US Patent Application Review Series

Apple

4th Week of May 2010 Issue

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Apple - 4th Week of May 2010 USPTO Patent Applications 1

A few words from the editor

A few words from the editor

If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.
- Issac Newton

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Structure of this review IPC Catchword Index is an alphabetical sorted list of

catchwords of the IPC appeared in the review.
The Table of Contents is created based on
alphabetical order of IPC. The patent applications
are also sorted by alphabetical order of IPC. A brief How to use this review?
description of each IPC is shown. We find that the IPC
description could help ‘deciphering’ the abstract of an For creativity stimulation purpose:
patent application. If a patent application belongs to • quickly flip the pages and write down the page
multiple IPC, the patent application will only be shown number of the diagrams that interests you for
under the section of first IPC. later review.
For each patent application, the following information
will be shown: • look up the IPC Catchword Index and go to the
IPC that you are interested
1. App. No. – patent application no. – it is unique
to each patent application. For business intelligent purpose:
2. Assignee – this is owner of the patent • quickly flip the pages and identify the IPC that
application. If there is no assignee being could “ring a bell”
specified, either the inventor of the patent
application own the patent application or the • study all patent applications belong to the
owner of the patent application did not record identified IPC.
such information when the patent application
was filed. For engineering design purpose:

3. Title – this is the title of the patent application. • quickly flip the pages and identify the diagrams
that may be similar to your work.
4. Abstract – this is the abstract of the patent
application. There are rules on how an abstract • click on the patent application link and visit the
should be drafted. Most patent attorneys like to US server for more detailed information of the
have the abstract based on the first claim of the patent application.
patent application.
• read the description of IPC carefully.
5. Pri. Date – priority date – it is the date
of filing of the first application of the patent • if you are interested in IPC, compare the patent
application (a patent application could have applications belong to it.
multiple application dates because of divisional
patents as well as overseas patent applications). Copyright
It is considered to be the effective date of filing
for the examination of novelty and inventive Patent applications are free of copyrights unless the
step or non-obviousness for the subsequent inventor specifically stated so in the patent application.
application claiming the priority of the first However, this review is protected by copyright law due
application. to the editing effort we have invested in. We hope you
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patent application published by US. Usually, it is
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Patent Index is a numerical sorted list the patent customized review, please send us an email at
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Apple - 4th Week of May 2010 USPTO Patent Applications 2

Table of Contents

G06 - Electric digital data processing 4

G06F 17/30 - Information retrieval . . . . . . 4
G06Q 30/00 - Commerce, e.g. marketing,
shopping, billing, auctions or e-commerce 5

H04 - Pictorial communication, e.g. television 5

Table of Contents H04N 07/173 - with two-way working,
e.g. subscriber sending a programme
selection signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
H04R 01/10 - Earpieces . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
H04R 03/00 - Circuits for transducers . . . . 6

A few words from the editor 2 Patent Index 8

Table of Contents 3 IPC Catchword Index 9

Apple - 4th Week of May 2010 USPTO Patent Applications 3

G06F 17/30

G06F 17/30: Electric digital data processing Ü Digital computing or

data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific
functions Ü Information retrieval
App. No. 20100131567 Assignee Apple Inc.
Title Tagging media assets, locations, and advertisements
Abstract An accessory communicates with a PMD to store tags associated with broadcasts in a file
maintained in a storage medium of the accessory. In one embodiment, the accessory sends
a command to the PMD to create or open a tag file that resides on the PMD. Once opened, the
tag file is held open by the PMD until the accessory closes it (or disconnects), allowing multiple
tags to be written to one file. Each time the user requests a new tag, the accessory generates
a tag containing information descriptive of the broadcast material (e.g., song title, artist, radio
station identifier, time of tagging, etc.) and writes the tag to the tag file using a write command to
the PMD.
Pri. Date 20081126 App. Date 20100126 Pub. Date 20100527

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H04N 07/173

G06Q 30/00: Data processing systems or methods, specially adapted

for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial, supervisory or
forecasting purposes Ü Commerce, e.g. marketing, shopping, billing,
auctions or e-commerce
Patent applications also belong to this classification and have been already shown:
20100131567 page 4

H04N 07/173: Pictorial communication, e.g. television Ü Television

systems Ü Secrecy systems Ü with two-way working, e.g. subscriber
sending a programme selection signal
App. No. 20100132005 Assignee Apple Inc.
Title Recapping media content
Abstract A system in accordance with the present invention may include one or more processors, memory
that receives instructions from the one or more processors according to a clock operating at a
frequency, one or more programs stored in the memory, with instructions to open a media file or
receive a media broadcast that may be stored locally or remotely; play the content of the media
file or media broadcast at a default speed; and control the play of the content with control features
such as a feature for recapping earlier media content.
Pri. Date 20090601 App. Date 20081125 Pub. Date 20100527

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H04R 03/00

H04R 01/10: Loudspeakers, microphones, gramophone pick-ups or like

acoustic electromechanical transducers Ü Details of transducers Ü
Earpieces
App. No. 20100128887 Assignee Apple Inc.
Title Detecting the repositioning of an earphone using a microphone and associated action
Abstract A system detects the repositioning of an earphone that is worn by a user, and changes an
operation mode of a host coupled to the earphone. Within the earphone is a pressure transducer
that detects a pressure change caused by the repositioning of the earphone. A signaling
mechanism sends a repositioning detection signal to the host in response to a signal from the
pressure transducer indicating the detection of the pressure change.
Pri. Date 20081226 App. Date 20081124 Pub. Date 20100527

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H04R 03/00

H04R 03/00: Loudspeakers, microphones, gramophone pick-ups or like

acoustic electromechanical transducers Ü Circuits for transducers
App. No. 20100128892 Assignee APPLE INC.
Title Stabilizing directional audio input from a moving microphone array
Abstract A device includes a microphone array fixed to the device. A signal processor produces an audio
output using audio beamforming with input from the microphone array. The signal processor
aims the beamforming in a selected direction. An orientation sensorx2014;such as a compass,
an accelerometer, or an inertial sensorx2014;is coupled to the signal processor. The orientation
sensor detects a change in the orientation of the microphone array and provides an orientation
signal to the signal processor for adjusting the aim of the beamforming to maintain the selected
direction. The device may include a camera that captures an image. An image processor may
identify an audio source in the image and provide a signal adjusting the selected direction to follow
the audio source. The image processor may receive the orientation signal and adjust the image
for changes in the orientation of the camera before tracking movement of the audio source.
Pri. Date 20081226 App. Date 20081125 Pub. Date 20100527

Apple - 4th Week of May 2010 USPTO Patent Applications 7

Patent Index

Patent Index
Patent Application Page Patent Application Page Patent Application Page
20100128887 6 20100128892 7 20100131567 4
20100132005 5

Apple - 4th Week of May 2010 USPTO Patent Applications 8

IPC Catchword Index

IPC Catchword Index

Catch Word IPC Page

COMPILING statistics G06 4
COMPUTER(S) G06 4
DATA processing G06 4
EAR(S) transducers for electro-mechanical earpieces H04R 01/10 6
EQUATIONS solving EQUATIONS G06 4
FUNCTIONS evaluating FUNCTIONS G06 4
INFORMATION electric digital computers for INFORMATION retrieval G06F 17/30 4

Apple - 4th Week of May 2010 USPTO Patent Applications 9