Ready for ANOTHER patent war? Apple 'invents' wireless charging
Apple is trying to patent wireless charging, claiming its magnetic resonance tech is new and that it can do it better than anyone else. This would be cool if its assertions were true. Apple's application, numbered 20120303980, makes much of its ability to charge a device over the air at a distance of up to a metre, rather than …
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Re: Appl$
How about Dum Dum Droid? As in dum-dum bullets that do the maximum amount of damage (to Apple and their idiot fans)? Google could get Mark Hollis to do a commercial for them. And it would be much cooler than stupid dancing silhouettes just because it's Mark Hollis.
"Innovate rather than litigate" ?????
Tony,
Where does it say anything in the article about litigation? This is about innovation vs. non-innovation.
Re: @Tony Rogerson
Here Here for Wi$e, and his unscrupulou$ observation$.
Re: @Tony Rogerson
I'll remember not to use any Currency Symbols when I reference "Foxconn Labor Policy" or "Apple Human Resources" then.
Healthy?
I'm not sure that I like the idea of it. There's evidence (both for and against) to suggest that mobile 'phone signals are potentially hazourdous to health. Just try putting an egg on your mobile, and then call TalkTalk customer support (or anyone else that will keep you on hold for 30 minutes). Enjoy your egg.
I'm not sure I like the idea of all these 'waves' permeating my body every time I drive my car or sit in a Starbucks (ha, like *that's* going to happen).
I think it's a good job our eyes can't all these radio waves. It probably wouldn't be a pretty sight!
Re: Healthy?
Holy Wow. I was going to write a rebuttal to the assertions of your post, but its so full of unsubstantiated nonsense that I am compelled to conclude that you are a troll. Or is there a link from the Daily Mail to The Register for some reason today?
Re: Healthy?
Yeah, I know what you mean! Although it could be worse - with all these visible light radiation emitting devices and contraptions in out pockets, attached to our ceilings, on the front of our cars - imagine how horrid it would be to have them all hitting our bodies as we walk around! It's a good job our eyes can't see all of those -
Hang on....
Re: Healthy?
He's just a shill for the egg-farming/Mobile telephony complex.
Re: Healthy?
> Enjoy your egg.
I doubt I would. I'm really not that fond of raw egg.
Vic.
Re: Healthy?
"I'm not sure I like the idea of all these 'waves' permeating my body"
You appear to have wandered onto a technology site by mistake. I think you may be searching for throwyourclogsinthemachines.fr
@ForthIsNotDead
"Just try putting an egg on your mobile, and then call TalkTalk customer support (or anyone else that will keep you on hold for 30 minutes). Enjoy your egg."
I like my eggs cooked, thanks. But do feel free to try it yourself.
Re: Healthy?
and of course I thought that website might exist ... quick buy the domain!
throwyourclogsinthemachines.fr
Re: Healthy?
If you like your egg raw, you will enjoy it.
A phone will not cause heat to anything of that magnitude so you can cook an egg on it, nor pop a popcorn. Just so you know that youtube clip was a fake one.
Other than that I agree on that you should be cautious, as we have little clue of what various health issues we could get from various energy levels of electromagnetic radiation. We do know that visible light is even good for our health, but we also know that both x-rays and radioactive radiation are unhealthy. They are all based on the same physics, and all go under the name electromagnetic radiation.
Want to know more visit wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_spectrum
Re: Healthy? @sventamagotchi
Yes, buy the domain and then sue Psyx for infringement of your IP, it's what crApple would do.
Re: Healthy?
Actually, this has been scientifically demonstrated. The excreriment used a raw egg and two mobile phones thus:
1. A raw egg was placed between two mobile phones
2. One of the two phones was used to call the other
3. The egg exploded
Don't any of you read your email?
Hysteria from el Reg, who would have thunk it
Patents are about implementations, not the basic idea of doing something. Inductive coupling dates back to the days of Tesla and is well out of patent. Apple are claiming a particular method of wireless charging to power a set of peripheral devices like keyboards and mice at ranges up to 1 yard. This doesn't block anyone else from using wireless charging, just from using it for the same reason.
