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February 15, 2008

business

Apple patent three pack

Posted Feb. 15, ’08, 5:52 AM PT by Derik DeLong
Category | Business

Spaces PatentsApple’s put out several patents recently. The first should excite podcast fans: Apple’s patenting podmaps. Clearly they’ve removed the broadcast aspect. Just kidding. As you’ve probably already guessed, the patent covers using podcast/RSS technology to deliver maps automatically, including directions. While that might not be terribly convenient for normal iPods, the Touch and the iPhone seem ripe for that sort of use.

The second patent to tease the Apple community is the description of how Spaces works. Spaces is powered by seven “engines”. They’re all named “space something engine” where something is management, preferences, presentation, identification, animation, edit, or deactivation. Each handles a different aspect of Spaces implementation. Each of the engines are simply templates, allowing them to act independently. Want different transition effects? Replace the animation engine.

The final patent foretells of a new presentation engine for Spaces: PIP. Rather than scattered spaces everywhere, one space gets displayed while the rest are in a stack that you navigate by pressing forward and backward arrows. I could see this becoming a very popular option for those with a smallish display.

[via InformationWeek and MacNN]


1 Comments

Petra said:

Interesting post. I was reading about Apple's patent for the personal computer http://www.techbanyan.com/archives/180

Apple has surly come a long way.

February 15, 2008 4:55 PM

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