Apple patents range from user interface controls to headset designs

Posted by Dennis Sellers Jun 30, 2009 at 6:25am

Several Apple patents have popped up at the US Patent & Trademark Office. Here’s a summary of them.

Patent number 7554521 is for an user interface control for changing a parameter. It comprises a control for adjusting a numeric field value. The control includes controls for editing the numeric field text directly and for dynamically incrementing and decrementing the value. In addition, the control includes controls for combining several functions into one control, allowing for quicker numeric value editing, control of multiple parameters, and taking up less user interface space. The inventors are Charles Migos, Greg Niles, Jena-Pierre Mouilleseaux, Patrick Heynen and Egan Schulz.

Patent number 7554812 involves structural support for portable electronic devices. Parallel stacking mid-frame structural supports for use with a portable electronic device are presented including: a first side member; a second side member disposed substantially parallel to the first side member, the first member and the second member each configured with; a support feature for providing structural support when an applied load exceeding a predetermined threshold is exerted on the portable electronic device, and an attachment feature; a third side member mechanically contiguous with and disposed substantially perpendicular to the first side member; and a fourth side member mechanically contiguous with and disposed substantially perpendicular to the first side member. In some embodiments, the mid-frame structural support also includes: a first number of rib supports for supporting a printed circuit board (PCB), and a second number of rib supports for supporting the PCB. In some embodiments, the predetermined threshold is approximately 800 grams. The inventors are Brian Lynch, Jan Moolsintong and Stephen Zadesky.

Patent number 7554558 is for a mechanism for a color-space neutral (video) effects scripting engine. A first command is retrieved from a script containing one or more commands written for a first color space. The first command is associated with zero or more input buffers and zero or more output buffers. The first command has zero or more parameters. A behavior of the first command in the first color space and in a second color space is determined. The behavior comprises one of unique behavior, transparent behavior, and different behavior. The first command has the unique behavior when the first command only operates in the first color space. The first command has the transparent behavior when the first command generates similar results in the first color space and in the second color space. The first command has the different behavior when the first command generates different results in the first color space and in the second color space. Using the behavior of the first command, an operation associated with the first command is processed. The operation is processed in a preferred format based on current formats of the input buffers. The inventors are Eric Graves and Randall H. Ubillos.

Patent number 7554551 involves decoupling a color buffer from the main memory. A display color buffer in a unified memory architecture is decoupled from main memory by partitioning the address space for the color buffer into a frame-preparation memory accessed by a graphics subsystem at a frame rate to prepare color data and a refresh memory that is accessed by a display device at a refresh rate to display the color data. The color data is periodically transferred between the frame-preparation memory and the refresh memory, or when a frame of color data is ready for display. The inventor is Sara Ruhina Biyabani.

Apple has also been granted ornamental designs for the iPhone Bluetooth headset (patent number D595270), iPod docks (patents D595265 and D595266), an iPod stand (patent D595264), a laptop sleeve (patent D595052) and an iPod cable (patent D595236). The inventors listed on some or all of the patents are Bartley K. Andre, Daniel J. Coster, Daniele De Iuliis, Richard P. Howarth, Jonathan P. Ive, Robert Duncan Kerr, Shin Nishibori, Matthew Dean Rohrback, Peter Russell-Clarke, Douglas B. Satzger, Christopher J. Stringer, Eugene Antony Whang, and Rico Zorkendorfer.

For more info on patents, check out Patents.com, a free patent search site.

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