Patents Assigned to Apple
  • Patent number: 11108424
    Abstract: Accessory devices are described herein. An accessory device may include a receptacle for receiving an electronic device. The accessory device may include a case that covers the housing of the electronic device, or a folio that additionally includes a cover can conceal the display of the electronic device. Accessory devices described herein further include wireless circuitry used to communicate with wireless circuitry in the electronic device. The wireless circuitry can be used for various functions and features. For instance, the wireless circuitry in the accessory device can respond to authentication requests from the electronic device, and/or to send authentication requests to the electronic device. Further, the wireless circuitry in the accessory device can send information to the electronic device. Such information may include properties of the accessory device, or information stored on the accessory device that is presented on a display of the electronic device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Stephen T. Schooley, Ross D. Arriens, Sara Rusignuolo, Craig S. Ogden, Ho Cheung Chung, Vusthla Sunil Reddy, Jeremy D. Bataillou, Xinping Zeng
  • Patent number: 11108277
    Abstract: A system for wireless power transfer control comprising a receiver for receiving and consuming power, a transmitter for transmitting power, wherein the receiver is configured to generate and send a message to the transmitter, the transmitter is configured to control an output level transmitted to the receiver based on the message, and wherein the receiver or the transmitter is configured to perform a corrective action if a magnitude of the message exceeds a power error threshold for a threshold time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Jeffrey Douglas Louis
  • Patent number: 11109258
    Abstract: In some implementations, a computing system can perform crowd sourced access point mapping using privacy preserving techniques. For example, a server device can receive access point data reports from multiple user devices that includes various attributes and/or measurements with respect to access points with which the user devices have established connections. The access point data reports can be delivered without identifying the user devices, or users thereof, and their exact locations. Based on the access point data reports, the server device can map locations of access points and relationships between access points to generate network topologies, network locations, network quality scores, and various other characteristics of networks and/or access points. The generated access point data can be served to user devices so that the user devices can improve the efficiency of the interactions between user devices and the detected access points and/or networks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Rachid Kachemir, Krishna M. Behara, Ashok Kumar Harikumar, Christopher R. Purcell, Welly Kasten
  • Patent number: 11109334
    Abstract: Embodiments of a User Equipment (UE) and methods for communication are generally described herein. The UE may be configured for carrier aggregation using a primary component carrier (CC) and a secondary CC. The UE may attempt to detect a sidelink synchronization signal (SLSS) from another UE on the primary CC. The UE may, if the SLSS from the other UE is detected: determine, based on the detected SLSS, a common time synchronization for the primary CC and the secondary CC for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) sidelink transmissions in accordance with the carrier aggregation. The UE may, if the SLSS from the other UE is not detected: transmit an SLSS to enable determination of the common time synchronization for the primary CC and the secondary CC by the other UE. The SLSS may be transmitted on the primary CC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Alexey Khoryaev, Mikhail Shilov, Andrey Chervyakov, Sergey Panteleev, Dmitry Belov, Pavel Dyakov, Kyeongin Jeong
  • Patent number: 11109192
    Abstract: A device implementing a system for estimating device location includes at least one processor configured to estimate a first position of a device based on a first set of parameters, the first set of parameters derived from first sensor data obtained on the device, the first set of parameters corresponding to device motion. The at least one processor is configured to estimate a second position of a user of the device based on a second set of parameters, the second set of parameters derived from second sensor data obtained on the device, the second set of parameters corresponding to user motion. Estimating the first and second positions is constrained by a predefined relationship between the device motion and the user motion. The at least one processor is configured to provide at least one of the first position of the device or the second position of the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Isaac T. Miller, Benjamin A. Werner, Changlin Ma, Christina Selle, Saurabh Godha, Mark G. Petovello
  • Patent number: 11103749
