Apple patents range from phishing shield to communication channel

Seventeen Apple patents have appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. Here’s a summary of each.

Patent number 20100083383 is for a phishing shield. According to the patent, a mechanism for notifying a user of an internet browser that a requested web page is undesirable, and for protecting the user from the web page by disabling it. An internet browser detects a load request for a web page and retrieves the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for the webpage. The internet browser displays the webpage associated with the URL and, upon determination that the URL matches a URL from a list of undesirable URLs, alters the appearance of the webpage and disables the web page from receiving input or taking action. The inventors are Darin B. Adler and Kevin Decker.

Patent number 20100083158 involves a feed for enhanced web browsing. Via the patent, user input is received to create a bookmark in a web browser for a non-feed Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A web feed associated with the non-feed URL is determined. A subscription to the web feed is automatically created. An indication of new web content is received from the web feed. The bookmark for the non-feed URL is decorated to provide a visual indication of the new web content. The inventors are Darin B. Adler, Ada Y. Chan and Steven J. Falkenburg.

Patent number 20100083144 is for a system and method for scaling up an image of an article displayed on a sales promotion web page. A method and arrangement for scale-up of an image of an article displayed on a sales promotion web page is disclosed. The method includes displaying an image of an article on a sales promotion web page in a first scale. The method then includes, based on cursor-selection of the displayed image, enlarging the scale of the image to a second larger scale on the same web page. The inventors are Robert H. Baxley and Jeffrey Tyson.

Patent number 20100083114 involves zoom indication for stabilizing unstable video clips. A computer-implemented method for zoom indication for stabilizing unstable video clips is described. To indicate zoom, a zoom value associated with an unstable segment of a video clip is received. The zoom value represents a value by which frames of the video clip in the unstable segment need to be zoomed to stabilize the unstable segment. An indicia is displayed representing the zoom value in a thumbnail in a user interface. The thumbnail represents the video clip. The indicia displayed over a region in the thumbnail corresponding to the unstable segment in the video clip. The inventor is Randy Ubillos.

Patent number 20100083096 is for visualizing content positioning within a document using layers. According to the patent, it can be difficult to predict what the layout of a document will be if the document contains several content elements, some of which are associated with different positioning schemes. In one embodiment, elements are shown in different layers based on their positioning schemes. For example, a first layer includes elements that are associated with non-overlapping positioning schemes, and a second layer includes elements that are associated with overlapping positioning schemes. When the document is viewed from above, the layers “collapse” onto each other, and the document appears to have a conventional (two-dimensional) page rendering. However, when the document is viewed from an angle, the layers appear separately in three-dimensional space, similar to an exploded view. The separate layers reveal the positioning schemes of the various elements and the layout interactions between those elements. This visualization technique helps a user understand how various elements are positioned within the document. The inventors are Dimitri Dupuis-Latour, Pierre JY Frisch, Francois M. Jouaux and Gilles Drieu.

Patent number 20100083151 is for natural language based filtering. Natural language based filtering is disclosed. In some embodiments, a user interface for defining one or more filters for a group of data allows one or more parameters associated with a filter definition, including a filter condition, to at least in part be specified in natural language. In some embodiments, a filter definition is specified at least in part by selecting one or more of a plurality of pre-configured natural language expressions made available for selection via the user interface. The inventors are Nathaniel Cleverly Lanza and Christopher Douglas Weeldreyer.

Patent number 20100083184 is for selective grouping and manipulation of chart components. In some embodiments, exploding chart components comprises receiving an indication of a selection of an option to explode a subset of chart components as a single unit and exploding the subset of chart components as a single unit, wherein a relative spacing and positioning between chart components in the subset is preserved when the subset is exploded as a single unit. The inventors are Michael Duncan Trent, Chaokuo Lin and Ian Patrick McCullough.

Patent number 20100083090 involves context sensitive computations. In some embodiments, semantics with respect to various spreadsheet operations are specified for each of a plurality of number formats in a spreadsheet application. The semantics associated with a particular number format specify behavior for values of that number format with respect to various spreadsheet operations. The inventors are Michael Jeremy Coblenz, Jeffery Robert Hunter and Yik Shing Yip.

