Crave

(Credit: Apple)

A new patent application from Apple dug up by AppleInsider reveals ways in which the company's products could be fitted with a simple label or tag that provides evidence of tampering. If the strip is compromised, it gives Apple leverage to void your warranty.

Apple's patent application notes that it is in the best interest of an electronics manufacturer to be able to know when a device has been "compromised" and opened, thus voiding its warranty. Unauthorized tampering with an electronic device can destroy it, and without evidence of such tampering, a manufacturer may be obligated to support its warranty. Apple's technology, the company said, could save manufacturers "substantial" costs.

In another patent filing, Apple is looking to broaden the role of the accelerometer in its portable devices, noting that motion could be used to navigate and control the device itself. For example, users could shake the device to play a song or flick it to scroll through menus. That idea has been tossed around before, as I recall, so it's not really all that surprising. Perhaps it's just a ploy to get us to buy more iPods as more movement will likely result in more drops, tosses and smashes.

(Credit: Apple)

This story originally appeared on Gizmodo.

(Credit: Kotaku)

If you find many of Wii remote's attachments (such as fishing rods and tennis rackets) unconventional, wait till you check out what Sony Computer Entertainment has detailed in its latest patent. The application documents an "expandable control device via hardware attachment" with the unmistakable square, triangle, circle, and cross buttons unique to all PlayStation game consoles. What makes this wand-like controller special, though, is its modular design for various configurations illustrated above.

These include side-by-side piggybacks in figure 7A and 7B, plus possibly a sponge ball add-on for figure 7C. Other options range from a baseball bat to end-to-end connection to form a longer stick in figure 6B.

Lastly, there's a diagram that illustrates vibration capability, with further mention of wireless connectivity, accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer included in the lengthy write-up. I guess Sony is still game for a physical controller, while Microsoft goes high-tech with its "Project Natal" motion-gesturing technology.

If you're patient enough to read the details, head here to see the online U.S. patent filing.

(Source: Crave Asia via Kotaku)

An Apple patent design shows what would happen if its iPod Shuffle and Bluetooth headset mated.

(Credit: United States Patent Application)

In a future where we're all walking around wondering how our iPod brain implants came to exist, historians can point back to this Apple patent application from 2008 and glimpse the missing link: an in-ear iPod.

Of course, others may see this as simply a Bluetooth headset with integrated memory and audio playback capabilities (music, voice mails). The Orwellian in me, though, is fairly certain this gadget will mark Apple's slow crawl into our skulls. Read the patent's abstract to judge for yourself:

Additional functionality in a wireless headset allows it to be used during times that the external device with which it is wirelessly coupled is not being used, but when the headset is nevertheless being worn. This is accomplished by integrating a media player into the wireless headset. The media player may be an audio player, capable, e.g., of playing audio files such as MPEG-3 ("MP3") files. Optionally, the media player may include a recording function as well, so that a user can record voice notes. In addition, if the external device is a telephone (mobile or landline), the availability of a recording function could make it possible for the user to record all or part of a conversation. Similarly, voicemail messages received on the user's telephone could be uploaded into the headset for later off-line playback. Media files recorded by the headset also could be downloaded to the external device.

Apple headset with media player patent--photos

(Via Electronista)

Oh, I totally understand this drawing.

(Credit: USPTO)

(Source: Dayton Business Journal)

(Credit: VMPoweruser.com)

Just a few days ago, we read about BlackBerry's patent on a hybrid resistive capacitive touch screen. This would give you the best of both worlds--the sensitivity of a capacitive screen for finger input and the flexibility to use a stylus when needed.

Well, it looks like HTC has a similar idea, according to its latest patent, but achieved more simply.

The Taiwanese company has concocted a stylus with a magnetic tip. Being able to conduct electricity, it simulates the human finger so it will work with regular capacitive screens.

The advantage is, of course, its thinness compared with our meaty digits, which makes it better for writing or selecting items very precisely. This will improve the writing of certain types of script and may even make playing games more enjoyable as your fingers won't be blocking what you are trying to see.

(Source: Crave Asia via VMPoweruser.com)

One of the iPhone 3G's current moisture sensors can be found on the bottom of the device.

(Credit: Apple)

A patent application filed by Apple and published Thursday hints at new ways the company can help diagnose a troubled iPod or iPhone if a customer has abused it. The patent goes into detail on a new system that goes above and beyond the existing onboard sensors, which can tell Apple whether your iPod or iPhone has been subjected to moisture.

The new system, described in U.S. Patent application No. 2009/0195394, covers not just moisture, but heat, shock, and tampering. If any one of these events occur, it's logged--time stamp and all, and Apple support personnel can then retrieve the information and use it for analysis on service claims.

The extra sensors would make it easier for Apple to determine if a device malfunction was due to the user, or the hardware itself. For instance, if there's a sudden drop, followed by an impact, then a moisture reading, it's pretty clear the owner dropped it into water. The same goes for thermal events, like leaving a phone in a hot car, or having a sudden and excessive heat flare-up, caused, for example, by putting it in a microwave.

