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Apple Files Patent For New Proprietary Port
rwise2112 writes "Apple proposes a solution to multiple port requirements within limited space: the two in one port. The port is described as a 'Combined Input Port,' where two different interfaces could be in one port. The input port includes an outer wall defining a receiving aperture, a substrate positioned within the receiving aperture. One set of contacts is configured to communicate with a first connector and the second set of contacts is configured to communicate with a second connector. Looks like another addition to the special Apple cable lineup."
Samsung and HTC, and doubtless others, invented this first. My Galaxy S3 has a combined USB, HDMI and audio port. My ancient HTC Hero had a combined USB and audio port. Different connectors used different pins.
It seems like anything is new and worthy of patenting if it's on a computer, on the internet or on an Apple :-(
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Oh, fuck.
bad enough every video cable is an adaptor, now what, more? [groans]
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
The summary is misleading in so many ways. This is just adding USB to a multi-card reader.
Windows has detected an undetectable error.
Even though I understand the idea, isn't there any standards conforming alternative? Always the walled garden...
They just invented the stereo jack!
Specifically, this port allows either an SD card or USB3 cable to be plugged into the same physical opening. Either will fit.
While the submitted made their hatred of all things Apple very clear, they also made clear that their rage obscures their ability to read.
The patent is clearly for one port that you can plug multiple standard cables into -- so there is no call for the "looks like another addition to the special Apple cable lineup" snark.
That has always been Apple's forte, and now is its lone distinguishing 'feature'...
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
December 23, 2011
This is just cramming two ports into one space (in the example, SD and USB) so you can add more functionality to the sort of thin & light products that Apple is obsessed with. No need for a "special Apple cable", since the whole point is that it can accept several standard interfaces.
They're describing a plug where you have different contacts at different depths. Push one cable in one depth, and you hit one set of contacts. Push another cable in deeper, and you hit different contacts. How is this any different than a standard audio jack, where you have two or three rings and a center pin? The only difference here is that they're individual contacts, rather than a whole ring.
What is it with Apple engineers and 1000 different connectors? Do they have a dongle fetish?
Normally I'm not a fan of the jump on the poster bandwagon, but this title and description could not be more misleading. The patent is on the idea of making one port take two standard connectors. The example used is a USB-or-SD Card physical form factor.
The design does not use "proprietary port"(s), rather it builds on existing standard port designs.
The design does not require a "special Apple cable", indeed the entire point is that standards compliant devices (not just cables, but things like SD cards) will just work.
As to the merits, it seems to me like there is probably prior art, and it may also fail the obviousness test. I'm not sure this is an idea that deserves patent protection. As devices get smaller, thinner, and lighter, I do think this is a great idea to reduce the physical space needed to provide all the ports a user might want.
Can't really do that anymore.
I wonder if this will combine USB / Thunderbolt / firewire. Please dear god...
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
I think Cisco/Linksys may have some contrary prior art.
Some Linksys WiFi routers would seen to meet that description. There's a "hidden serial console port" on the WTR-610N WiFi routers for the serial access port. It's on the opposite side of the LAN1 port. You wire a special ethernet connector up with a 4 wire cable on top (tap side) of the ethernet plug and it mates with circuit board contacts giving you a TTL level serial for reprogramming and a controlling console.
That router has been around for quite a few years. There certainly may be others. They produced a number of models of the same footprint and form factor over the years.
I just happen to own a couple of these myself (and yes managed to brick and recover one). References and descriptions can be found on the dd-wrt web site forums where they've documented it.
The idea might have deserved patent protection; I don't think you can say it's "obvious" to figure out how to cram multiple connectors into a single port and make them work. There's some neat engineering that goes into making that happen. The problem is that somebody else did it first; eSATAp, which combines eSATA and USB in a single port (and can be used as either an eSATA port, a USB port, or with a special connector that combines the two) predates the patent filing by several years, if nothing else.
