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Germany’s Federal Patent Court Rules in Apple’s Favor and Invalidates Samsung Wireless Standard-Essential Patents (SEPs)

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by Jason Bracey on
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apple_in_colorGermany’s Federal Patent Court (GFPC) ruled in favor of Apple Wednesday when it invalidated the German part of Samsung’s European Patent Specification, “turbo encoding/decoding device and method for precessing frame data according to QoS” (EP1005726, including proposed amendments), which Samsung stated was essential for UMTS, the 3G wireless standard.

As is the case in most of these rulings, Samsung has the opportunity to appeal the decision to the German Federal Court of Justice. Samsung has sought injunctions against Apple over this, as well as other numerous SEPs. » Read the rest

New Google patent application could produce better photos using weather info

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by Jeff Causey on
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A new Google patent application demonstrates a method for connecting weather information with a device’s camera application. Besides the camera app and a connected weather app, the method makes use of GPS coordinates. Grabbing location data using the GPS of a device, coordinates are transmitted to a server to retrieve local weather information. When the weather data is returned to the device, ambient light info is fed into the camera to adjust the settings to optimize the picture. Some of the settings that may be adjusted include white balance, hue, saturation, sharpness, or contrast.

It is not clear how this may be better than the sensors already present in a camera, though many photographers find those to be inadequate and resort to manual settings or process their photos through software to make corrections. We also don’t know whether this concept will ever find its way into an actual product. If it does, Android users may enjoy an edge in the photography department compared to other platforms.

source: USPTO
via: Engadget

Samsung loses patent case in UK, Apple clear of 3G network patent violations

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by Nathan Alvarez on
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Another day, another decision in the ongoing patent war between Apple and Samsung. This time around, Samsung took Apple to court on the grounds that Apple’s way of processing and transmitting data on 3G networks violated three of Samsung’s patents in the UK. The English court ruled in favor of Apple, ruling that Samsung’s three claims against apple were all invalid resulting in the charges against Apple to be dropped. These patent wars have been going on since 2011 and show no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Source: Reuters

Deutsche Telekom, China Mobile join Via Licensing’s 4G LTE patent pool

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by Jeff Causey on
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Via Licensing Corporation announced two new additions to their LTE patent pool. China Mobile and Deutsche Telekom have both joined the pool as owners of standards essential patents that are part of the LTE industry standard. Via Licensing, which maintains licensing programs for several technologies, launched the LTE pool last October. Thus far they have obtained commitments from AT&T, Clearwire Corporation, DTVG Licensing, HP, KDDI Corporation, NTT DOCOMO, SK Telecom, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, and ZTE Corporation in addition to these latest entrants.

In joining the licensing pool, Deutsche Telecom hopes to battle the problem of “costly patent litigation and a lack of predictability surrounding the cost and availability of essential IP.” The pool helps companies like China Mobile and Deutsche Telekom by reducing the risk of litigations and paving the way for licensing deals for their own patents.

source: TechCrunch

New Google Glass patent application provides intense detail for Google’s wearable computer

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by Jeff Causey on
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A patent application originally filed in August 2011 by Google for what has become Google Glass was published to the USPTO web site today. There has been a buzz around Google’s wearable computer project after a new video was released yesterday showcasing some of the capabilities of the system from the user’s point of view. The new patent provides details about how Google is going about making the magic happen. » Read the rest

New Google Multi-Flash Patent Could Lead To Big Jump In Photo Quality

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by Rudy Rivapalacio on
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Google has been granted a patent for multiple flashes on a mobile device. A series of LED flashes is bound to be more powerful than the single LED most smartphones have these days and it opens a host of photographic possibilities. For small or close-up photography a ring flash will go a long way toward smooth, consistent and shadow free lighting. A multiple flash layout also opens the door for second curtain or slow sync flash, which allows for much better nighttime shots.

