Apple's Rumored Reversible USB Connector Supported by Patent Filing, but Likely to Face Challenge

[sransari]

Most people get it right on the third attempt.

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I'm confused as to how Apple's patent got approved when there was already a company selling the product?

No patent has been awarded. The report said an application was filed, but there are a lot of hurdles to clear before the patent is awarded (if at all). One of the hurdles will be explaining specifically how apple's patent application discloses a different invention than whats out there already (and ammending the patent claims accordingly). As others have noted, apple will probably just pay to license existing technology if the claims in their patent application arent allowed

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I see what you're saying. My question is, why would Apple try to patent something that has already been patented? Is it just because "everyone else does it, why not Apple?" I just don't see why they would spend the time and money to try to patent something that clearly has been awarded to someone else.

Apple has the ability, power, and money to pay patent professionals to patent the novel ideas from the start.

Because maybe there is something new and novel in Apples patent application that has not been previously disclosed. In that case, Apple might be able to obtain a patent on the new stuff.

 

[apolloa]

And thus this yet AGAIN illustrates the utterly USELESS American Patent system, for a company invents and develops the technology, sells it, but then a few YEARS later a giant corporation comes along and just walks all over everyone by copying the idea....

Yeah, what a wonderful system

I'm sorry but in the interest of protecting inventions and companies of ALL sizes then in this instance I think Apple can go and get stuffed on this one.

IMO all Apple should be allowed to patent is anything new with this idea, not the idea itself seeing as someone else has done it.

 

[apolloa]

Apple seems to have a much narrower definition of "exact same implementation" for something Apple wants to re-use, as compared to the broad expectation of protection for their own conceptual patents. I guess it's the same with most companies, but the zeal to which fans follow the same double standard continues to surprise me.

Think that's one of the best comments I've read on here for a long time. Well done sir. Apple and it's fans should patent 'Double Standards'.

 

[XboxMySocks]

How does this work in existing USB ports? I don't get it

 

[kalsta]

Given its resources, Apple would undoubtedly be able to overcome the existing patent protection on …

Woah there… How differently things are worded when it's Apple copying someone else's product!! I love Apple technology (it's why I'm on this site), but there really deserves to be more comments here about the blatant double standards self-evident here.

I'd be careful with comments like that. Remember, they've invented sarcasm as well.

Enjoy your lawsuit.

Best comment of the thread!

 

[cmaier]

As others have noted, apple will probably just pay to license existing technology if the claims in their patent application arent allowed

Even if their patent is allowed they might have to pay license fees; a patent doesn't give you the right to do the thing you patent, it only gives you the right to prevent others from doing the thing you patent. If your patent is an improvement on the prior art, you may be need to license the inventor of the prior art in order to practice your own patent.

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How does this work in existing USB ports? I don't get it

Normal plug:

+------------+
| | <----this gap is filled by the socket
|XXXXXXXXX|
+------------+

New plug:

+------------+
|_________|
| |
+------------+

That center part touches the part that is filled by the socket, no matter which way you plug it in.

 

[dannyyankou]

Was plugging in usb cords difficult before?

No, but anything to make day to day tasks easier is welcome.

 

[JAT]

Except that doesn't work in Apple products. iMac and Mac Mini have the USB connectors vertical instead of horizontal, and on the iMac, they changed which directiion "Up" is from Left to Right at some point.
You usually can't turn the whole computer around to see the USB connector, so it has always been more difficult than usual to plug USB cables into Mac computers.
And, Apple printed the USB logo on the "bottom" of the cable in some instances as well, against USB specs, so they could put the Apple logo on top.

Apple is just getting round to fixing a problem they created and ballooned.

Apple? My stupid Dell tower at work has 6 USB ports, all vertical. And all black on black, so unless you can climb behind and shine a bright light directly into the port, you are plugging it in blind.

The problem isn't the computer companies, it is USB is stupid. (not that other ports aren't also stupid) Apple's are actually some of the best because of their tight tolerances. The problem with USB, the reason it takes 3 tries so often (despite only 2 choices), is that the edges of the plug catch on most ports and make you think it is facing the wrong way.

 

[vladi]

Erm no...

Apple is only submitting a patent to avoid some legal action on something they're putting out there, the amount of legal action warrants protecting it even when they know they didn't invent the idea.

The fact that you had a palm pre just undermines your statement as that phone was atrocious! Wireless charging is not the way to go, it's inefficient, no one has one, doesn't work with eu standards on usb. Wifi sync is not always fool proof!

If you want wireless charging buy a case for it, the fact so few do says the cable is still the best way to do it.

HAHAHAHAH!!!!! Wireless is not the way to go??? Wow!!! Just freakin wow!!! Do you people just lack common sense or you push it aside in order to drink coolaid that your favorite team sells to you, yeah its not even a freebie you pay for it.

First of all just go behind your TV stand and home theatre system and take a look at all those cables: power cables for each piece, audio cables, video cables, I probably missed some. So now you want to say that wireless is not the way to go?

Let me intercept you before you go ahead and say "we are talking about mobile wireless charging here". Palm Pre utilized magnetic stand that bolted the phone in place, power came from micro-usb cable attached to wireless charger inside the stand in on end and to either power outlet or USB port on the other. So that made it EU compatible half a decade ago.

Now you want wireless file transfer and charging at the same time? No problem! Just add TransferJet technology to a mobile device and wireless charging stand that utilizes USB3.0/Thunderbolt connection to your computer and voila! You don't have to hook your ubber lightning/TypeC adapter to your phone just to transfer some music or photos.

I thought of this as I was writing a reply to your post, I guess greater minds can do much better than me and get it done with just implementing existing technology. Its not that hard really.

