Neil Hughes
The filing, published this week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and discovered by AppleInsider, is named "Synchronizing Mobile and Vehicle Devices." Apple first issued the application with the USPTO in May of this year.
Among the four inventors is Forstall, who serves as senior vice president of the iOS Software division at Apple. Forstall is a key member of Apple's executive team who was described by author Adam Lashinsky earlier this year as Apple's "CEO-in-waiting."
The filing describes location information being transmitted between a vehicle to a mobile device, such as an iPhone. That location and sensor data shared between the two devices would then be used to aid in features like turn-by-turn navigation.
The application focuses on location and positioning data being shared between a vehicle and an iPhone to improve navigation, but other information could be transferred between the two devices. Among the potential uses listed in the application is syncing of contacts between the devices.
Illustrations included with the filing show a number of potential settings for synchronizing an iPhone with a vehicle. Users are given the option to "Track Location Using Vehicle GPS." If a location signal is lost, users can determine their current location based on the last known position, otherwise known as dead reckoning.
Though the iPhone includes a GPS radio, it can sometimes take time to lock on a satellite signal and the information can be inaccurate. It's for this reason that each iPhone maintains a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers, in order to help the handset rapidly and accurately calculate its current location.
"Calculating a phone's location using just GPS satellite data can take up to several minutes," Apple explained in a public statement on its location services last year. "iPhone can reduce this time to just a few seconds by using Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data to quickly find GPS satellites, and even triangulate its location using just Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data when GPS is not available (such as indoors or in basements)."
Other inventors on the application are Gregory N. Christie, Robert E. Borchers, and Kevin Tiene.
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Charles Martin
Christine McKee
Wesley Hilliard
Malcolm Owen
Andrew Orr
William Gallagher
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20 Comments
There is so much prior art for this it's unreal. Ford Sync has been around for YEARS already, despite whenever this was filed.
I'm so tired of patent ridiculousness.
There is so much prior art for this it's unreal. Ford Sync has been around for YEARS already, despite whenever this was filed.
I'm so tired of patent ridiculousness.
You didn't actually read the article, did you? This has very different functionality.
I aint worried about a stupid ford sync, I can't get my calender to sync between my Macbook, iPad and ipod correctly
.. Ford Sync... but then I'd need to buy an Ford.
[quote name="Shidell" url="/t/152365/apple-investigating-syncing-between-iphone-and-car#post_2183614"]There is so much prior art for this it's unreal. Ford Sync has been around for YEARS already, despite whenever this was filed. I'm so tired of patent ridiculousness. [/quote] [quote name="muppetry" url="/t/152365/apple-investigating-syncing-between-iphone-and-car#post_2183621"] You didn't actually read the article, did you? This has very different functionality. [/quote] i dunno, i kinda agree with shidell ... seems like most anyone with a bit of tech background might come up with the same idea ... (have you ever thought of it?) ... so it seems "obvious". maybe you have a unique algorithm, but isn't that then copyright law and not patent? again with the [URL=http://www.theonion.com/articles/microsoft-patents-ones-zeroes,599/]1s and 0s[/URL].