Apple has been granted several patents by the US Patent & Trademark Office. Following is a summary of each.
Patent 8013839 involves methods for determining a cursor position from a finger contact with a touch screen display. Per the patent, aportable device with a touch screen display detects a contact area of a finger with the touch screen display and then determines a first position associated with the contact area. The cursor position of the finger contact is determined, at least in part, based on: the first position, one or more distances between the first position and one or more of the user interface objects; and one or more activation susceptibility numbers, each associated with a respective user interface object in the plurality of user interface objects. If the cursor position falls into the hidden hit region of a virtual push button on the touch screen display, the portable device is activated to perform operations associated with the virtual push button. The inventors are Bas Ording, Scott Forstall and Greg Christie.
Patent number 8013874 for digital image albums that relates mainly to its iPhoto app, but also to Aperture. Per the patent, to better realize the great potential of amateur digital photography, the present invention introduces an integrated system for the acquisition, organization, manipulation, and publication of digital images by amateur digital photography enthusiasts. The system of the present invention first acquires images from a number of different image sources. Images acquired in the same image importing session are marked as coming from the same conceptual film roll. Next, a user is empowered to organize and manipulate the acquired images. The images may be organized by tagging the images with informative keywords and grouping images together into conceptual photo albums. Furthermore, the images may be manipulated by rotating, cropping, and removing red-eye. Finally, the system of the present invention provides simple intuitive image publish systems. A selected group of images may be published in a photobook, published onto the World Wide Web, or published as individual image prints with minimal computer knowledge on the part of the user.The inventors are Glen Reid, Aaron Disario, Tim Wasko and Daniel Waylonis.
Patent number 8,014,142 involves a display window securing system. According to the patent, a display window assembly is mounted in the opening of a bezel of a housing, and a force is exerted against the assembly by a suitable resilient element urging it outward through the opening. The assembly may be mounted on a support or frame, from which depends one or more tabs extending inwardly of the housing. At least one of the tabs is fastened with a fastener that extends from the exterior of the housing, through a portion other than the bezel and through a surface not generally facing the user when the user is viewing the display. The advancement/withdrawal direction of the fastener is not substantially normal to the display window. However, advancement/withdrawal of the fastener causes movement of the tab, and therefore of the assembly, in an adjustment direction substantially normal to the display window to adjust the position of the display window relative to the bezel.The inventors areChristopher Prest, Kyle Yeates and Michelle Yu.
Patent number 8,014,760 is for missed telephone call management for a portable multifunction device. In one aspect of the invention, a computer-implemented method is disclosed for use in conjunction with a portable electronic device with a touch screen display. A list of items comprising missed telephone calls is displayed. Upon detecting user selection of an item in the list, contact information is displayed for a respective caller corresponding to the user selected item. The displayed contact information includes a plurality of contact objects that include a first contact object, comprising a telephone number object having a first telephone number associated with the missed telephone call, and a second contact object. Upon detecting user selection of the second contact object, a communication with the respective caller is initiated via a modality corresponding to the second contact object. The inventors are Scott Forstall, Greg Christie, Scott Herz, Imran Chaudhri, Michael Matas, Marcel Van Os and Stephen O. Lemay.
Patent number 8,013,616 involves a type A USB receptacle with plug reception. Per the patent, a modified Series A universal serial bus (USB) receptacle connector is equipped with the functionality to allow the electronic system in which it resides to be configured either as a host device or a peripheral device. The modified USB Series A receptacle connector, according to one embodiment of the invention may include a mechanism such as an additional pin or a mechanical switch to detect the presence of a standard USB Series A plug being inserted into it. Upon detection of a plug, an algorithm may allow the system to determine whether it is to act as a host device or a peripheral device and to determine which device supplies power. The inventors are Alex Crumlin, Aaron Leiba and David Ferguson.
Patent number 8014520 is for a method and apparatus for data security using exponentiation. This is suitable for public key cryptography authentication and other data security applications using a one-way function. A type of exponentiation is disclosed here where the bits of an exponent value expressed in binary form correspond to a course (path) in a given graph defining the one-way function. This uses an approach called here F sequences. Each value is in a ladder of a sequence of values, as defined from its predecessor values. This ladder satisfies certain algebraic identities and is readily calculated by a computer program or logic circuitry. The inventors are Mathieu Ciet, Augustin J. Farrugia, Gianpaolo Fasoli and Filip Paun.
Finally, Apple has been granted design patents related to the iOS icon for Safari (patent D644658) and the iPod nano (patent D644624).
— Dennis Sellers