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.
Intel began the year strongly at CES in January by delivering a keynote about 2013 being a game changing year for Intel. It was all about a game changing product on the way called the Ultrabook Convertible. Last week in Beijing, Intel's IDF was in full gear once again to excite their developers in China about the coming new product category. The theme echoing throughout their main keynote was that the next generation Ultrabooks in the form of convertibles and detachables were going to deliver the very best 2 for 1 computer deal for consumers that they won't be able to ignore. The new devices will deliver the best powered notebook and the best featured tablets in one device. Intel believes that this this is the game changer they need to breathe life back into the PC market which just experienced its worst quarter in more than twenty years. Will they be able to pull it off? Time will tell.
According to a new Korean report published this morning, Samsung is preparing the Note 3 for a likely debut at Germany's IFA tradeshow in August. AT&T will be getting an advanced look at the Note 3 later this week in Suwon which is on the outskirts of Seoul. The sneak peek will only include a mock up with no technical samples available. The report states that the Note 3 will sport a 5.9" OLED HD display. The decision to use a flexible display is still in the air. Update March 19, 2013
In November 2012 Patent Bolt published a Samsung patent application report regarding "Air-Gesturing.". Air Gesturing for handheld devices could be an option for specific Android applications and the idea behind this feature is to control the User Interface without having to actually touch the display. During last night's boring Samsung Galaxy S4 event, they introduced this feature, fulfilling their patent which hints of this feature eventually sliding over to future Samsung Smart Televisions. Additionally, Samsung introduced their "Smart Scroll" smartphone feature last night which fulfilled one of their latest trademarks filings.
The news just hit the wires. Google's Android boss is stepping down as Android's leader. Google has stated that Sundar Pichai will take over the Android division at Google and run it in addition to his duties as the boss of the Chrome Web browser and Chrome operating system.
On March sixth we reported that Samsung was likely to introduce a new Galaxy S4 feature involving an advanced eye-tracking feature for automatic scrolling based on both a Telegraph report and a Samsung trademark filing made in February. Today, Patent Bolt has discovered that the 3D feature is likely to be 3D movie and still camera debuting with the Galaxy S4. The US Patent and Trademark Office have published a trademark filing that was made by Samsung last week that shows us the logo for such a feature.
A segment of a new ABI Research report published today reveals that media tablets will continue to take the market by storm in 2013 by racking up an estimated 145 million units worldwide – with North America accounting for 50% of all sales. ABI's senior practice director Jeff Orr thinks that this is going to an interesting year as new Windows based tablets begin to take hold in the marketplace, especially in the enterprise that is estimated to account for 19% of the market this year. Its' a segment that HP is deadly focused on as we discovered in a CNBC interview with Todd Bradley, HP's VP of Printing and Personal Systems Group, last November. The interview is shown below.
It appears that the next generation of smart device form factors will include dual displays that will be both flexible and foldable. These new form factors will create very powerful hybrid devices that will truly function as highly advanced video-conferencing smartphones and higher end e-Books. The new devices will give new meaning to multi-tasking as users will be able to video conference using one display while taking notes or juggling a work app on the flipside display simultaneously. Powerful new trends usually start with a flurry of intellectual property activity as companies seek to protect their latest and greatest ideas for future devices and services from being copied. One of the most powerful trends that we see emerging at the ground level today involves dual display smartphones and e-Books. The new form factors will create killer hybrid device categories that will drive new service and application opportunities for savvy developers. In today's report we take a look at new patent filings from Microsoft, Samsung and Sony regarding their respective next generation dual display device form factors. Specifically, each company is focusing on how they could best provide these next-generational devices with a reliable book-like spine that could be a make-it or break-it feature for these next-gen devices.
While researching tech patents from some of the top companies in the industry as we do every week, we happened to stumble upon a stray patent that just happened to reveal a next generation system of restraining devices such as handcuffs for law enforcement. While the new system focuses on handcuffs, the inventors clarified that the new system could equally apply to ankle cuffs, straightjackets, neck collars, helmets and even facial restraints such as the one used in the film Hannibal. The next generation handcuffs will be super high tech with built-in sensors such as accelerometers, potentiometer, inclinometer, biometric sensors, camera sensors and more. But the kicker to this invention is that these future handcuffs will be able to combine standard restraining mechanisms alongside those that could deliver a powerful electric shock to detainees and/or administer medications to sedate or irritate them. Whether you're in law enforcement or in an activist group, it's an interesting read that will keep your interest. Yes, the cuffs are designed to restrain "the bad guys," but it sure looks as though there's potential here for abuse in the form of mild torture. This kind of invention will have to be carefully monitored and legislated to exacting standards so that the "good guys" walk the line on this one. The filing presents us with a picture of one prototype-like design that appears to be far beyond just the "drawing board," phase. Ready or not, new law enforcement tools are on the way.
The Daily Beast reports that Diane von Furstenberg's fashion shows always offers a front row filled with heavy hitters and a collection filled with explosive color. And this season definitely didn't disappoint. Several of Google's high-tech "augmented reality" glasses came down the runway on the models, giving the much anticipated Glass by Google product its official first spin. Sergey Brin, Google's cofounder and the head of Google X, its division for innovative projects, sat in the front row with his own pair of the glasses, grinning the entire time. Industry sources believe that Google's Glasses should hit the market in 2013.
