1. The situation is tilting toward high-pass? Some iPhones are banned from importing into the United States;
According to foreign media reports, a few days ago, the patent litigation between Apple and Qualcomm was opened in Washington, USA. The US International Trade Commission (ITC) officials recommended on Friday a trade judge that Apple at least violated Qualcomm. One of the patents. This may cause some iPhones to be banned from importing into the United States.
At the end of last year, Qualcomm filed an application with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) and hoped to ban the use of Intel-mode iPhones for the United States. The handsets affected by this include iPhone X, 8/8 Plus, 7/7 Plus.
The lawsuit began on Friday and ITC officials stated in the trial that Apple infringed Qualcomm’s patents on battery energy-saving technologies. It is worth mentioning that ITC officials played a third-party role in such trade cases. The opinions of ITC staff are not binding, but judges tend to follow.
In fact, in previous submissions on this case, Apple had argued that Qualcomm’s patents were invalid and that judges should not, in any case, ban the import of iPhones equipped with Intel modem chips, as this would allow Qualcomm to monopolize the US modem market, and Drive Intel out of the modem market.
From the current point of view, the situation in this case is being tilted toward Qualcomm, and if the final decision of Qualcomm wins, the iPhone will be banned from importing and selling in the United States.
It is reported that the judge is expected to make a ruling in January next year in response to the lawsuit.
Legal experts said that if the ITC judge made a ruling to ban some iPhone imports, Qualcomm may use it to persuade Apple to abandon other lawsuits related to patents and contracts, or to settle these lawsuits.
Of course, Apple's counterattack is about to begin. It is understood that Apple's infringement of relevant patents filed by Qualcomm in China requires the proceedings to be initiated by the Chinese Patent Examination Commission this month and next month. Similar procedures are also being conducted in the United States. The ITC and the German courts are in progress. Apple hopes to destroy the largest weapon in the hands of Qualcomm, and if it reaches the stage of reconciliation in the future, it can also strive for the best interests.
Since the beginning of 2017, Qualcomm and Apple Inc. have been caught in an ever-increasing legal battle. As of now, patent frictions between Qualcomm and Apple have filed more than 50 independent intellectual property rights in 16 jurisdictions in six countries and Antitrust lawsuits.
2. Apple's new patent implies that the iPhone can also support edge pressure sensing operations;
When the HTC U11 was released last year, the company’s Edge Sense edge squeeze control solution received a lot of attention. Later, Google borrowed it from Pixel 2 and renamed it as Active Edge. As the name implies, users can squeeze it. The phone frame triggers some responses. However, in addition to Google Assistant and mute the phone, Pixel 2 did not make more gimmicks. However, recent news that the iPhone may also copy this program and improve it.
(Map from Google)
According to Digital Trends, they discovered a patent no.20180164166 in the U.S. Trademark Patent Office entitled “Mobile Electronics and Squeeze Detection,” suggesting that Apple wants to innovate in this area.
The USPTO announced this patent on Thursday, but it happens to be a continuation of the Apple patents in 2016 and 2013 - both are referred to as 'pressure-compatible bodies' - and thus not really a HTC or Google Stealing.
In addition to summoning Siri, Apple's edge squeeze program may be more exciting than Google's. If you understand the company's vision, you will know that their ultimate goal is to create a 'real' without physical buttons. · Full screen' device.
In addition, Apple has also exposed other patented inventions, such as the display around the edge and the folding smart phone under study. This new patent seems to be laying the foundation for the future 'full-screen iPhone' because it can help Apple eliminate physical buttons. And improve the overall design.
The new patent describes edge sensors such as '103', which can detect edge pressure sensing operations similar to 3D Touch. The iPhone can trigger different operations based on the position of the sensor, and supports metal or hard plastic housings.
In some embodiments, the pressure-sensing flexible housing may include one or more sensors. However, what is not mentioned in the patent is that this design also helps to improve the overall waterproof performance of the iPhone.
'Compiled from: BGR' cnbeta
3. New Patent Exposure: Future Mac/iPad screens can be used as smart mirrors;
On Thursday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a patent entitled "Electronic Devices with Adjustable Reflective Displays", which describes the method of adding an additional layer to the display components. The extra layer is on top of the pixel array. , Used to generate the image the user sees. This layer can consist of linear and emitting polarizers, the liquid crystal layer is used to manage the degree of polarization, and there is a switchable polarizer that uses both liquid crystal and dichroic dye molecules. .
