[LINK] Apple (Opportunistic Documenting Company) Wins 31 Patents Covering NFC, Location, the Magic Mouse +

[Tom Koltai]

Some days, the news is all downhill.
US Patent laws clearly need overhauling if patents like the following
can be approved. (Comments at end)

Quote/
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a whopping 31
newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. Earlier we covered a Key
Swipe Gestures Patent for Virtual Keyboards, another covering a
Telephonic MacBook with a Rotatable Display along with an Industrial
Design Patent for Apple's Upper West Side NY Apple Store that credited
Steve Jobs as one of the designers. In our last report of the day, we
cover an eclectic mix of interesting patent wins ranging from a first
NFC patent win to one covering location technologies including Infrared
beacons. Additionally we cover conductive paints and foils used in the
iPhone and another design win for Steve Jobs on the Magic Mouse. All in
all it was a huge patent day for Apple and fun for Macites who love to
hear the sound of Android-Heads exploding at the mere mention of Apple
gaining yet more "e-v-i-l" patents - Ha!  

http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2011/11/apple-wins-31-patent
s-covering-nfc-location-the-magic-mouse.html

..

Granted Patent Number Two: Transmission line with a cross-hatched ground
plane that is either filled with conductive paint or covered by a
conductive foil

Apple has received a Granted Patent that relates to transmission lines,
and more particularly, to microstrip and stripline transmission lines
for electronic devices. The transmission lines may be used as part of
wireless communications circuitry in handheld electronic devices - such
as the iPhone.

The transmission lines may include one or more planar ground conductors.
The ground conductors may include conductive lines arranged in a
crosshatch pattern with spaces between the conductive lines. The ground
conductors may also include conductive paint in spaces within the
crosshatched pattern. The ground conductors may form one or more ground
planes for the transmission lines. For more information, see Granted
Patent 8,058,954.

Granted Patent Number Three: A Location Information System Utilizing GPS
and a Distributed Network

Apple has received a Granted Patent that relates to obtaining
information relating to a specific location using a positioning system.
More particularly, the invention relates to a system and method for
obtaining location specific information about a particular location
using a distributed network in combination with the positioning system.
Apple's patent FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the location information
system using bar code labels as the information source; Apple's patent
FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the location information system using
infrared beacons

Although this patent was refilled in Sept 2010 and granted today, it
actually dates all the way back to 1998 as its original filing date. It
would appear that Apple sought out to acquire this heavy weight patent
as none of the engineers listed appear to be known Apple engineers.
Though it's interesting to note that Mark Weiser, who's known to be the
father of ubiquitous computing, is listed on the patent. Mr. Weiser is
associated with Xerox PARC. For more information, see (reexamined)
granted patent RE42,927.
/Quote

Any day now, it won't be worth working innovatively in IT because
everything that one needs to effect as a process is owned by Apple (or
Microsoft).

Mobile millimetre wave, depends on Doppler Beamforming via patch
antennas to mitigate interference with external devices.
This "process" grab by Apple just means that all Beamforming RF
development will now be carried out in China, further eroding the West's
capacity to play economic catch-up. (Mainly because in the future all
devices will talk to all devices. This is the future of embedded devices
otherwise referred to as software based radio.

The USPTO appears to have dramatically altered the rules in favour of
American "opportunistic documenters" (because apple certainly didn't
invent NFC, strip antennas or location based tracking.

I'm FF. (The second half of the acronym is "Furious").

The US intellectual Property grab is becoming a serious threat to every
other nations economy.
Thank God that Australia has the innovations exception to thwart
"process camping" patent priority claims. I foresee a large contingent
of inventors making their way to AU to start filing innovation patents.

TomK