Patents Assigned to Apple
  • Video signal encoding/decoding method and device therefor
    Patent number: 11863745
    Abstract: A video decoding method according to the present invention may comprise: a step for determining whether to divide a current block into a plurality of sub-blocks; a step for determining an intra prediction mode for the current block; and a step for performing intra prediction for each sub-block on the basis of the intra prediction mode, when the current block is divided into the plurality of sub-blocks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Bae Keun Lee
  • Providing audio information with a digital assistant
    Patent number: 11861265
    Abstract: In an exemplary technique, speech input including one or more instructions is received. After the speech input has stopped, if it is determined that one or more visual characteristics indicate that further speech input is not expected, a response to the one or more instructions is provided. If it is determined that one or more visual characteristics indicate that further speech input is expected, a response to the one or more instructions is not provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Rahul Nair, Golnaz Abdollahian, Avi Bar-Zeev, Niranjan Manjunath
  • Wireless headphone interactions
    Patent number: 11863954
    Abstract: The present disclosure generally relates to user interfaces for electronic audio devices. In some examples, the operating mode of the device changes to various states of sound transparency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: David Chance Graham, Patrick L Coffman, Thomas S. Hulbert, Cyrus Daniel Irani, Daniel Max Strongwater
  • Displays with coherent fiber bundles
    Patent number: 11860409
    Abstract: A display may have an array of display pixels that generate an image. A coherent fiber bundle may be mounted on the display pixels. The coherent fiber bundle may have a first surface that is adjacent to the display pixels and a second surface that is visible to a viewer. The coherent fiber bundle may contain fibers that carry light from the first surface to the second surface. The second surface may be planar or may have a central planar region and curved edge regions that run along opposing sides of the central planar region. The fibers may have cross-sectional surface areas with a first aspect ratio on the first surface and a second aspect ratio that is greater than the first aspect ratio on the second surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Tseng-Mau Yang, Christopher D. Prest, Dale N. Memering
  • Systems, methods, and graphical user interfaces for interacting with virtual reality environments
    Patent number: 11861136
    Abstract: A computer system displays a view of at least a portion of a simulated three-dimensional space, and a view of a user interface object located within the simulated three-dimensional space. The user interface object is a representation of a computing device that has a non-immersive display environment that provides access to a plurality of different applications. The user interface object includes a first user interface that corresponds to the non-immersive display environment of the computing device and is responsive to touch inputs from a user on the input device, and a pose of the user interface object in the simulated three-dimensional space corresponds to a pose of the input device in a physical space surrounding the input device. In response to a touch input that corresponds to a respective location in the first user interface, an appearance of the first user interface is updated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Jeffrey M. Faulkner, Wesley M. Holder, Giancarlo Yerkes, Israel Pastrana Vicente, William A. Sorrentino, III, Stephen O. Lemay
  • Camera system
    Patent number: 11860368
    Abstract: A device for MR/VR systems that includes a two-dimensional array of cameras that capture images of respective portions of a scene. The cameras are positioned along a spherical surface so that the cameras have adjacent fields of view. The entrance pupils of the cameras are positioned at or near the user's eye while the cameras also form optimized images at the sensor. Methods for reducing the number of cameras in an array, as well as methods for reducing the number of pixels read from the array and processed by the pipeline, are also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Noah D. Bedard, Ricardo J. Motta, Emanuele Mandelli, Daniel R. Hennigan, Kathrin Berkner Cieslicki, Branko Petljanski, Brett D. Miller, Kenichi Saito
  • Soft magnetic ring for wireless power devices
    Patent number: 11862985
    Abstract: A device or an accessory may include a near-field communications antenna and a soft magnetic ring concentric with the near-field communications antenna. The device or accessory may further include at least one wireless charging coil concentric with the near-field communications antenna, a rectifier coupled to the at least one wireless charging coil, and a battery configured to receive a rectified voltage from the rectifier. The soft magnetic ring may be used to shunt magnetic flux from one or more nearby magnets in external electronic devices to prevent the magnets from repelling each other. The soft magnetic ring may be attracted to a magnet in an external device to help align wireless charging coils in the two mated devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Jeffrey D. Louis
  • Utilization of luminance changes to determine user characteristics
    Patent number: 11861837
    Abstract: Identifying a state of a user (e.g., attentive, distracted, mind wandering, etc.) based on the user's physiological (e.g., pupillary) response to luminance change events in which a portion or all of the content quickly becomes brighter or dimmer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Izzet B. Yildiz, Grant H. Mulliken, Sterling R. Crispin
  • Electronic devices with reduced stray light and ambient light reflections
    Patent number: 11860394
    Abstract: An electronic device may have a display overlapped by an image transport layer such as a coherent fiber bundle or layer of Anderson localization material. The image transport layer may have an input surface that receives an image from the display and a corresponding output surface to which the image is transported. The input surface and output surface may have different shapes. During fabrication of the image transport layer, molding techniques, grinding and polishing techniques, and other processes may be used to deform the image transport layer and the shape of the output surface. To help reduce ambient light reflections and stray light, light-absorbing structures may be incorporated into the image transport layer and other structures overlapping the display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Yi Qiao, Jean-Pierre S. Guillou, Michael J. Brown, Paul C. Kelley, Tyler R. Kakuda, Ying-Chih Wang, Salman Karbasi
