Patents Assigned to Apple
  • Patent number: 11862173
    Abstract: In an embodiment, an integrated circuit may include one or more CPUs, a memory controller, and a circuit configured to remain powered on when the rest of the SOC is powered down. The circuit may be configured to receive audio samples from a microphone, and match those audio samples against a predetermined pattern to detect a possible command from a user of the device that includes the SOC. In response to detecting the predetermined pattern, the circuit may cause the memory controller to power up so that audio samples may be stored in the memory to which the memory controller is coupled. The circuit may also cause the CPUs to be powered on and initialized, and the operating system (OS) may boot. During the time that the CPUs are initializing and the OS is booting, the circuit and the memory may be capturing the audio samples.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Timothy J. Millet, Manu Gulati, Michael F. Culbert
  • 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
  • Patent number: 11860246
    Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses and non-transitory, computer-readable mediums are disclosed for short-range position tracking using a stationary magnetic field gradient. In an embodiment, a method comprises: obtaining, by a sensing array of a device worn or held by a user in an environment, a measurement of a stationary magnetic field generated by a magnetic source in the environment, the stationary magnetic field being independent of an ambient magnetic field in the environment; determining based on the measurement, a change in the magnetic field over time; determining based on the measurement, a change in the magnetic field over distance; obtaining, by the processor, a rotation angle of the device; determining a velocity of the device based on the change in the magnetic field over time, the change in the magnetic field over distance and the rotation angle of the device; and integrating the velocity to obtain a position of the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Hong Pan, Jian Guo, John G. Elias, Savas Gider
  • 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
  • Patent number: 11863346
    Abstract: Embodiments relate to including information in a data packet transmitted by a transmitting integrated circuit (e.g., SOC) to account for a time delay associated with an unsuccessful arbitration attempt to send the data packet over a multi-drop bus. The unsuccessful arbitration attempt by the integrated circuit may delay the transmission of the data packet until the multi-drop bus becomes available for the integrated circuit to send the data packet. The data packet includes a data field to include time delay information caused by the unsuccessful arbitration attempt. A receiving integrated circuit may determine the time that the data packet would have been sent out from the transmitting integrated circuit absent the unsuccessful arbitration attempt based on the delay information. Embodiments also relate to a synchronization generator circuit in an integrated circuit that generates timing signals indicating times at which periodic events occur at another integrated circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Helena Deirdre O'Shea, Matthias Sauer, Jorge L. Rivera Espinoza
  • Patent number: 11864092
    Abstract: Techniques for performance measurements related to application triggering and short message service (SMS) over non-access stratum (NAS) including obtaining raw performance measurements from one or more network functions in a wireless communication network, the one or more network functions including at least one of a network exposure function (NEF) or an access and mobility management function (AMF), and generating performance measurements for the one or more network functions based on the raw performance measurements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Yizhi Yao, Joey Chou
  • Patent number: 11863837
    Abstract: In some embodiments, an electronic device detects that playback of content has reached a respective playback position. In some embodiments, in response to detecting that the playback of the content has reached the respective playback position and in accordance with a determination that the respective playback position in the content is associated with respective augmented reality content corresponding to the content, an electronic device provides a notification corresponding to the respective augmented reality content wherein an input directed to the notification initiates a process for displaying of the respective augmented reality content. In some embodiments, in accordance with a determination that the respective playback position in the content is not associated with the respective augmented reality content, an electronic device forgoes providing the notification corresponding to the respective augmented reality content.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Tommy Payne
  • Patent number: 11862838
    Abstract: An electronic device may include a curved cover layer and an antenna. The antenna may include a ground and a resonating element on a curved surface of a substrate. The curved surface may have a curvature that matches that of the cover layer. The resonating element may include first, second, and third arms fed by a feed. The first arm and a portion of the ground may form a loop antenna resonating element. The second arm and the first arm may form an inverted-F antenna resonating element, where a portion of the first arm forms a return path to the antenna ground for the inverted-F antenna resonating element. A gap between the first and second arms may form a distributed capacitance. The third arm may form an L-shaped antenna resonating element. The antenna may have a wide bandwidth from below 2.4 GHz to greater than 9.0 GHz.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Lijun Zhang, Jiangfeng Wu, Mattia Pascolini, Siwen Yong, Yi Jiang
