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

Patent number 8068125 involves luminescence shock avoidance in display devices. Per the patent, a luminescence shock avoidance algorithm selectively limits the brightness level of a display device when the display device is activated in a dark environment to prevent the temporary vision impairment that can occur when a display device is activated in a dark environment. The algorithm receives the state of the display (e.g. on or in standby mode), and can optionally receive an ambient lighting value from an ambient light sensor and a user-selectable manual brightness adjustment setting to determine whether luminescence shock avoidance should even be triggered, and if it is triggered, how much should the brightness level of the display be limited. Kai Achim Pantfoerder is the inventor.

Patent number 8067701 is for an apparatus providing one or more I/O connections to a computer. The apparatus includes a Faraday cage generally about a flex cable, or other computing element, that may translate when the I/O ports to the computer are utilized. The embodiment maintains the Faraday cage for the flex cable or element as the I/O port housing opens or closes. The inventors are Steven Keipere, John Brock, Eugene Kim, John Schen, Steve Cabral and Dave Hardell.

-- Dennis Sellers