Apple's Lightning Connector Detailed in Newly-Published Patent Applications

[redman042]

I see that, for a lot of people, Apple continues to do nothing right. Now that people are bored of complaining about Antennagate, I guess this is the next best thing to whine about.

Yeah a connector change is a bit painful at first, and some people are still waiting for more compatible accessories. But Apple has always "skated to where the puck is going" instead of "where the puck is" and this is no exception. Other than being a robust, tiny, easy to use little cable, it's highly adaptable to future needs. For those who see this new connector as a big complaint, may I suggest you skip a generation and hang on to your 30 pin devices a while longer until accessory makers catch up and prices drop.

I've had the iPhone 5 since it came out, and I like the new cable. It's not a big deal or anything, but it's one more coat of polish on a great product line, and I expect the change to pay more dividends down the road.

 

[VoR]

You've never fumbled trying to connect an HDMI cable to the back of your TV or taken a couple of tries to get a USB cable inserted correctly? Or had to use the light from your iPad screen to look at the dock connector cable in the dark to find the "This Side Up" logo to plug your iPad in for the night?

I've got a couple of nokia branded micro usb cables that have a subtle raised edge on the 'pointing up' side. I understand what you're saying and it's certainly an improvement, but realistically I don't think it's achieved anything that couldn't (can't) have been done with a little nibblet of rubber

 

[aristotle]

or you could use the regular charging adapter in those cases

So what would be the point of the charging pad then? Too lazy to plug in the phone to the cable sitting on the desk?

 

[69650]

It seems to me that those patents we see before any product seem to fizzle into nothing, whereas the patents that do get made into products never seem to get published before the product comes out. Funny that. Makes me want to totally ignore any Apple patents published before the product as just smoke and mirrors.

 

[lilo777]

Because having a giant pad on your desk to rest your phone on for charging is so much more convenient than a little plug, right?

Why do you need a giant pad? You can use neat "orb" like what Nexus 4 has:

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So what would be the point of the charging pad then? Too lazy to plug in the phone to the cable sitting on the desk?

And why would Apple go with simmetrical adapter for Lighting? Do they think Apple users are too lazy to figure out how to plug in the cable or something? Convenience matters. And when someone calls you and your phone is charging - it is much easier to just pick the phone up (and go away if you want to)

 

[NT1440]

Wireless for God sake!

Soon.

http://www.patentlyapple.com/patent...le-nails-future-wireless-charging-system.html

Steve mentioned in one of his last interviews (along with thinking they finally cracked the TV) that current wireless charging solutions are awful. This implementation (essentially making an appliance the charger for your devices) means that as you work you don't need to remember to stick the device in a certain place. This system dynamically adjusts the range of the power delivery so as a new device enters the area, it automatically syncs up and starts charging.

 

[Arfdog]

I'd love a low friction one. That way I can lift it out of the dock with one hand.

Try K-Y

 

[MattInOz]

Sheesh, didn't you read the whole patent application? Basically, the layout is designed so that the host can determine the orientation of the plug during mating. The signaling pairs are not crossed over in order to maintain better signal integrity when operating at high speeds. There is an ID chip in the accessory which communicates with the host and identifies the capabilities of the accessory so the host can then switch the appropriate signals to the data lines.

While this may seem like overkill, remember that the silicon used by the Lightning interface is currently inexpensive and that cost will diminish to nearly 0 within a couple years thanks to Moore's law. Choosing a design that is less complex physically makes a lot of sense in the long run here.

Signalling pairs aren't crossed over and the plug knows which is up....
Wouldn't the also allow a future two sided plug in which data line 1 became data pair 1?
Expanding from two data pairs to 4 data pairs while still maintaining full compatibility. Not that I expect that any time some but will help the plug last well past the 10year mark.

I think Apple could do interesting stuff with the cable as it stands.
Like say bed side docks allowing you to put phone in do not disturb mode by putting in the dock screen inwards.

