A new patent shows that Apple may be working on a hybrid e-Paper and LCD display for iPad and iPhone that can switch between the two screens as needed. The patent details a multilayered screen where the entire display or just portions of it could change to offer either the incredible detail of e-Ink (a la Kindle) for text, or the LCD display for standard use.

PatentlyApple describes the feature as “a next generation iPhone that would effectively offer us a smart hybrid display that could switch between a standard LCD and an e-Paper display. In fact, it’s so smart that the display could actually subdivide itself into quadrants that could intelligently switch display types depending on the content that the user is running.”

If you have ever seen text on an Amazon Kindle, it looks extremely crisp. You can see the difference between the iPad display and Kindle screen when zoomed in at 26x here:

It’s not hard to imagine why a hybrid e-Ink & LCD display would be a huge win for future iOS devices. Paired with another recent patent that shows Apple may be bringing Thunderbolt to iPhone and iPad, the future of the iOS lineup is looking very impressive.

You can see more pictures and read more about the patent at PatentlyApple.

Information has surfaced that suggests high speed Thunderbolt ports are coming to future iterations of iPhone and iPad. The first is a patent for a hybrid DisplayPort/Thunderbolt & USB 3.0 connector that was found by PatentlyApple. The patent clearly shows a wide pin connector that looks very similar to the existing iOS hardware USB cables, but the connector would include USB 3.0, USB 2.0, and a DisplayPort connectivity. The mention of DisplayPort is significant because Displayport is now the high speed Thunderbolt interface on new MacBook Pro models.

To give further support to this theory is a job opening at Apple for a “Thunderbolt Software Quality Engineer.” The position was discovered by AppleInsider, who suggests Apple is “looking to bring its new Thunderbolt port to new devices beyond the MacBook Pro.” The job posting appears to have been edited on Apple’s site, but earlier versions of it apparently referenced ARM processors, which is the CPU architecture behind the iPhone and iPad.

If you’re wondering how this would affect you, AppleInsider describes the speed of Thunderbolt as “fast enough to transfer a full-length high-definition movie in less than 30 seconds, or to back up an MP3 collection large enough to play nonstop for a full year in just 10 minutes.” In other words, future Mac to iOS device syncing and file transfers could happen nearly instantaneously.

Ultra high speed connectivity sounds great, but there’s also a good chance that you won’t need to sync with a physical cable at all in the near future. A report from the New York Times earlier this year suggested that an upcoming version of MobileMe will be made free and include wireless syncing capabilities for iPhone and iOS hardware. Maybe we’ll see this debut on iPhone 5?

The future of iOS is quietly shaping up behind the scenes at Apple, and we’ll probably get a good look at iOS 5 during WWDC 2011, but until then it’s mostly a guessing game. That is, until someone digs up some patents that show potential features in a currently unreleased product. Case in point, PatentlyApple has discovered a patent that describes Spaces (virtual desktops) in use on a “Multifunction Device” that looks a lot like an iPad.

iPad… or Touchscreen Mac?
While the patent drawing does look like an iPad, I think it’s just as possible that the multifunction device could be any touchscreen display, even for a currently unreleased touchscreen Mac. I say this because the behavior described in the patent is similar to how Spaces works in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, where you sweep between Spaces by using the trackpad. It’s also reminiscent to the multitouch gestures you can enable for iPad by using developer tools with iOS 4.3. Those gesture similarities could even hint at further merging and sharing of features between future versions of iOS and Mac OS X.

Last year, multiple patents showed up for things like a MacBook tablet, MacBook Touch, and even an iMac Touch that runs both iOS and Mac OS X.

You can see more details of the patent at PatentlyApple. Remember, not all Apple patents see the light of day as a feature or a product, but they can give us great insight into what Apple is working on.

More Mac OS X rumors! An Apple patent has surfaced that gives credence to the idea that the next version of Mac OS X 10.7 will feature some kind of cloud storage capability. Last summer OSXDaily speculated the next version of Mac OS X would feature some sort of cloud support, this was based on a job opening at Apple’s Mac OS X team that emphasized technologies that are critical to cloud support. Will Pearson described how the job opening related to the cloud:

The biggest hint in the job posting is the favoring of candidates who have experience developing with “internet technologies and services” and more tellingly “participated in or lead the architecture of large web scale systems” with HTTP protocol experience. This naturally leads to the assumption that Mac OS X 10.7 will indeed have Cloud features built into the foundation of the operating system. HTTP and XHTML5 are core elements in the Open Cloud Computing Interface (OCCI) spec and are integral parts in most existing cloud computing services and platforms. When you combine this knowledge with recent news that Apple is building a massive 500,000 square foot data center, there is little room left to wonder what Apple is up to.

