Multiple Apple patent applications: Apparatus for air cooling of an electronic device and more
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Jun 29, 2006 at 11:46am
On June 29, the US Patent & Trademark Office revealed three additional patent applications from Apple respectfully titled “Apparatus for air cooling of an electronic device,” “Methods and apparatus for providing automatic high speed data connection in portable device” and ” Methods and apparatuses for transferring data.”
1. Apparatus for air cooling of an electronic device
Abstract: An apparatus for air-cooling an electronic device is disclosed. A contoured panel channels a flow of air within the housing of an electronic device so as to channel the flow of air more directly over heat producing elements such as the microprocessor and peripheral cards. A sensor can also be employed to determine whether the panel is present and properly placed. If not, measures can be taken to reduce the heat generated by the heat producing elements. For example, a warning can be displayed, or the microprocessor can be instructed to enter sleep mode.
Note: Apple’s application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/815,488 entitled “APPARATUS FOR AIR COOLING OF AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE” filed Mar. 31, 2004 which in-turn claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/535,279 entitled QUICK RELEASE STRUCTURES FOR A COMPUTER, filed Jan. 8, 2004 which both are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and for all purposes.
For more details, see patent application 20060139879
2. Methods and apparatus for providing automatic high speed data connection in portable device
Abstract: In a portable FireWire compatible device, a direct memory access (DMA) bus switch coupled by way of a DMA bus to a central processing unit (CPU), a local hard drive (HDD), and a FireWire port, provides a direct connection between the FireWire port and the HDD bypassing a main bus and the CPU when a data transfer request is received and processed by the CPU. Otherwise, until the data transfer request is received and processed, the CPU is directly connected to the HDD. In this way, a high speed data transfer between the FireWire port and the HDD is provided only when an appropriate data transfer request is received and processed.
Apple’s application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/179,814 (Attorney Docket APL1P225), entitled “METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING AUTOMATIC HIGH SPEED DATA CONNECTION IN PORTABLE DEVICE,” filed Jun. 24, 2002, which is incorporated herein by reference, and which, in turn, claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. sctn. 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/348,746 (Attorney Docket APL1P225P), entitled “METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING AUTOMATIC HIGH SPEED DATA CONNECTION IN A FIREWIRE ENABLED PORTABLE MULTIMEDIA DEVICE,” filed on Oct. 22, 2001, which is incorporated herein by reference.
For more details, see patent application 20060143356.
3. Methods and apparatuses for transferring data
The third patent, while not noting Apple as the Assignee, does list Chris LeCroy as one of the inventors. Mr. LeCroy is noted in a June 15 Apple patent report titled “Reliable real-time transport protocol.””
Abstract: The present invention provides several methods and apparatuses for transmitting multimedia data using streaming media protocols such as real-time transfer protocols (RTP) and real-time streaming protocols (RTSP) in a computer network environment. A request for RTP data is sent from the caching proxy server to the server. The request may be for one specific type of data or multiple unrelated types of data. The server responds to the request indicating its support for the requested data. The caching proxy server determines whether to proceed or terminate the data transmission process based on the response provided by the server. If it is determined to proceed with the data transmission process, the caching proxy informs the server to send the requested data. The server sends the requested data in a body of a RTP packet. The RTP packet uses a RTP Meta-Info payload format, which includes a body and a field header. The field header includes fields to identify the streaming media data, and the field body includes the requested streaming media data.
For more details, see patent application 20060143303.
Notice
Macsimum News presents only a brief summary of patents with associated graphic(s) for journalistic news purposes as each such patent application and/or grant is revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trade Office. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any patent applications and/or grants should be read in its entirety for further details.
Neo Notes
For the record, I sought a legal opinion as to why some patents don’t carry Apple as Assignee and yet are published by Apple engineers. The legal opinion that I received, in short, is that it’s not a legal requirement that the Assignee be revealed until the patent is actually granted. Until such time, the Assignment listing is voluntary.
Therefore as long as there’s an Apple engineer listed on a patent application, such as that of patent application number 3 above, MacsimumNews will continue to post these types of reports.
neo@macsimumnews.com
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Contributor
Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
