Patents by Inventor APPLE INC.
APPLE INC. has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Patent number: 9526065Abstract: A method and wireless station used to perform WiFi scans. The wireless station determines a first cell identity of a first cell to which the wireless station is currently connected, determines a second cell identity of a second cell that is available, determines whether either of the first or second cell identities are related to a WiFi network based on relationships between cell identities and WiFi networks stored in the wireless station, performs a first type of scan for available WiFi networks when either of the first cell identity or the second cell identity is related to the WiFi network and performs a second type of scan for available WiFi networks when neither of the first cell identity or the second cell identity is related to the WiFi network, the first type of scan is performed more frequently or over more channels compared to the second type of scan.Type: GrantFiled: May 30, 2014Date of Patent: December 20, 2016Assignee: APPLE INC.Inventor: APPLE INC.
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Publication number: 20140333496Abstract: Electronic devices may be provided that include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and antennas. An antenna may be formed from an antenna resonating element and an antenna ground. The antenna resonating element may have a shorter portion that resonates at higher communications band frequencies and a longer portion that resonates at lower communications band frequencies. The resonating element may be formed from a peripheral conductive electronic device housing structure that is separated from the antenna ground by an opening. A parasitic monopole antenna resonating element or parasitic loop antenna resonating element may be located in the opening. Antenna tuning in the higher communications band may be implemented using an adjustable inductor in the parasitic element. Antenna tuning in the lower communications band may be implemented using an adjustable inductor that couples the antenna resonating element to the antenna ground.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 8, 2013Publication date: November 13, 2014Applicant: Apple Inc.Inventor: Apple Inc.
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Publication number: 20140328488Abstract: An electronic device may include wireless circuitry that is configured to transmit wireless signals during operation. A maximum transmit power level may be established that serves as a cap on how much power is transmitted from the electronic device. Adjustments may be made to the maximum transmit power level in real time based on sensor signals and other information on the operating state of the electronic device. The sensor signals may include motion signals from an accelerometer. The sensor signals may also include ultrasonic sound detected by a microphone. Device orientation data may be used by the device to select whether to measure the ultrasonic sound using a front facing or rear facing microphone. Maximum transmit power level may also be adjusted based on whether or not sound is playing through an ear speaker in the device.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 2, 2013Publication date: November 6, 2014Applicant: Apple Inc.Inventor: Apple Inc.
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Publication number: 20140327861Abstract: A display is provided that has upper and lower polarizers, a color filter layer, a liquid crystal layer, and a thin-film transistor layer. The color filter layer and thin-film transistor layer may be formed from materials such as glass that are subject to stress-induced birefringence. To reduce light leakage that reduces display performance, one or more birefringence compensation layers may be incorporated into the display to help compensate for any birefringence effects. The compensation layers may include a birefringence compensation layer attached to the color filter layer or the thin-film transistor layer. A display may include an upper compensation layer attached to the color filter layer and a lower compensation layer attached to the thin-film transistor layer. The compensation layer may be formed from glass or polymer materials that have a negative photo-elastic constant.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 6, 2013Publication date: November 6, 2014Applicant: Apple Inc.Inventor: Apple Inc.
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Publication number: 20140315592Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with antenna structures. Proximity sensors and other sensors may be used in determining how the electronic device is being operated. Wireless circuitry such as a radio-frequency transmitter associated with a cellular telephone communications band, a wireless local area network band, or other communications band may be used in transmitting radio-frequency signals through the antenna structures at a transmit power. Control circuitry may adjust the wireless circuitry to ensure that the transmit power is capped at a maximum transmit power. The maximum transmit power may be adjusted dynamically by the control circuitry based on data from the proximity sensors, data from a magnetic sensor that detects whether a cover is present on the device, a connector sensor that detects whether the device is coupled to a dock or other accessory, and other sensors.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 18, 2013Publication date: October 23, 2014Inventor: Apple Inc.
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Publication number: 20140313087Abstract: An electronic device may have an antenna for providing coverage in wireless communications bands of interest such as a low frequency communications band and a high frequency communications band. The antenna may have an antenna ground and an antenna resonating element. The antenna resonating element may have a high band arm that contributes to a first high band resonance in the high band and may have a low band arm that exhibits a low band resonance in the low band. A passive filter that is coupled between first and second portions of the antenna resonating element may be configured to exhibit a short circuit impedance associated with a bypass path that allows the antenna resonating element to contribute to a second high band resonance in the high band. A tunable inductor coupled to the antenna resonating element may be used to tune the low band resonance.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 17, 2013Publication date: October 23, 2014Applicant: Apple Inc.Inventor: Apple Inc.
