Apple Applies For Color-Change Patent

Secret300 writes "Apple is applying for a patent to release "devices capable of dynamically changing their ornamental or decorative appearance." If this is a success, it would considerably boost Apple's presence in the technology world." So, perhaps we can not only theme our desktop on the machine - but our *literal* desktop.

This is rather nifty:

20. A method for illuminating a housing of a computing device, the computing device having a screen display, said method comprising: sampling a plurality of regions on the screen display to acquire color indicators for the plurality of regions; and illuminating a plurality of regions of the housing of the computing device based on the color indicators.

So they want to make the housing look a little in tune with whatever is on the screen at the time. I wonder how fast that will be... can you imagine playing Quake and watching a frag flash your monitor housing a different color suddenly? That'd be cool. :)

Re:This is rather nifty:

Yeah, Quake. That I won't be able to hide porn from my wife anymore simply because my computer screen faces the wall...

"Honey, what is all that blonde and pink stuff on your computer case?"

Re:"devices capable of changing their color"

Sounds more like a patent to change how the mac looks, not just the display. Maybe my mac's case is blue in the morning, and yellow at night? If this is the case, there MUST be things that do similar things.

Hell, wouldn't certain animals qualify as prior art?

And what about novelity (is that a word?)? Screw the prior art searches, we need examiners that can say "This is not novel, so it's not patentable, even tho no one else has done it."

Re:"devices capable of changing their color"

Quite aside from the patent-worthiness debate, I'd say that, after reading about this everywhere I could, this is a VERY novel patent. Much more so than any patent I can remember in the past few years. The ability to change the skin of objects (like an iPod, or a cell phone or what have you) really would make a big impact on many industries. That is a far better patent than, for instance, tabbed window interfaces.

You obviously do not understand Patents...

Just because a Sciffy writer has used an idea in a story does not make it prior art! None of those guys knew how to make that magic happen, that is the charm of Sciffy; it lets you try on the future for size without the mess of inventing it.

What is patentable is the means to DO the magic. A patent must disclose that means in a manner that those skilled in the art could reproduce the results.

Re:"devices capable of changing their color"

And what about novelity (is that a word?)? Screw the prior art searches, we need examiners that can say "This is not novel, so it's not patentable, even tho no one else has done it."

"Novelty" is "newness". "Novel" means "new". If no-one else has done something then by definition it is novel.

You might argue that "novelty" suggests something which is actually imaginative. But I think that here the word "novel" is used to define what is imaginative.

So don't throw away your prior art database out of a desire for novelty; you'll be throwing away your primary objective indicator of novelty.

All sorts of possible USEFUL uses

There are all sorts of possible useful uses. For example, a signal strength/direction finder for wireless connection displayed on the back of the ibook could help you orient it. Imagine that spagetti of cables in the back of your rack; now imiagine if the computer could selectively light up the sheeth of its ethernet cable to show you where it went. Also the patent says it could be in input device too. perhaps, an ipod could display a keyboard on its back surface. Or maybe a iTablet computer lacking a real keyboard could form a rudimentary keyboard on its back side.

I have often wanted just a small built in light for my keyboard on my notebook computer so I could see the keyboard with the roomlights off and not be blinded by the screens light.

How about a trackpad button that could segment itself into a three button mouse depending on where you pressed it.

how about just a load sensor, or something that showed you the state of the computer (like VM swap, talking to the firewire disk) or maybe if it told you if some other user was remotely logged in.

What if the computer turned oranged striped if it detected (somehow) that it had been stolen, or an un authorized log in was attempted.

finally, is there anyone who does not think the visualls that go on with iTunes are not stunning? maybe they can do something equally impressive here.

my last comment is this. it is only a short trip down the road before skinable color changing polymers allow video screens to be painted on all most anything in any shape, even flexible ones. That's when this idea will really take off. So this is just a precursor.

I can see the office pranks...

Just what I need when I come in to the office...

finding that some joker has put my computer into "adaptive camoflage mode" and stashed it somewhere in plain sight. :-/

-JT

Additional discussion....

They're talking about this over in the Mac forum on Ars Technica: Interesting Apple Patent [infopop.net]

Too broad for no prior art.

