It’s pretty rare that Apple patent applications reveal much more than vague plans and ideas about future devices, but a newly-public filing out of Cupertino just comes right out and states the truth about gaming on touchscreen devices like the iPhone: it can be “somewhat awkward, particularly on a portable electronic device having a touchscreen” because the “user’s fingers block the action.” So what’s the solution? Buttons, dude-man. The patent describes a handheld gaming dock that fits around a “substantial portion” of an iPhone or iPod that has both physical input controls and secondary storage for game information like scores and save data. That’s certainly a nice idea, and one we’d love to see supported by Apple, but we’re Read the full story

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Apple’s sweeping “Device to Device Location Awareness” patent covers a lot of ground, not the least of which are a hint at iPhone video conferencing and the ability to locate whoever’s on the receiving end of your call.

According to the technology proposed in the patent, a caller’s phone would ping the mobile device it’s communicating with to request location details. The second device determines its location and sends the information back to the originating Read the full story

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The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a sizable stack of approved Apple patent applications this morning, several of which dealt with software for the iPhone. The different patent applications paint an interesting picture, showing that they are considering things like object and face detection and recognition, text message filtering and interface changes, and voice output customization.

Systems and methods for identifying objects and providing information related to identified objects (#20090175499)

The first patent discusses a technology that would allow a user to point the iPhone’s camera at an object in a setting. The software would then recognize the object, determine what it is, and provide relevant additional information about it. Possible methods for recognition would be either camera or image recognition technologies, RFID tags, barcode scanning, or other similar technologies. Different modes could also be set that would define the setting for the device, making it easier to recognize the object based on where it is (e.g. Museum, Restaurant, Electronics shop, etc).

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Two new patent applications published by the US Patent and Trademark Office in recent weeks reveal intentions by Apple to include motion as part of the User Interface. The two patents take two different approaches, both promising to make the interface easier to use while the user is in motion or engaging in other activities. The second patent also includes a diagram of a front-facing video camera.

The first patent (# 20090088204), published a few weeks ago, is titled “Movement-based interfaces for personal media device”, and outlines ways in which motion gestures could be added to the interface to make the iPhone and iPod touch easier to use when the person is engaging in activities that involve a lot of moving around, such as jogging. In it, Apple suggests the use of motion gestures as an addition to the interface itself, similar to the way it is used in the iPod Nano.

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Back when the application for Apple’s patent number 7,479,949, (a.k.a. “The iPhone Patent” which covers the bulk of Apple’s intellectual property relating to the iPhone) was first published by the U.S. Patent Office, a few features were found not yet present in the iPhone, most notably video recording and video conferencing. Information Week’s Alexander Wolfe has taken a second look and dug up a few more details about the possibility.

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The US Patent and Trademark Office has announced that as of January 20, 2009, Apple officially has a patent on the iPhone as a touch screen device, it’s user interface and the software that powers it. The title is ‘Touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics’.

The application includes applications filed as far back as September 2006 and details the iPhone’s multi-touch capabilities with several diagrams of the device. From the document’s abstract:

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