The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 51 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we primarily cover integrated camera windows in Apple iDevices, the MacBook Pro's unibody design and a possible future 3D remote controller for Apple TV. While we may not be getting an Apple centric HDTV anytime soon, perhaps we could look forward to Apple's 3D remote on the horizon. Only time will tell if that's just wishful thinking or not. And as usual, we wrap up this week's granted patent report series with our traditional listing of the remaining granted patents that were issued to Apple today.

Apple Granted Patent for a Possible Future 3D Apple TV Remote Control System

Today, Apple has been granted a patent today for their invention relating to multi-dimensional remote control systems. We first covered Apple's first granted patent for this 3D remote back in 2012. While the patents share a common set of patent figures, Apple's patent claims differ. Firstly Apple's original granted patent covered 32 patent claims whereas their current granted patent covers 20 patent claims. Secondly, the focus of the second patent slightly differs.

The First Patent Claim of their 2014 Granted Patent

Apple's first patent claim found in today's granted patent states that "A system coupled to a display, the system comprising: at least one predetermined light source; a photodetector that detects light from the at least one predetermined light source; a remote control having a relative motion sensor; and at least one controller configured to: detect an initial absolute position of the remote control in a first axis based on the light detected by the photodetector; generate signals for rendering at least a portion of an initial image defined by second and third orthogonal axes on the display, wherein the first axis is orthogonal to the second and third axes, and wherein the initial image is scaled to an initial size corresponding to the initial absolute position; detect an updated absolute position of the remote control in the first axis based on a change in position of the remote control detected by the relative motion sensor and based on the initial absolute position; scale the initial image to a new size corresponding to the updated absolute position; and generate signals for rendering at least a portion of the scaled image on the display.

To compare the patent current claims with Apple's first granted patent, see their 2012 granted patent.

Apple credits Duncan Kerr, Chad Bronstein, Wing Low and Nicholas King as the inventors of granted patent 8,689,145 which was originally filed in Q4 2012 and published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office. To review today's granted patent claims and details, see Apple's patent.

Apple is Granted a Patent for the MacBook Pro's Unibody Design

Another interesting granted patent issued to Apple today is one for their MacBook Pro unibody design and assembly. Apple notes in their patent that "because the primary case is formed from a single homogenous material such as aluminum without substantial use of adhesives, welds, or other metals, the primary case can easily be melted down as part of an aluminum recycling process. In essence, the primary housing may be considered a precision unibody enclosure formed from a single piece of solid recyclable material (e.g., aluminum). As a result, it reduces many extraneous parts and allows the raw materials to be reused in other products.





Apple credits Senior VP of design Sir Jonathan Ive along with team members Matthew Theobald, Bartley Andre, Christopher Stringer, Daniel Coster, John Raff, Ron Hopkinson, John Brock, Chris Ligtenberg and Michelle Goldberg as the inventors of granted patent number 8,687,359.

Apple Granted a Patent for Integrating a Camera Window in iDevices

Apple has been granted a patent today for an "Apparatus, systems and methods for camera integration with cover glass and for processing cover glass to provide a camera window for an electronic device."

Apple notes that "A camera window can be integrated into the cover glass. The apparatus, systems and methods are especially suitable for cover glasses, or displays (e.g., LCD displays), assembled in small form factor electronic devices such as handheld electronic devices (e.g., mobile phones, media players, personal digital assistants, remote controls, etc.).

According to Apple, "The apparatus, systems and methods can also be used for cover glasses or displays for other relatively larger form factor electronic devices (e.g., portable computers, tablet computers, displays, monitors and televisions.

Apple credits Douglas Weber as the sole inventor of granted patent 8,684,613 which was published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

The Remaining Patents granted to Apple Today

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Patently Apple presents only a brief summary of granted patents with associated graphics for journalistic news purposes as each Granted Patent is revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any Granted Patent should be read in its entirety for full details. About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Comments are reviewed daily from 4am to 8pm and sporadically on the weekend.