A television screen, for example, or any other CRT can alter both it's functional and decorative apperance with just a change in display signal.

Imagine a display on a CRT surrounded by a decorative border... like we see in most applications.

Now if Apple had filed a patent specifically for a computer case that could change it's appearance at whim and provided a mechanism for it to do so, they'd be set, but no, the want to corner the market before there is a market. Boo, Apple!

Boost what?

If this is a success, it would considerably boost Apple's presence in the technology world.

I'm not sure how pretty colors will bost them in the technology world, let alone the ability to change amongst various pretty colors. Remember those sneakers with the clear logo and replacable colored inserts? That didn't boost the shoes in the technology world, why would a similar tech boost Apple? Have their shiny colored computers boosted them "considerably" so far, or was it their generally good hardware architecture and cleanly-integrated OS? Sigh.

RICE BABY YEAH!!!!

This would allow me to fufill my quest to fully rice out my desktop computer. I have swollen fenders on it, a pumping neon glow that throbs to the beat of ABBA, and of course the ubiquitous spoiler that keeps my computer from flipping over when I'm crusing.

If my computer could change colors as you walk around it like some of those wonderful paint jobs that I've seen on many a Honda Civic... well, then I would probably shit my pants with joy.
Come to think of it, and judging my that smell, I guess it doesn't have to be with joy.

I hope that having color changing exteriors won't cause them to give up hope of the slowest JVM, fire causing power supplys, and expensive underclocked RAM.

Re:Is this how the patent system works now?

read the patent.

It's on a method of doing it using light to shine through the case.

Whats your favorite color HAL?

Blue... no! GREEN!!... aahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

WOW!

Apple invented the light bulb!!

Seriously 'tho..after reading the patent I don't think this is anything that special. It seems like Apple is going to start putting RGB LED lights inside a specially designed case so you can change the color of it to match your surroundings.

Is it just me or is this the hardware version of feature creep? Is Apple going to fit all its devices full of cute doodads just to raise the price more? My opinion is that Apple should be investigating an open architechture for its hardware..but that's just me.

It'll probably be functional

When I close the lid on my iBook and it goes to sleep there is a pulsing white light on the front of the machine where an LED is shining through the case. When that LED is off you wouldn't even know it's there.

It'd be nice if there were similar indicators for new mail, or alarms from iCal, connection state, short messages, etc.

THAT is how I think this technology will be used. As indicators of state independent of the display, that effectively use sparse cover space, that can change in multiple ways, and so forth. And uniquely, they don't mar up the computer's appearance when they're not needed. Possibly this will even be like having a second display capable of showing generalized information, at least in part. Changing the overall appearance of the computer is just a bonus.

Visuals

iTunes visuals on your computer skin or even your iPod case would be awesome. It would make every case-modder out there green with envy.

Re:Visuals

It would make every case-modder out there green with envy.

Only if they already have some form of this technology.

Prior art abounds

From the patent: " The electronic devices generally include an illuminable housing. The illuminable housing, which includes at least one wall configured for the passage of light, is configured to enclose, cover and protect a light arrangement as well as functional components of the electronic device. The light arrangement, which generally includes one or more light sources, is configured to produce light for transmission through the light passing wall(s) of the illuminable housing."

Is Apple trying to patent case mods?? Plenty of prior art... those neon-lights-behind-a-window case mods, anyone? And yes, the patent speaks of changing the color or pattern of the light. Been there, done that: there's a case mod that emits a light ranging from blue to red, depending to the CPU temperature.

Slashdot hypocrisy pseudocode

if ( $org within ("Microsoft"|"Amazon"|"Intel")
&& $topic == "patent" )
{
post.story("Patents are evil, Linux r0x0rZ!");
}
elsif ($org within ("Apple"|"Transmeta"|"VA")
&& $topic == "patent" )
{
post.story("Feature xxx is cool! $org r0x0rZ!");
}
else {
ignore.story();
}

Re:Slashdot hypocrisy pseudocode

What an idiot you are. That's like

• going into a restaurant,
• hearing one person exclaiming how eating veal is immoral,
• witnessing somone else ordering veal, and
• accusing the entire clientele of hypocrisy.

So, they're patenting the mood ring?