Re: Hysteria from el Reg, who would have thunk it
Other than that this coupling, and it's associated technology has been used, abused, recycled, and rehashed in countless ways for over a century, so the actual implementation would have to be pretty damn revolutionary to be patentable in an ordinary way. Simply sticking "mobile device" into various gramatically convenient spots doesn't make a new invention worthy of a patent. Outside the US, at least.
But we all know this isn't about invention, but the New Deal of Big Business, which is carving out your turf in IP territory, so that competition can be executed in the courts. Never mind the burden on the legal system(s) of various nations and the cost to the tax-paying punters without tax havens living in said countries.
Re: Hysteria from el Reg, who would have thunk it
So, like if there was a patent on an electric cable it would be legit to grant patents on electric cables to power devices? Hmmm
Methinks the PO should come up with a category of "vexatious patent applicant" and sin bin applications from such folk...
Re: Hysteria from el Reg, who would have thunk it
> Patents are about implementations
No, patents are about *inventions*
A neat implementation of someone else's invention does not warrant a new patent.
Vic.
Re: Hysteria from el Reg, who would have thunk it
Inductive coupling being out of patent means not only that anyone can use it, but that it can't be patented again y someone else (or even the same person). Thus whether or not it's out of patent is irrelevant to the article - the fact that it exists (and has existed for over 100 years) is enough. At it's core, I believe the "implementation" of inductive charging is more or less the same across the board - there isn't a set of "Apple Physics" (tm) that work better than "Standard Physics" (tm) - Their method of coupling/blocking devices may be their own, but that's not the issue with this patent application. If you're referring to the ability to transfer power from a device to another (instead of a charger to a device) they might be on to something - but whether that's patentable (or is just an extension of the use of the original patent) is debatable.
As for "a particular method of wireless charging to power a set of peripherals", I believe that's pretty well covered by the standards that already exist, which cover various methods and materials being used - simply because Apple's patent is slightly more specific in describing the devices doesn't mean it's covering new ground.
Re: Hysteria from el Reg, who would have thunk it
Patents are about implementation but are also about novelty. Wireless charging is not novel unless the would-be inventor can show a significant improvement in some aspect of the process ( efficiency or safety ....). If they can they can patent THAT but it wouldn't cover wireless charging in toto
Re: Hysteria from el Reg, who would have thunk it
Steve Todd
Patents are about implementations, not the basic idea of doing something.
That comment just blows the "round corners" patent out of the water then, doesn't it.
Re: Hysteria from el Reg, who would have thunk it
there isn't a set of "Apple Physics" (tm) that work better than "Standard Physics" (tm)
Apple definitely thinks otherwise, which gives rise to such matters as Antennagate.
Don't worry
Inductive resonant coupling? Sounds an awful lot like a radio style tuned circuit so they'll not be able to do it for at least two reasons...
- It's obviously been done before elsewhere many times to some extent
- Apple are shit at antenna design, it won't work because you 'Put the charge transmitter on the desk the wrong way'
Re: Don't worry
Actually, given that the patent attempts to confuse the matter by re-naming a loop antenna to "magnetic antenna" (look it up, it's in there... ;) ) you *can* Hold It The Wrong Way, as last time I checked the electirical EM field was perpendicular to the magnetic EM field, so presumably the "magnetic antenna" wouldn't work perpendicular to the magnetic field, or at vastly reduced efficiently if you don't position it juuust right..
@Grikath
Ha!!
Confounded by the left-hand rule! (Or is it right-hand for magnetism, never can remember)
Re: @Grikath
So True, so true.
I actually once got a job - over another candidate - because I simply admitted I couldn't remember which was which. The other guy tried to bullshit his way out of it.
Xtal
Wow! Plucking energy out of the air to power a radio receiver. Crystal sets got there first by 100 years,
<=== my nuclear powered pet penguin
Re: Xtal
Not just out of the air, 'up to 1 metre' but gathering energy to power headphones from THOUSANDS of Kilometres away!
