As Windows 8 is set launch this fall, Toshiba is hard at work on a number of new products that will take advantage of this new OS. In our first of two reports, we cover two of Toshiba's patents that reveal a cellular notebook with a built-in stylus holder. Windows 8 will support digital pen input when a notebook is in tablet mode and that would suggest that Toshiba's notebook display will be able to switch to this mode even though the patent is unclear on this point. In June, Lenovo launched their new cloud-based cellular notebook – and this is likely to be one of the next-wave features coming to notebooks in 2012-2013. Toshiba clearly doesn't want to miss out on this always-on notebook trend and we're likely to see their patent leap to life in the not-too-distant future. Updated October 30, 2012
Toshiba's Next-Gen Notebook to Provide Cellular Network Connectivity
One of Toshiba's latest inventions generally relates to a notebook that could communicate over 3G or 4G cellular data networks. The next generation notebook will include a wireless communication module, a select information generation module, a position detection module, and a select module. The wireless communication module executes wireless communication by a plurality of wireless communication systems.
Toshiba's patent FIG. 1 shown below is a perspective view that illustrates their next generation notebook. According to Toshiba, the notebook's communication system control program ensures that the position of the computer is detected by using the data received by a GPS receiver. Communication is then executed by a wireless communication system associated with the detected position. Therefore, at any position, switching can be effected to a selected one of the plural wireless communication systems.
Toshiba Invents a Stylus Guide into the Side of a Next-Gen Notebook
As a Microsoft partner, Toshiba will be promoting Windows 8 which supports stylus input for when the display is in tablet mode. In a secondary patent illustrated below, we see that Toshiba's patent figures 2 and 18 illustrate that they've invented a stylus guide into the side of the notebook chassis. A ribbing on one side of the stylus locks the stylus into place when not in use.
Toshiba's cellular notebook patent was originally filed in Q3 2011 while their stylus guide patent was filed in Q4 2011. Both were published by the US Patent and Trademark Office in June 2012.
Update Oct 30, 2012: A new Toshiba patent filing for a cellular data ready notebook was published by the USPTO on October 25, 2012.
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