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Hmmm. . .

What if they make the iWatch your cellular connection? You get a watch that provides cellular data and voice from whatever carrier you want, it then connects to all of your iDevices.

This would allow for 1 carrier data plan to service all of your idevices. You get a phone call, you see the number on your watch and then you can grab your iPhone from your pocket and answer the call. It uses the phone as a handset. If you want, you can answer on your ipad and talk over the speaker or you can go secret agent style and talk to your watch. Possibilities.

Seems like the logical conclusion will that we would be able to talk through these iWatch type devices.

Hope they get more creative and don't stop with devices that can only be worn on the wrist.
 
Having read and understood the patent there is absolutely no way it should be granted. It is neither novel nor non-obvious enough.

The fact someone is even trying shows how ludicrously broken the US patent system is.
 
That "Are you there?" question described in the patent application can only mean one thing...


Apple Science Sentry Turrets

Turret-portal.jpg
 
Be great if this worked as a go between for your iOS device and an Apple TV, too, so you can initiate an AirPlay connection, browse and play media on the Apple TV all from the wrist.
 
It's not a coincidence as the number of patents filed has increased that there has been an increase in tech advances. Just look at the last decade. Patent filings, new methods, and tech advances have exploded. Tech progress has been phenomenal recently and consumers have benefited greatly.

What ? Technological advances have exploded ?

Actually the opposite is true. There's not enough innovation since 15 years, which is one of the reasons why most money went into the financial sector and not into the real economy. Today's technological advances are evolutionary and based on fundamental research done some 20-30 years ago.

Don't get confused, just because we invented the tablet and the smartphone.
 
It better gives me 10 days of standby. The one day battery life of the samsung watch is pathetic.

I have chosen my Jawbone UP over the Nike Fuelband because the UP has a 10 day battery compared to just 7 of the Fuelband.
 
Furthermore, they are patenting one particular method that they invented to accomplish this. This is what the ignorant who cry over patents don't understand above all. Patents are for methods and processes you came up with to accomplish something. Other people can accomplish the exact same thing before you or after you but as long as you (and they) come up with a different method to accomplish it, then it is patentable.

And that in a nutshell is why the patent system works so well. Lots of different people can come up with lots of different methods to accomplish the same thing and patent it. They take their methods to market and one eventually proves to be the best way to do it. This results in more money for the inventor because the others have to use their own somewhat inferior methods for a while. Eventually the patent expires and anyone can use that particular method. This cycle benefits society and has been doing so for over a century.

But everyone wants to be the guy who profits the most from the "winning" patent design so that incentivizes companies to actually go look for methods to solve problems that have yet to be solved as well as invent new and better methods to solve problems that have already be solved. Otherwise known as R&D. And the cycle continues for the benefit of society.

It's not a coincidence as the number of patents filed has increased that there has been an increase in tech advances. Just look at the last decade. Patent filings, new methods, and tech advances have exploded. Tech progress has been phenomenal recently and consumers have benefited greatly.

As long as we don't allow patent leaches to profit off the work of the innovators, this should continue. The innovators certainly won't continue if they don't get protection from the patent leeches because if anyone can be successful by just leeching off the hard work of others, then the innovators won't stick their necks out to take those risks that benefit us.

Well said. Except you forgot to mention there are also the "ignorant" folks out there who will think Apple invented a new concept or ideal when in fact, Apple only patented the method and not the new concept. These are the folks that will cry foul/claim some other company is copying Apple because they don't understand that Apple only has claims to a method.
 
Patents would come to a halt. New airbag system that's 90% better than current airbags? Sorry, airbags already exist.

You can't invent something that already exists. If someone has a patent for the airbag then they have a patent for the airbag. Doesn't matter if yours is better. It's not a competition. You still have to acknowledge their prior art in your own patent and state how it's fundamentally different or pay royalties to the original patent holder.

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Patents are invented to solve problems. They are always based on current technology. Do you think inventors pull magic out of their arses?