Patent number 20100083091 is for dynamic text escaping. In some embodiments, text that includes one or more prescribed characters is represented on a pasteboard in a plurality of representations, including an escaped representation that escapes the one or more prescribed characters so that a format of the text can be preserved when the text is pasted into a cell of a spreadsheet application that does not natively support inclusion of the one or more prescribed characters in cell content. The inventors are Peter Glen Berger and Tamara Lynn Abell.

Patent number 20100083092 involves dynamic schema creation. In a database application executing on a computer system, a database table view is represented by a structured object located on a storage device coupled to the computer system. Responsive to a user pasting content (e.g., spreadsheet data) onto the view of the table, the database application determines if the content to be pasted extends beyond the number of rows (records in a database) or columns (database fields) currently displayed in the table view. If the content extends beyond the number of rows or columns currently displayed, the database application automatically adds one or more records or fields to the structured object on the storage device, and updates the table view to display one or more rows or columns corresponding to the records or fields added to the structured object. The inventors are Geoff Schuller and Yan Guo.

Patent number 20100083086 is for providing spreadsheet features. Heuristic based feature degradation and/or restoration is disclosed. In some embodiments, providing a feature with respect to a set of cells includes determining that a degradation threshold associated with the feature is satisfied with respect to the set of cells and at least partially degrading the feature for the set of cells. The inventors are Peter Glen Berger and Yaniv Gur.

Patent number 20100083087 involves rendering common cell formatting for adjacent cells. In some embodiments, when rendering cells, a set of adjacent cells that have at least one type of cell formatting in common is identified, and the at least one type of cell formatting is rendered as a single entity rather than individually for each cell in the set to prevent visual artifacts between adjacent cells from arising. The inventor is Tsurishaddai Williamson.

Patent number 20100083151 is for defining custom formats. In some embodiments, in response to receiving an indication of a selection of an option to define a custom cell format, a user interface to define the custom cell format is provided, wherein a format element in a definition of the custom cell format in the user interface is represented as a format element token. The inventors are Jeffery Robert Hunter and Christopher Douglas Weeldreyer.

Patent number 2010008089 is for token representation of references and function arguments. In some embodiments, an indication that a formula is being entered into a cell is received, and references and/or function arguments in the formula, if any, are represented as tokens. Each token comprises an atomic user interface object. In various embodiments, references are rendered as reference tokens and function arguments are rendered as argument tokens and/or mode tokens. The inventors are Peter William Rapp, Maxence Lloyd Crossley and Christopher Douglas Weeldreyer.

Patent number 20100083351 involves access control to content published by a host. Methods and systems for providing easy access to information and sharing are provided. Embodiments of the present invention enable a host to grant access to published content to one or more users in a manner in which the user(s) can scan small portions of information to decide which information is desired. The embodiments described herein enable, for example, a user to see a library of content that is larger than the storage capacity of the computing unit used by the user. The sharing of information is also secured through the use of auto-lock keys and the creation of abstract identities for the host and each user. The inventor is Scott Ryder.

Patent number 20100083023 involves negotiation between multiple processing units for switch mitigation. A method for maintaining data and clock line synchronization, which may include a clock line that may be driven high after a clock line falling edge to mitigate a clock error. Additionally, the clock error may be mitigated by maintaining a saturated state of a device. Furthermore, a register may be connected to a microcontroller and/or a graphical processing unit to negotiate control of a switch and a bus. The inventors are Nebojsa Bjegovic and Vanessa Cristina Heppolette.

Patent number 20100083026 is for inter-processor communication channel including power-down functionality. In one embodiment, the apparatus may comprise a first integrated circuit (IC), a second IC coupled to the first IC via a communication interface, wherein the first IC is in one or more low power states and unable to monitor the communication interface. The apparatus may further comprise an inter-processor communication (IPC) channel coupled between the first and second ICs, wherein the IPC channel is separate from the communication interface and wherein the second IC generates at least one advisory signal to the first IC via the IPC channel. The inventors are Timothy Millet, Binu K. Mathew and Stephan Vincent Schell.