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Publication number: 20140306857Abstract: Electronic devices may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and antenna structures. The antenna structures may include a dual arm inverted-F antenna resonating element and an antenna ground. An antenna feed may be coupled between the inverted-F antenna resonating element and the antenna ground. An adjustable component such as an adjustable inductor may be coupled between the inverted-F antenna resonating element and the antenna ground in parallel with the antenna feed. The adjustable component may be operable in multiple states such as an open circuit state, a short circuit state, and a state in which the adjustable component exhibits a non-zero inductance. Antenna bandwidth can be broadened by coupling a loop antenna resonating element across the antenna feed. A portion of the antenna ground may overlap the loop antenna resonating element to further enhance antenna bandwidth.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 10, 2013Publication date: October 16, 2014Applicant: Apple Inc.Inventor: Apple Inc.
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Publication number: 20140307207Abstract: A display may have a layer of liquid crystal material between a color filter layer and a thin-film transistor layer. Column spacer structures may be formed between the color filter layer and the thin-film transistor layer to maintain a desired separation between the color filter and thin-film transistor layers. The column spacer structures may be formed from polymer structures such as photoresist pillars and may include metal pads. The metal pads may be formed on the upper surface of the thin-film transistor layer or the lower surface of the color filter layer. The photoresist pillars may be formed on a surface in the display such as the lower surface of the color filter layer. Column spacer structures may include main spacer structures, subspacer structures, and intermediate thickness spacer structures to enhance pooling mura and light leakage performance.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 11, 2013Publication date: October 16, 2014Inventor: Apple Inc.
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Publication number: 20140300832Abstract: An electronic device may have structures that are coupled together using conductive adhesive such as anisotropic conductive film and other adhesives. The structures that are coupled together may include a touch sensor structure formed from electrodes on the inner surface of a display cover layer, a display module having display layers such as a thin-film transistor layer, and circuitry mounted on substrates such as printed circuits. Conductive signal path structures may be used in routing signals within the electronic device. The conductive signal path structures may be formed from pins that are embedded within injection molded plastic, from metal traces such as laser-deposited metal traces that are formed on the surface of a plastic member or other dielectric, from metal structures that run within channels in a plastic, printed circuit traces, and other signal path structures.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 8, 2013Publication date: October 9, 2014Applicant: Apple Inc.Inventor: Apple Inc.
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Publication number: 20140270416Abstract: An electronic device may include an array of finger sensing pixels and data acquisition circuitry coupled to the array. The data acquisition circuitry may be capable of acquiring finger biometric data from each sub-array of the array, and acquiring spoof detection data from at least one of the sub-arrays in an interleaved fashion with the finger biometric data.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 15, 2013Publication date: September 18, 2014Inventor: Apple Inc.
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Publication number: 20140192915Abstract: A multi-user MIMO downlink beamforming system with limited feedback (200) is provided to enable precoding for multi-stream transmission, where a channel codeword (ui) and one or more channel quality indicator values (CQIA, CQIB) are computed at the user equipment (201.i) on the basis of maximizing a predetermined SINR performance metric (pi) which estimates file receive signal-to-noise-ratio (SINR) at the user equipment (201.i). The computed codeword (ui) and CQI values (or differential values related thereto) are quantized and fed back to help the base station (210) which applies a correction to the appropriate CQI value in the course of designing the transmit beamforming vectors w and determining the appropriate modulation and coding level to be used for downlink data transmission.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 6, 2013Publication date: July 10, 2014Applicant: Apple Inc.Inventor: Apple Inc.
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Publication number: 20140152494Abstract: In some implementations, a tightly-coupled elevation-assisted location estimate can be calculated based on digital elevation model (DEM) elevation measurements and global navigation satellite system (GNSS) data. The DEM elevation measurements and GNSS data can be provided as input to an estimator (e.g., a Kalman filter) to calculate an estimated geographic location of a mobile device. In some implementations, DEM elevation data can be filtered before being provided to the Kalman filter for estimating the geographic location of the mobile device. The DEM elevation data can be filtered in response to detecting bridge and/or tunnel events that indicate that the DEM elevation data does not accurately represent the actual elevation of the mobile device.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 11, 2013Publication date: June 5, 2014Applicant: APPLE INC.Inventor: Apple Inc.
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Publication number: 20140122593Abstract: Methods, systems, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for providing enhanced user interfaces and functionalities for internet radio applications are presented. In some embodiments, a computing device linked to a first user account may receive a request to share an internet radio station with a second user account, and the internet radio station may be defined based on one or more parameters associated with the first user account. Subsequently, based on modification of the one or more parameters, the internet radio station may be dynamically updated for the second user account. In some instances, the one or more parameters associated with the first user account may include information specifying one or more seed songs. In some additional instances, these parameters further may include one or more liked songs, one or more disliked songs, and one or more skipped songs.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 15, 2013Publication date: May 1, 2014Applicant: Apple Inc.Inventor: Apple Inc.