Cables are like Internal Combustion Engines, living dinosaurs of our time, but people get so excited about their innovation that they distort the reality. Reality that should say there is no reason for either one of them in 2014.

Technology is there to replace em both it just needs to be fine tuned.

 

[chabig]

IMO all Apple should be allowed to patent is anything new with this idea, not the idea itself seeing as someone else has done it.

That, my friend, is exactly how the patent system works.

 

[deviant]

Cable? Are you talking about that carrying cord that comes with iPhones?

Huh?

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I don't know how it happens, but it does, to a lot of us. My solution is to buy third-party cables, which seem to last longer, and are cheaper, and it doesn't matter whether you can understand or not.

No problem dude. Must be me, I rarely break anything in my life. Especially tech related. Maybe i'm very cautious.

 

[the8thark]

Was plugging in usb cords difficult before?

No. But I guess this is an improvement.

Upgrading this 2011 iMac to 16GB ram was a real pig though. So hard to get the stock ram out and the new ram in. I literally can't remove the 16GB (2x 8 sticks). Stuck in there. No other way to get them in as the tag to help you pull out ram is smooth with zero friction to keep it stick to my fingers so it just slides out.

Apple's solution though is no more easily user replaceable ram for 21.5 iMacs. Haha.

 

[kmanvan]

Guys, how the hell do you break your cables? I still got my 2006 iPod 5,5 cable and i still use it on my iPhone when i'm out and it works like a charm, it's still white (and that's an achievement!) and it's solid. I just don't understand it.

Just do a google internet search for "frayed macbook pro cable" and you'll see exactly what happens to apple cables over time. I'm Extremely careful with my cables to avoid bending them at the ends, but I've still gone through several on my devices. Basically Apple uses materials on the cable that are too flexible and weak, leading to breaks in the cable shroud and/or internal cable/connections if they are bent over time.

When you see people trying to use springs from ballpoint pens to keep your poorly designed $85+ cables from breaking due to basic use, you know you are doing something wrong.

... but Apple sees bigger profits if they keep on coming up with patented proprietary connectors to stick on the end of their worst in class cables.

Apple is great company in a lot of ways, but they are willfully incompetent in their expensive yet terrible cables.

 

[Dorje Sylas]

Does your XBOX360 ever scream "No! Not in my Aux Port!!!"?

More than you know. While I worked IT I'd get at least one call a month from someone on site who was having having "problems" with their USB powered hardware (document cameras, digital whiteboards). The majority of the time it was WiFi laptop users who had plugged the USB into the Ethernet port.

Although to be fair, reversible USB won't solve that issue.

 

[tbrinkma]

So, Apple just assumed they invented something? Or do they think the original patent was defective and they can swoop in and steal the idea? Any theories from the Apple legion lying around here?

Not having had the time (or inclination) to read the Apple patent, or find and read the patent for the existing product, I'll just go ahead and point out that patents can be granted for improvements on an existing device.

For example, if the existing version has the contacts directly tied to their counterparts on the other side, an improved version might have some extra hardware involved which detects *which* side is active, and disables the other set of contacts, thereby preventing shorts between the exposed pins on the 'inactive' side.

I have no idea if that's the case here, but it is an example where the two patents would *both* be valid.

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50/50 chance of plugging it in right...

Gets it wrong 100% of the time.

Turns out it was right the first time about 50% of the time.

 

[tbrinkma]

HAHAHAHAH!!!!! Wireless is not the way to go??? Wow!!! Just freakin wow!!! Do you people just lack common sense or you push it aside in order to drink coolaid that your favorite team sells to you, yeah its not even a freebie you pay for it.

Yeah, let's go ahead and do a like-for-like comparison between your 'wireless is best' dream, and the existing reality of a wired connection for data transfer.

Your 'TransferJet' technology was released in 2008, and only just barely manages to keep up with USB 2.0 which was released in 2000. In comparison, USB 3.0 was finalized in 2008 (the same year as 'TransferJet') and absolutely blows it away for data transfer.

Of course, your example of TransferJet in use required that the device in question had to sit in a cradle, connected to the host computer via USB 2.0 in order to sync and charge. So 'going wireless' in that regard brought you absolutely zero new capabilities.

'Wireless' charging these days means sitting your device on a special mat, or cradle, which is directly attached to a power source by way of a cable. It makes your portable device even *less* convenient to use *while* it is charging than a cheap cable does, because if you pick it up off that mat, it's no longer charging. Oh, and inductive charging is significantly less efficient than charging via a wired connection.

So, you're looking at:
Slower data transfer
Reduced convenience
More power used
Reduced charging efficiency

And your 'wireless' solution is somehow 'superior' to the wired one?

 

[deviant]

Just do a google internet search for "frayed macbook pro cable" and you'll see exactly what happens to apple cables over time. I'm Extremely careful with my cables to avoid bending them at the ends, but I've still gone through several on my devices. Basically Apple uses materials on the cable that are too flexible and weak, leading to breaks in the cable shroud and/or internal cable/connections if they are bent over time.

When you see people trying to use springs from ballpoint pens to keep your poorly designed $85+ cables from breaking due to basic use, you know you are doing something wrong.

... but Apple sees bigger profits if they keep on coming up with patented proprietary connectors to stick on the end of their worst in class cables.

Apple is great company in a lot of ways, but they are willfully incompetent in their expensive yet terrible cables.

Well, it REALLY must be me then. I have countless of iPod/ipad/iphone cables, macbook cable etc etc. never had a problem. i actually have a navigon iPhone cable which came with the car mount and it's really hard and not flexible and i HATE it cause i can't hide it or just bend it somehow