Apple Inc. patent applications published on November 30th, 2023

Summary of the patent applications from Apple Inc. on November 30th, 2023

Apple Inc. has recently filed several patents related to electronic devices, power-saving techniques, communication channels, buffering messages, managing network operators, messaging systems, altering visual media, and displaying images. These patents showcase Apple's ongoing efforts to innovate and improve various aspects of their products and services.

In terms of electronic devices, Apple has filed a patent for a display with pixels in an active area, where a hole or inactive region is formed within the active area. Multiple gate lines carrying the same signal are merged together before being routed around the hole to reduce congestion. Dummy circuits are added to increase the parasitic loading on the merged segments. This innovation aims to maximize the active area and accommodate multiple sub-display sensor components.

In the power-saving techniques patent, Apple describes a device that can be set to a discontinuous reception (DRX) mode, receiving signaling to wake up or go to sleep. The signaling can be specific to a group of devices, focusing on improving power efficiency.

For communication over common control channels, Apple's patent involves a User Equipment (UE) determining a selected Common Control Channel (CCCH) message configuration and generating an Uplink (UL) CCCH message according to the selected configuration. The UL CCCH message includes a Medium Access Control (MAC) header with a Logical Channel Identify (ID) field, transmitted to a Next Generation Node B (gNB) over a logical channel.

In the ultra-wide band (UWB) network, Apple's patent describes a system for coordinating and managing communication channels using an out-of-band (OOB) channel arbitration scheme. Devices periodically transmit advertisement packets containing UWB channel usage patterns, enabling efficient and coordinated use of the UWB channel.

In the messaging system patent, Apple introduces a method for two different messaging apps on separate devices to exchange messages and transmit content from extension apps. The content can be processed by the extension apps and displayed in message bubbles within a conversation transcript.

Apple's patents also cover user interfaces for altering visual media, displaying a stream of images, and managing media capture. These user interfaces allow for capturing, playing back, editing, and managing visual media with synthetic depth-of-field effects.

Notable applications:

• Electronic device with a display and hole/inactive region for accommodating sub-display sensor components.
• Power-saving techniques for devices, focusing on improving power efficiency.
• Communication over common control channels, including UL CCCH message generation and transmission.
• Coordinating and managing communication channels in a UWB network using an OOB channel arbitration scheme.
• Buffering paging or notification messages during ongoing procedures.
• Managing a list of preferred network operators and selecting a PLMN based on the list.
• Messaging system allowing exchange of messages and content between different apps on separate devices.
• User interfaces for altering visual media with synthetic depth-of-field effects.
• Displaying a stream of images with focus on a specific area of the display.
• Efficient transportation and storage of image data using superframes.