present on a mouse or other device designed to be grasped by a user’s hand. Curved sensor panel arrays that may be formed from flat substrates are also disclosed. These sensor panel configurations may include channels around the periphery of the array. These channels allow the flat array to lie flat when applied to a curved surface, such as the inside of the curved surface. The pattern of the touch sensor elements may be adjusted across the array to avoid the channels. The inventors are Brett William Degner, Kenneth Lawrence Staton, Steve Porter Hotelling and Shin John Choi.

Patent number 20090273912 is for an interlocking EMI shied. An electromagnetic interference shield system is provided. Each EMI shield may include a frame providing the structure around the electronic device components to be shielded, and a cover operative to be placed over the frame to prevent electromagnetic radiation from passing over the frame. Each frame may be coupled to a circuit board, and enclose electronic components in need of shielding. Each cover may be coupled to its corresponding frame using at least one snap that extends from the periphery of the cover towards the frame and circuit board. To minimize the space taken by the EMI shields, the snaps of adjacent covers may be offset or staggered so that opposing snaps engage voids left between snaps of the opposing cover, thus reducing the space needed between adjacent EMI shields by up to the width of a snap. The inventors are Scott Myers and Erik Wang.

Patent number 20090274393 involves automatic image cropping. Upon enabling an automatic cropping feature, a computer-implemented method for cropping a plurality of images retrieves a number of images to process among the plurality of images, and selects an image from the plurality of images to determine a set of crop values for the image until the set of crop values for each image have been determined. Determining a set of crop values for an image includes scanning the image from a first side to an opposing side to determine for each scan line of the image an amount representing a degree of color variation among the pixels for that scan line. The amount determined for each scan line is then compared to a threshold value until a crop value for a first area of the image can be determined. The inventors are Harita Jayendra Patel and Daniel Lipton.

Patent number 20090273697 is for an apparatus and method for calibrating image capture devices. An apparatus and method are disclosed for calibrating image capture devices, such as the type used in electronic devices. In some embodiments, the electronic device may include at least one array of pixels and a memory coupled to the at least one array of pixels. The electronic device may further include a central processing unit (CPU) coupled to the memory and at least one color filter optically coupled to the at least one array of pixels. The memory may further include one or more storage locations that include a response of the at least one color filter to one or more predetermined wavelengths from a target test source, as well as, one or more storage locations that include a response of one or more baseline color filters. The inventors are David S. Gere, Ting Chen and Chad Andrew Bronstein.

Patent number 20090276069 involves echo avoidance in audio time stretching. Per the patent, a transient echo can be avoided during time stretching of a digital audio signal by detecting a transient in a frame of a digital audio signal, identifying another occurrence of the transient in a subsequent frame of the digital audio signal, rotating the transient occurring in the subsequent frame to align the transient occurring in the subsequent frame with the transient detected in the frame, and aggregating the frame with the subsequent frame. Further, another occurrence of the transient can be identified in another subsequent frame of the digital audio signal and it can be determined that the transient occurring in that subsequent frame cannot be aligned with the transient detected in the frame. The copy of the transient occurring in the another subsequent frame can then be blended across that frame, such as by performing phase accumulation on one or more frequency components. The inventor is Kevin Christopher Rogers.

Patent number 20090276547 is for a system and method for simplified data transfer. Systems and methods of performing a simplified data transfer are provided. For example, a simplified data transfer system may include two or more devices configured to perform a simplified data transfer. The first device may be configured to save and transfer data associated with applications open on the first device. When the second device initiates communication, the first device may automatically send the open application data to the second device. The inventors are Michael Rosenblatt, Gloria Lin, Amir Mahmood Mikhak, Taido Nakajima Lantz, Sean Anthony Mayo, Andrew Hodge and Anthony Michael Fadell.

Patent number 20090276560 involves copyback optimization for a memory system. According to the patent, in a copyback or read operation for a non-volatile memory subsystem, data page change indicators are used to manage transfers of data pages between a register in non-volatile memory and a controller that is external to the non-volatile memory. The inventors are Nir Jacob Wakrat and Mark Alan Helm.

