Apple granted patent on using apps during calls

Apple was granted a patent related to using apps while also on a call. This could change everything … for the competition.

Patent number 8,082,523, called Portable electronic device with graphical user interface supporting application switching, is interesting because it seems so specific while in fact also being very broad:

A method, comprising: at a portable electronic device with a touch screen display: displaying on the touch screen display a first user interface for a phone application during a phone call; detecting activation of a menu icon or menu button during the phone call, in response to detecting activation of the menu icon or menu button, replacing the first user interface for the phone application with a menu of application icons including an icon for the phone application and an icon for a non-telephone application; maintaining the phone call while displaying the menu of application icons on the touch screen display; detecting a finger gesture on an application icon in the menu of application icons other than the phone application icon; in response to detecting the finger gesture on the application icon other than the phone application icon, displaying a corresponding application user interface on the touch screen display while continuing to maintain the phone call and modifying the corresponding application user interface to include a switch application icon that is not displayed in the corresponding application user interface when there is no ongoing phone call; detecting a finger gesture on the touch screen display on the switch application icon; and in response to detecting the finger gesture on the switch application icon, replacing display of the corresponding application user interface with the first user interface for the phone application while continuing to maintain the phone call.

This patents the entire process of switching between a call and an app (and back again) on the iPhone. But what’s interesting is that the more you read this patent, the more you realize how cunning it is. It’s not impossible for someone to develop a method for switching between a call and apps that wouldn’t violate this patent, but the existence of this patent could very well make it hard for the solution to be an elegant one.

read more: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/apple-granted-patent-on-using-apps-during-calls/17407?tag=nl.e539

 

Apple loses China iPad trademark case

Apple has lost a long-running legal battle against a Taiwanese-owned company that it claimed was illegally using its iconic iPad trademark in China, court officials and state media said.

A court in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen ruled that Apple lacked “supporting facts and evidence” for its claim that Proview Technology (Shenzhen) was infringing the US company’s iconic tablet computer trademark.

Apple declined to comment when contacted.

Proview Technology (Shenzhen) is owned by a Taiwanese company that registered the trademark name “ipad” in several countries including China as early as 2000, years before Apple began selling the iconic tablet.

Apple paid 35,000 pounds ($53,400) for the global trademark right in 2009, but Proview Technology (Shenzhen) retained the Chinese rights, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The companies have been embroiled in a legal battle ever since, it said.

A company charged with restructuring the debts of Proview Technology (Shenzhen), which is on the brink of bankruptcy, said after the ruling that Proview would seek 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) from Apple for copyright infringement, Xinhua said.

read more: www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-08/apple-loses-china-ipad-trademark-case/3721268?section=world

 

Patent : Apple’s Slide-to-Unlock patent victory

U.S.-based consumer electronics giant Apple Inc. has scored yet another key patent victory in the fast-moving world of smart handheld devices.

On Oct. 25, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) granted Apple a patent on its iconic handset’s unlocking mechanism — the now famous Slide-to-Unlock gesture.

It was the latest in a number of touch-screen patents Apple has won in the past three years.

Media reports said the latest victory is sure to make Apple more assertive in the already ferocious patent battles the leading smartphone makers are waging against each other.

The following are excerpts from the local media coverage of the possible impact of Apple’s new patent triumph on local makers of smart devices:

Economic Daily News:

Slide-to-Unlock was one of the features that made Apple’s first handset — the iPhone — popular when it was released back in 2007 and a lot of platforms, such as Android and Windows Phone have since adopted the amazing concept.

Apple’s late co-founder Steve Jobs reportedly loved the device very much, as it allowed users to unlock iPhones very easily.

Apple submitted the patent application in December 2005, a little over a year before the iPhone was unveiled.

According to Apple’s patent application document, a device with a touch-sensitive display may be unlocked via gestures performed on the touch-sensitive display.

“The device is unlocked if contact with the display corresponds to a pre-defined gesture for unlocking the device.

“The device displays one or more unlock images with respect to which the pre-defined gesture is to be performed in order to unlock the device.

“The performance of the pre-defined gesture with respect to the unlock image may include moving the unlock image to a pre-defined location and/or moving the unlock image along a pre-defined path.

“The device may also display visual cues of the pre-defined gesture on the touch screen to remind a user of the gesture.”

As such, industry analysts said, almost no other mobile platforms can use the Slide-to-Unlock gesture without infringing on Apple’s patent, and they must unlock their devices either by default or via a software application, the analysts noted.

read more: http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?ID=201110270039&Type=aTOD