The patent also addresses different positions and configurations for the flash units. One such configuration would make it more like a pop-up flash as seen on many point and shoot cameras. Moving the flash farther from the lens would also have the added benefit of reducing the number of red-eye shots. This new patent creates a lot of possibilities, including the end of mediocrity when it comes to cameras on Google’s Nexus handsets. This could, of course, find its way to Motorola. Anyone count the flashes on that mythical X Phone yet?

Via: Unwired View
Source: USPTO

Google Applies For Laser Projector Patent For Project Glass

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by Rudy Rivapalacio on
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Google’s patent request will make their DIY cyborg kit even crazier better. Need to dial a number? Just type it on the palm of your hand. That’s at least one expected functionality of  a tiny laser projector for Project Glass. The system would project the dial pad or QWERTY keyboard on to your hand, arm, desk or whatever. A tiny Kinect-like camera would then interpret your movement. Google, you had me at laser!

Source: Engadget

Once again, Samsung has lost yet another patent dispute against Apple; This time the blue bounce effect is the culprit

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by Macky Evangelista on
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This certainly doesn’t surprise us, right? According to the courts in the Netherlands, Samsung has lost its battle against Apple regarding Apple’s patent of scrolling in the gallery (EP 2.059.868). Apparently, Samsung’s “blue bounce effect” (similar to the image above) found in their version of TouchWiz on Android 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3′s gallery must be taken out in a future update.

Apparently Samsung has 8 weeks to bring forth the update or else they’ll be forced to pay 100.00 Euros (128.93 US dollars) per day.

Samsung  just can’t catch a break with Apple, can they?

source: Sammobile

Google Achieves Multiple User Face-To-Unlock Patent

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by Roy Alugbue on
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With all the recent hubbub about patents, it’s only fitting the Mountain View giant is in the news as it recently achieved a big goal. Google recently won a face-to-unlock patent which is likely to allow multiple users share one “computing device”. In theory, it works in a simple way too. A user would point your face at a device’s built-in camera which allows for access to a personal profile. Once one user is finished and another wants to access the device, he or she can do the same action. Hmmm… sounds a little familiar, doesn’t it?

Looks like Android is aiming to become much more interesting folks.

source: USPTO
via: Engadget

 

A juror from the Samsung vs Apple case speaks out and details the deliberation process

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by Macky Evangelista on
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I don’t know about you, but I’m still profoundly shocked and whip-lashed from the outcome of the Samsung vs. Apple patent lawsuit.  While the jury was still in deliberations deciding on the outcome of this case, I always thought to myself what I’d give to have an ear in that room with the 9 jurors. I’m sure many of you can share the same sentiments as we would all love to know what went down in there  that ultimately cost Samsung more than a billion dollars. Thankfully, one of those 9 jury members by the name of Manuel Ilagan has stepped forward and provided all of us with some insight on what was talked about and why they gave Apple this landslide victory.

According to Ilagan, “We found for Apple because of the evidence they presented. It was clear there was infringement.” That statement alone pretty  much tells us that Samsung had no chance in this battle right off the bat. Ilagan also provided what he, and the other jurors, thought were damning evidence against Samsung:

“Well, there were several. The e-mails that went back and forth from Samsung execs about the Apple features that they should incorporate into their devices was pretty damning to me. And also, on the last day, they showed the pictures of the phones that Samsung made before the iPhone came out and ones that they made after the iPhone came out. Some of the Samsung executives they presented on video [testimony] from Korea — I thought they were dodging the questions. They didn’t answer one of them. They didn’t help their cause.”

Ilagan also pointed out that a licencing deal that Samsung had with Intel piled on even more votes towards Apple:

“Samsung’s offensive on Apple that claimed Apple violated two of its patents relating to 3G wireless technology. One patent involved the baseband chip in the iPhone and iPad with 3G. During the trial, Apple turned around and pointed to a licensing deal Samsung had with Intel, which made the chips Apple used. Under that deal, Apple said, Samsung was not able to sue any companies Intel sold to. Apple then presented the receipts from when it purchased the accused chips from Intel.”

» Read the rest

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