    Abstract: Systems and methods of analyzing a user's motion during a swimming session are described. One or more motions sensors can collect motion data of the user. A processor circuit can make motion analysis based on the motion data. The processor circuit can determine if the user's arm swing is a genuine swim stroke. The processor circuit can also determine whether the user is swimming or turning. The processor circuit can also classify the user's swim stroke style. The processor circuit can also determine the user's swim stroke phase. The processor circuit can also determine the user's stroke orbit consistency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Craig H. Mermel, Karthik Jayaraman Raghuram, Hung A. Pham, Adam S. Howell, James P. Ochs, Alexander Singh Alvarado, Sunny K. Chow, Ronald K. Huang, Gunes Dervisoglu, Kenneth Waters
  • Patent number: 11106249
    Abstract: A hinge assembly includes a first and a second set of friction elements engaged each other by an applied force perpendicular to the friction elements. The first and the second set of friction elements are capable of rotational movement about a cylindrical element that passes through each of the friction elements. Also, the first set of friction elements is capable of movement relative to the second set of friction elements. However, the first set friction elements can remain in a fixed position based upon the applied force, until an external force overcomes the applied. During rotation of the first set of friction elements about the cylindrical element, the frictional engagement that controls the position of the first set of friction elements is based primarily on engagement between the friction elements, as opposed to engagement, if any, between the friction elements and the cylindrical element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Aidan N. Zimmerman, Kevin M. Robinson, Scott J. Krahn, Chien-Tsun Chen, Bradley J. Hamel, Arthur Stanley Brigham
  • Patent number: 11107345
    Abstract: Intuitive methods of automatically configuring a remote control for multiple electronic devices are disclosed. The remote control can be automatically configured with the help of a first electronic device that is connected to one or more additional electronic devices. The first electronic device aids in the configuration of the remote control by gathering information about the one or more additional electronic devices and configuring the remote control in accordance. The information about the one or more additional electronic devices may be gathered from the devices themselves, from additional remote controls associated with the devices, and/or from a user, among other possibilities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Christopher J. Sanders
  • Patent number: 11106504
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus that execute a parallel computing program in a programming language for a parallel computing architecture are described. The parallel computing program is stored in memory in a system with parallel processors. The parallel computing program is stored in a memory to allocate threads between a host processor and a GPU. The programming language includes an API to allow an application to make calls using the API to allocate execution of the threads between the host processor and the GPU. The programming language includes host function data tokens for host functions performed in the host processor and kernel function data tokens for compute kernel functions performed in one or more compute processors, e.g., GPUs or CPUs, separate from the host processor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Aaftab Munshi, Jeremy Sandmel
  • Patent number: 11108130
    Abstract: An electronic device such as a desktop computer may have a housing with a conductive housing wall and a display mounted to the housing opposite the conductive housing wall. A conductive tongue may extend through an opening in the housing wall to secure the housing to a hinge barrel on a desktop stand. A slot antenna may be formed from a slot element in the conductive tongue. The antenna may be fed by a flexible printed circuit coupled across the slot element or by a feed printed circuit in the housing that is coupled to the conductive tongue by a conductive screw. A conductive sleeve may be placed over the conductive tongue. The stand may be replaced with a mounting bracket.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Paul X. Wang, Bradley J. Hamel, Jerzy S. Guterman, Joel D. Barrera, Nicholas A. Rundle, Nikolaos Chiotellis, Simon S. Lee
  • Patent number: 11107071
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for validating online access to secure device functionality are provided that may use shared secrets between different subsystems and limited use validation data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Karl Anders Carlsson, Anton K. Diederich, Christopher Sharp, Gianpaolo Fasoli, Maciej Stachowiak, Matthew C. Byington, Nicholas J. Shearer, Samuel M. Weinig
  • Patent number: 11109173
    Abstract: A system and method is described for determining whether a loudspeaker device has relocated, tilted, rotated, or changed environment such that one or more parameters for driving the loudspeaker may be modified and/or a complete reconfiguration of the loudspeaker system may be performed. In one embodiment, the system may include a set of sensors. The sensors provide readings that are analyzed to determine 1) whether the loudspeaker has moved since a previous analysis and/or 2) a distance of movement and/or a degree change in orientation of the loudspeaker since the previous analysis. Upon determining the level of movement is below a threshold value, the system adjusts previous parameters used to drive one or more of the loudspeakers. By adjusting previous parameters instead of performing a complete recalibration, the system provides a more efficient technique for ensuring that the loudspeakers continue to produce accurate sound for the listener.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Bruce C. Po, Richard M. Powell, Aram M. Lindahl, Baptiste P. Paquier, Phillip A. Kamp
