I don't get it
What's innovative about this? It's a common sense development in my eyes. (flame suit donned)
Possibly realising that devices with a limited battery life can be annoying, Apple has filed a patent for a portable power system with a potential endurance of days, not hours. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published the patent (Number 8980491) assigned to the fruity firm for a design of a “portable and …
Patents are for "a method". The patent isn't on fuel cells, they've been around for some time. This patent appears to be for a method where the mobile device charges AND communicates with the fuel cell pack at the same time, allowing it control over charging and access to info like the fuel level.
In this case, I think your analysis is entirely correct. People are so up in arms about software patents, these days they very often jump the gun where criticism of hardware patents is concerned, but in this case it very much appears to be an obvious combination of existing techniques. Indeed techniques that have already been combined with different fuel cell technologies a few times over. All tech companies file patents for everything they can however. Unfortunately the US Patent Office tends to approve far too many of them.
Given what has happened to a few iPhones, I can understand why Apple would recommend something other than hydrogen in the fuel cell!
That wouldn't work. They need to sell you a phone that has not-quite-enough battery endurance to make it more likely you'll invest in an iBat (price: $$$$$$$$$$$$$) later.
Already, their phones are becoming dangerously thin to ensure the battery is not quite up to scratch. Another two generations or more and they might get so thin that picking them up might lead to paper cuts.
In their effort to list every possible fuel cell power source, the draftees of the application have included sodium silicate (I thought the story must have got it wrong and checked.) Clearly not chemists. Sodium silicide has been proposed as a suitable source for small cells (releases hydrogen with water) but sodium silicate is more familiar as the ingredient in waterglass, and as an ingredient in cement.
Apple should slip me a billion or so to proofread their patent applications in future, they can afford it.
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