Patent report: Mac laptop with built-in cellular, Macs that adjust their on-screen colors

Apple files for — and is granted — lots of patents by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Many are for inventions that never see the light of day. However, you never can tell which ones will materialize in a real product, so here are today’s patent highlights:

Apple has been granted apatent (number 9,397,387) for an “electronic device with isolated cavity antennas,” which hints at Mac laptops with cellular capability. The patent covers wireless communications circuitry that operates in long-range communications bands such as cellular telephone bands and, among the images accompanying the patent filing, is an illustration of a laptop.

Cellular modems in PC laptops have become commonplace. A Mac laptop with built-in cellular data would allow you to be connected all the time.

Another granted patent (number 9,397,844) for an “automated graphic user interface layout” hints at Macs that would automatically adjust on-screen colors depending on what’s being displayed. Specifically, embodiments of the present disclosure employ analysis of an image associated with the view (e.g., either the current view or a future view) of the graphical user-interface to determine colors that are complementary to the image. The colors are applied to the view, such that the color scheme of the view matches the image.

Movies, music, images, etc., are now very popular in digital formats displayed by electronic devices and digital content players for electronic devices have become very prevalent. Apple says that, because of the popularity of these players, their developers work to enhance the user experience. 

Unfortunately, despite this focus, content players generally have a static layout (e.g., static color-scheme, background images, etc.) that doesn’t change based upon content that the content player is displaying, notes Apple. The company is considering ways to change this. 

Apple has also been granted two patents that relate to its Maps app for OS X and iOS devices. Patent number 9,396,563, dubbed “constructing road geometry,” is for a mapping service that would speed up and otherwise enhance the display of 3D maps. Patent number 9,395,193is for the “scalable and efficient cutting of map tiles.” It involves the ability to allow map data to be shown in optimized “tiles” that would simplify the viewing of lots of mapping data in software such as Maps.

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