The tamper sensor is the more mellow of the four tools. In the patent Apple simply describes this as "opening the casing or housing of a device and adding, removing, or altering the internal components." This may not even employ any additional hardware or software, and could use a simple adhesive strip that is broken once the casing is removed, as many other hardware makers employ.

What may scare some users about this patent is that Apple details a process wherein one of these sensor events can disable the phone, or put it into a disabled state for its own protection. When say, submerged in water, the new protocol would have the phone shut off access to the battery or the screen to protect internal components. It could also keep the user from resetting it or retrieving data until taken to a support center, which is a little creepy when you think about those times when you may need to make a call when both you and your phone have been through a tussle.

Update: Corrected patent number terminology and reference. Later update also corrected patent application status. It was published Thursday, not approved.

(Via AppleInsider)

The haptic feedback patent, if approved, would bring the iPhone in line with rival handsets that provide localized tactile feedback.

(Credit: CNET )

Three patent applications by Apple were published Thursday, and they cover technologies including haptics, fingerprint recognition, and RFID.

The haptic feedback patent, if approved, would bring the iPhone (and possibly other Apple devices) in line with rival handsets, which already provide localized tactile feedback in, for example, an onscreen soft keyboard.

Haptic technology gives people sensory feedback--in the form of a vibration or pressure--when they use a touch screen. Essentially, it makes touching a key on a touch screen more akin to pressing a real button.

The fingerprint recognition patent does not really have to do with authentication and security, but rather with identifying which fingers are in use, so as to associate different functions with different digits.

The RFID reader patent would see RFID-communicating circuitry integrated with the circuitry behind the touch screen itself.

All the above are just applications, though, so it could be a long while before we see any of this functionality built into iPhones or other Apple devices.

David Meyer of ZDNet UK reported from London.

Since the launch of the Wii, Nintendo has been the subject of no fewer than 15 patent-related lawsuits. While many of those suits are still winding their way through the courts, Nintendo on Thursday issued a statement touting victory over Guardian Media Technologies in one of the more recent patent suits.

U.S. District Court Judge Manuel Real in Los Angeles struck down allegations that the Wii could play DVD movies.

"We are very pleased with the court's decision," Rick Flamm, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of legal, said in a statement. "Nintendo vigorously defends patent lawsuits. At the earliest stages of this case, Nintendo convinced the court to dismiss this case as Guardian's patent had nothing to do with Nintendo's products."

Flamm is correct about the suit having nothing to do with Nintendo's products. The Wii maker was one of dozens of defendants in the suit, which alleged violations of Guardian's patent for parental-control technology in TV programs and DVD video playback. While the Wii does include parental control functions, it does not feature DVD video playback. Nintendo's early dismissal from the case comes a scant six months after the suit was first filed.

Earlier this year, a federal judge in Texas dismissed a patent suit against Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. That suit was brought by Fenner Investments and centered on a patent the firm holds for a "low-voltage joystick port interface." It was originally filed in January 2007.

In still another patent case, a judge in 2008 failed to overturn a verdict ordering Nintendo to pay $21 million to Anascape, a Texas company that holds a patent on motion-sensitive controllers.

Brendan Sinclair reported for GameSpot.

A federal court has awarded TiVo $103 million plus interest in its long-running patent dispute with EchoStar Communications and ordered EchoStar to disable infringing features found on its subscribers' digital video recorders.

U.S. District Judge David Folsom on Tuesday also found EchoStar, which is now part of Dish Network, in contempt of court for violating a permanent injunction by reprogramming millions of DVRs with a new "workaround."

"The harm caused to TiVo by EchoStar's contempt is substantial," Folsom wrote. "EchoStar has gained millions of customers since this court's injunction was issued, customers that are now potentially unreachable by TiVo."

Englewood, Colo.-based Dish, which has roughly 13.6 million subscribers, said in a statement it would appeal the contempt ruling and file a motion to stay an order that requires it to disable the disputed DVR features within 30 days.

"Our engineers spent close to a year designing around TiVo's patent and removed the very features that TiVo said infringed at trial," the company said. "Existing Dish Network customers with DVRs are not immediately impacted by these recent developments."

The Alviso, Calif.-based maker of set-top boxes applauded the decision.

"We are extremely gratified by the court's well reasoned and thorough decision, in which it rejected EchoStar's attempted workaround claim regarding the TiVo patent, found EchoStar to be in contempt of court, and ordered the permanent injunction fully enforced," TiVo said in a statement. "EchoStar may attempt to further delay this case but we are very pleased the court has made it clear that there are major ramifications for continued infringement."

In after-hours trading, shares of TiVo rose $2.53, or 36 percent, to $9.51, while shares of Dish fell $1.19, or 6.9 percent, to $16.05.

TiVo first sued EchoStar in 2004 for violating a patent on a "multimedia time-warping system," which involved recording a program on one channel while watching another.

A jury in 2006 found that Dish Network's DVRs infringed upon a patent held by TiVo and ordered it to pay TiVo $73.9 million in damages. A federal appeals court upheld the ruling in January 2008, as did a second U.S. appeals court in April 2008.