Patents Assigned to Apple
  • Patent number: 11159922
    Abstract: A text messaging system that allows messaging apps to send one or more layer identifiers that can specify content for a layer and Z depth of that layer relative to other layers in a text message transcript such as a sent message layer and a received message layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Bartosz Ciechanowski, Bhaskar P. Sarma, William R. Dahlberg, Eugene Bistolas, Olivier Gutknecht, Nathaniel Begeman
  • Patent number: 11158607
    Abstract: Stitched die packaging techniques and structures are described in which reconstituted chips are formed using wafer reconstitution and die-stitching techniques. In an embodiment, a chip includes a reconstituted chip-level back end of the line (BEOL) build-up structure to connect a die set embedded in an inorganic gap fill material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Sanjay Dabral, Jun Zhai, Kwan-Yu Lai, Kunzhong Hu, Vidhya Ramachandran
  • Patent number: 11157234
    Abstract: While an electronic device is connected to a first external device, display a first user interface including a first affordance. Detect an input selecting the first affordance. In response to detecting the input corresponding to selection of the first affordance, initiate a process to provide audio data concurrently with the first external device and a second external device different from the first external device. After initiating the process to provide audio data concurrently to the first external device and a second external device, detect an indication that a physical proximity between the electronic device and the second external device satisfies a proximity condition. In response to detecting the indication that the physical proximity between the electronic device and the second external device satisfies the proximity condition, display a second user interface indicating that the physical proximity between the electronic device and the second external device satisfies the proximity condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Taylor G. Carrigan, Nathan De Vries, Patrick L. Coffman
  • Patent number: 11159932
    Abstract: An electronic device may use information about the location of nearby devices to make sharing with those devices more intuitive for a user. When two devices are pointed towards one another, each device may automatically present the option to share information with the other device. When a user wishes to share information with one or more devices in a group of users, an array of icons representing the nearby users may be positioned on the display according to the locations of the nearby users so that the sharing user can easily select which user he or she wishes to share with. A sharing user may broadcast a signal and nearby users may elect to receive the signal by pointing their devices towards the sharing user. A user of two devices may share information between the two devices and may use one device to manipulate the information on the other device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Adam S. Meyer, Peter C. Tsoi, Stuart J. Wood, Duncan Robert Kerr, Martha Evans Hankey, John B. Morrell
  • Publication number: 20210326402
    Abstract: In some implementations, a user device can perform personalized translation of content identifiers. For example, the user device can request a content identifier mapping file from a server device that defines how to translate a human readable content identifier into a content server content identifier. The server device can select a mapping file from among a collection of mapping files based on various criteria associated with the user device and send the selected mapping file to the user device. When the user device receives a human readable content identifier, the user device can compare the human readable content identifier to the mapping file to determine how to translate the human readable content identifier into the content server content identifier. Once the content server content identifier corresponding to the human readable content identifier is determined, the client device can use the content server content identifier to obtain corresponding content.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 21, 2021
    Publication date: October 21, 2021
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Steve E. Marmon
  • Patent number: 11150734
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are structures, devices, methods and systems for providing haptic output on an electronic device. In some embodiments, the electronic device includes a display portion, a housing pivotally coupled with the display portion and comprising a glass sheet that defines an input surface of the electronic device. The input surface can define a keyboard having a set of key regions arranged along the glass sheet. The electronic device may also include a haptic mechanism positioned beneath a key region of the set of key regions that includes a substrate defining a beam structure having first and second fixed ends, a spacer positioned along a first side of the beam structure and a piezoelectric element positioned along a second side of the beam structure. The piezoelectric element can be configured to deflect the beam structure to provide haptic output along the input surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Alex J. Lehmann, Juan Pu, Paul X. Wang, Qiliang Xu, Zheng Gao
  • Patent number: 11153862
