Apple has taken a shine to using solar cells in its mobile devices.
A patent application, unearthered by MacRumors.com, describes technology to integrate solar cells into portable devices. The named inventors of the patent application are Apple employees, some of whom are iPod engineers.
Images from an Apple patent for solar cells in portable devices.
(Credit: U.S. Patent & Trademark Office)Using small solar panels to charge portable devices is nothing new; there are several such products already available. Apple appears to be trying to innovate in the integration of the solar cells into a portable device.
Rather than make a separate charger, Apple engineers have sought to package solar cells right into the device in an unobtrusive way. Electricity-generating cells could be placed underneath the device's display. Specifically, the patent application details the use of a semitransparent display with a solar cell placed underneath it.
Sandwiched together, the device's cover would have "at least one glass layer coupled to the solar-cell layer; and a flexible printed circuit board (PCB) layer coupled electrically and mechanically to the solar-cell layer," according to the patent application.
This integrated design would allow the mobile device, be it a PDA or portable music player, to be charged from daylight without having a separate solar panel that needs to be plugged into it.
In a patent application, Apple engineers envision a solar panel integrated into a portable electronic device.
(Credit: U.S. Patent & Trademark Office)The patent application also describes using multiple solar cells coupled to specific electrical components within a device, including the data-processing system and the memory.
Drawings from the patent application show ways that a solar cell could be placed on the back cover of a device.
Electricity generated from the cells would be fed to the device's rechargeable battery.
In an older patent, Motorola sought to build a display that would allow enough light in to reach solar cells that charge a device. Its display calls for "organic light-emitting diode displays, and touch-sensitive displays are stacked with one or more solar cells."
Having a solar cell integrated into a display or cover makes the device more likely to absorb light than if the panel is placed on the back.
More significant, though, are the attempts by Apple and Morotola to package a solar cell into a device.
Separate solar chargers can be small, but they add to the number of items consumers must carry around. Also, many solar chargers are essentially just small solar panels without the ability to store electricity for later.
What remains to be seen is how much power an integrated cell, hid behind a display, can generate. This is dependent, of course, on the availability of light. But most likely, any solar-powered iPod or iPhone would include an AC adapter for standard charging.
Apple could be embracing the clamshell aesthetic for a future iPhone.
Unwiredview.com found an Apple patent application for a "dual-sided trackpad device," which resembles the current iPhone redesigned into the clamshell format so popular with many mobile phones. The key to this design is having touch-screen capabilities on both the top and bottom of the phone when it's open.
Could Apple be working on a clamshell version of the iPhone?
(Credit: Unwiredview.com)This design goes a step further, as well, in that the closed cover of the iPhone could also have trackpad capability. PC makers have experimented with this, adding some basic buttons and capabilities to the covers of closed notebooks. Apple's patent application describes how you could use the closed iPhone as an iPod, with controls for advancing to the next track, adjusting the volume, and so forth.
It's quite possible that Apple could be considering other form factors for future generations of iPhones, but I wonder how the touch-screen keyboard and the video player would work on a clamshell model where the one big screen is now divided across two panels. Patent applications aren't necessarily indicative of product plans, but they often provide hints of what companies are thinking about down the road.
Just how far might Apple be planning to take Apple TV, Take Three (or maybe four)?
An Apple patent application unearthed by AppleInsider shows a proposed system for using an iPod-like device as a remote control for an Apple TV-like device with DVR capabilities. (They never use the actual product names in the applications, but it's not too hard to tell.) It also suggests that Apple is thinking about making a version of Apple TV that could watch and record live television programming.
Apple has applied for a patent that could let you record David Letterman interviewing Ben Affleck (we think that's Ben Affleck).
(Credit: USPTO)Apple TV got a little more interesting in January with the release of the second version of the product, which can play rented movies from the iTunes Store along with purchased videos. What it can't do, however, is replace your living room set-top box from your cable or satellite provider and deliver live television.
But in a series of illustrations, the patent application shows how a video player could scroll through a lineup of programs that looks an awful lot like the TV Guide channel. Viewers could watch, pause, and rewind live television when controlled by an iPod-like remote control device. In keeping with Apple's latest push toward multitouch interfaces, several gestures could be used on the remote control to fast forward, rewind, or pause, among other things.
The standard patent application disclaimer applies: Don't expect to see this device on store shelves in the coming weeks, as patent applications don't always make their way into products. Still, an Apple TV that could play live television--whether that's over cable, satellite, or the Internet--as well as rent movies directly from the iTunes Store would be an interesting device, especially if you could use your iPhone or iPod as the clicker.
Apple could be readying a notebook trackpad that lets you practice your Rock Band form while using your Mac.
A patent application unearthed by MacRumors.com seeks protection for multitouch technology similar to that introduced by Apple on the MacBook Air's trackpad. This time, however, MacBook users could use as many as four fingers positioned in "chords" to execute different tasks in Mac OS X, such as bringing all the application windows to the front or opening up the Dashboard.
A new Apple patent could bring new multitouch trackpad features to future Macs.
(Credit: MacRumors.com)
This could even be extended to individual tasks within applications, such as cut and paste. Those were the examples provided in the patent application, but it wouldn't be hard to imagine extending this to things like a browser, such as opening a link in a new tab or performing different tasks within iTunes.
A word of warning, as always, about patent applications: there's no guarantee that this technology will make it into a shipping product, or if it does, whether that will be out anytime soon. Still, it's clear that Apple has made developing advanced multitouch input methods a priority, as it continues to evolve the way people interact with their Macs and iPhones.
(Credit:
Mad4MobilePhones)
There have been plenty of Zune 2.0 rumors recently--flash memory, a "watermelon" version this summer, and what-have-you. Now here's another one to add to the pile; Engadget recently pointed us to a "Zune phone" interface patent application unearthed by Mad4MobilePhones. It appears to be a sort of "tiled" setup for for "improved user interface for mobile devices such as smartphones" and "personal digital assistants." Looks like a fancy Bingo card to me.
Engadget pointed out that some of the icons appear to point to weather, music, and the like. There's also a TV icon with rabbit ears (umm, online video?), a globe (mobile Web?), a shopping cart, and...a dog? From the looks of it, it definitely seems like a Microsoft answer to the iPhone.
Concrete Zune phone rumors started flying around a few months ago. And keep in mind that Microsoft has filed other applications involving wireless communication over a 4G WiMax network. Hmmm...
Anybody else think that Microsoft plants rumor fodder in an attempt to deflect from the recent onslaught of Apple rumors? Sneaky, sneaky Steve Ballmer!
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