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Publication number: 20140115467Abstract: Methods, systems, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for providing enhanced user interfaces and functionalities for internet radio applications are presented. In some embodiments, a computer system may determine, based on purchase history associated with a user account, one or more content seeds for at least two internet radio stations. The computer system then may select one or more songs to be provided via the at least two internet radio stations based on the one or more content seeds. Subsequently, the computer system may provide the at least two internet radio stations to one or more user devices linked to the user account.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 15, 2013Publication date: April 24, 2014Applicant: Apple Inc.Inventor: Apple Inc.
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Publication number: 20140112552Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, are disclosed for reducing the impact of lighting conditions and biometric distortions, while providing a low-computation solution for reasonably effective (low threshold) face recognition. In one aspect, the methods include processing a captured image of a face of a user seeking to access a resource by conforming a subset of the captured face image to a reference model. The reference model corresponds to a high information portion of human faces. The methods further include comparing the processed captured image to at least one target profile corresponding to a user associated with the resource, and selectively recognizing the user seeking access to the resource based on a result of said comparing.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 3, 2012Publication date: April 24, 2014Applicant: APPLE INC.Inventor: APPLE INC.
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Publication number: 20140111953Abstract: Touch panel structures may be provided with flexible substrates. A touch sensor array may be formed from transparent capacitive touch sensor electrodes. Electrical components such as ambient light sensors, proximity sensors, magnetic sensors, camera sensors, buttons, and integrated circuits may be mounted on the same flexible substrate as the transparent capacitive touch sensor electrodes. A flexible substrate for a touch panel structure may be formed from multiple substrate portions that are coupled using solder connections or conductive adhesive connections. A touch panel may have a flexible tail that is coupled to a printed circuit board in an electronic device housing. The flexible tail may bend when installing the touch panel in the housing.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 19, 2012Publication date: April 24, 2014Applicant: Apple Inc.Inventor: Apple Inc.
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Publication number: 20140114808Abstract: Methods, systems, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for providing enhanced user interfaces and functionalities for internet radio applications are presented. In some embodiments, a computer system may provide a user interface that includes one or more regions configured to control playback of an internet radio station. The computer system then may determine, based on music purchase history associated with a user account, whether a selected song associated with the internet radio station has been previously purchased. In response to determining that the selected song has not been previously purchased, the computer system may display a user-selectable control that enables the selected song to be purchased. On the other hand, in response to determining that the selected song has been previously purchased, the computer system may display a user-selectable control that enables the selected song to be downloaded.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 15, 2013Publication date: April 24, 2014Applicant: Apple Inc.Inventor: Apple Inc.
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Publication number: 20140101613Abstract: A set of applications on a mobile device can be specified, presented and automatically populated with transitional data sets. The transitional data sets can be stored on a network to facilitate computations of differences between transitional data sets and other data sets, and the differences can be presented on the mobile device by one or more location-aware applications.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 1, 2013Publication date: April 10, 2014Applicant: Apple Inc.Inventor: Apple Inc.
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Publication number: 20140092057Abstract: A multi-dimensional scroll wheel is disclosed. Scroll wheel circuitry is provided to detect input gestures that traverse the center of the scroll wheel and to detect multi-touch input. The scroll wheel can include a first plurality of sensor elements arranged in a first closed loop and a second plurality of sensor elements arranged in a second closed loop, the first and second closed loops being concentrically arranged about the center of the scroll wheel.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 8, 2013Publication date: April 3, 2014Applicant: APPLE INC.Inventor: Apple Inc.
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Publication number: 20140083279Abstract: A computer-implemented method including generating a user interface implemented on a touch-sensitive display configured to generate a virtual dual flywheel system for modulating a lifecycle of a musical note or chord. The dual flywheel system (DFS) includes a first VFS and a second VFS, where the first virtual flywheel system series connected to the second virtual flywheel system such that an output of the first virtual flywheel system is coupled to an input of the second virtual flywheel system. Upon receiving a user input on the user interface, the dual flywheel system determines a virtual momentum for the first virtual flywheel based on the user input and a predetermined mass coefficient of the first virtual flywheel system, and determines a virtual momentum for the second virtual flywheel based on the virtual momentum of the first virtual flywheel system and a predetermined mass coefficient of the second virtual flywheel.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 6, 2013Publication date: March 27, 2014Applicant: Apple IncInventor: Apple Inc