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Apple Patents Alternative To NFC

Posted by Soulskill on from the bet-it'll-have-a-cooler-name dept.

another random user sends word that a set of newly-granted Apple patents published by the USPTO includes an alternative to the near field communication (NFC) technology that has begun to pop up in mobile devices. From the article: "Apple has received a Granted Patent relating to techniques for triggering a process within a portable electronic device that identifies itself for purposes of establishing communications with another device that is in proximity. At the moment, NFC is the technology that's getting all of the attention lately in respect to making it easier for two mobile devices to share information. While Apple is likewise doing research with NFC, they're also working with an alternate methodology for which they've now gained a patent for. In accordance with Apple's newly granted patent, a method for network device discovery monitors a compass output in a portable electronic device. As the portable device and an external device come closer to each other, a magnetic field signature is computed based on the monitored compass output. A determination is then made as to whether the computed signature could be associated with or implies that a previously defined type of electronic device (with which a network device discovery process can be conducted) is in close proximity. In other words, as the two devices come closer to each other, their respective magnetic characteristics cause the compass output to change in a way that implies that a network device discovery process should be initiated between the two devices."

17 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Betamax, here we come... by Samantha+Wright · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So will Apple try to licence this technology to other mobile manufacturers, or will it forever remain on the shelf, never attaining sufficient popularity for POS vendors to support it?

    --
    Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
    1. Re:Betamax, here we come... by FyRE666 · · Score: 4, Funny

      This is a technology for sharing that's patented so it can't be... shared... er...

      --
      Code, Hardware, stuff like that.
    2. Re:Betamax, here we come... by Tough+Love · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I put this in the same category as Apple refusing to adopt other standards, such as USB power. Reinforcing its reputation as an operation that doesn't play well with standards.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    3. Re:Betamax, here we come... by alen · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Maybe NFC is the Betamax

      Major League Baseball said that 12% of post season tickets have been used digitally via the new passbook app on iOS 6

    4. Re:Betamax, here we come... by msauve · · Score: 3, Informative

      USB power has a fundamental limitation - micro-USB connectors are only rated for 1.7 A. The USB charging spec maxes out at 1.5 A. That's right at the edge for today's phones and battery technology. Lithium batteries exist which can be charged at a 1C rate, and a 1.5 Ah battery is about what most smartphones have. It's more limiting for tablets, which have batteries which can charge faster than USB can allow.

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    5. Re:Betamax, here we come... by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 5, Informative

      "So will Apple try to licence this technology to other mobile manufacturers, or will it forever remain on the shelf, never attaining sufficient popularity for POS vendors to support it?"

      Who cares? I'm not trying to troll here, but the fact is that NFC was largely busted almost before it came off the shelf (researchers able to covertly read confidential info from mobile NFC devices from several feet away).

      Unless technology changes significantly and soon, making financial transactions via radio is just plain a bad idea. You want to exchange E-cards? Fine. You can already do that via infrared or wifi or bluetooth. You don't need NFC (or a similar device or protocol) to do it.

    6. Re:Betamax, here we come... by benlwilson · · Score: 5, Interesting

      USB3 has charging standards which allow for much more power.
      I don't think any manufactures have added support for it yet though.

      Profile 1 - 5V @ 2A
      Profile 2 - 5V @ 2A or 12V@1.5A
      Profile 3 - 5V @ 2A or 12V@3A
      Profile 4 - 20V@3A
      Profile 5 - 12V or 20V at 5A (100W).

      I believe the idea around profile 5 is so laptops can drop the custom power connector and use a USB3 port instead.
      It makes things interesting if all laptop USB ports support all power profiles. You could charge one laptop from another and even make a figurative 'energy black hole' by looping the charge back again with another cable.

    7. Re:Betamax, here we come... by complete+loony · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think the main problem is this fascination with building sub-standard cryptographic primitives into the network layer. NFC should just be a transparent network transport, assumed to be insecure. That higher level protocols can use for key exchange and other encrypted tunnel protocols.

      --
      09F91102 no, 455FE104 nope, F190A1E8 uh-uh, 7A5F8A09 that's not it, C87294CE no. Ah! 452F6E403CDF10714E41DFAA257D313F.
    8. Re:Betamax, here we come... by Tough+Love · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Well, for one thing it's only 7 inch (1280Ã--800) rather than the 9.7 inch (2048Ã--1536) of an iPad 3.

      iPad 3 is a power sucking monstrosity. The only reason Apple quadrupled the resolution was because of the scatterbrained design decision to let applications depend on fixed resolution. Exacerbated by the idiotic lack of hinting in Apple's font engine, so higher resolution is needed just to get equivalently sharp characters that Android gets with proper hinting. Oh, and the fixed resolution idiocy came back to bite Apple again with the iPhone 5 - forcing the funny looking too-long-and-skinny form factor just to keep the 640 dot display width. And letterboxing! Who was asleep at the wheel in the Apple's engineering department anyway? Well I'm not complaining of course. Strategy like this is the best and fastest way to transform Apple from a growth stock to a shrink stock. Which couldn't happen to a nicer company.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    9. Re:Betamax, here we come... by azalin · · Score: 5, Funny

      And only people with Apple products will be able to buy food.

      Does this mean the "mark of the beast" is going to be the Apple logo?

      Isn't a bitten apple already a symbol for the original sin that got Adam and Eve evicted from paradise?

  2. Aren't they describing the human mating process? by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 5, Funny

    Apple probably will have a dating service app bundled in . . .

    In other words, as the two devices come closer to each other, their respective magnetic characteristics cause the compass output to change in a way that implies that a network device discovery process should be initiated between the two devices.

    Network device discovery process, indeed.

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  3. Ammo for the lawyers by ThunderBird89 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I can give the Samsung (or any other party's) lawyers some ammo: prior art. A low-cost data interface using the magnetometer to extract data from a variable magnetic field. The granted patent covers this process almost verbatim, more than one and a half years after its first (published) development.

    --
    Hyperbole: I use it liberally!
    1. Re:Ammo for the lawyers by Anubis+IV · · Score: 3, Informative

      I believe you missed something important.

      Definition: prior
      adj. Existing or coming before in time, order, or importance.

      File date for Apple's patent: Q4 2009
      Your "prior" art: May 2011

      Now, which one was the prior one again?

      All of that said, it wouldn't surprise me if someone else did beat them to it. It just isn't the person you linked.

  4. Re:two phones... by gnoshi · · Score: 5, Funny

    You can still carry two phones, but now that they can talk to each other you'll be the third wheel - especially since they have so much in common. No longer will you rely on other people in the restaurant whispering between themselves about 'the guy playing with his phone': these phones will be able to do that whispering to each other! Progress!

  5. Apple does it again! by John+Pfeiffer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And so Apple makes their products incompatible with the rest of the universe in yet one more way! It's not easy being an Apple customer, is it?

    --

    Friend: "The NIC is misconfigured..." Me: "No prob, I'll just telnet in and fix it." *Silence*
    1. Re:Apple does it again! by ThunderBird89 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Actually, this makes them infinitely compatible, since the iPhones rely on the magnetic signature of other devices to recognize them, possibly even without interaction from those devices. Passive recognition, in essence.

      --
      Hyperbole: I use it liberally!
  6. *facepalm* by ilsaloving · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Okay, Apple is pulling a '90s Microsoft now. NFC isn't good enough cause they can't control it, so they just HAVE to make their own. Just like Microsoft did with WAV files, TrueType fonts, etc.