Apple has been granted several patents by the US Patent & Trademark Office. Following is a summary of each.

Patent 7882450 is for interactive document summarization that allows the user to continuously control the amount of detail to be included in a document summary. The invention relates to the field of document summarization which is otherwise known as automatic abstracting wherein an extract of a document (i.e., a selection of sentences from the document) can serve as an abstract. The inventors are Jeremy J. Bornstein, Douglass R. Cutting, John D. Hatton and Daniel E. Rose.

Patent 7880729 is for a center button isolation ring. Selection button isolation arrangements for use with electronic devices are presented including: a selection pad forming a substantially planar surface disposed about a first axis, the selection pad having a pad top surface, the pad top surface configured to receive a user input, the selection pad configured to actuate a number of switches; a selection button substantially co-located with and disposed about the first axis for actuating a selection button switch, the selection button configured to receive a user input; and an annular isolation ring disposed about the first axis having a standoff for mechanically isolating the selection button such that the selection button switch is not actuated by the first user input. In some embodiments, the user input indicators are selected from the group consisting of: a menu selection, a play selection, a pause selection, a forward search selection, a backward search selection, and a stop selection. Brian Lynch and Jan Moolsinton are the inventors.

Patent 7880591 involves a consumer abuse detection system and method. A technique is provided for detecting whether consumer abuse has occurred in an electronic device. In accordance with this technique, a system is provided for detecting the occurrence of a consumer abuse event and storing a record thereof. In one embodiment, the system provides one or more sensors coupled to an abuse detection circuitry for detecting the occurrence of an abuse event. The system may further provide a memory, wherein upon detecting an abuse event, the abuse detection circuitry may store a record of the abuse event into the memory. The system may further provide an interface by which a diagnostic device may access the memory and analyze the abuse event records to determine if an abuse event occurred in the electronic device. The inventors are Timothy M. Johnson, Richard H.M. Dinh and Tang Y. Tan.

Patent 78801061 is for switch assembly constructions. Electronic devices are provided with switch assembly input components that can have adhesives adhered to the side and/or bottom surfaces of support plates for retaining switches between the adhesives and the tops of the support plates. The switch assembly input components can include buttons with one or more absorption elements for receiving impact energy, reducing the impact energy, and transferring the reduced impact energy onto the switches. The inventors are Adam Duckworth Middleman, Tang Y. Tan, Erik L. Wang, Richard Hung Minh Dinh, Michael Philip Hobson and Kenneth A. Jenks.

Patent 7889131 is for an invisible, light-transmissive display system. invention relates generally to device display systems, and more particularly to invisible, light-transmissive display systems that become visible when illuminated from behind. The inventors are Bartley Andre, Daniel Coster, Richard Howarth, Daniele de Iuliis, Duncan Kerr, Jonathan Ive, Shin Nishibori, Matthew Rohrbach, Douglas Satzger, Calvin Seid, Christopher Stringer, Eugene Whang, Rico Zorkendorfer, David Morgenstern and Paul Chow.

Patents 7880733 and 7880819 involve light sensitive display panels. It involves a touch screen that does not significantly decrease the contrast ratio, does not significantly increase the glare, does not significantly increase the expense of the display, and does not significantly increase the complexity of the display. The inventors are Adiel Abileah, Willemden Boear and Pat Green.

Patent 7878326 involves packaging for an article of manufacture, which includes a base with a ledge formed on its interior, a holder disposed within the base for holding an item, and a lid above the base. The holder, base, and lid may be transparent. The holder may suspend the item above a surface to give the item the appearance that it is floating within the packaging. The inventors are Bartley Andre, Daniel Coster, Richard Howarth, Daniele de Iuliis, Duncan Kerr, Jonathan Ive, Steve Jobs. Shin Nishibori, Matthew Rohrbach, Douglas Satzger, Calvin Seid, Christopher Stringer, Eugene Whang and Rico Zorkendorfer.

-- Dennis Sellers
dsellers@applecentral.com