Welcome to Patent Bolt, a dedicated Intellectual Property news site that specializes in dissecting patent applications from leading industry players such as Microsoft, Google, Samsung and others. If you love to explore future inventions, you'll love our site.
Last week the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Microsoft that reveals their invention relating to voice-controlled camera operations for a smartphone. The new feature would be great for self-portraits or for group photos that could allow you to join in. While it's not as cool as saying "OK Google" take a photo in a hands free mode, it's still interesting to see that voice commands will be coming to smartphones to control camera functionality in the future, and particularly from a Windows Smartphone. It was rumored last month that Microsoft has been testing a new smartphone design, and so this Microsoft patent filing is just another hint that such a development is in fact in play.
In March Apple acquired indoor-GPS company WifiSLAM, a sign that the war over indoor mobile location services is heating up. The company stated that their product "Allows your smartphone to pinpoint its location (and the location of your friends) in real-time to 2.5m accuracy using only ambient WiFi signals that are already present in buildings." Now a new Microsoft patent application published by the US Patent and Trademark Office titled "Sound-based Positioning" has surfaced describing one of their solutions regarding indoor mobile location services based on ultrasonic signals. Microsoft provides an extensive scenario of a shopper using the new technology in a store. Yes, the war over indoor mobile location services is heating up and Microsoft has a new solution in the works.
With Google Glass now hitting production, will we see a competitor step up to the plate this year to compete with Google? Will Google have a runaway lead in the coming wearable computer revolution? While I have no idea as to how this will all play out over the course of the year, there's at least a possibility that Microsoft may be closer to delivering one if not two possible Glass related products. Our report shows you how the case for such products is building.
The US Patent and Trademark Office have granted three design Patents to Microsoft for a camera. The new Industrial designs would strongly suggest that they represent the next generation Kinect. The new design replaces the three front camera/sensors with a very large wide camera. The design also supports stereo speakers which would be nice for gaming or watching movies on your smart HDTV. Our report provides you with several jumbo graphics so that you don't miss a thing.
Yesterday we presented a Microsoft patent report about "Omni-Spatial Gesturing and Glasses-Free 3D UI" which may very well go hand in hand with today's report. The revelations found in Microsoft's latest gaming patent covers components relating to an all-new virtual game controller interface for future tablets and smartphones running Windows OS. Yesterday we also learned that Sony will be adding Dual Shock 3 support to their smartphones starting with the Xperia SP. So it appears that Microsoft and Sony will eventually be extending their gaming rivalry through to future smartphones and tablets. Today's patent report takes a quick look at what's likely to be the first of many patents to come on the topic of new gaming interfaces, components, features and services related to Xbox gaming that's coming to future portables.
The US Patent & Trademark Office recently published a patent application from Microsoft that reveals that they have their eye on a future 3D Glasses-Free User Interface for a possible full range of devices including smartphones, a next generation Xbox controller and smart TVs. Microsoft's invention focuses on implementing a newly advanced omni-spatial gesturing input system that includes specialized gesture sensors. The new gesturing technology is intended to provide users with a superior means of executing hover based gesturing on future devices that are accurately delivered on both regular and 3D user interfaces.
The US Patent & Trademark Office recently published a patent application from Microsoft that reveals a future computing system that will enable users to control the functionality of multiple displays that are before them by simply using visual controls. The visual controls are enacted by a head and/or eye tracking system residing in a display's camera system. A user will be able to quickly shift working on any document on any number of displays before them by simply focusing on a document that needs to be worked on without any special keystrokes or dragging motions. Beyond work related applications, Microsoft states that their new system will also work with future Smart TVs and TV guides.
Microsoft officially launched Windows 8 in October 2012. The new OS was a major overhaul of their operating system which debuted with two distinct interfaces. The first UI simply covered their traditional Windows for PC styled work while their second UI covered touch-centric computing that began with their new Surface Tablets. The new UI would go on to serve other computers that offered touch displays such as desktops, smartphones and Ultrabooks. The key to their new Metro styled UI was in the creation of live tiles for launching apps that was designed to challenge Apple's static icons based UI. Today's patent report points you to three of Microsoft's original patent applications that finely details tile arrangements and grouping of tiles.
Microsoft has filed a patent pertaining to multi-modal user interfaces to electronic computing devices, and in particular, to the use of gestures to trigger different input modalities associated with functions implemented on a smart phone. Specifically, Microsoft reveals "Tilt-to-Talk" and "Point to Scan" smartphone gesturing to initiate voice search and searches related to photos taken in real time.
