Fourteen Apple patents have appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. Here's a summary of each.

Patent number 20010073332 is for a display having a plurality of driver integrated circuits. An electronic device is disclosed. In some embodiments, the electronic device includes a liquid-crystal display (LCD) and a plurality of driver integrated circuits (ICs) coupled to the LCD. The driver ICs may be disposed near non-central locations along a side of the LCD, and in some embodiments, one of the driver ICs may be a master driver IC and the other driver IC or driver ICs may be slave driver ICs. The inventors are Shawn R. Gettemy, Carlin J. Vieri, Yongman Lee and Wei H. Yao.

Patent number 20010073350 is for a display with reduced parasitic effects. Per the patent, visual artifacts in a display are reduced by moving, to the extent possible, display driver components to the display surface itself, thereby shortening conductor distances and reducing the parasitic effects caused by parasitic resistance of the conductors between the display power supply and the display, and between the stabilizing capacitors and the display. To avoid interference with the device housing, low-profile driver components, including either or both of stabilizing capacitors and power supply terminals, can be provided and bonded to the surface of the display side of the outer layer of the display. Alternatively, the stabilizing capacitors can be formed on the display side in the same way that, e.g., in an LCD display, the transparent electrodes for controlling the liquid crystals are formed. The inventor is Yongman Lee.

Patent number 20010073400 involves image capture using separate luminance and chrominance sensors. Systems and methods are provided for capturing images using an image sensing device. In one embodiment, an image sensing device may include a first lens train for sensing a first image and a second lens train for sensing a second image. The image sensing device may also include a first image sensor for capturing the luminance portion of the first image and a second image sensor for capturing the chrominance portion of the second image. The image sensing device may also include an image processing module for combining the luminance portion captured by the first image sensor and the chrominance portion captured by the second image sensor to form a composite image. The inventor is David Gere.

Patent number 20010077345 is for indicating input focus by showing focus transitions. Per the patent a graphical user interface A GUI conveys the location of input focus to a user by a dynamic focus indicator that displays the path followed by input focus during a transition from one GUI component to another. A focus indicator is displayed at a first location having input focus. In response to the location of input focus shifting from the first location to a second location, a path is indicated from the first location to the second location and the focus indicator is displayed at the second location. The location of input focus may shift due to an input from the user, a request from an application associated with the GUI, or a timing event. The path is indicated by presenting an animation routine in which the focus indicator appears to traverse the path. The inventors are Michael S. Swingler and Thomas J. O'Brien.

Patent number 20010077345 involves enabling a speaker phone mode of a portable voice communications device having a built-in camera. Apparatuses and methods of using a speaker phone mode of a portable voice communications device having a built-in camera are described. In one embodiment, the speaker phone mode is activated if it is determined that an image captured by the device is black or nearly black, which indicates that the device is placed flat or nearly flat against surface. In one embodiment, the speaker phone mode is activated based on the results of comparing the captured image to a plurality of previously stored captured images wherein the previously stored captured images include images captured by the device in situations where it would be desirable for the speaker phone mode to be activated. In one embodiment, the speaker phone mode is activated based on a comparison of a captured image and previously stored captured images and their respective speaker phone mode statuses. Other embodiments are also described. The inventors are Anand Sethuraman and E-Cheng Chang.

Patent number 20010075695 is for systems, methods and devices for retrieving local broadcast source presets. The patent is for a media device including a broadcast receiver that receives broadcast media and a location sensor that determines the location of the media device and generates media device location data. The media device includes a data store that stores at least one data network address for a media data server where the media data server includes a list of broadcast source settings. The data store also stores a preset list of broadcast source settings. The media device also includes a transceiver for: i) sending the media device location data to the media data server and ii) retrieving a location-based list of broadcast source settings associated with the location of the media device. The media device further includes a processor that compares the preset list with the location-based list and determines a local preset list from the retrieved location-based settings that match the preset settings. The inventors are Allen P. Haughay Jr., Michael Ignazio Ingrassia Jr. and Jeffrey Lee.

Patent number 20010076576 is for systems, methods and devices for providing broadcast media from a selected source. The invention pertains to a media device including a broadcast receiver that receives media from a broadcast source via a broadcast radio signal and a radio signal sensor that measures a signal characteristic of the received broadcast radio signal. The media device also includes a data transceiver that i) requests and retrieves a network address of a media server which provides the media via a network signal from a data network, ii) establishes a data connection with the media server, and iii) receives the media via the network signal from the media server. The media device further includes a selector that i) selects the broadcast radio signal when the signal characteristic satisfies a selection standard and ii) selecting the network signal when the signal characteristic does not satisfy the selection standard. The media device also includes a user interface that provides at least one of an audio and visual output based on the selected signal. The inventors are Jeffery Lee, Michael Ignazio Ingrassia Jr. and Ryan Perry.

