On June 4, 2009, the US Patent & Trademark Office published yet another interesting patent of Apple’s that generally relates to methods and apparatus for providing holes through housing components and other external surfaces of electronic devices. While that may sound like a yawner, the patent actually shows us how it will improve the aesthetics of many an Apple product in the future. The one that Apple emphasizes in this most recent patent, however, is none other than their yet unreleased Unibody iPod Classic that was first revealed in April – with an illuminating twist or two along the way of course. While the main focus of the patent is on enhancing the aesthetics of future iPods and other devices, the flipside is all about providing function. The first and most prominent feature that will be of immediate value to future iPod owners is it’s almost invisible microphone that will appear as a series of microscopic holes in the unibody chassis that Apple claims “may be invisible to a user’s naked eye.” In fact, Apple uses the term “invisible hole.”

The Illuminating iPod with Hidden Microphone

Apple’s patent FIG. 1 is a top, front, right perspective view of a Unibody iPod Classic or next generation iPod. Figure 5 is a top elevational view of a future iteration scroll wheel that illustrates micro holes supporting backlighting effects such as shown here in the form of arrows and the illuminated word “menu.”

The lights could also be used to represent Apple’s logo and/or any logo, icon, number, letter, figure, symbol and words representing functions such as pause, play, stop, fast forward, reverse and so forth.

The microphone, for the sake of a visual, is shown above in FIG.1 as patent point 650. Some of these holes will be considered invisible holes. Patent point 650 also covers audio speakers, according to the patent. Let’s hope that we could finally get a little better sound out of an iPod touch or iPhone speaker.

The patent also briefly covers ambient light sensing (“ALS”) – which are designed to control the brightness of LED-back-lighted LCD displays, like those in Apple’s MacBooks or iPods.

Additionally, the patent likewise briefly covers infra-red light (“IR”) – which is associated with an antenna, proximity detector, motion detector and other suitable I/O. Infrared is the most common way for remote controls to command appliances – so this likely covers Apple’s Remote as well.

Apple lists Douglas Joseph Weber (Arcadia, CA) as the sole inventor of patent application 20090141459.

Side Note: Apple’s Attention to Detail Never Ceases to Amaze Me

Okay. Sometimes reading a patent could make your head spin. This is one of them for me. Apple never shuts up about holes. Holes that are tiny, no tinier – and even so tiny that they sit in the middle of other tiny holes that Apple admits are so tiny that they may be imperceptible or invisible to the unaided human eye. Apple actually calls these holes “invisible holes.” Apple’s attention to detail is magnified in this patent and it’s evident that Apple is the champion of microscopic holes. Hell, let it be known that I even fell into one of their invisible holes while reading this patent. Ha!

For more information on Apple’s fanatical attention to detail in respect to notebooks, see their Re-Everythinged video.

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. For more information on today’s patent application 20090141459, simply feed the patent number into this search engine. Just beware of the holes!

Jack Purcher, MacNN Senior Patent Editor