Five Apple patents at the US Patent & Trademark Office show the company plans to beef up the interaction between accessories and the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

Patent number 20100233961 involves an accessory and mobile computing device communication using an application communication protocol. Embodiments of the present invention provide various communication techniques for communication between a mobile computing device and an accessory. An accessory protocol that is generic to the mobile computing device can be used for some communication. An application executing at the mobile computing device can communicate with the accessory using an application communication protocol. In some embodiments, the application communication protocol can be different from the accessory communication protocol. In other embodiments the application protocol may only be recognized by the application and the accessory. In some embodiments, messages conforming to an application protocol can be communicated between the application and the accessory by packaging the messages inside a message conforming to the accessory communication protocol. The inventors are Paul Holden, Lawrence Bolton, Nitin Ganatra, Mitchell Adler, Emily Clark Schubert and Jesse Lee Dorogusker.

Patent number 20100235373 is for automatic identification of compatible applications and accessories. Embodiments of the present invention provide various communication techniques for communication between a mobile computing device and an accessory. An accessory protocol that is generic to the mobile computing device can be used for some communication. An application executing at the mobile computing device can communicate with the accessory using an application communication protocol. In some embodiments, the application communication protocol can be different from the accessory communication protocol. In other embodiments the application protocol may only be recognized by the application and the accessory. In some embodiments, messages conforming to an application protocol can be communicated between the application and the accessory by packaging the messages inside a message conforming to the accessory communication protocol. The inventors are Paul Holden, Lawrence Bolton, Nitin Ganatra, Mitchell Adler, Emily Clark Schubert, Shyam Toprani, John Ananny, Peter T. Langenfeld and Scott Krueger.

Patent number 20100235425 involves accessory and mobile computing device communication using an application communication protocol. Embodiments of the present invention provide various communication techniques for communication between a mobile computing device and an accessory. An accessory protocol that is generic to the mobile computing device can be used for some communication. An application executing at the mobile computing device can communicate with the accessory using an application communication protocol. In some embodiments, the application communication protocol can be different from the accessory communication protocol. In other embodiments the application protocol may only be recognized by the application and the accessory. In some embodiments, messages conforming to an application protocol can be communicated between the application and the accessory by packaging the messages inside a message conforming to the accessory communication protocol. The inventors are Paul Holden, Lawrence Bolton, Nitin Ganatra, Mitchell Adler, Emily Clark Schubert and Jesse Lee Dorogusker.

Patent number 201002355185 is for a connection to multiple accessories with multiple accessory-specific protocols. Embodiments of the present invention provide various communication techniques for communication between a mobile computing device and an accessory. An accessory protocol that is generic to the mobile computing device can be used for some communication. An application executing at the mobile computing device can communicate with the accessory using an application communication protocol. In some embodiments, the application communication protocol can be different from the accessory communication protocol. In other embodiments the application protocol may only be recognized by the application and the accessory. In some embodiments, messages conforming to an application protocol can be communicated between the application and the accessory by packaging the messages inside a message conforming to the accessory communication protocol. The inventors are Paul Holden, Lawrence Bolton, Nitin Ganatra, Mitchell Adler, Emily Clark Schubert, Jesse Lee Dorogusker, Shyam Toprani and John Ananny.

Patent number 2010023550 involves mobile computing device capabilities for accessories. Embodiments disclosed provide for capability identification for accessories coupled with a mobile computing device. During capability identification an accessory can request capability information from a mobile computing device. In some embodiments, the accessory can specifically request capability information associated with a specific lingo. In response, the mobile computing device can respond with a message that indicates the capabilities of the mobile computing device that are supported. In some embodiments, the capabilities can be those capabilities associated with the specified lingo. In some embodiments, if the mobile computing device does not support a lingo, then the mobile computing device can respond to the request from the accessory with a negative acknowledgement. The inventors are Lawrence G. Bolton, Shailesh and Sylvain R.Y. Louboutin.