Tag Archives: PatentApplication

Samsung thinks the strangers who take pictures of you could do a better job

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Samsung thinks the strangers who take pictures of you could do a better job

Everyone's found themselves in this situation at one time or another: you're in a picture-perfect setting, but a selfie at arm's length won't cut it. You want to be in the picture, so you wait for a friendly looking passerby and ask them to take it. But, now it's out of your control, and chances are the resulting snap won't turn out exactly as you'd imagined. Samsung knows you're too polite to hold the stranger up while you convey your vision, so it has come up with a camera feature that does the explaining for you. It's described in a recent patent filing, and the gist is that you select the backdrop and take an initial snap that acts as a guide for the next, similar to how some panorama modes work. With a silhouette of the desired scene now showing atop the live view, the designated stranger just needs to let you get in the shot, line the overlay up with the live scene, and hit the shutter release.

The patent application also talks of editing the overlay, such as adding a circle to show the photographer where you'd like your face to be in relation to the backdrop. If you want the passerby to know how well they're doing, the claims explain an on-screen "composition score" that would rate their lining-up skills. And, if you'd rather trust the final decision to the camera, a ball-in-the-hole scenario is described that'll automatically engage the shutter release when the live view matches your ideal layout. This is just words and a few diagrams at this stage, mind, but if the patent gets granted, we could eventually see such a feature added to Samsung's smartphones or Galaxy cameras. Until then, you'll just have to put your trust in strangers and hope they have at least a basic understanding of the rule of thirds.

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Source: USPTO (1), (2) (PDF)

Apple patent application teams up multiple smartphone flashes for better lighting

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Smartphone camera flashes are notoriously weak compared to dedicated models, but what if you could fire them from several handsets at once? Since none of us have the millisecond timing needed to do it manually, Apple has filed a patent application to let any number of iOS (or other devices with a flash) fill in the light automatically. It'd work by using a master device as the camera, which would trigger slave devices positioned around the subject to fire their flashes when the shutter is opened. A test image would first be taken and analyzed by the software, which would then remotely adjust the intensity of the slave flashes to produce the final photo. The filing allows for virtually any device with a sensor to act as the capture device and a broad variety of illumination devices, including dedicated lights, smartphones, tablets or camera flashes -- though we imagine Apple would concentrate on its own products. If you're already planning to use friend #1 for a kicker light, friend #2 as an eye-light and friend #3 as a hair light on that next outing, please remember it's still just an application for now.

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Source: USPTO

Nintendo lands ‘remotely controlled mobile device control’ patent

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Nintendo lands 'remotely controlled mobile device control' patent

You know those goofy tennis racket peripherals that allow for Wiimote insertion? Or, perhaps more sensibly, those Guitar Hero axes that wouldn't function without a Wiimote planted at the heart? Looks as if Nintendo's going to do us all one better. Based on a rambling new patent granted to the Big N this week, the company now holds the power to concoct a "remotely controlled mobile device control system." Distilled down, the verbiage describes a Wiimote-type controller being embedded within a "remote controlled toy," which would then be (unsurprisingly) used in conjunction with a game console. Essentially, this opens the door for Honda to develop a new variant of ASIMO that takes commands via an embedded Wii controller... or, for a Wii-infused robot to turn on its owner and commit unspeakable crimes against humanity. But hey, it'll probably be pretty cute.

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Source: USPTO

Apple patent filing describes phone concept with wrap-around AMOLED display

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Apple patent filing describes phone concept with wrap-around AMOLED display

Behold, the iPhone 6. Nah, we're only joking -- what you see above is a diagram lifted from an Apple patent application that popped up at the USPTO today, which describes a "consumer electronic product" that's nothing but screen. The patent involves building a device from an open-ended transparent body (of glass, for example) that becomes a full wrap-around display when a flexible AMOLED screen is unfurled within it. It doesn't imagine all that real-estate will necessarily be used at once, though, and includes details of a "detection mechanism," such as a camera and facial recognition software, which would determine how much of the screen you can see, so that power is only sent to the parts that are in view. It's important to note that, apart from mentioning some real-world applications, the concept and method of constructing a wrap-around display are all the application covers. In other words, this patent does not describe anything close to a complete device. Apologies if we've killed your buzz, but we're just managing expectations before we move onto some interesting spitballing from Apple about what other design features such a device could carry -- read on after the break for more.

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Source: USPTO (1), (2)

Apple patent application hints at iPhone that changes orientation mid-fall

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Apple patent application hints at iPhone that changes orientation midfall

One way to protect a delicate device like a smartphone is to wrap it in layers of shock-absorbing rubber and plastic. Now, that can mean a case or you can simply build the handset out of those materials in the first place. Obviously, Apple is kind of attached to the premium feel of glass and metal, so the company is proposing another solution. A patent application discovered today suggests using a mechanism to shift the center of gravity or orientation of a device if sensors on board indicate it is falling.

The sensors in question are pretty standard fare: accelerometers, gyroscopes, etc... but some of the countermeasures are quite unique. Shifting weights could be hidden under the hood, but other proposals include a locking headphone jack that would prevent the phone from hitting the ground, airfoils and even a reserve of gas for thrust. Many of the solutions are more than just a little impractical, especially when trying to design the sleekest smartphone possible. The concept could also be used in laptops and tablets, but it would certainly be most useful in shatter-prone mobile devices like the iPhone. If you really like digging through patent minutia check out the source link.