  • Multiplex control for multi-port AC/DC adapter with chopper
    Patent number: 11863084
    Abstract: A multi-output AC/DC adapter can include a main power stage that receives power from an AC power source and delivers an intermediate output voltage, a plurality of regulator stages each comprising a chopper circuit that receives the intermediate output voltage and produces a regulated output DC voltage for one of the multiple outputs, and a controller. The main power stage can be a flyback converter, and the intermediate output voltage can be derived from a secondary winding of a flyback transformer of the flyback converter. The controller can provide a voltage reference signal and a feedback signal to the feedback loop of the main power stage, and the feedback signal can be an output voltage of one of the regulator stages. The controller can also provide a voltage reference signal to the controller of each of the regulator stages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Bogdan T. Bucheru
  • Integrated GaN power module
    Patent number: 11862688
    Abstract: Integrated power modules according to the present technology may include a printed circuit board characterized by a first surface and a second surface. The integrated power modules may include one or more surface-mounted components coupled with the first surface of the printed circuit board. The integrated power modules may include a heat-transfer substrate. The integrated power modules may include one or more gallium nitride transistors coupled between and soldered to each of the second surface of the printed circuit board and the heat-transfer substrate. The integrated power modules may include one or more spacers coupled between and soldered to each of the printed circuit board and the heat-transfer substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Ashish K. Sahoo, Brandon Pierquet, Derryk C. Davis, Javier Ruiz, John M. Brock
  • Real-time relay of wireless communications
    Patent number: 11864025
    Abstract: Exemplary embodiments include a system having a first wireless audio output device configured to connect to a source device via a first piconet and a second wireless audio output device configured to connect to the first wireless audio output device via a second piconet. A schedule of the first piconet includes a plurality of slots associated with an audio packet, a first subset of the slots used by the source device to transmit the audio packet, the first and second wireless audio output devices tuning to the first piconet to listen for the transmissions of the audio packet, and when, after a last one of the first subset of slots, the first or second wireless audio output devices did not receive the audio packet, the first and second wireless audio output devices exchange information via the second piconet such that the both wireless audio output device receive the audio packet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Anatoli Gostev, Louay Alsakka, Axel Berny, Tad Dreier, Joachim Hammerschmidt, Lei Li, Xiaojun Chen, Vusthla Sunil Reddy, Peter M. Agboh, Mohit Narang
  • Execution space agnostic device drivers
    Patent number: 11860796
    Abstract: Embodiments described herein provide techniques to manage drivers in a user space in a data processing system. One embodiment provides a data processing system configured perform operations, comprising discovering a hardware device communicatively coupled to the communication bus, launching a user space driver daemon, establishing an inter-process communication (IPC) link between a first proxy interface for the user space driver daemon and a second proxy interface for a server process in a kernel space, receiving, at the first proxy interface, an access right to enable access to a memory buffer in the kernel space, and relaying an access request for the memory buffer from the user space driver daemon via a third-party proxy interface to enable the user space driver daemon to access the memory buffer, the access request based on the access right.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jeremy C. Andrus, Joseph R. Auricchio, Russell A. Blaine, Daniel A. Chimene, Simon M. Douglas, Landon J. Fuller, Yevgen Goryachok, John K. Kim-Biggs, Arnold S. Liu, James M. Magee, Daniel A. Steffen, Roberto G. Yepez
  • Devices, methods, and graphical user interfaces for selecting and interacting with different device modes
    Patent number: 11861159
    Abstract: A method is performed at a mobile device with a display. The method includes displaying a first mode of a plurality of modes of the device. The first mode of the device is active when a first set of time and/or device location criteria are met and the second mode of the device is active when a second set of time and/or device location criteria are met. While the first set of time and/or device location criteria are met and the first mode of the device is active, the mobile device detects a first input that overrides the first mode of the device. In response to detecting the first input, the mobile device activates the second mode of the device. The mobile device detects a second input and, in response to detecting the second input, performs an operation in the second mode of the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Marcel van Os, Donald W. Pitschel
  • Accessory for an electronic device
    Patent number: D1009457
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jody Akana, Molly Anderson, Bartley K. Andre, Shota Aoyagi, Anthony Michael Ashcroft, Marine C. Bataille, Jeremy Bataillou, Markus Diebel, M. Evans Hankey, Julian Hoenig, Richard P. Howarth, Jonathan P. Ive, Julian Jaede, Duncan Robert Kerr, Peter Russell-Clarke, Benjamin Andrew Shaffer, Joe Sung-Ho Tan, Clement Tissandier, Eugene Antony Whang, Rico Zörkendörfer
  • Band
    Patent number: D1009675
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    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
  • Electronic device with graphical user interface
    Patent number: D1009920
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Kevin Will Chen, Alan C. Dye, Aurelio Guzmán, Bon Min, Christopher I. Wilson
  • Display screen or portion thereof with graphical user interface
    Patent number: D1009931
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Gary Butcher, Kevin Will Chen, Alan C. Dye, Jonathan P. Ive, Brian Andrew Schmitt
  • Display screen or portion thereof with animated icon
    Patent number: D1009932
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Willem Renier Blignaut, Benjamin B. Bours, Drew Rocky Domm, Alexander Benton Grossman, Lené van Heerden, Byron Peter Meiring, David Moretti, Thomas Ignathius Jakobus Naudé, William Pule, Tiffany Shelton Reese, Christine Elizabeth Tran, Michael Joseph Zarcone, III
  • Type font
    Patent number: D1009986
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Alan C. Dye, Aurelio Guzmán, Christopher Wilson