Several Apple patents have appeared today at the US Patent & Trademark Office. Following is a summary of each.
Patent number 7917892 is for a user interface driven by dynamic state changes. A method for responding to changes to properties of component instances is disclosed. A routine, that is to be informed of changes that occur to a particular property of a plurality of properties of a component instance, is registered. The value of the particular property is detected as changed when the value of the particular property changes because of a change to another property of the plurality of properties. A call is made to the routine to indicate that the particular property has changed. Bradley D. Ford is the inventor.
Patent number 7914320 involves a cable connector assembly with sticky film. It includes an insulative housing, a plurality of contacts received in the insulative housing, a cable electrically connected with the contacts, a light guiding member, a cover enclosing the insulative housing and the cable, a LED covered by the light guiding member and a pair of films located between the LED and one side of the insulative housing. And the films are shielding a gap between the insulative housing and the cover. David Ko is the inventor.
Patent number 7915910 involves dynamic voltage and frequency management. In one embodiment, an integrated circuit includes a self calibration unit configured to iterate a test on a logic circuit in the integrated circuit at respectively lower supply voltage magnitudes until the test fails. A lowest supply voltage magnitude at which the test passes is used to generate a requested supply voltage magnitude for the integrated circuit. In an embodiment, an integrated circuit includes a series connection of logic gates physically distributed over an area of the integrated circuit, and a measurement unit configured to launch a logical transition into the series and detect a corresponding transition at the output of the series. The amount of time between the launch and the detection is used to request a supply voltage magnitude for the integrated circuit. The inventor is Vincent R. von Kaenel.
Patent number 7917360 is for echo avoidance in audio time stretching. Per the patent, a transient echo can be avoided during time stretching of a digital audio signal by detecting a transient in a frame of a digital audio signal, identifying another occurrence of the transient in a subsequent frame of the digital audio signal, rotating the transient occurring in the subsequent frame to align the transient occurring in the subsequent frame with the transient detected in the frame, and aggregating the frame with the subsequent frame. Further, another occurrence of the transient can be identified in another subsequent frame of the digital audio signal and it can be determined that the transient occurring in that subsequent frame cannot be aligned with the transient detected in the frame. The copy of the transient occurring in the another subsequent frame can then be blended across that frame, such as by performing phase accumulation on one or more frequency components. Kevin Christopher Rogers is the inventor.
Patent number 7915987 involves acoustic noise reduction in power supply indicators. Embodiments of the present invention provide an apparatus that reduces an audible noise produced in a power supply. The apparatus includes: a housing; an inductor coil formed from a coil of wire enclosed in the housing; a set of wires that are coupled from the inductor coil to the outside of the housing through corresponding apertures in the housing, comprising electrical leads for the inductor coil; and a predetermined amount of adhesive in the apertures that bonds the wires to the housing to reduce an audible noise produced when the current through the inductor coil is cycled quickly. Dayu Qu is the inventor.
Patent number 7917784 is for methods and systems for power management in a data processing system. In one embodiment, a data processing system includes a general purpose processing unit, a graphics processing unit (GPU), at least one peripheral interface controller, at least one bus coupled to the general purpose processing unit, and a power controller coupled to at least the general purpose processing unit and the GPU. The power controller is configured to turn power off for the general purpose processing unit in response to a first state of an instruction queue of the general purpose processing unit and is configured to turn power off for the GPU in response to a second state of an instruction queue of the GPU. The first state and the second state represent an instruction queue having either no instructions or instructions for only future events or actions. The inventors are Joshua de Cesare, Bernard Semeria and Michael Smith.
Patent number 7917796 is for a method and apparatus for the generation and control of clock signals. At least one embodiment of the present invention provides a means of dynamically generating, storing, updating and using spread spectrum profiles in a clock circuit to provide spread spectrum modulated clock signals and to slew clock frequency. Thomas J. Wilson is the inventor.
Patent number 7917846 involves web clip anchoring. Methods, computer program products, systems and data structures for generating a signature for a portion or portions of a content source are described. The signature can be generated by identifying a portion or portions of a content source, and determining a signature that defines the portion or portions. If the source is updated, the signature can be retrieved and compared to elements in the updated source. If an element in the updated source matches information included in the signature, content corresponding to the matching element is displayed. The inventors are Kevin Decker, John Sullivan and David Harrison.
Patent number 7917861 is for user interface elements’ cloning and transitions. Systems and methods of displaying a user interface in a portable electronic device are provided. In one embodiment, a method includes creating a first clone and a second clone of a user interface element. The method also includes displaying the first clone of the user interface element on a display of the portable electronic device, modifying the second clone of the user interface element, and transitioning between the first clone of the user interface element and the second clone of the user interface element. In another embodiment, a method includes displaying an initial user interface element and displaying a transition between the initial user interface element and a final user interface element, wherein the transition is selected based on a classification of the initial user interface element and a classification of the final user interface element. The inventors are Jesse W. Boettcher, Peter A. Rossi and David J. Rempel.
— Dennis Sellers