Any chance you could pull a sensible comment out of your arse once in a while instead of just insulting people.
 
Certainly looks like the iWatch is marching ahead for a release sometime next year. Maybe preview it at WWDC so they can get developers on board before release? I'm really looking forward to see what they come up with.
 
You can't invent something that already exists. If someone has a patent for the airbag then they have a patent for the airbag. Doesn't matter if yours is better. It's not a competition. You still have to acknowledge their prior art in your own patent and state how it's fundamentally different or pay royalties to the original patent holder.
It IS a competition. That's the point. One reason you're granted patents so that competitors have to find NEW methods of doing something or pay you for it. If someone invents a better airbag and it meets the requirements for a patent, it gets a patent. Airbags aren't just claimed as "bags of air". They have complicated mechanics and processes to make them do what they do. If someone comes along and makes a substantially better way of doing it, they can patent it.
 
Time Passes....

By the time Apple FINALLY releases this much talked about iWatch, it will immediately become obsolete.


With the huge pile of surplus billions Apple has, why don't they venture into other markets:

iCar - The Apple electric sports car that will do 0-100 mph in 4 seconds and battery distance of 460 miles. The on board computer could steer you clear of traffic jams in real time and also suggest the possible eateries you are near to. And it all will fold up and tuck into your own personal carry around breif case!

iShower - Computer programmed shower system with 30 jets hitting you at all different angles, all to the beats of your favorite iTunes song, accompanied by an ultra cool laser show. Why would you ever want to leave your shower!?!

iDiet - A dietary app so advanced on nutrition, that if you follow what it tells you to eat and how to exercise just right, your body will burn all that you intake and you will never have to take a ***** or a piss again, saving you on toilet paper costs and the time of never having to use the bathroom.

iPillow - A pillow just the right fluff to put you to sleep the exact amount of time you program into it. And it will also install custom dreams into your head while you sleep. And it will also connect you with your friends, so you can simultaneously be in the same dream! Say hello to Freddie for us!!

:) :) :) :)
 
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Is this patent really going to go through? I am pretty sure this is essentially how httpebble works with the Pebble watch, except not on Bluetooth LE at the moment.

Agreed. I'm pretty literate with sequence diagrams like this (I design and write software using UML), and it strikes me that this is very close to what the httpebble does. I have the watch, and use a weather watchface that does this sort of temporary connection to the internet over Bluetooth to receive notifications -- and I have noticed only about a 10-20% reduction in the Pebble's battery life. While an arrow or two might be different for httpebble and this Apple patent, that seems pretty trivial, and httpebble can probably claimed as 'prior art' to invalidate this patent.

But then, I'm not a patent lawyer, and don't even play one on TV.
 
I think the iWatch (or whatever they actually call it) needs it own cell connection for basic updates to most successful, so hope they are working on low power solution for that. Maybe doesn't need to be exactly always on, but pings for updates very 15 seconds or so, and leaves on for longer period on request. Also Apple should work something out with carriers for free low bandwidth connection.
 
Yes, this is exactly why people criticize patents so much. First, someone patents "Little Black Dress". But, nobody patented "Little Black Dress worn by a Blonde" so now patent that. But, nobody patented "LBD worn by a Blonde on Tuesday" so patent that.

So why did the first patent holder not patent "LBD worn by a Blonde on Tuesday?" There are very high-paid patent attorneys who have the very important job of making sure that when a patent is filed, every possible meaningful embodiment is covered. If they did not cover the third patent in the first patent already, then either they were extremely incompetent, or the idea is so novel that it is absolutely patentable.
Explain exactly why this is fundamentally different from the internet connection sharing that I already do on my cell phone frequently, which was the same as when I did internet connection sharing back in 1996 or whenever.
I would be surprised that the difference is not obvious, but most people don't read patents they comment on and the Macrumors team is notoriously bad at understanding and interpreting patents, so here goes...