 

[ConCat]

Soon.

http://www.patentlyapple.com/patent...le-nails-future-wireless-charging-system.html

Steve mentioned in one of his last interviews (along with thinking they finally cracked the TV) that current wireless charging solutions are awful. This implementation (essentially making an appliance the charger for your devices) means that as you work you don't need to remember to stick the device in a certain place. This system dynamically adjusts the range of the power delivery so as a new device enters the area, it automatically syncs up and starts charging.

It's pretty asinine that patently apple is calling this an "apple invention". Not only was this not discovered by Apple, but WiTricty has beat them to the punch by a long shot.

 

[repoman27]

Signalling pairs aren't crossed over and the plug knows which is up....
Wouldn't the also allow a future two sided plug in which data line 1 became data pair 1?
Expanding from two data pairs to 4 data pairs while still maintaining full compatibility. Not that I expect that any time some but will help the plug last well past the 10year mark.

I think Apple could do interesting stuff with the cable as it stands.
Like say bed side docks allowing you to put phone in do not disturb mode by putting in the dock screen inwards.

The patent application points out that the top and bottom rows could be isolated, but that the additional row of contacts required in the receptacle would increase the z-height of the host device. They also outline an implementation with a second row of contacts behind the first one, allowing for up to 37 pins in total.

I'm not sure if Apple has exposed any methods yet in the External Accessory framework or whatnot to allow third party code to determine which way a plug is inserted. They should though—there are definitely some potential applications for it.

 

[NT1440]

It's pretty asinine that patently apply is calling this an "apple invention". Not only was this not discovered by Apple, but WiTricty has beat them to the punch by a long shot.

Tesla beat them by nearly 100 years, whats your point?

It's all about implementation, and this is the most elegant solution as of yet.

 

[ConCat]

Tesla beat them by nearly 100 years, whats your point?

It's all about implementation, and this is the most elegant solution as of yet.

My point is (as I said) this tech was introduced into the market by WiTricity, not Apple, as claimed by the article. This isn't exactly what Tesla had in mind though. We've come a long way in 100 years.

 

[spicynujac]

realistically I don't think it's achieved anything that couldn't (can't) have been done with a little nibblet of rubber

I tend to agree. Not to mention the fragmentation you cause by making tons of existing accessories difficult to use without an adapter. I don't understand why Apple ever invented the 30 pin conector. It was unneccessary at the time, and didn't offer any advantage over USB. Europe has the right idea requiring a common standard, kind of like how we all drive on the right side of the road here

 

[bungiefan89]

Why do you need a giant pad? You can use neat "orb" like what Nexus 4 has:

Image

I guess that's a little better... But that still takes up way more space than a simple little plug like the lightning port. Hell, I'm still using the 30 pin connector on my old 4th Gen iPod Touch... I really see no reason why anything would be superior. I'd really appreciate it if these companies would start innovating on things that actually matter (like battery life and durability) instead of wasting so much time on little gimmicks like the way the device charges its battery.

 

[nia820]

lighting connector is nice and all. but i really wish apple would move to micro usb. i would like to just have to carry 1 cord when traveling.

 

[Menneisyys2]

Come on Apple, I NEED a Lightning/HDMI connection w 1080p!!! (Apple TV/AirPlay is okay but it's too slow for games.)

Won't happen with Lightning, I'm afraid.

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I tend to agree. Not to mention the fragmentation you cause by making tons of existing accessories difficult to use without an adapter. I don't understand why Apple ever invented the 30 pin conector. It was unneccessary at the time, and didn't offer any advantage over USB. Europe has the right idea requiring a common standard, kind of like how we all drive on the right side of the road here

Wrong. The 30-pin adapter has enough wires to emit, among other things, HDMI and VGA signals.

 

[hchung]

Why do you need a giant pad? You can use neat "orb" like what Nexus 4 has:

Image

That orb (and all Wireless Qi transfer systems) is listed as ~40% to ~%70 efficient. For those who are using microUSB as their power connector to their wireless charging source, charging is going to be even slower.

As for the Nexus 4, if you align it wrong on some of the pads the phone gets really confused and the battery indicator flashes repeatedly as if somebody were rapidly plugging/unplugging the power adapter. Kinda annoying cuz it's been pretty unreliable. Nice in theory. Not so great in practice.

