Patents

Microsoft awarded patent for graphics chip video encoding

Companies ranging from Microsoft, Apple, AMD, and Nvidia have all worked for years to tap into graphics cards for certain kinds of non-gaming processing tasks, an approach typically referred to as GPU computing. Growing ever more prevalent, GPU computing has made its way to Web browsers, Photoshop, as well as both recent versions of Apple's and Microsoft's operating systems. That's why we were so surprised by ConceivablyTech's report today that Microsoft has been awarded a patent for GPU-Accelerated video encoding.

The abstract of the patent reads as follows:

A video encoding system uses both a central … Read more

MagSafe heading to iPad and iPhone?

The MagSafe connector is one of those features that makes so much sense one wonders why it hasn't become a universal standard. The MagSafe plug prevents the dreaded laptop-hits-floor scenario when someone accidentally pulls on the power cord. According to a patent filed earlier this year by Apple, this unique charging connector may be headed for portable devices such as the iPad or iPhone soon.

The MagSafe works by using magnetic force, instead of friction, to connect the charging head to a machine's AC port. Due to its lighter size, a similar connector for the iPad or iPhone … Read more

Microsoft agrees to license mobile patents

Microsoft took a break today from suing the mobile industry to examine life on the other side of the coin as a patent licensee.

The company has agreed to license patents belonging to what many have derisively considered the ultimate patent troll, Acacia, according to The Wall Street Journal. Microsoft did not disclose how much it paid for the licenses, but they cover 74 patents held by Acacia and Access, which acquired Palmsource back in the day and agreed to let Acacia pursue licensing deals on its behalf.

Acacia has a long history of assembling patents and suing whomever it … Read more

Facebook granted geolocation patent

Facebook has been awarded a patent that appears to give it sweeping intellectual property jurisdiction over location-enabled social networking, something that our colleagues at BNET first noticed on Wednesday. Considering the geolocation space still does not have a single dominant player, the possession of this kind of patent may be a powerful weapon for Facebook that has broad implications for the industry.

Patent no. 7,809,805, called "Systems and methods for automatically locating web-based social network members," is extremely detailed. Among the concepts it claims are the sending and receiving of location-based status messages (what are commonly … Read more

This time, Motorola sues Apple over patents

Motorola, one of the major telephone handset makers, has accused Apple in a lawsuit of violating 18 patents.

In an announcement on Motorola's site, the company said that Apple incorporated in the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, and certain Mac computers, or in associated services, technnology that was developed by Motorola.

The technologies that Motorola execs say are theirs involve "wireless communication technologies, such as WCDMA (3G), GPRS, 802.11 and antenna design, and key smartphone technologies including wireless email, proximity sensing, software application management, location-based services and multi-device synchronization."

Motorola said that it has asked the U.… Read more

Google: Oracle's Java patent suit invalid

Google fired back at Oracle yesterday in their dispute over Java, claiming that Oracle had once criticized the licensing policies it now seeks to uphold.

The formal answer to Oracle's complaint over Google's alleged infringement of patents related to Java made its way into the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California late yesterday evening. Oracle, wielding patents it acquired along with Sun Microsystems in 2009, claimed in August that Google's implementation of the Dalvik virtual machine in Android--among other things--violated as many as seven patents.

Google responded by denying Oracle's claims of … Read more

Apple found liable in Cover Flow patent case

A jury last week found Apple guilty of infringing on three patents held by a small Texas company and ordered the company to pay as much as $600 million in damages, according to Bloomberg news service.

Bloomberg reported that Apple was ordered to pay Mirror Worlds $208 million in damages for infringing on each of the three patents. The patents relate to how documents are displayed on a computer screen and are related to Apple's Cover Flow technology, which it uses in the Mac OS, on iPods, and in the iOS operating system used on the iPhone and iPad. … Read more

3G MacBook could use iPhone 4 antenna

Apple is working on a 3G MacBook, according to patents revealed this week. The plans indicate that Apple is developing laptops that incorporate 3G antenna technology similar to that found in the iPhone 4--and we all know how well that turned out.

The diligent chaps at Patently Apple spotted the 3G details in a list of 17 patents officially published by the US Patent and Trademark Office a few days ago.

Apple brings Nokia patent battle to U.K. courts

Apple has sued Nokia in the U.K. over nine patents, in a continuation of the legal battle that has raged between the two companies in the U.S. over the last year.

According to a statement from Nokia today, "Apple's action is an unsurprising development, which seems designed to put pressure on the ongoing dialogue between both companies." It is not yet clear which patents are the subject of the suit.

Nokia was the first aggressor in the legal war, having sued Apple over the iPhone manufacturer's use of GSM, 3G, and Wi-Fi patents in … Read more

Apple looks to patent new flash system

Seems like Apple wants a piece of the imaging business. The Cupertino, Calif., firm recently filed a patent for a unique flash (not Adobe's Flash, which won't work with iOS) for cameras that is said to optimize the lighting on the subject.

The patent shows an array of flash lights that point at different directions, so we presume the camera will detect where the subject is and turn on the nearest flash.

Gadget blog Gizmodo said such an implementation could make its way to iOS devices such as the iPhone and iPad, and even to video cameras.

So, … Read more