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Apple files for universal iPhone instant messaging patent

A

aznkid25

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 15, 2007
472
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Apple has set the groundwork for instant messaging on the iPhone and other touchscreen devices with an application for a patent on a universal interface for real-time text chat services.

http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/21/apple-files-for-iphone-instant-messaging-patent/
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/04/21/apple_files_for_universal_iphone_instant_messaging_patent.html
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.html&r=1&p=1&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&S1=20080055269.PGNR.&OS=DN/20080055269&RS=DN/20080055269
patent-080421-1.gif
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)

Good news I suppose with one exception. Software patents suck.
 
This could help those who wanted a better predictive system for typing - this could apply to emails, IM ,and SMS. At least it's a software patent - so it's possible it'll bear fruit faster than the hardware patents (Apple eye goggles ftw anyone?).
 
I still think it should be a "swipe left and right" to flip through conversations and when you receive a new message from one of the people, the little dot along the bottom (the ones that show how many of something there are eg. safari tabs or weather cities) starts flashing in a nice elegant, apple kind of way.
 
that would be a great idea. similar to the safari 'window' sort of view.
 
Heres the other part. Seems like they better get a move on if its comin out at the end of june. But im sure it doesnt take them that long. Looks interesting.
 

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Wonder why this isn't posted as news. Seems pretty big to me that Apple is working on IM for iPhone. Isn't this the first real proof of that since Apple has been quiet about iChat on iPhone?
 
Why hasn't anyone commented on the fact that the microphone is on the bottom and the speaker is on the top? Perhaps a redesign?

Edit: I also want to say that I realize the "earpiece" is on the top, it's just strange to not refer to it as an earpiece....
 
It's a patent, not a design for a commercial product. Perhaps it is well aligned with a future release, perhaps not. The important part comes from the claims, not the drawings.

It was published in March, but the patent was filed last august.
 
mark34 said:
It's a patent, not a design for a commercial product. Perhaps it is well aligned with a future release, perhaps not. The important part comes from the claims, not the drawings.

It was published in March, but the patent was filed last august.
Click to expand...
It's called CYA... and now that the patent is published, Apple can go lawsuit happy on anyone making an IM application for the iPhone that uses the standard iPhone UI.

Say goodbye to MobileChat.
 
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