    Abstract: A network device (e.g., a user equipment (UE), or a new radio NB (gNB)) can process or generate a configuration of physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring in different search spaces sets independently from one another in order to manage different services optimally. A processor of the network device can be configured to receive physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidates of a PDCCH in a slot for channel estimation across search spaces of the slot. Different priorities can be determined among the PDCCH candidates in the slot based on a priority rule. Then a number of PDCCH candidates can be skipped/dropped from monitoring based on the different priorities of the PDCCH candidates to ensure that a threshold level of blind decoding operations across a plurality of slots of the PDCCH is being satisfied. The UE can monitor a portion of the PDCCH candidates while concurrently skipping another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Hong He, Debdeep Chatterjee, Gang Xiong
  • Patent number: 11152046
    Abstract: A memory array that provides an internal retention voltage without a voltage regulator is disclosed. The memory array includes a first group of bit cells coupled between the power supply rail and a ground switch and a second group of bit cells coupled to a retention select circuit. The retention select circuit is coupled to the ground for the first group of bit cells and the power supply rail. The ground switch and the retention select circuit may be operated to switch the bit cells between a nominal operating voltage and a retention voltage. The retention voltage is provided during inactive periods of the memory array to maintain data in the bit cells during the inactive periods.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jaroslav Raszka, Shahzad Nazar, Jaemyung Lim, Mohamed H. Abu-Rahma, Victor Zyuban
  • Patent number: 11153677
    Abstract: An audio system has an ambient sound enhancement function, in which an against-the-ear audio device having a speaker converts a digitally processed version of an input audio signal into sound. The input audio signal may be amplified where the amplification may be in accordance with a stored hearing profile of the user (personalized ambient sound enhancement.) The audio system also has an acoustic noise cancellation (ANC) function that may be combined in various ways with the sound enhancement function, and that may be responsive to voice activity detection. Other aspects are also described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: John Woodruff, Tom-Davy W. Saux, Vladan Bajic, Vasu Iyengar, Andrew E. Greenwood, Tyrone T. Chen, Jakub Mazur, Tony S. Verma
  • Patent number: 11148007
    Abstract: The present disclosure generally relates to navigating, viewing, and sharing activity and workout data and interacting with workout and/or activity applications. In some examples, scrolling of activity data is based on the content being displayed. In some examples, friends' activity data may be viewed. In some examples, a notification and workout data for a friend's completed workout is received and displayed. In some example, the activity data received from friends is viewed and managed. In some examples, workout data for a multi-segment workout is displayed in a three-dimensional stack on a map. In some examples, a workout application operates in a limited mode until a touch input is received with a characteristic intensity that is greater than a threshold intensity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Aled Hywel Williams, David Chance Graham, Christopher Wilson
  • Patent number: 11152994
    Abstract: The systems, methods, and apparatuses can receive one or more communication signals traversing through a communication channel. The systems, methods, and apparatuses can estimate one or more known parameters, characteristics, and/or attributes of the communication channel, for example, scattering, fading, and/or power decay over distance, through a process referred to as channel estimation. The systems, methods, and apparatuses can develop various channel coefficients, for example, amplitudes and/or phases, describing the channel response of the communication channel at discrete intervals of time, also referred to as taps. The systems, methods, and apparatuses can assign taps to various priorities and, thereafter, utilize these priorities to selectively include their corresponding channel coefficients in a CSI report or exclude their corresponding channel coefficients from the CSI report.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Weidong Yang, Chunhai Yao, Chunxuan Ye, Dawei Zhang, Haitong Sun, Hong He, Ismael Gutierrez Gonzalez, Wei Zeng, Wei Zhang, Yuchul Kim, Yushu Zhang
  • Patent number: 11151899
    Abstract: The method includes receiving, from a user, a first speech input spoken in a first language; inferring a user intent based on at least the first speech input in the first language; based on the inferred user intent, generating one or more alternative expressions of the first speech input in the first language; and providing feedback to the user introducing the alternative expressions as a more preferred input to express the inferred user intent than the first speech input provided by the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Donald W. Pitschel, Thomas R. Gruber
  • Patent number: 11150781
    Abstract: Systems, methods, computer-readable mediums, user interfaces and other implementations are disclosed for workflow widgets. In some implementations, a widget workflow method includes: launching a widget at a first device; and updating the widget with content created at a second device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Scott Forstall, Imran A. Chaudhri, John O. Louch, Eric Steven Peyton
  • Patent number: 11152970
    Abstract: An apparatus for detecting worn and/or unworn status of a wearable host device includes one or more first antennas, a second antenna, and a radio-frequency (RF) circuit to measure a dielectric loading based on an RF isolation. The second antenna is placed within a portion of the wearable host device that is substantially in contact with the skin of a user, and the RF isolation is between at least one of the one or more first antennas and the second antenna.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Istvan J. Szini, Jim C. Hwang, Yoav Feinmesser