Now, seven months later, PatentlyApple has discovered a patent that may describe just how last summers job opening and Mac OS X “revolutionary feature” could tie into Mac OS X Lion. Dubbed “Safe Deposit Box”, the newly patented Mac OS X feature describes a way for the operating system to store certain files off-site, safely in a cloud environment and accessible from anywhere. PatentlyApple suggests how this may relate to day-to-day users:

One of the key attributes or selling points of Apple’s Safe Deposit Box Application or OS X feature is that your digital valuables could be stored “off site” or beyond the home computer to safeguard your digital valuables which could be something like a Will or Living Will, agreements, life insurance policies, home insurance policies, a simple home inventory list or video or perhaps something that’s really valuable to most every iTunes fan: a copy of your iTunes Library.

The idea of an iTunes cloud and streaming has been popularized through, of all things, iPhone 5 & iPhone Mini and wireless syncing rumors, which have strongly suggested that wireless syncing and streaming of your iTunes library is coming via a future free version of MobileMe. This creates the obvious question; if your iPad and iPhone with iOS will wirelessly sync to MobileMe, why wouldn’t Mac OS X and your Mac hardware too? It’s just a patent, but it suggests cloud-based streaming and syncing might just make an appearance in a future version of Mac OS X, maybe even Mac OS X 10.7, which is due for release this summer.

Two new patents have surfaced that may provide a look into the future of Mac input devices.

The first is for a Magic Mouse that has an integrated touch screen, which could adjust to display things like virtual buttons, keys, menus, text, and video. The patent application shows a diagram of the Magic Mouse displaying a virtual numeric keypad, but when you consider the Magic Mouse is nearly the size of an iPhone or iPod touch, the possibilities are wide open.

The second patent shows a Virtual Keyboard that includes a haptic feedback system, which would give a user the perception that the virtual keyboard is a regular keyboard by providing a vibratory response to touch. As PatentlyApple notes, a virtual keyboard has the potential to morph into another input device entirely, such as a game pad or musical keyboard.

Apple is clearly interested in further developing touch input across the Mac product line. Previous patents have shown a touch screen MacBook, a convertible touchscreen iMac that runs both iOS and Mac OS X, and a convertible MacBook tablet that may function in a similar manner as the aforementioned iMac.

Both of the new patents were discovered by PatentlyApple, you can read more about the Magic Mouse and the Virtual Keyboard over there.

Apple was recently awarded a patent for solar powered portable devices, which could pave the way for Macs, iPhones, and iPads running on a solar supplemented power source. The patent, which is Apple’s first to relate to solar powered portable devices, shows an unspecified “Portable Device” that has a standard battery which is augmented by an auxiliary power source, in this case solar power cells.

PatentlyApple says the patent “pertains to all portables from MacBooks to the iPhone” and “presents methods of adding solar power into the power mix of portables via a voltage converter”. They describe Apple’s patent and solution as follows:

Apple’s solution includes techniques for operating devices with solar power. In one aspect of the invention, apparatus for operating a portable electronic device with solar power includes, but is not limited to, a voltage converter and a controller coupled to the voltage converter. The voltage converter includes an input capable of being coupled to a solar power source and an output capable of being coupled to an electronic load, such as, for example, a portable electronic device. The voltage converter is configured to monitor or detect an amount of power drawn by the electronic load at the output of the voltage converter. In response to the monitored power drawn, the controller is configured to control the voltage converter to adjust further output power provided to the electronic load. As a result, the output voltage from the solar power source is maintained within a predetermined range.

The patent and it’s accompanying schematics were uncovered by PatentlyApple, which has a knack for digging up interesting Apple patents. You can check out their site for more technical details and additional schematics.

PatentlyApple is at it again, this time they discovered a patent for automatically updating Mac OS X menu items. The idea is somewhat simple; given items in pull down menus would be actively updating, and text or data would scroll in that menu item.

The concept is not limited to pulldown menus, as PatentlyApple describes:

Although embodiments of the present invention are described primarily with respect to pull-down menus, it will be appreciated that embodiments of the invention may be implemented within other types of graphical user interface menus, such as, but not limited to, menus in which options are highlighted by a bar that is moved from one menu item to another, pop-up menus (e.g. a menu activated by clicking an on-screen button), contextual menus (a menu that appears temporarily when a mouse button is right clicked on a selection; once a selection is made from a contextual menu, the menu usually disappears), cascading menus (a submenu that opens when a choice from another menu is selected), tear-off menus (a pop-up menu that can be moved around the screen like a window), etc.

