The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 38 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover three key patents. The first covers Apple's iCloud service known as "Find my iPhone, iPad, and Mac" which remotely initiates a lost mode on an iPhone or other Apple device. The second covers techniques and systems for embedding autographs in electronic books. The third covers Apple's 3D Maps navigation system. We wrap up this week's granted patent report with our traditional listing of the remaining granted patents that were issued to Apple today.

Apple Granted a Patent for "Find my iPhone" Feature

Apple has been granted a patent today for their invention relating to "Find my iPhone, iPad, and Mac." Apple noted back in in 2012 that devices like an iPhone are trusted to carry their owner's personal and sensitive information. Consequently, the great power, portability and convenience of these devices must be balanced against the potential for substantial financial damage to the owner in the event that a device becomes lost or stolen.

Apple's granted patent covers systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for remotely initiating lost mode on a computing device. A requesting user can request that lost mode be initiated on a lost computing device. The request can be made on a requesting device in network communication with a server configured to communicate with the lost device. The request can include request data such as a message, contact information and password. The request data can be provided by the requesting user when requesting that lost mode be initiated on the lost device. A requesting user can be required to enter authenticating information to ensure that the requesting user is authorized to request that lost mode be initiated on the lost device.

Apple credits Usama Jajj and Megan Frost as the inventors of granted patent 8,881,310 which was originally filed in Q3 2012 and published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office.





Apple Granted Patent for Embedding an Autograph in an Electronic Book

Apple has been granted a patent today for their invention relating to autographing and more specifically to techniques and systems for embedding autographs in electronic books.





Back in March of this year a chef contacted me with this email: "Hi, how real is the Apple's book signing system. I am a chef and I just published my book on iTunes. I asked Apple about electronic book signing. They said right now they don't have anything like this available." Today, authors are one step closer to this convenient feature being available to them with Apple being granted this patent.

Patently Apple covered this patent application in detail back in September 2013 and those interested in this invention could check it out here.

Apple credits Casey Dougherty and Melissa Breglio as the inventors of granted patent 8,880,602 which was originally filed in Q1 2012 and published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Apple Granted Patent for Maps, 3D Navigation

Apple has been granted a patent today for their invention relating to a device that stores a novel navigation application. The application in some embodiments includes a user interface (UI) that has a display area for displaying a two-dimensional (2D) navigation presentation or a three-dimensional (3D) navigation presentation. The UI includes a selectable 3D control for directing the program to transition between the 2D and 3D presentations.









More information on 3D Map Navigation could be found in our original patent application report posted back in December 2013.

Apple credits Marcel van Os, Christopher Blumenberg, Bradford Moore and Emanuele Vulcano as the inventors of granted patent 8,880,336 which was originally filed in Q3 2012 and published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Apple Granted Two Design Patents Today

Apple was granted two design patents today. The first is for an iPhone cover (D716,781) and the second relates to the Apple TV user interface (D716,825).





The Remaining Patents granted to Apple Today





A Note for Tech Sites Covering our Report: We ask tech sites covering our report to kindly limit the use of our graphics to one image. Thanking you in advance for your cooperation.

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 MST and sporadically on the weekend.