Or those t-shirts that change color, or those coffee mugs....

Serisouly, even if they are changing color dynamically, isn't that basically just wrapping an object in "electronic ink" paper?

Jon Acheson

prior art

two words: mood rings.

Prior Art

See it here [dynamism.com]

Apple Trying to out-do Microsoft

Microsoft has niffty blue screen to tell you something is wrong with the computer. Now Apple is out-doing them by making the computer change color when things go wrong.

User: Hello.
Apple: This is Apple support, how may I help you?
User: My computer is flashing, and it is all black.
Apple: What is the pattern?
User: Three short flashes followed by three long flashes.
Apple: If I were you I would drop the phone and run away!

potential patent flaw

If the patent calls for a change in the "ornamental or decroative appearance of a device," but then goes back to claim this could provide feedback to the user about the internal state of the device, doesn't that preclude the display from being decorative? Isn't it then, simply, an additional display device inside of a case?

I know, there are millions of examples [chiasso.com] of prior art [chiasso.com] that all are [sharperimage.com] microprocessor controlled utilizing storage (write once only, but it is storage) and decorative lights projected through a surface. But at what point do we draw the line between decorative and functional?

-C

Mathmos?

Sounds like Mathmos (www.mathmos.com) would have a bone to pick with this patent.

They've got a whole series of "devices dynamically changing their ornamental or decorative appearance", pretty much in the same way Apple describes in this patent. Just check out the "tumbler" or "faze"...

Patents are evil!!

Patents are evil. How can Apple do this? How can the patent system let them do this? ...

OH, wait. We're talking about Apple, not Microsoft.

This is great. This will be great for Apple. Hooray for Apple!

Holy Mother of God. Literally.

I can find prior art for this as near as my neighbor's back yard. He's got one of those Madonna in a bathtub thingies. The Madonna and bathtub are both white. He has different colored spotlights he can shine on it to change its color depending on his mood.

He's been doing this for 40 years * that I know of.* I don't know how long before I moved in next door he'd been doing it.

You'll find the same technique used in any theatrical performance, rock show, movie or other such staged performance.

This technique is so old it isn't even medieval. It predates that period by a considerable margin.

And since when is chrome "tech?"

"Yeah, I advance the technology of my house by putting up some new wallpaper and adding a few colored lights."

Right Bob, bite me.

KFG

as always, very broad wording....

The invention pertains to electronic devices capable of dynamically changing their ornamental or decorative appearance, i.e., the outer appearance as seen by a user. The electronic devices generally include an illuminable housing. The illuminable housing, which includes at least one wall configured for the passage of light, is configured to enclose, cover and protect a light arrangement as well as functional components of the electronic device. The light arrangement, which generally includes one or more light sources, is configured to produce light for transmission through the light passing wall(s) of the illuminable housing. The transmitted light illuminates the wall(s) thus giving the wall a new appearance. That is, the transmitted light effectively alters the ornamental or decorative appearance of the electronic device. In most cases, the light is controlled so as to produce a light effect having specific characteristics or attributes. As such, the electronic device may be configured to provide additional feedback to the user of the electronic device and to give users the ability to personalize or change the look of their electronic device on an on-going basis. That is, a housing of the electronic device is active rather than passive, i.e., the housing has the ability to adapt and change. For example, the light may be used to exhibit a housing behavior that reflects the desires or moods of the user, that reflects inputs or outputs for the electronic device, or that reacts to tasks or events associated with operation of the electronic device

any hard drive in a transparent housing, with a led indicating seek or read, is covered by this patent

Michael Jackson?

Does this mean Michael Jackson's going to have to cut a check to Apple?

;-)

Santa provides prior work evidence.

In recent news, Santa Claus has brought a string of chaser Christmas lights in to disprove Apple's patent on color-changing hardware devices. When properly installed on a Christmas tree, these lights cause the tree to change colors, and have done so since 1980.

"That Steve Jobs is going to be on my Naughty list this year", says a miffed Santa. "It's one thing to compete in the same toy market as I do, but it's another to try and muscle ME out!"

Re:Great

> BTW, why the fuck can't we post in the last story?

I'm guessing because it's a story about the decline of quality education in america that uses the word "plase".