Patents Assigned to Apple
  • Patent number: 9955599
    Abstract: A cold worked stainless steel bezel for a portable electronic device. The bezel is secured flush to a housing to form part of the case of the portable electronic device. A brace that includes a slot for receiving a wall extending from the bezel is fixed to the housing. When the bezel engages the housing, the wall of the bezel is inserted in the slot of the brace and releasably held by a spring that engages both the brace and the wall. The bezel can be released by disengaging the spring. The bezel is hard and resistant to impacts. Cold worked steel also facilitates manufacturing within design constraints and tolerances, and requires very little machining after manufacturing to comply with those constraints. the portable electronic device may include a personal media device, a mobile telephone, or any other suitable device or combination thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Stephen P. Zadesky, Phillip M. Hobson, Tang Yew Tan
  • Patent number: 9954386
    Abstract: A display apparatus, such as a table, for display consumer products, such as electronic devices, is disclosed. The table may include a display cavity for displaying products. The display cavity may include a transparent glass panel defining a top portion thereof so as to allow consumers to view products housed within the display cavity. A display fixture for holding a consumer product with the display cavity is disclosed. A kit for aligning a plurality of nodes on the display panel is also disclosed. A DC-to-DC converter that can receive a DC input voltage via a first standard receptacle connector, convert the DC input voltage to a DC output voltage using regulator circuitry and provide the DC output voltage at a second standard receptacle connector is also disclosed. The DC-to-DC converter can include a compact, cosmetic, minimalist housing for containing a space-efficient printed circuit board that includes the regulator circuitry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Charles A. Schwalbach, David Samuel Kumka, Sheng Yang, David Benjamin Kosecoff
  • Patent number: 9955379
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for reduction of interference between a plurality of wireless interfaces. In one exemplary embodiment, a device having a first (e.g., Wi-Fi) interface and a second (e.g., Bluetooth) interface monitors interference between its interfaces. A reduction in transmit power of the Wi-Fi module causes a disproportionately larger reduction in undesirable interference experienced at the Bluetooth antennas. For example, when the Bluetooth interface detects interference levels above acceptable thresholds, the Wi-Fi interface adjusts operation of one or more of its transmit chains based on various conditions such as duty cycle, Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), etc. Various embodiments of the present invention provide simultaneous operation of WLAN and PAN interfaces, without requiring time division coexistence, by reducing power on a subset of interfering antennas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Camille Chen, Lei Li, Chris Zimmermann, Michael J. Giles, Jaime Tolentino, Chris Hartman, Arthur Lin
  • Patent number: 9954571
    Abstract: A cover is described that is magnetically attached to a tablet device. The cover includes at least as flap. In the described embodiment, the flap includes a plurality of segments where the first segment includes a first plurality of edge attach magnets arrayed along a first edge of the flap and where a second segment includes a second plurality of edge attach magnets arrayed along a second edge of the flap opposite the first edge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jared A. Sartee, Samuel G. Smith, Santhana K. Balaji
  • Patent number: 9953391
    Abstract: Methods of expressing animation in a data stream are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of expressing animation in a data stream includes defining animation states in the data stream with each state having at least one property such that properties are animated as a group. The animation states that are defined in the data stream may be expressed as an extension of a styling sheet language. The data stream may include web content and the defined animation states.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Peter Graffagnino, Dave Hyatt, Richard Blanchard, Kevin Calhoun, Gilles Drieu, Maciej Stachowiak, Don Melton, Darin Adler
  • Patent number: 9952264
    Abstract: A display may have a substrate layer to which a display driver integrated circuit and flexible printed circuit are bonded. The display driver integrated circuit may be provided with switches and control circuitry for controlling the operation of the switches during bond resistance measurements. Test equipment may apply currents to pads in the display driver integrated circuit through contacts in the flexible printed circuit while controlling the switching circuitry. Based on these measurements and the measurement of trace resistances in a dummy flexible printed circuit, the test equipment may determine bond resistances for bonds between the display driver integrated circuit and the display substrate and between the flexible printed circuit and the display substrate. Displays may have master and slave display driver integrated circuits that share coarse reference voltages produced by the master from raw power supply voltages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Kingsuk Brahma, David A. Stronks, Hopil Bae, Wei H. Yao
  • Patent number: 9952863