As you can see in the picture below, the patent application shows an example using a status item where the message would be too small to fit without scrolling. Additionally the menu items content is presumed to update live.

While not quite as flashy as the spiral interface that may replace Cover Flow, this would be an interesting feature to have in Mac OS X Lion. Remember, a patent does not guarantee an appearance in anything so this feature should be considered a rumor at this point.

You can see more pictures and read more about the discovery at PatentlyApple.

I’ve always liked the way Cover Flow looked and I found it a pretty nice way to flip through albums in iTunes and files in Mac OS X. Well, Cover Flow’s days may be numbered, as a recently discovered Apple patent reveals a touch responsive spiral user interface to navigate through iTunes albums, and possibly, files in both Mac OS X Finder and iOS apps.

As you can see in the patent image above, the items in the file spiral will be touch responsive allowing someone to ‘grab’ one of the items in the spiral and manipulate it in a virtual 3D space. It looks like the patent is specific to iTunes playlists, but considering Cover Flow is included in iTunes, iOS, and Mac OS X, it’s quite possible this touch spiral could appear everywhere that Cover Flow currently exists.

The patent also details an alternative “V” style interface that may look and function similar to how the Time Machine interface works, with items moving back and forth in a virtual space. Here is the patent image of the “V” style UI:

Uncovered by PatentlyApple, they interpret the patents use as follows:

At the end of the day, I think that both the sprial and receding-v designs have their place. The receding-v design would appear to be a natural for replacing Cover Flow in Apple’s Finder. It’s not overly drastic and would provide us with a superior viewing angle, which is the purpose for the change to begin with. Apple’s proposed Spiral design is more geared for iTunes. Apple could simply make it another viewing option or replace Cover Flow. It appears to be geared for a touch display like the iPad where it’s better suited. It would provide more room to maneuver than an iPhone. So it’ll be interesting to see how Apple introduces these new UI elements in the future.

Assuming this spiral and V UI does appear in Mac OS X, I imagine it would respond to both multitouch input devices and a mouse by using the scrollwheel to navigate through the spiral, just like the existing Cover Flow interface does.

A newly discovered Apple patent suggests that Light Peak or a variation of the technology may be making an appearance in future Apple products. The patent describes a “Power and Data Adapter” that has a standard DC power cable with fiber optics included in the same cord, creating a single connector that would replace existing MagSafe adapters. The new adapter would have the ability to charge a device while transferring data at a very high rate of speed, the technology would clearly benefit Apple’s portable hardware, including the MacBook lineup, iPad, and iPhone.

The patent was discovered by PatentlyApple who says “the new I/O promises us a means of rapidly recharging our mobile devices while wildly-accelerating our data transfers.” Whether or not the fiber optic portion of this patent is actually Light Peak or an Apple crafted technology that is just similar in functionality is not known.

Light Peak is described by Intel as follows:

“This new technology is a new optical cable technology designed to connect all of your electronic devices together, such as disk drives, peripherals, displays etc. It runs at very high speed. Its bandwidth starts at 10 Gbps and has the ability to scale up to 100 Gbps over the next decade. And because it’s optical, it allows you to run it on smaller connectors and very long cables such as a 30 meter cable.” Mr. Ziller goes on to state that “another benefit of this technology is it has the ability to run multiple existing I/O protocols simultaneously on a single cable.”

The patent also shows the possibility of MagSafe style power adapters coming to Apple portable devices like the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, which would be a great addition to the portable hardware.

PatentlyApple is on a bit of a roll lately, earlier in the week they uncovered a patent for a Macbook Tablet that features a sliding screen that transforms a standard laptop into an iPad like device.

Earlier in the year a patent for a MacBook Touch of sorts appeared, basically it was a MacBook with a touch screen, but that idea was later shot down by Steve Jobs in the Mac OS X 10.7 Lion preview keynote speech who said that touching a laptop screen was ergonomically awkward. Now another patent has surfaced that seems to alleviate that problem, and this time it features a MacBook that converts to a tablet by sliding the screen forward over the keyboard.

According to Patently Apple, a variation of the MacBook Tablet patent first appeared in 2008 but the convertible concept has reappeared in new patents for iOS keyboard detection and a new scrolling API. Patently Apple also points out that the idea of a laptop with a sliding screen has already been adopted by Dell in the Inspiron Duo (shown below next to an iPad):
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