Apple patents video, speech, clickwheel tech

A number of patents proposed by Apple, or already awarded to the company, were this week published by the US Patent and Trademark Office. Two of these revolve around correcting video images; these include Pulldown correction for progressive display of audiovisual recordings, and Color correction of digital video images using a programmable graphics processing unit. The first of the two relates to the framerate and interlacing of videos, and detects any cadences or duplicate frames in order to first determine a video's format, and then process it properly while converting to progressive scan where possible.

In the second patent, Apple has devised a way of ensuring color-accurate output to a display, by initially writing to a graphics card's buffer, and then converting to a defined color gamut. The patent makes specific references to Mac OS X and QuickTime, as well as the profiles of HD cameras and TVs.

Apple has also laid claim to two-way DVD and web interactivity; aside from the common ability to launch web links from discs, Apple's patent details a means by which HTML code can integrate material straight from a DVD, in synchronization.

The company has also finally received a patent for the iPod's signature clickwheel, and specifically its ability to rapidly scroll through long lists by accelerating finger motion. Notably, one provided diagram shows a clickwheel built into a keyboard, something Apple has never released to the public.

Lastly, patents have been granted for the magnetic seals on Apple's notebook power ports, and for delivering more complex voice synthesis. In Apple's system, semantics are analyzed within and across sentences; this lets a computer recognize when to place more emphasis on a particular word, much as humans do in natural conversation.

Filed under: iPod, Apple
Other story tags: video, patents