Patent number 20010075616 is for systems, methods and devices for associating a contact identifier with a broadcast source. It involves a media device including a broadcast receiver that receives broadcast media from a plurality of broadcast sources where the broadcast receiver is tunable to a first broadcast source. The media device also includes a data store that stores a list of contact identifiers where each contact identifier is associated with a broadcast source. The media device includes a user interface that: i) provides a prompt to a user to enable the user to initiate contact with the first broadcast source, and ii) receives a user indication to initiate contact with the first broadcast source. The media device further includes a transceiver that initiates the contact with the first broadcast source by sending a communications session request via a communications network to the first broadcast source that includes a contact identifier associated with the first broadcast source. The inventors are Allen P. Haughay and Ryan Perry.

Patent number 20010076983 is for a system and method for playlist generation based on similarity data. A system, method and computer program that encompasses one or more client devices cooperating with a program host's on-line data processing center to generate media playlists is disclosed. Data is transmitted from a program participant's client device to the processing center and is representative of media inventory in a media library on the client device and includes identification data of contained individual media items. Data is further received from a plurality of program participants representative of each respective program participant's media inventory, regardless of the source of the members of the inventory. Co-occurrence of pairs of individual media items in different program participants' media libraries is determined and a similarity rating is assigned between the pairs of individual media items based on the determined incidence of co-occurrence in the different program participants' media libraries. From this, a media playlist is generated. The inventors are Patrick Gates, Richard Frederick Wagner, Jeremy Werner, Andrew Wadycki, Josh Flowers, Stephen A. Davis and Jeffrey S. Miller.

Patent number 20010075604 involves accessory device authentication. An authentication controller coupled to a first communication port of a portable computing device is allowed to provide authentication on behalf of an accessory device coupled to a second communication port of the portable computing device. In one embodiment, a dongle that includes an authentication controller can be coupled with the portable computing device. Accessory devices can also be coupled with the potable computing device through other ports, including wireless ports. The dongle can provide cross-transport authentication for accessories that do not include authentication controllers. Once the dongle had been properly authenticated, the permissions granted to the dongle port can be transferred to a communication port coupled with an accessory. The inventors are Gregory T. Lydon and Emily Clark Schubert.

Patent number 20010077180 is for generating predicate values based on conditional data dependency in vector processors. Per the patent, embodiments of a method for performing parallel operations in a computer system when one or more conditional dependencies may be present, where a given conditional dependency includes a dependency associated with at least two data elements based on a pair of conditions. During operation, a processor receives instructions for generating one or more predicate values based on actual dependencies, where a given predicate value indicates data elements that may be safely evaluated in parallel, and where the given actual dependency occurs when the pair of conditions matches one or more criteria. Then, the processor executes the instructions for generating the one or more predicate values. The inventors are Jeffry E. Gonion and Keith E. Diefondorff.

Patent number 20010077182 involves generating stop indicators based on conditional data dependency in vector processors. Embodiments of a method for performing parallel operations in a computer system when one or more conditional dependencies may be present, where a given conditional dependency includes a dependency associated with at least two data elements based on a pair of conditions. During operation, a processor receives instructions for generating one or more stop indicators based on actual dependencies, where a given stop indicator indicates the position of a given actual dependency that can lead to different results when the data elements are processed in parallel than when the data elements are processed sequentially, and where the given actual dependency occurs when the pair of conditions matches one or more criteria. Then, the processor executes the instructions for generating the one or more stop indicators. The inventors are Jeffry E. Gonion and Keith E. Diefondorff.

Patent number 20010077183 is for conditional data-dependency resolution in vector processors. Embodiments of a method for performing parallel operations in a computer system when one or more conditional dependencies may be present, where a given conditional dependency includes a dependency associated with at least two data elements based on a pair of conditions. During operation, a processor receives instructions for generating a vector of tracked positions of actual dependencies, where a given tracked position indicates the position of a given actual dependency, and where the given actual dependency occurs when the pair of condition matches one or more criteria. Then, the processor executes the instructions for generating the vector of tracked positions. The inventors are Jeffry E. Gonion and Keith E. Diefondorff.

Patent number 20010077211 involves a bit-error rate tester with pattern generation. Per the patent, dentical random, or pseudorandom, test patterns in a peripheral device ("receiver") to be tested, and in a transmitter that sends the test pattern to the receiver, are generated by using pattern generation circuitry in both the transmitter and the receiver that operates identically based on a pattern input value, or seed. The same seed is input to both the transmitter and the receiver. The pattern generation circuitry can be a linear-feedback shift register ("LFSR"), which generates pseudorandom numbers, and identical LFSRs in both the transmitter and the receiver are provided with the same seed. The LFSR may be reseeded periodically. The new seed can be an output of the LFSR itself, or a second LFSR is provided whose output is used to determine the new seed for the first LFSR. Alternatively, cryptographic modules are used in the transmitter and the receiver to generate the test pattern based on identical keys. The inventor is Yongman Lee.