Patentseed

Motorola is down but not out (yet).  They continue innovating as witnessed by their steady stream of patent filings.  Their recent patent application (11/937,830)  titled “Viewable Surface Having Unnoticeable Smudges” caught our attention.  Below is the abstract of the patent application.

A device (110, 151, 200) with a viewable surface (201) including a plurality of transparent pedestals (210) having a reflective material (406) disposed on its sides (408) make smudges forming thereon unnoticeable by taking advantage of optical characteristics including contrast and the user’s visual acuity. The pedestals (210) generally have a width (412) of less than 50 microns, a height (414) equal to twice the width (412), and a spacing (416) between adjacent pedestals (210) equal to the width (412). The device (110, 151, 200) may be an electronic device, and more particularly a portable electronic device such as a cell phone.

The application goes on to further explain that smudges are generally not observable when the display is on.   Smudges are also not very noticable when viewing the display dead on.  I.e., smudges are more noticable when viewing the display at an angle.  Thus, the “pedestal structure” of the invention “reduces the likelihood of the smudges being seen at these angles when the display is off.” 

Our iPhone and Treo Pro could definitely use this technology.  Let’s keep our fingers crossed that this helps with the glossy body as well as the screen.

As our previous blog notes, Microsoft has done its share to advance the mouse.    A new patent application discloses a mouse with a ring-shaped scroll wheel.  Wait, don’t we already have that you ask?  Well, sort of.  We have a scroll wheel, but it’s typically a solid wheel, and not hollow in the center as the “ring-shaped” signifies.  Here’s Microsoft’s explanation:

Prior scroll wheels are generally solid circular wheels with a hub positioned at the center. These prior scroll wheels are rotatably mounted to a mouse body by an axle extending through a center hub of the scroll wheel. The center hub, axle, and associated support structure for the scroll wheel occupy valuable space inside the mouse, and their shape are accommodated by the mouse body, resulting in a relatively standardized appearance, including height profile, among many prior computer mouse designs.

Patent application 11/938,798 may provide marginal improvement for the mouse, but the true significance may be with other controllers.  As the patent application points out, a gaming controller with a ring-shaped scroll wheel may be next.

Tired of having a single display on your laptop?  Attaching an LCD monitor is an option, but defeats the mobility of your laptop.  Dell provides some relief with the current patent application. 

The patent application illustrates an ExpressCard with an LCD display on its face.  When inserted into the laptop, the display on the ExpressCard is made visible to the user through a window in the laptop chassis.  Do we smell a hint of Microsoft Sideshow?  However, because it’s on the inside of the laptop, it doesn’t completely work the way Microsoft Sideshow is intended to.  Apparently, it designed for use in tandem with your primary display.  It’ll be up to individual applications to figure out how best they can use this secondary display.

Dell’s patent application 11/936,895 is for a lighting control framework, which creates a standardized way for software applications to control lighting attached to your computer, laptop, DAP, and the like.  As Dell states, “the lights may be used by a variety of applications for a variety of purposes such as, for example, gaming environments, ambience, video accompaniment, audio accompaniment, and/or a variety of other purposes known in the art. The lights may be utilized by software to change states of the lights. The changing of states may include, for example, turning on, turning off, changing color, changing brightness, and/or a variety of other state changes known in the art.” 

So the next time you’re fragging, it may be complemented by flashing white lights.  Or perhaps you can enjoy some ambient lighting the next time you’re ready to get cozy with your word processor.

LG appears to be a fan of the cameras that rotate and their recently filed patent application (12/263,259) is no exception.  The patent application covers a camera with a touchscreen, wireless communication, and a camera that “rotates in a perpendicular direction to the longitudinal direction of the terminal body.”  As you can see from the drawing, this could very well be a smartphone.

We’re happy to see that Dell is working on making laptops cooler, without increasing the bulk.  Patent application 11/933,671 is titled “Gas Assisted Thixotropic Molded Chassis For Cooling A Computer Chassis.”  We’ll try our best to describe this in plain English.  It looks like Dell’s patent application allows them to make the housing portion with a “reinforcing rib including a cylindrical cross-section.”  The rib section is a pathway for water cooling.  So it would appear that Dell is fabricating a housing and cooling passage together.  They form this “in a novel manner in that the gas assist molding process has not been used with the thixotropic molding process. This is because the thixotropic magnesium molding has less of an issue with cosmetic sink that plastic injection molding, which commonly is used with a gas assist.”  And the thixotropic magnesium is not chilled, thus can be expelled from the housing portion resulting in the formation of the elongated passageway.  Got that?

Imagine a candy bar cellphone that you unfold to become a palmtop.  This idea, brought to you by Palm, Inc. (patent application 12/266,041) allows you to have a decent sized palmtop computer and cellular telephone in one device.  Palm states that by “utilizing flexible display technology, both a PDA and a cellular telephone are incorporated into one device.”  The key here is undoubtedly the flexible display technology. 

The parent patent application of this was filed way back in 2004.  So it seems Palm has been working on this concept for quite sometime now.  Anyone seen a prototype?  With the Palm Pre currently in the limelight, it may be a while before we see this product (if ever).

You enter a meeting.  Your ex-girlfriend tries to call, and your phone automatically filters the call.  Your roommate tries to call, and again,  your phone automatically filters the call.  Then your boss calls, and immediately your phone begins to ring.  That’s Palm’s patent application 11/863,174 in action.  By allowing you to set a priority for each person in your contact list, and setting the priority threshold for each appointment in your calendar, Palm will allow you to filter out non-priority calls.  Or you can set it up by time, so that you can filter out middle of the night calls from your drunk friends.  Sounds like a great idea, unless you’re Mary.

Earlier this year, we saw Mimi Switch announce a remote control that relies on facial expressions.  Hopefully they are aware of Sony’s patent application 11/933,611, titled “Generating Music Playlist Based on Facial Expression.”  That, along with happy “David,” just about describes the patent application.  Alas Sony, what happened to the glory days of the cassette Walkman?

“Are the odd numbers on the right or left?”  “Are the numbers going up or down?”  Sound familiar?  If you’ve ever sat in the passenger seat of a car, chances are you’ve heard these exact questions.  Well, along comes Research In Motion with a navigation related patent application (11/936,455) to destress the front passenger.  The patent application can be utilized by your mobile phone to display the street number of the buildings to your left and right.  Pretty nifty huh?  Cheers to RIM for doing their part in combating unnecessary U-turns.