  • Patent number: 11107578
    Abstract: Methods and systems for facilitating health research through enhanced communication between research participants and researchers. Methods include communication of information related to a research study to a portable computing device of a research participant by use of an application framework and one or more modules. The one or more modules may be provided with the application framework or may include one or more modules from third-party researchers so as to allow standardization of communication from multiple research studies and differing research facilities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Divya Nag
  • Patent number: 11108754
    Abstract: Device to device (D2D) communication can be performed with packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) based encapsulation without internet protocol (IP) addressing. The non-IP D2D PDCP-encapsulated communication can further include two forms of secure data transfer. A first non-IP D2D PDCP-encapsulated communication can be a negotiated non-IP D2D PDCP-encapsulated communication. A second non-IP D2D PDCP-encapsulated communication can be a non-negotiated non-IP D2D communication. The non-negotiated non-IP D2D PDCP-encapsulated communication can include a common key management server (KMS) version and a distributed KMS version. The encapsulated communication can be used with various protocols, including a PC5 protocol (such as the PC5 Signaling Protocol) and wireless access in vehicular environments (WAVE) protocols.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Alexandre Stojanovski, Muthaiah Venkatachalam, Ana Lucia A. Pinheiro, Farid Adrangi
  • Patent number: 11107261
    Abstract: The present disclosure generally relates to displaying visual effects such as virtual avatars. An electronic device having a camera and a display apparatus displays a virtual avatar that changes appearance in response to changes in a face in a field of view of the camera. In response to detecting changes in one or more physical features of the face in the field of view of the camera, the electronic device modifies one or more features of the virtual avatar.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Nicolas Scapel, Guillaume Pierre André Barlier, Aurelio Guzman, Jason Rickwald
  • Patent number: 11105963
    Abstract: Optical systems may have tunable lenses with focal lengths that are adjusted by control circuitry. A display may produce image light that is received by a tunable lens. The display may be transparent so that light from objects can pass through the display and be received by the tunable lens. The tunable lens may include a birefringent lens element and a polarization rotator and may receive light that has been linearly polarized by passing through a linear polarizer. The polarization rotator may be operable in a first state in which the polarization of light passing through the polarization rotator is not rotated and a second state in which the polarization of light passing through the polarization rotator is rotated by 90°. The birefringent lens element may be formed from a cured liquid crystal polymer or other polymer and may have a liquid crystal additive to enhance birefringence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Yuan Chen, Bennett S. Wilburn, Cheng Chen, Michael Slootsky, Shuang Wang, Zhibing Ge
  • Patent number: 11106280
    Abstract: Calibration of eye tracking is improved by collecting additional calibration pairs when user is using apps with eye tracking. A user input component is presented on a display of an electronic device, detecting a dwelling action for user input component, and in response to detecting the dwelling action, obtaining a calibration pair comprising an uncalibrated gaze point and a screen location of the user input component, wherein the uncalibrated gaze point is determined based on an eye pose during the dwelling action. A screen gaze estimation is determine based on the uncalibrated gaze point, and in response to determining that the calibration pair is a valid calibration pair, training a calibration model using the calibration pair.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey P. Bigham, Mingzhe Li, Samuel C. White, Xiaoyi Zhang, Qi Shan, Carlos E. Guestrin
  • Patent number: D929328
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    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, Mikael Silvanto, Sung-Ho Tan, Clement Tissandier, Eugene Antony Whang, Rico Zörkendörfer
  • Patent number: D929375
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jody Akana, Molly Anderson, Bartley K. Andre, Shota Aoyagi, Anthony Michael Ashcroft, Marine C. Bataille, Jeremy Bataillou, Daniel J. Coster, Daniele De Iuliis, Markus Diebel, M. Evans Hankey, Julian Hoenig, Richard P. Howarth, Jonathan P. Ive, Julian Jaede, Duncan Robert Kerr, Peter Russell-Clarke, Benjamin Andrew Shaffer, Mikael Silvanto, Christopher J. Stringer, Joe Sung-Ho Tan, Clement Tissandier, Eugene Antony Whang, Rico Zörkendörfer
  • Patent number: D929448
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Teofila Connor, Alan C. Dye, Nicholas V. King, Pedro Mari, Marcel van Os, Christopher Wilson