  • Patent number: 11861788
    Abstract: One or more computing devices implement a mesh analysis for evaluating meshes to be rendered when rendering immersive content. The mesh analysis identifies objects in a three-dimensional scene and determines geometrical complexity values for the objects. Objects with similar geometrical complexities are grouped into areas and a mesh vertices budget is determined for the respective areas. Metadata indicating the area definitions and corresponding mesh vertices budgets are generated. The metadata may be uploaded to a server to simplify meshes in the scene prior to streaming to a client, or the metadata may be provided to a client for use in simplifying the meshes as part of rendering the scene.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Afshin Taghavi Nasrabadi, Maneli Noorkami
  • Patent number: 11860585
    Abstract: Embodiments are directed to a smartwatch including a housing that at least partially defines an internal volume, and a touch-sensitive display positioned at least partially within the internal volume. A front cover can be positioned over the touch-sensitive display and can define a front exterior surface. A seal can be positioned between the housing and the front cover and configured to transition between an uncompressed state and a compressed state in response to an increase from a first external pressure on the front cover to a second external pressure. In the uncompressed state, the seal has a first density and is air-permeable allowing an internal pressure of the internal volume to equalize with external air at the first pressure. In the compressed state, the seal has a second density, greater than the first density, and is configured to inhibit ingress of water at the second pressure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Patrick J. Crowley, Eric T. Chiang, Ross L Jackson
  • 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
  • Patent number: 11857063
    Abstract: A wirelessly locatable tag may include a first housing member defining a first exterior surface of the wirelessly locatable tag and an interior surface opposite the first exterior surface. The wirelessly locatable tag may further include a second housing member defining a second exterior surface of the wirelessly locatable tag a first antenna configured transmit the wireless signal using a first wireless protocol, a second antenna configured to communicate using a second wireless protocol different than the first wireless protocol, and an audio system. The audio system may include a magnet assembly configured to produce a magnetic field and a coil positioned within the magnetic field and coupled to the interior surface of the first housing member, the coil configured to interact with the magnetic field to impart a force on the first housing member, thereby moving a portion of the first housing member to produce an audible output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Justin D. Crosby, Ryan C. Perkins, Woojin Jung, Tatsuya Sano, Samuel B. Schaevitz, Christopher J. Walton, Christopher M. Werner
  • Patent number: 11863224
    Abstract: An electronic device may include a transmission line path having a signal conductor embedded in a substrate. A contact pad may be patterned on a surface of the substrate. A radio-frequency component may be mounted to the contact pad using solder. Multi-layer impedance matching structures may couple the signal conductor to the contact pad. The matching structures may include a set of via pads and a set of conductive vias coupled in series between the signal conductor and the contact pad. The area of the via pads may vary across the set of via pads and/or the aspect ratio of the conductive vias may vary across the set of conductive vias. The matching structures may perform impedance matching between the signal conductor and the radio-frequency component at frequencies greater than 10 GHz while occupying a minimal amount of space in the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Bilgehan Avser, Harish Rajagopalan, Jennifer M. Edwards, Simone Paulotto, Siwen Yong
  • Patent number: D1009858
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2019
    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, Abidur Chowdhury, Markus Diebel, Daniele De Iuliis, M. Evans Hankey, Julian Hoenig, Richard P. Howarth, Jonathan P. Ive, Julian Jaede, Duncan Robert Kerr, Peter Russell-Clarke, Benjamin Andrew Shaffer, Mikael Silvanto, Joe Sung-Ho Tan, Clement Tissandier, Eugene Antony Whang, Rico Zörkendörfer
  • Patent number: D1009864
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2019
    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, Abidur Chowdhury, Markus Diebel, Daniele De Iuliis, M. Evans Hankey, Julian Hoenig, Richard P. Howarth, Jonathan P. Ive, Julian Jaede, Duncan Robert Kerr, Peter Russell-Clarke, Benjamin Andrew Shaffer, Mikael Silvanto, Joe Sung-Ho Tan, Clement Tissandier, Eugene Antony Whang, Rico Zörkendörfer
  • Patent number: D1009917
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Alan C. Dye, Aurelio Guzmán, Jonathan P. Ive, Christopher Wilson, Eric Lance Wilson
  • Patent number: D1009919
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Alan C. Dye, Aurelio Guzmán
  • Patent number: D1009921
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Samuel Howard Bebbington, Lee Broughton, Gary Butcher, Alan C. Dye, Jonathan P. Ive, Pedro Mari, Pani Page, Aled Williams, Christopher Wilson
  • 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
  • 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