 

[ArmCortexA8]

I like the lighting connector as the 30 pin was too large and obtrusive and prevented Apple shrinking the iPhone because of its size. The Lightning Connector reminds me of a modern day SCART connector - a fixed set of connectors / pins which make contact with a cable who's contacts vary in size and location which dictates to the device as to what was plugged in. The Lightning connector is the most advanced power / USB cable I have ever seen. So in effect the accessory or device that plugs in dictates the functionality.

Its compact, powerful, contains data and power in one, and dual sided, again one of the rare cables that can be connected any side and still work perfectly. This is an engineering marvel, and something that other companies have yet to take up. All the other Micro / Mini USB connectors are not as advanced and are primarily only used for power / data transfer as a separate / proprietary connector is also used for accessory use, whereas the Lightning connector can be wired for a multitude of things and accessories.

 

[repoman27]

I tend to agree. Not to mention the fragmentation you cause by making tons of existing accessories difficult to use without an adapter. I don't understand why Apple ever invented the 30 pin conector. It was unneccessary at the time, and didn't offer any advantage over USB. Europe has the right idea requiring a common standard, kind of like how we all drive on the right side of the road here

Kids these days... Apple introduced the 30-pin connector before Macs with USB 2.0. The cables were originally FireWire on the other end, because USB 1.1 was unacceptably slow for charge/sync functions with the early iPods. And Micro USB wasn't standardized until 7 years after the original USB 2.0 spec was released!

Without the 30-pin connector, there would be no accessory ecosystem like there is today. Look at the micro USB accessory market vs. 30-pin. Apple's proprietary connector allowed accessory makers to add functionality in a wide variety of ways that USB alone never could have.

lighting connector is nice and all. but i really wish apple would move to micro usb. i would like to just have to carry 1 cord when traveling.

Why not just carry a Micro USB cable with one of these on the end?

Micro USB has been around for 6 years now. Should mobile devices never move past this one particular standard which is clearly beginning to show its limitations?

Won't happen with Lightning, I'm afraid.

Wrong. The 30-pin adapter has enough wires to emit, among other things, HDMI and VGA signals.

I think you mean, "Won't happen with first generation Lightning devices." Two differential pairs plus a control channel and dedicated accessory and device power (i.e. Lightning in its current implementation) is perfectly capable of outputting a signal equivalent to Dual-Mode DisplayPort 1.1a. MHL gets by with much less. What we need are devices with SoCs that can output a digital display signal over 1 or 2 differential pairs.

 

[Menel]

Why do you need a giant pad? You can use neat "orb" like what Nexus 4 has:

Image

That's still bulkier for traveling, and packing in my bag than a coiled up Lightning/MicroUSB cable.

Don't get me wrong, it's a cool technology. It's a fresh idea. But even that application isn't more convenient.

 

[Unggoy Murderer]

Have you seen how thin a wireless charging pad is inside a Lumia?

Yes I have, it's about 1mm thick. When iPhones are already in the 7mm range, adding 1mm makes quite a difference when Apple have already made a huge effort to slim it down.

 

[rGiskard]

It's not *that* complicated. The real complexity is in the device side. That's why Chinese manufacturers are able to make fully functional knock offs of this cable and sell them for under $3 each.

But the adaptive nature of this connector allows it to do all the things that the old 30 pin connector could do with few pins and less bulk. This is a brilliant, well engineered cable design, IMO. Much easier to use than MicroUSB. (Have you ever noticed that it usually seems to take 3 tries to insert a two sided microUSB cable?)

It would be nice if Apple attempted to make it a standard instead of keeping it for their own iDevices. I wonder what the bandwidth capability is for the Lightning connector? USB 3.0 SS?

 

[repoman27]

It's pretty asinine that patently apple is calling this an "apple invention". Not only was this not discovered by Apple, but WiTricty has beat them to the punch by a long shot.

There may be a touch of hyperbole in the article, but I think the problem is more with your failure to read what it and the related patent actually say. Apple's patent, which was originally filed in 2010, clearly states that it is a specific implementation of NFMR as based on the prior discoveries of Karalis et al. (i.e. WiTricity).