Patent number 20090273320 involves controlling battery charging based on current, voltage and temperature. Some embodiments of the present invention provide a system that charges a lithium-ion battery. During operation, the system monitors: a current through the battery, a voltage of the battery, and a temperature of the battery. Next, the system uses the monitored current, voltage and temperature to control a charging process for the battery. In some embodiments, controlling the charging process involves: inferring electrode lithium surface concentrations for the battery from the monitored current, voltage and temperature; and applying the charging current and/or the charging voltage in a manner that maintains the inferred electrode lithium surface concentrations for the battery within set limits. The inventors are Jeffrey P. Ungar, Thomas C. Greening, William C. Athas, Douglas J. Field and Richard M. Mank.

Patent number 200902735243 is for a mechanism for constraining the movement of an audio jack. A constraint mechanism for receiving an audio plug in an electronic device is provided. The constraint mechanism may include a conductive tube operative to receive the audio plug. In addition, the constraint mechanism may include several features operative to engage corresponding features of the electronic device to prevent the constraint mechanism from moving in any direction (e.g., which could cause damage in the electronic device if the audio jack was forced to move by an impact on the audio plug). For example, the constraint mechanism may include a center wall to prevent yawing, and rear tabs to prevent pitching. As another example, the constraint mechanism may include a side plate operative to be coupled to the electronic device to prevent rolling. In some embodiments, the constraint mechanism may include an asymmetrical tube entrance for ensuring the proper alignment of the constraint mechanism with an electronic device opening. The tube may include a conductive dimple extending through an aperture of the tube, where the aperture is substantially the same size and shape as the conductive dimple. The inventors are Scott Myers, Bradley Hamel, Erik Wang, Jason Sloey and Richard Howarth.

Patent number 20090273573 is for a display having a transistor-degradation circuit. Systems, methods, and devices are disclosed, including a device having a liquid-crystal display (LCD) panel that includes a transistor-degradation circuit. In some embodiments, the transistor-degradation circuit is configured to output a signal indicative of a change in a property of a transistor on the LCD panel over time. The inventors are Carlin J. Vieri, Ahmad Al-Dahle, Youngman Lee and Wei Yao.

Patent number 20090276719 involves an user interface method and apparatus for online interactive gift registry. A method is provided to promote the acquisition of a set of items comprising: sending requester GUI controls over a network to a requestor’s electronic device; receiving from the requestor’s device over the network assembly instructions for a contribution solicitation object; and sending the object and contributor GUI controls over the network to a contributor’s electronic device. The inventor is Pedraum Pardehpoosh.

Patent number 20090273577 is for a Moire-free touch screen with tilted or curved ITO pattern. Touch screens that generate reduced Moire effects are disclosed. To reduce Moire effects, the columns (drive or sense lines) of a touch sensor panel can be oriented at an angle with respect to a display device so that the columns are not parallel with the sub-pixel and pixel arrangements of the display device. In some embodiments, the entire touch sensor panel can be oriented at an angle with respect to the display device. In other embodiments, certain lines in the touch sensor panel can be tilted, curved or formed in a zig-zag shape. The inventors are Cheng Chen, Jun Qi and John Z. Zhong.

Patent number 20090274953 is for a battery assembly for use in an electronic device. A battery assembly for use in an electronic device is provided. The battery assembly may include a battery cell (e.g., a rechargeable battery cell), a battery connector for providing power from the battery cell to the electronic device, and a flex circuit electrically coupling the battery cell to the electronic device. The battery connector may be located adjacent the battery cell, and may include one or more alignment mechanisms for ensuring that conductive pads of the battery connector align properly with corresponding conductive elements of the electronic device. The battery cell may be fixed to the electronic device using an adhesive layer (e.g., double sided tape) placed between the cell and the electronic device. A tab may extend beyond the periphery of the battery cell to allow a user to pull or peal the battery cell from the electronic device for replacement or repair. In some embodiments, a tool may be used to grasp the tab. The inventors are Scot Myers, Erik Wang, Trent Weber and Jason Sloey.