Apple Sued Over OS X Quick Boot

An anonymous reader writes "With a patent originally owned by LG in tow, a Florida based company called Operating Systems Solutions LLC recently filed suit against Apple claiming that OS X's use of quick booting infringes the aforementioned patent." The company in question is a bit suspicious — having formed very recently — and so others are speculating it was created for a proxy battle against Apple by LG.

Comments

These patent lawsuits are getting out of hand.

[firex726]

These patent lawsuits are getting out of hand.

Everyone is suing everyone else, minimal innovation is happening and when it does it's from some upstart who gets buried the moment it makes a press release.

Re:These patent lawsuits are getting out of hand.

[s73v3r]

Taste of their own medicine? I take it you completely forgot about Nokia suing them, and Kodak before that? Or how about the company that sued them on the basis of the iPod's playlist?

To say that "Apple started it!" is extremely childish and naive.

Re:These patent lawsuits are getting out of hand.

[Baloroth]

I think you mean pre-iphone we had this. Look like anything you've seen before? Pics came out ~6 months before the iPhone was announced. Apple made it "cool", they didn't invent the modern smartphone by a long shot.

Re:These patent lawsuits are getting out of hand.

[theurge14]

"An official press release showing an image of the device appeared on January 18, 2007"

"The first iPhone was unveiled by Apple CEO Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007"

Re:Just sayin'

[itchythebear]

He is probably referring to this.

Re:Prior art?

[DJRumpy]

I think this is the info you are hinting at. the patent in question specifically mentions config.sys and auto exec.bat, as well as POST processes.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/08/apple_sued_over_mac_x_fast_boot/

"The method for a quick boot process includes the steps of performing a power-on self test (POST) operation when a personal computer system is powered on or a reset button is pressed; performing a normal boot process after the POST operation; saving the contents of memory and the status of the attached devices to a hard disk; checking if a reboot is requested; restoring the saved boot configuration information from the hard disk, after POST is completed during the reboot process; checking whether or not an initial device configuration file and/or an automatic batch file were changed; and executing commands in the two files and saving a newly created boot configuration information to the hard disk for future boot," the patent reads.

"The personal computer system, may reboot quickly because of omission of execution of the initial device configuration filed and the automatic batch file."

Yes, the patent specifically discusses CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files, carefully laying out the entire boot process for an IBM PC running MS-DOS. But it says the scope of the method is broader. "Though the description hereinbefore may refer to terms commonly used in describing particular computer systems and software, such as IBM personal computer and Windows95 operation system, the concepts equally apply to other systems and software," it reads.

Kodak isnt a bad player

[voss]

They have been researching digital cameras since the 1970s and have like 1000 patents relating to digital cameras.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Sasson
They literally the invented digital still camera and got a patent for it in 1978
Their patents have been tested in court. However Kodak seems to have no problems licensing its patents. Kodak
doesnt pursue frivolous or overly broad claims. Kodak actually invented most of the digital camera technology existing today
and licenses it to everybody.

Apple tried to claim a patent claim against kodak and got bitchslapped in May.
http://www.toledoblade.com/Courts/2011/05/16/Apple-loses-round-in-digital-camera-patent-dispute-with-Eastman-Kodak.html