To quote WiTricity's mission statement: "WiTricity Corp. was founded in 2007 to commercialize an exciting new technology for wireless electricity invented two years earlier at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A team of physicists, led by Professor Marin Soljačić, developed the theoretical basis for this novel method for wireless electric power transfer in 2005, and validated their theories experimentally in 2007." "WiTricity Corp. is now actively developing the core technology and additional intellectual property that will take this spectacular invention and turn it into commercially available products." There are no commercially available products using NFMR yet. This is in no way as mature a technology as charging mats based on inductive coupling such as Qi.

Apple outlined how to effectively use NFMR in a Mac/iOS device based ecosystem, and definitely carried the ball forward. What we don't know, however, is the extent to which Apple and WiTricity worked together on this or what their cross licensing agreements are. All we know is that Apple's name is on the patent because the engineers who developed this specific implementation were on their payroll.

It would be nice if Apple attempted to make it a standard instead of keeping it for their own iDevices. I wonder what the bandwidth capability is for the Lightning connector? USB 3.0 SS?

That would be an insanely altruistic move on Apple's part, and unfortunately is probably a bit too much to hope for. The competitive advantage afforded by Lightning over the next couple years will be essential for Apple to stay afloat in an increasingly cut-throat mobile device market.

The potential bandwidth of a connector is a hard thing to pinpoint. Apple managed to cram four lanes at 10.3125 Gbit/s across a mini DisplayPort connector, however this did require resorting to active cables. Lightning is pretty well thought out. I'd reckon the likely near term target they had in mind for the differential pairs is 5.8304 Gbit/s (MIPI M-PHY, High-Speed, Gear 3, Rate B) using passive cables. These could be configured to operate together as a single full-duplex link, a bonded simplex link, or as independent channels. That would be enough bandwidth to accommodate SuperSpeed USB, a full DisplayPort 1.1a main link, or single-link HDMI 1.4b.

 

[ConCat]

There may be a touch of hyperbole in the article, but I think the problem is more with your failure to read what it and the related patent actually say. Apple's patent, which was originally filed in 2010, clearly states that it is a specific implementation of NFMR as based on the prior discoveries of Karalis et al. (i.e. WiTricity).

To quote WiTricity's mission statement: "WiTricity Corp. was founded in 2007 to commercialize an exciting new technology for wireless electricity invented two years earlier at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A team of physicists, led by Professor Marin Soljačić, developed the theoretical basis for this novel method for wireless electric power transfer in 2005, and validated their theories experimentally in 2007." "WiTricity Corp. is now actively developing the core technology and additional intellectual property that will take this spectacular invention and turn it into commercially available products." There are no commercially available products using NFMR yet. This is in no way as mature a technology as charging mats based on inductive coupling such as Qi.

Apple outlined how to effectively use NFMR in a Mac/iOS device based ecosystem, and definitely carried the ball forward. What we don't know, however, is the extent to which Apple and WiTricity worked together on this or what their cross licensing agreements are. All we know is that Apple's name is on the patent because the engineers who developed this specific implementation were on their payroll.



That would be an insanely altruistic move on Apple's part, and unfortunately is probably a bit too much to hope for. The competitive advantage afforded by Lightning over the next couple years will be essential for Apple to stay afloat in an increasingly cut-throat mobile device market.

The potential bandwidth of a connector is a hard thing to pinpoint. Apple managed to cram four lanes at 10.3125 Gbit/s across a mini DisplayPort connector, however this did require resorting to active cables. Lightning is pretty well thought out. I'd reckon the likely near term target they had in mind for the differential pairs is 5.8304 Gbit/s (MIPI M-PHY, High-Speed, Gear 3, Rate B) using passive cables. These could be configured to operate together as a single full-duplex link, a bonded simplex link, or as independent channels. That would be enough bandwidth to accommodate SuperSpeed USB, a full DisplayPort 1.1a main link, or single-link HDMI 1.4b.

I failed to read it huh? Here's a quote:

Apple's exciting new invention will provide a system and method for utilizing wireless near field magnetic resonance (NFMR) power transmission in a computing environment.

Invention is not equal to innovation.

 

[Treq]

Try K-Y

Nice...