The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 62 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover Apple patents relating to inductive charging, advancing the Magic Mouse, Slide-to-Unlock and a series of design patents. 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 Relating to an Inductive Charging Coil Solution

Apple has been granted a patent today for their invention relating to techniques for charging portable electronic devices. More specifically, the disclosed embodiments relate to a technique that uses an audio cable as an inductive charging coil for a portable electronic device.

Patently Apple first covered this invention as a patent application back in August 2011 and you'll find many more graphics and detail in that report. Other Apple patents regarding inductive charging systems include: one, "Future Apple Hardware to Harness the Power of Magnetic Induction"; two, "Apple Wins Patents for Inductive Charging Docks, Antennas & More"; three, "Apple Reveals In-Depth Inductive Charging Dock"; and four, "Apple Invents iPad Smart Cover with Built-In Inductive Charging."

In respect to patent claims, each patent, including this odd tower charger, hold important IP value to Apple. Apple could implement any of the above inductive charging solutions or any combination thereof.

Apple credits Fletcher Rothkopf, Anna-Katrina Shedletsky and Stephen Lynch as the inventors of granted patent 8,744,098 which was originally filed in Q1 2010 and published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Apple Granted another Patent for "Slide-to-Unlock"

Apple was been granted yet another patent today for their invention relating to their famed "Slide-to-Unlock" iDevice feature today. Last month Samsung was found guilty of infringing Apple's Slide-to-Unlock patent.

In helping to describe this invention, Apple notes that in some embodiments, a method of controlling an electronic device with a touch-sensitive display includes: detecting contact with the touch-sensitive display while the device is in a user-interface lock state; moving an image corresponding to a user-interface unlock state of the device in accordance with the contact; transitioning the device to the user-interface unlock state if the detected contact corresponds to a predefined gesture; and maintaining the device in the user-interface lock state if the detected contact does not correspond to the predefined gesture.

Apple credits Imran Chaudhri, Bas Ording, Freddy Anzures, Marcel van OS, Scott Forstall and Greg Christie as the inventors of granted patent 8,745,544 which was filed in Q1 2013. The history of this patent appears to go all the way back to Q1 2010. See Apple's patent for more details.

Apple Granted a Patent for Advancing Apple's Magic Mouse

Apple has been granted a patent today for their invention relating to electronic input devices and more particularly to electronic input devices having both inertial sensors and touch sensors.

According to Apple, embodiments found in their granted patent are directed to input devices (like a future Magic Mouse) using both inertial sensors and touch sensors. An exemplary input device has a motion sensing element capable of estimating a position of the input device based on a force applied to the input device. The motion sensing element can be used to track large ranges of motion. The input device can also include a touch sensitive surface operable to detect touches on the touch sensitive surface. The touch sensitive surface can be used to track relatively smaller ranges of motion.

Other inventions relating to possible future features for Apple's Magic Mouse could be found in our 2010 patent reports titled "Apple Wants the Magic Mouse to Rock'n Roll!" and "Apple Could Advance Gaming & Paint in Magic Mouse Upgrade."

Apple credits Farshid Moussavi as the sole inventor of granted patent 8,743,071 which was filed in Q4 2012 and published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office. The history of this patent dates back to Q3 2008.

Apple Granted 6 Design Patents Today

Apple was granted six design patents today with three of them covering the iPod Nano. The other three covered the iPhone's metal trimmed rim, Apple's iPad Smart Cover and another for a minor iPod user interface.





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 MST and sporadically on the weekend.

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