Current Internet sharing via personal hotspot from user perspective:
- You enable the personal hotspot e.g. on your iPhone.
- You get a second device and go to the "Settings" menu.
- You search for the personal hotspot
- You connect and enter the password
- The device uses the personal hotspot until it is disconnected.

Apple's patent:
- You carry a device which needs another device to get its Internet connection (let's say it's a watch, even though the patent never mentions a watch)
- You enter the room where your iPad is located.
- The watch displays an iMessage
- You did not connect it with the iPad. It automatically discovered it, negotiated a network sharing connection with it and then advertised its presence to the iMessage server
- You decide to go out. You grab your iPhone and leave.
- You get another iMessage on your watch
- You did not connect the watch with the iPhone. It automatically discovered it after losing its connection to your iPad and now it is using its network connection.

To me, the difference is obvious. It may be non-obvious to someone who does not value convenience though.

What bothers me especially is how people defend the current system as protecting lone inventors working in their garages. 99% of the time, it is the large, established players in an industry who benefit.
So? They are the ones who invest 99% of the money into research, so they reap 99% of the benefits. I wish it were different, but money begets money. The people who complain the most are those who either don't research or who don't manage to actually invent anything worth patenting. If you don't have anything new to offer, then yes, the patent system will possibly kill you. I really fail to see the problem with that.

I would actually greatly benefit from an end to the patent system as we know it, because my company's main competitor is holding a huge amount of patents in our field. Still, I don't complain, because I recognize that these patents are huge technical achievements, created by excellent engineers. Rather than whining about it, I see it as my job to outdo their achievements. The right way to "beat the system" is not to abolish it, but to create more powerful patents.
 
Meanwhile at samedung headquarters...

Dang..., we were just about to write the same thing in a clean piece of paper. It is our idea, and apple just stole it from our collective brain. The proof lies in this clean piece of paper that we were about to write on... Now we have to prove to every one that it was our idea, and the product that apple is creating, that's our idea too.

Dang apple, stealing our future ideas in the present... And converging on our future design years ahead of our own product. No wonder folks think we copied their innovation, err... creation, err.... stolen ideas. Now, where is that patent? Let me see, yes, that's what I was thinking about. How do they do this?... Yup, that's it.
 
Does this remove the need for an IP address in device A? To further my question, could you not have truly secretive internet browsing through this connection? Theoretically, you could have multiple users on one IP address accessing the internet. No one person could then be culpable for what happens, except, I suppose, the owner of the interface device.
 
I don't see how this deserves a patent.
Bluetooth PAN, low power.
Devices in low power mode don't ping the host very often to maintain connection.
You send data when you need to.
 
And here's why people criticize patents so much. They don't understand a patent, and immediately jump to the idea that there's nothing new.

Hrrrmmm, a method by which a smart watch (or other device) can communicate with a phone over bluetooth in order to use the phones internet connection.

What a fantastic idea! If only someone had thought of this sooner...
http://forums.getpebble.com/discuss...communication-and-other-things-via-watch-apps

oh....wait a second...

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How does this differ from how Google Glass accesses the internet right now?

Shhhhhh! The fanboys will get you! :D

Apple
Inventing stuff that already exists since 1976.
 
Well said. Except you forgot to mention there are also the "ignorant" folks out there who will think Apple invented a new concept or ideal when in fact, Apple only patented the method and not the new concept.

What method? The details listed here don't describe any method, only a high level idea which already exists.

The level of detail is equivalent to me telling you i'm inventing a thing called "cake", and to make this cake, you need a cake mix, a stirring spoon, a baking tray and an oven to bake it in. The problem is that cakes and all the things needed to make cakes already exist and im not telling you the exact ingredients in my cake.
 
I am quite confused.

This seems to imply some time of internet sharing, from an iWatch like device, to a notebook computer like device. This implies that an iWatch like device would be getting internet from LTE or cellular. I previously understood that the iWatch device that Apple is working on would not have cellular, and just get information from an iPhone. Which seems to make the most sense to me
 
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