Apple gains patents for iPod nano, more

The US Patent and Trademark Office today granted several patents to Apple, among them a collection of iPod technologies. Predominant among these is the design of the iPod nano, despite it being on sale in the US since September of 2005. More than a dozen people are credited with the invention, including key designer Jonathan Ive and Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The patent may however apply specifically to the second-generation Nano, as it was originally applied for in September of 2006.

Accompanying patents cover a Nano-sized dock insert, and Apple's most recent standard earbuds, which use foamless, more rounded earpieces and a shorter jack connector.

Patents unrelated to iPods begin with Multi-language Document Search and Retrieval System, describing a search tool with a "tokenizer" that breaks text strings into individual words, and filters out those unconnected with desired results. Also included in the patent is a indexing tool that stores the "stems" of words, eliminating endings it cannot use.

Apple has also managed to secure the rights to an image processing technology, in which images are color-corrected along red, green or blue channels, as well as in terms of luminance and contrast. Effects can be applied using a weighted set of averages, such as those favoring the center or periphery of an image, or a distance from a pixel to a central point.

The company has finally obtained a patent for a power conservation technique, intended for processors. Under Apple's scheme voltage is interrupted for the instruction-calculating portion(s) of a chip, while it continues to be supplied to segments such as memory.

Filed under: iPod, digital imaging, Apple
Other story tags: patents, iPod nano