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed relating to capturing information related to instructions executing on in a processor. In one embodiment, an integrated circuit is disclosed that includes an execution pipeline configured to execute a sequence of instructions. The integrated circuit includes monitoring circuitry configured to monitor the execution pipeline for occurrences of an event associated with the sequence of instructions, and in response to detecting a particular number of occurrences of the event, capture a value of a program counter corresponding to an instruction of the sequence of instructions that is associated with an occurrence of the event. The monitoring circuitry stores the captured value of the program counter in a distinct capture register and signals an interrupt indicating that the captured value of the program counter is retrievable from the capture register. In some embodiments, a debugging application may retrieve the value and present it to a developer attempting perform code profiling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Conrado Blasco, Deepankar Duggal, Richard F. Russo
  • Patent number: 9954642
    Abstract: In some embodiments, a first wireless device initializes a first threshold and sends a first frame transmission to a second wireless device. When the first wireless device determines that the first frame transmission was successful, it adjusts the first threshold to a second threshold that is greater than the first threshold. Additionally, when the first wireless device determines that the first frame transmission was not successful, the first wireless device adjusts the first threshold to a third threshold that is less than the first threshold. The thresholds can be associated with any measure, including carrier sensitivity and/or energy detection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Chiu Ngok E. Wong, Christiaan A. Hartman, Guoqing Li, Joonsuk Kim, Su Khiong Yong, Yong Liu
  • Patent number: 9955312
    Abstract: Some embodiments of the invention provide a method for displaying a map. The method provides a first display area to display a map, and a second display area to overlap a portion of the first display area to display (i) a field to receive a search parameter and (ii) a set of predicted locations to view on the map. The second display area is moveable over the first display area in order to decrease its size to allow a larger portion of the map to be displayed in the first display area, or to increase its size to allow a larger number of predicted locations to be displayed in the second display area. In some embodiments, the second display area overlaps a bottom portion of the first display area. In some embodiments, the method is implemented by a map application that executes on a mobile device. The set of predicted locations displayed in the second display area in some embodiments include addresses harvested from applications executing on the mobile device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Tim A. Aerts
  • Patent number: 9955247
    Abstract: Headphone eartips with internal support components and methods for making the same are provided. At least one support component may provide specific amounts and types of rigidity at specific portions of an inner eartip body defining an inner eartip space that transmits sound to an eardrum when an eartip subassembly is positioned within an ear canal, such that the eartip subassembly may ensure an effective sound path while also at least partially conforming to various ear canal geometries.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Ethan L. Huwe, Glenn K. Trainer, Scott C. Grinker
  • Patent number: 9955426
    Abstract: Apparatuses and methods to operate a display device of an electronic device. In some embodiments, a method includes receiving a user setting of a display control parameter, and altering, based on the user setting, an effect of an ambient light sensor value (ALS) on control of the display control parameter. Also, according to embodiments of the inventions, a method of operating a display of an electronic device includes receiving a change to one of a display brightness output level and an ambient light sensor output level, and altering, according to the change, a display contrast output level. In some embodiments, a method of operating a proximity sensor of an electronic device includes receiving a light sensor output, and altering, according to the output, an on/off setting of a proximity sensor. Other apparatuses and methods and data processing systems and machine readable media are also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Scott M. Herz, Roberto G. Yepez, Michael F. Culbert, Scott Forstall
  • Patent number: 9952703
    Abstract: An electronic device has a force sensor that determines a measure of applied force from a user contacting a cover glass of the device. In one embodiment, a frame at least partially encloses an interior of the electronic device and has an open end. A cover glass covers the open end of the frame and is movably connected to the frame to allow movement of the cover glass in response to one or more forces applied to an external surface of the cover glass. A plurality of strain probes is positioned under the cover glass, between the cover glass and the frame, and is arranged to output a plurality of strain signals responsive to the one or more forces applied to the cover glass. A force processing module is configured to at least calculate an amount of force applied to the cover glass based on the plurality of stain signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Storrs T. Hoen, Kristina A. Babiarz, Miguel C. Christophy, Romain A. Teil, Sinan Filiz, Vivek Katiyar
  • Patent number: 9952558
    Abstract: An electronic device has a housing and a rotatable and translatable input mechanism. The housing has an aperture and the rotatable and translatable input mechanism has a shaft positioned at least partially within the aperture and a manipulation structure coupled to the shaft. The manipulation structure may be manipulated to rotationally and translationally move the shaft to provide rotational and translational input to the electronic device. A compressible seal is positioned in a gap between the housing and the rotatable and translatable input mechanism. The compressible seal may resist and/or prevent passage of contaminants into the aperture and/or obscure one or more internal components. The compressible seal may be configured to collapse or bend when the rotatable and translatable member translates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventor: Colin M. Ely
  • Patent number: 9952642
