April 22 - 7:10pm EDT   The US Patent and Trademark Office today published three patents that it approved for Apple, relating to real-time collaboration, time-based user interface object interaction, and element number tables. The first patent, Method and Apparatus for Supporting Real-Time Collaboration, demonstrates synchronicity on a single application between multiple remote users. The patent illustrates users operating a local software application over the internet or a network, with the goal of sharing a common workflow between users. [full story]