On January 29, the US Patent & Trademark Office published two of Apple’s newly granted patents. Apple’s first granted patent generally relates to methods for manipulating a time-based stream of information using a processing system, and more particularly to methods of using a user interface for editing a time based stream of information to create a presentation in a processing system. Apple’s second granted patent is for their iPod Hi-Fi design.

Patent: Integrated Time Line for Editing

Apple’s Abstract:

A method of manipulating a time based stream of information through use of a user interface to generate a presentation is provided in which a processing system is employed. The methods use references to a selected time based stream of information as editing tools. The user interface has functionality to display only a single time line for aligning reference elements to visual time based stream of information. The references may include a variety of edit features that enhance the presentation. Some mechanisms for moving the reference elements on the user interface are drag and drop and/or cut and paste procedures. Other aspects of the present invention relating to the processing system providing convenient user interface and editing tools for use in authoring a presentation of a time based stream of information are also described.

Apple’s patent FIG. 6B is an example of a user interface for use in editing, according to one embodiment of the present invention, which illustrates GUI controls for editing text into a presentation. At the bottom of illustration 6B, the text reads “iMovie Tutorial.”
Apple lists Glenn Reid (Woodside, CA) as the sole inventor of granted patent number 7,325,199.

Patent: Speaker Unit

Apple has been granted a design patent for their iPod Hi-Fi. While this particular implementation of the iPod Hi Fi may now be defunct, Apple has been working on a revised edition in their labs, as noted in this patent report.

Apple lists the following engineers responsible for granted Design patent D560,656: Andre; Bartley K. (Menlo Park, CA), Coster; Daniel J. (San Francisco, CA), De Iuliis; Daniele (San Francisco, CA), Howarth; Richard P. (San Francisco, CA), Jobs; Steve (Palo Alto, CA), Ive; Jonathan P. (San Francisco, CA), Kerr; Duncan Robert (San Francisco, CA), Nishibori; Shin (San Francisco, CA), Rohrbach; Matthew Dean (San Francisco, CA), Satzger; Douglas B. (Menlo Park, CA), Seid; Calvin Q. (Palo Alto, CA), Stringer; Christopher J. (Portola Valley, CA), Whang; Eugene Antony (San Francisco, CA) and Zorkendorfer; Rico (San Francisco, CA).

NOTICE: MacNN presents only a brief summary of patents with associated graphic(s) for journalistic news purposes as each such patent application and/or grant is revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trade Office. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any patent applications and/or grants should be read in its entirety for further details.

Written and researched by Neo.