Whiter than White
I had better put my Wireless rechargeable toothbrush on to charge now, before I am banned. Fruit acid is very bad to enamal erosion so I am informed. :-)
Re: Whiter than White
But does your rechargeable toothbrush charge "at a distance of up to a metre, rather than requiring close proximity"?
We need an RTFA icon.
Re: Whiter than White
If I am not mistaken, the technology used on the toothbrush chargers is called "Air-Gap Transformers". Not efficient at all.
Re: Whiter than White
One mm is distance of UP TO one metre. Like your broadband speed at home, you know, up to 24Mb but you only actually get 4Mb.....
@Trevor Marron
Point taken. But "up to 1m" is still better than "up to 1mm"...
Re: @Trevor Marron
Up to 1m is nonsense, it's just pre-emptively patenting some company coming up with a wireless changer which works over slightly more distance (e.g. 2-3mm).
You'd have to be as dumb as a bag of spanners to think this is a new invention.
Fortunate they still have plenty of fanboys that will believe just that..
Way out of this
You know, if Samsung and HTC diverted some resources into properly manning the US Patent Office, and manning it clueful people, they'd be quids-in over the long term.
Its the US Patent Office not Apple that is to blame
The US patent office does no serious discovery when awarding patents. As a result they keep awarding dodgy patents.
From the US perspective this is great, as they get lots of international-lawyer-dollars into their economy. And due to the various treaties, extend technological colonialism.
Now where the documentation for my idea of putting a circular disk pivoted on a solid bar to counter-act rolling friction....
Re: Its the US Patent Office not Apple that is to blame
Yes indeedy. Apple can't really be blamed for playing according to the local laws.
If anyone should be declared a "vexatious patenter" it is the USPTO, which has been inflicting this crap on the rest of the world's patent offices for 20 years now. The RotW should impose a moratorium on honouring US patents until the US clean up their act.
Re: Its the US Patent Office not Apple that is to blame
The RoW already doesnt care about US patents. They are mostly meaningless outside of the USA.
Re: Its the US Patent Office not Apple that is to blame
You might want to check there's no prior art for this circular disk idea. Although I'm sure it won't matter to the USPTO. I can see it being very popular idea, revolutionary you might say... Better make sure you patent it for mobile devices as well, just to be on the safe side.
I recall....
Nicoli Tesla... Edison, articles from popular mechanics - in the 40's and 50's about electric cars charging at the stop lights...
Even articles in the 60's, etc., all the way through to now.....
Something about Electron Volt or some thing.....
Wireless recharging of consumer goods.....
When are we going to patent a way to kick Apple lawyers in the balls without getting caught and sued for the patent?
Re: I recall....
When are we going to patent a way to kick Apple lawyers in the balls without getting caught and sued for the patent?
"Transmitting kinetic energy into a (male) legal scholar's gonads as a way of signalling extreme disagreement with the activities of the recipient of the energy transmission."
There's plenty of prior art, so USPTO should award this patent to Apple post-haste.
Re: I recall....
Apple are now busy applying for a patent for "Transmitting kinetic energy into a (male) legal scholar's gonads as a way of signalling extreme disagreement with the activities of the recipient of the energy transmission using a mobile device."
3 strikes rule for patents...
To stop all this patent trolling there should be a system where if you try and patent 3 obvious ideas in a row you are banned from patenting anything for a year. Retrospectively that should keep apple out of the game for the best part of a century!
Wirelessly Charging Mobile Devices!
Fantastic!
If only electric car makers had thought of using induction charging for cars we, wouldn't need all these stupid cables and charging points from our houses and in the streets.
On a serious note, will your Apple i(nduction)Phone be alright in these car (et al) charging areas or will we see a spate of overcharged fanbois catching fire and exploding?
Re: Wirelessly Charging Mobile Devices!
"If only electric car makers had thought of using induction charging for cars"
Already being done it seems - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18984160
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