    Abstract: Systems and methods for operating a display by dynamically determining a refresh rate for the display. In certain implementations, a processor determines a number of pixels having medium grayscale levels from a histogram for the image. If the number does not exceed a threshold, the processor sets a refresh rate for the display to a first refresh rate. In certain implementations, if the number exceeds a threshold, the processor may set the refresh rate for the display to a second refresh rate. Moreover, the first refresh rate may be lower than the second threshold. In some implementations, the image may be analyzed by subdividing the image into blocks and determining a refresh rate based on grayscale levels or distributions in the blocks. Based on the analysis of the blocks, a corresponding refresh rate may be selected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Chaohao Wang, Louis Luh, Jun Qi, Cheng Chen, Jun Jiang, Paolo Sacchetto, Marc Albrecht
  • Patent number: 9953581
    Abstract: This application sets forth a circuit configuration for a light emitting diode (LED) or organic light emitting diode (OLED) display. The circuit configuration allows for the pulse-width modulation (PWM) of each emission signal sent to each line of the display. The PWM of each emission signal is accomplished using a gate-in-panel (GIP) controller of the display. The GIP controller uses an arrangement of shift register outputs and a programmable clock input to control an output of an inverter that provides the emission signal. The programmable clock input can be programmed according to a desired timing or duty cycle for the emission signal. In this way, by limiting the duty cycle of the emission signal, dimming and other display features can be exhibited by the LED or OLED display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Hung Sheng Lin, Chin-Wei Lin, Tsung-Ting Tsai, Sang Y. Youn, Hyunwoo Nho
  • Patent number: 9949537
    Abstract: Clasp assemblies for bands (e.g., for watches) are disclosed. In some embodiments, a clasp assembly may include a plurality of pivotally interconnected links, where respective links are releasably coupled to one another, and spring assemblies disposed between respective links impart biasing forces between the respective links. In some embodiments, a clasp assembly may include a clasp body, a clasp cover, and a connecting arm pivotally coupled to the clasp body at a first end of the connecting arm, and pivotally coupled to the clasp cover at a second end of the connecting arm. The clasp assembly may include springs, magnets, elastomer members, and/or other mechanisms, components, or assemblies that impart a biasing force between the clasp body, the connecting arm, and/or the clasp cover.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Motohide Hatanaka, Hsiang Hung Chen, Erik L. Wang, Michael J. Webb, Douglas J. Weber, Daniele De Iuliis, Kah Sim Quah
  • Patent number: 9954650
    Abstract: Apparatus and methods are disclosed for performing delayed hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) communications in the downlink (DL) to reduce power consumption for a user equipment (UE) during a connected mode discontinuous reception (C-DRX) cycle. An enhanced NodeB can be configured to monitor a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) for DL HARQ information to determine when the PUCCH contains a negative acknowledgement (NACK) message, and in response to determining that the PUCCH contains a NACK message, the eNodeB can wait until a next C-DRX ON duration to transmit a HARQ DL retransmission. The eNodeB can also determine whether or not to bundle the HARQ DL retransmission in consecutive transmission time intervals, based on a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) associated with the UE.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Tarik Tabet, Vinay R. Majjigi, Syed A. Mujtaba, Christian W. Mucke
  • Patent number: 9954996
    Abstract: A portable electronic device with a touch screen display displays an incoming message from a party to a user of the device while the device is locked. The device responds to detecting a user request to view the incoming message by immediately displaying a set of messages between the user and the party in a chronological order. While the device is unlocked, if an incoming message is longer than a predefined length the device displays a portion of the incoming message, a view icon, and a long-message indicia. Alternately, if the incoming message is equal to or less than the predefined length, the device displays the entire incoming message and a reply icon. In response to user selection of either the view icon or the reply icon, the device immediately displays a set of messages between the user of the device and the party in a chronological order.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Greg Christie, Marcel Van Os, Stephen O. Lemay, Evan Russell Doll
  • Patent number: 9955244
    Abstract: An electronic device may have a speaker for presenting audio to a user. The speaker may have a speaker diaphragm mounted in a speaker enclosure and driven using a speaker driver. A sensor such as a gas sensor, particulate sensor, or other environmental sensor may be mounted within the speaker enclosure. Control circuitry in the electronic device may move the speaker diaphragm to draw fresh air into the speaker enclosure or to capture a sample of liquid while using the environmental sensor to make sensor measurements. The control circuitry may use a display, other visual output devices, audio output devices, and/or vibrating output components to present alerts to the user based on environmental data from the environmental sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Fletcher R. Rothkopf
  • Patent number: D815972
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jody Akana, Bartley K. Andre, Shota Aoyagi, Anthony Michael Ashcroft, Jeremy Bataillou, Daniel J. Coster, Daniele De Iuliis, M. Evans Hankey, Julian Hoenig, Richard P. Howarth, Jonathan P. Ive, Duncan Robert Kerr, Marc A. Newson, Matthew Dean Rohrbach, Peter Russell-Clarke, Benjamin Andrew Shaffer, Mikael Silvanto, Christopher J. Stringer, Eugene Antony Whang, Rico Zörkendörfer