  • Patent number: 11151798
    Abstract: Various implementations disclosed herein include devices, systems, and methods that create additional depth frames in the circumstance wherein a depth camera runs at a lower frame rate than a light intensity camera. Rather than upconverting the depth frames by simply repeating a previous depth camera frame, additional depth frames are created by adjusting some of the depth values of a prior frame based on the RGB camera data (e.g., by “dragging” depths from their positions in the prior depth frame to new positions for a new frame). Specifically, a contour image (e.g., identifying interior and exterior outlines of a hand with respect to a virtual cube that the hand occludes) is generated based on a mask (e.g., occlusions masks identifying where the hand occludes the virtual cube). Changes in the contour image are used to determine how to adjust (e.g., drag) the depth values for the additional depth frames.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Daniele Casaburo, Adrian P. Lindberg
  • Patent number: 11150696
    Abstract: Techniques for enhancing the viewing of applications in a preview provider are provided. A method includes receiving an indication to provide a preview mode on a display of the computing device, providing screenshots of a plurality of applications in the preview mode such that the screenshots are accessible for viewing by a user. The method also includes identifying the first application to provide the first screenshot in an updated mode and changing a state of the first application from a suspended state to an inactive state by allocating processing time of the one or more processors to the first application, and displaying updates of the first screenshot while the first application is in the inactive state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Austen J. Green
  • Patent number: 11150438
    Abstract: A camera module includes a solid state lens that flexes, in response to electrical signals. A lens barrel holds the lens on the optical axis. A lens barrel holder holds the lens barrel above an image sensor. The lens barrel holder includes electrically conductive interconnects between a bottom and a top end of the lens barrel holder. The conductive interconnects are not exposed to an exterior of the lens barrel holder. The camera module includes two or more respective lower electrically conductive connections in proximity to the interconnects and connecting the electrically conductive interconnects to respective conductors for the one or more electrical signals. The camera module includes two or more upper conductive connections configured to electrically connect the solid state lens to respective ones of the two or more conductive interconnects.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Ya Wen Hsu, Pierre-Jean Y. Parodi-Keravec, Steven Webster
  • Patent number: 11150332
    Abstract: An optical sensing system includes a transmitter side and a receiver side, and is configured to be positioned below a display of an electronic device. The transmitter side includes a light emitter, a temperature sensor, and a photodiode. The receiver side includes a photodiode and a temperature sensor. The optical sensing system includes an application-specific integrated circuit that leverages the temperature sensors, the photodiodes, and one or more signal filters such as a high-pass filter to perform multiple field calibrations of the optical sensing system, thereby improving accuracy and precision thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Tong Chen, Dong Zheng, Mark T. Winkler, Stephen N. Sweet, Tsu-Hui Lin, Wenrui Cai
  • Patent number: 11153006
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed relating to handling preemptive data services in cellular wireless transmissions. In some embodiments, a device wirelessly transmits uplink data for a first data service during a time dimension duplex (TDD) scheduled transmission interval using a first frequency band. While transmitting, in these embodiments, the device also monitors a downlink control channel that uses a second frequency band that does not overlap with the first frequency band. The downlink control channel may be dedicated for preemption indicators that indicate another service is preempting scheduled resources. In response to detecting an indicator in the downlink control channel of communications for a second data service in the first frequency band during the scheduled transmission interval, the device may reduce the transmission of the uplink data on resources used for the communications for the second data service (e.g., by blanking or transmitting at a lower power).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Haitong Sun, Wei Zeng, Dawei Zhang
  • Patent number: 11153272
    Abstract: Embodiments described herein relate to managing bearers in a radio access network (e.g., next generation RAN (NG-RAN), etc.). In one example, a central-unit control-plane (CU-CP) communicates with a distributed unit (DU) and a CU-UP to exchange transport network layer addresses (TNLAs) and tunnel endpoint identifiers (TEIDs) between the DU and the CU-UP. In this way, the DU becomes resistant to the CU-UP's rejection of a bearer setup request from the CU-CP during a bearer setup procedure. Furthermore, during virtual machine (VM) migration or local problems of the CU-UP, an E1 procedure known as “bearer relocate” can be defined to notify the DU of a new TNLA for one or more affected general packet radio service tunneling protocol (GTP) tunnels that are affected by the VM migration or local problems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Feng Yang, Min Huang, Xu Zhang, Alexander Sirotkin, Jaemin Han