In theory, this layer may be controlled, allowing the light by switching between a pixel electrode array and the arrival user - i.e., reflection of ambient light at the same time, prevent light penetration in short, species panel display screen can be switched between the mirror-like state and seen from the file, this layer may be controlled in some normal portion of the screen display images and other content, while allowing other areas remain reflective.
If other parts of the content may need to be seen by a user, the whole or partial 'mirror state' can be freely converted.
The document also mentions how users interact with such display devices, such as using the built-in camera and other sensors, to achieve head tracking, blink tracking, facial recognition, and gestures. For example, the user tracks the user's gaze state and it can detect Whether the user viewed the notification icon within the specified time and then triggered to display other content on the screen. The following simple flow chart describes how to operate according to the detected input, such as displaying news, notifications, or more Icon to provide further interaction.
The current product line of Apple does not involve controllable reflections, but from the aspect of aesthetic appearance, this kind of creativity is still worth considering. For example, under a black screen, the screen of the iPhone can be turned into a mirror.
In addition to Apple's current ecosystem, this technology can also be used to produce a smart mirror system, such as commercial kiosks and product displays.
Unfortunately, we haven't seen any similar products that can take off so far. cnBeta
4. Samsung unveiled a new patent that allows users to video chat through 3D facial models;
In the eyes of many users and media, Samsung's launch of AR emoji is just another competition with Apple. However, from the latest patent released last week, Samsung has a larger layout of this feature - ease online video Bandwidth requirements. According to Patently Mobile exposure information, as early as 2013 Samsung foresaw that in the near future, the prevalence of online video/live broadcast will highlight bandwidth issues, and this patent allows users to pass 3D facial models with their friends. Video chat.
Samsung unveils new patent that allows users to video chat with friends via 3D facial models
In the patent description, writes: 'Existing video communication systems tend to use very high bandwidth, and there will be very serious delays, so the transmission of signals to another device often requires processing and compression.' And In the patent description, it was also stated that because the camera is not mounted directly on the screen, people usually cannot communicate with each other in video chat.
The patent adds: 'With reduced bandwidth, a video communication system that can display real user portraits, facial expressions and movements in real time is required. 'At present, Samsung's AR Emoji can create avatars based on your photos, and then Send as picture or GIF format, but cannot be used for live video. 39 Degree Creative Research Institute
5. Based on patent big data IP intelligence station, Wisdom received $38 million D round of financing
36. PatSnap, the wisdom bud that has been reported, recently announced the completion of a US$38 million Series D round of financing, led by Sequoia Capital, followed by investors including Shunwei Capital and Qualgro. After the current round of financing was completed, the cumulative amount of wisdom budding has been Over 50 million US dollars.
Wisdom Bud was established in 2007, headquartered in England and Singapore, with branches in China and the United States, is a 2B IP information service provider. Through artificial intelligence technology such as big data and machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, etc. Integrate global patent data into a platform to provide visualization of patent data for companies, universities, and research institutes.
In addition to management systems, analysis systems, and colleges that have been reported, the following four new products have been added to the wisdom buds:
Patent database, with more than 120 million patent data in more than 100 countries;
3D patent maps can analyze patented technologies in a multi-faceted manner and compete against each other;
Chemical database, with 120 million chemical structure data, including patents, documents, drugs, clinical, and response;
Literature: There are 5,800 journals combined with patents to conduct more comprehensive and accurate technical research;
At present, Wisdom Bud has served more than 8,000 customers in more than 50 countries around the world, covering bio-pharmaceuticals, automobiles, communications and other industries. Among them, domestic clients include Tsinghua University, Peking University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Mobile, Xiaomi Technology. Etc. Overseas customers include MIT, NASA, Ferrari, etc.
Shih Yue, a partner of Capital Sequoia Capital China Fund, believes that the growth of the number of customers with wisdom buds and the expansion of global branch offices and staff size have demonstrated the broad market space and huge scale of R&D information and intellectual property management SaaS fields. Development potential.
Ray Chohan, Senior Vice President of Smart Bud Strategy, also revealed to foreign media that the company is currently well-funded and is expected to achieve profitability in the next two to three years.
In this industry, the largest company in the world is Thomson Reuters, but Thomson Reuters products have a certain threshold for use, users are mostly trained lawyers, intellectual property rights, etc.. And the wisdom buds cut in The point is to sink the value of patent data into ordinary enterprises and assist non-professionals in decision-making. There are also similar activities in the country such as 'co-creation of new creations', etc. 36kr