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Via: Apple Insider

Source: USPTO

Google applies for another Glass patent, thinks about controlling your garage door and fridge

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Google's applies for another Glass patent, thinks about controlling your garage door

In case you hadn't noticed, the people over at Mountain View continue to work pretty hard on bringing yet more functionality to its Google Glass. During our patent application trawling this week, we fished up another possible application for Google's future-wear, where the finished product might fuse together augmented reality (and wireless connectivity) to control objects around your house. The headwear will apparently using visual identification, RFID, infra-red, Bluetooth and even QR codes as methods for recognizing controllable devices. Once your well-designed head-mounted display picks up a target, it would then pull down information related to the object, including a control interface. These "superimposed controls" would then hover over the real-life objects (which would need to be WiFi-connected or otherwise), with garage doors and refrigerators both referenced as possibilities (we've added sketches for both of these after the break). Whether you'd then adjust these white goods with your voice or otherwise is still an unknown -- the predictably fuzzy-worded patent application doesn't quite touch on any... touch interfaces.

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Source: USPTO

Apple patent application reveals a camera with built-in privacy filter

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Apple patent application reveals a camera with builtin privacy filter

It feels a bit strange to report on a webcam privacy shade as if it were a novelty: various products already let users put a decorative background on screen in lieu of a live stream, or even pull a physical shade across the lens. What Apple is apparently proposing, though, is a camera with such privacy filters built into the camera module itself. The company just applied for a patent on a camera whose images could selectively transition from opaque to transparent and back again, depending on how much privacy is called for.

Based on that illustration up there, we're going to hazard a guess it could be used in Apple's MacBook and iMac lines, though the patent application doesn't explicitly exclude mobile devices, either. (In fact, the filing acknowledges a camera like this could be used in, ahem, a television.) What we'd really like to know is how easy it would be for the user to active the privacy mode. Alas, though, the USPTO doc doesn't give any definitive answers -- the filing suggests the user could choose to switch modes, or that launching certain applications (i.e., those that use the camera) might trigger a change in privacy settings. In any case, that's about all we can glean from the patent application, but feel free to peek for yourselves if you feel like letting your imaginations get ahead of you.

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Source: USPTO

Google Glass patent application shows detailed diagrams

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Google Glass patent application shows detailed diagrams

Along with a lot of publicity, Project Glass from Google has generated a bevy of approved patents and applications, but the latest one shows that the search giant's trying to wrap up the whole kit and kaboodle -- replete with detailed diagrams and descriptions to back it up. Specifically, Mountain View is claiming the design of the frame itself including the bridge, brow portion, transparent display, input device plus the means for affixing everything. There are detailed descriptions of how the device can be configured -- for instance, one claim states that the screen could be adjusted "normal to the focal center of the eye," and the position of the electronics placed "over a first side of the ear." It goes on to explain the need for a balancing weight "over the second side" of the same ear in the latter case, such that "a majority of the overall weight is applied" to one side, which certainly jibes with some of what we've seen. That's just for starters, though -- head after the break to see more diagrams and details.

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Source: USPTO

Apple patent app describes flexible, wearable, watch-like AMOLED device

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Apple patent application pairs a flexible screen with a slap bracelet for, you know, your wrist

Apples and oranges watches. Today's bumper pack of patent applications from Cupertino included this nugget, outlining a small flexible screen that's paired with a "bi-stable spring." In normal lexicon, we're talking about one of those slap bracelets that go from completely straight to wrap-around in an instant. Interestingly enough, Apple isn't the only tech company sniffing around these bracelets as a possible holster for their tech -- Nokia mused on slightly similar notions back in March 2012.

This is an application, so most of what today's filing tells us is certainly not set in stone, but new ideas include a "kinetic energy gathering component" within the band -- like the trickle charge feature found on watches -- to pump energy back into the device. One example embodiment of the idea includes a touchscreen interface that will allow music browsing, phone call reviews and even text input through a "simple virtual keyboard." The concept also mentions AMOLED screen tech, as those deactivated (so, black) pixels would assist in eking out battery life in a device where space is definitely at a premium. The filing also suggests that the device could house an end-detection sensor, allowing the wearable to configure itself to each user, regardless of differing wrist measurements, and deactivate sections of the flexible display that aren't on show. This particular application was made in August 2011 -- a fair while before the recent increase in iWatch murmurings. As is the case with Apple's patent contributions, however, we'll wait to see whether the patent is granted and whether these ideas will ever crystallize into a genuine product. In the meantime, maybe it's time to buy up some snap bracelets on eBay: they might just be making a comeback.

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Source: USPTO

BlackBerry files patent application for 180-degree hinge, redefines ‘flip-phone’

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BlackBerry files patent application for 180degree hinge, redefines 'flipphone'

Before you get too excited, lets remember two things: one, companies file patent applications for things all the time that never see the light of day. Two, the application is for the hinge specifically, so don't get your hopes up for a BlackBerry 10 laptop. That being said, this glimpse at a potential future form factor has us intrigued. Even when the company formerly known as RIM has experimented with design in the past, it's been conservative. The Pearl squished the keyboard and split the keys, the Storm went with a touchscreen that was also a giant button and the Torch opted for a sliding mechanism that was old hat for most other manufacturers. This is a little different, however. It's a hinge, not terribly dissimilar to that on HTC's ancient Tilt2, that lets you adjust the position of a screen in relation to a base. This version offers a lot more freedom than the HTC creation however, seemingly allowing the screen to flip 180-degrees on the arm. This design could be used for a future phone, and would be a great fit for a larger device -- say five-inches or more. Alternately, it could wind up as part of a keyboard dock for a future tablet, which would be closer to the filings illustrations. Then again, it could just end up collecting dust in a corner at Waterloo. If you'd like to check out the patents for yourself hit up the source links.

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Source: USPTO 1, 2