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.
Research in Motion reported an expected loss this past week but the press still hammered them with crazy headlines like "RIM Shocks (Again!)." I just watched the movie "The Grey" last night and one thing is for certain: When a pack of wolves decide that you're supper, say goodnight. Yet in business, the end isn't always that clear cut. Sometimes, against all odds, a company is quite able to rebound and prosper. In today's report we take a look at a few recent patent applications from Research in Motion that may in fact reveal a few future features for the BlackBerry. Could this one-time tech titan become the next underdog to pull off a historic comeback? Only time will tell.
There's still a market out there for slider keyboards on smartphones and a huge base of Blackberry users who just won't give up on hard-keys. Yet when it comes to larger slates, such as tablets, the trend dies out. Well, Lenovo thinks that those who love hard keys should have a solution for tablets and they're trying to patent a few of these designs at this very moment. Lenovo's patent describes the tablet accessory as a "handgrip keyboard." Keyboard junkies would definitely rejoice if Lenovo could ever get these to market in time for Christmas. But I have my doubts that Santa will be ordering any of them for this year. Time will tell.
Late last year news of Microsoft's futuristic HoloDesk system began to surface and earlier in this quarter, Microsoft's patent pending invention finally came to light. While the project is definitely well ahead of the curve, aspects of it could make its way to market sooner rather than later via a Head Mounted System which we covered earlier this year. In all honesty, while Microsoft's HoloDesk is an ambitious project that may never get off the ground we must recognize the great strides that Microsoft has made via their Kinect and Surface projects over the years. They have clearly demonstrated that they're making incredible headway into ground breaking territory that will eventually spill over to the mainstream markets. Today's report presents you with just one of the many pieces in Microsoft's future computing user experience puzzle.
A new patent application from Lenovo reveals a new wireless convertible remote control that could work as an independent wireless device or a remote control for either an HDTV or Windows Media Center on a PC or TV. The new unit offers a slide out QWERTY keyboard, trackpad and more. While Lenovo illustrates the device in photos that have been manipulated to mask the finish of the design, the fact remains that it all but confirms that the device is in an advanced prototyping phase.
Earlier this week Google's futuristic video glasses were granted three design patents. Yet the bigger story is that they were also granted a patent detailing some of the possible futuristic features associated with these glasses. Contrary to what the naysayersthink about Google's video glasses, Google's patent actually details a very aggressive vision for this next generation device. Firstly, Google's video glasses will double as a smartphone at some point in time and secondly, be able to work with customizable hand gesturing. Interestingly, the associated hand gesturing will be operable day or night due to advanced wearable markers in the form of rings and invisible digital tattooing. At the end of the day, I think that Google's video glasses may have some surprising twists along the way that might be a lot of fun for consumers. This could be Google's shining moment and chance to break away from Apple's shadow – if they don't drop the ball, that is. Only time will tell.
In 2010 an Apple patent application came to light illustrating how a pico-like projector could be integrated into a future MacBook. Now Asus thinks that the timing for such a feature might be right for one of their future notebooks. Their new invention illustrates a couple of new form factors to accommodate an integrated projector. While Asus puts emphasis on professionals using this feature, it would stand to reason that the general public might enjoy such a feature as well. Setting up the notebook on your kitchen table and projecting movie trailers on your wall as if it were a home theater might be a lot of fun. The form factor noted in our cover graphic is actually one that could accommodate a pico projector today before they're miniaturized enough to fit very slim smartphone designs down the road. That's what gives the Asus design an edge – if they ever get it to market quickly enough that is. Time will tell.
In a recent patent application published by the US Patent & Trademark Office, we find that Microsoft is considering that it's time to reinvent their aging Xbox TV Remote. One of the new features for professionals will allow them to open files and use the device's built-in video camera and microphone to conduct a video conference on their televisions. Yet beyond their TV remote, we see that Microsoft is thinking about integrating Potentiometer Sensing Strips into a wide variety of devices such as their Xbox controller, a mouse and perhaps a laser pointer for presentations. One of the common features found in these devices is an easier method of entering text onto a display without a keyboard.
The US Patent & Trademark Office recently published a patent application from Microsoft that reveals that they're working on portable devices that will use a transparent display. The devices, which include a smartphone and an Ultrabook-like device, will adopt a two display form factor. One of the two displays falls into the category of being "transparent" as noted in our cover graphic. Microsoft has developed specialty applications for these transparent displays that will use advanced "recognition" software. Microsoft's applications will utilize augmented reality, geo-location data and uniquely allow users to view photos and movies in 3D. Whether Microsoft intends to license this technology to their partners or actually manufacture these designs under Microsoft branding is unknown at this time.