As to the merits, it seems to me like there is probably prior art, and it may also fail the obviousness test. I'm not sure this is an idea that deserves patent protection.
I think it is a very, very obvious idea that you would want a port where you can plug in either a USB connector or an SD card. What I don't know is how difficult it is to make this very obvious idea work. Consider this: It is a very, very obvious idea that it would nice if my car could fly. Does it fly? No. Because it's hard to implement.
That's actually something that makes it more patent worthy: If there is an obvious need for it, and similar things have already been developed and well accepted, but this particular combination isn't available yet, then it seems reasonable that actually making it work requires something entirely non-obvious.
I see you didn't read the article.
As to why you don't buy garbage, that's between you and the product descriptions that you also must fail to read.
Wireless portable devices should be totally wireless. No holes, no connectors, and waterproof. Today's smartphones have radios for GSM, WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS. Some have near-field communications and wireless charging. There's no need for wires.
I'm amazed that Apple hasn't done this, with their fetish for clean industrial design.
(Also, the three competing wireless charging standards need to be reduced to one. Then we'll see more public wireless charging pads and tray tables.)
Thats so the parts can break off deeper inside the phone.. Anyone out there ever replace a phone jack on a 4s?
Time for a new Political party in the US (or two!) One is off the rails Other cant pony up a leader.
That's what this is. A USB port (that accepts normal USB cables) with the ability to also accept SD cards to save space on the device so you don't need two ports.
See the input ports on DVI-D-capable monitors, with contacts for both analog and digital signals. It should also be obvious, contacts can be used for anything so once you have contacts in a connector for one thing it's a simple and straightforward idea to add a few more contacts for another thing. And you have USB charging cables which separate the +5/GND power pins from the D+/D- data pins, hooking power up to provide for charging but ignoring data since it's irrelevant. So yeah, this patent ought to be smacked down based on at least the KSR v. Teleflex ruling.
Exactly how is this different from USB 3.0? Or even the Nook Color and Nook Tablet's 12-pin 1.9 amp micro-USB connector that optionally charges at 1.9 amps with the appropriate connector, but regular USB with a 5-pin connector?
There's lots of prior art.
Kriston
...right below the main port. The shaft leads directly to the reactor system.
you would want a port where you can plug in either a USB connector or an SD card.
As long as it's a second SD slot so I don't have to contract storage space every time it needs a-chargin'.
If there is an obvious need for it, and similar things have already been developed and well accepted, but this particular combination isn't available yet, then what's the point?
Okay, that's just trolling right there.
First, this is not a proprietary port, as that implies that it takes proprietary plus. It is a proprietary connector that takes standard plugs and SD cards.
Second, to the best of my recollection, not counting power connectors or internal card slots, Apple products have used only four truly proprietary ports in its entire history: the two iPhone dock connectors, the Apple high density video connector (early PowerPC desktops), and the HDI-30 external SCSI connector (68k era laptops).
All the other connectors that you seem to think are proprietary are either existing industry standard connectors (e.g. mini-DIN-8 serial and DB25 SCSI) or are connectors that Apple designed and made available as part of industry standards that it helped define (e.g. FireWire 400/800, Mini DisplayPort, and Thunderbolt).
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
Except patents do not need to be for working hardware. That hasn't been the case for decades (if ever). How else would we have patents on software? There are plenty of patents for flying cars as well. In fact, there are so many that there are enough of them out there that someone did an article about the top 5 recent flying car patents: http://info.articleonepartners.com/top-5-recent-flying-car-patents/
The issue in this case is that it may also be too broad. I havn't read the patent, as I may be in a situation where if I know about a particular patent it is worse than if I didn't know about it. But from the summary, they are specifically using the words "like" when showing their example of SD and USB. This implies that their patent isn't just for USB and SD, but for ANY type or combination of devices, for which USB and eSATA would fall under the same group/category of multiple devices. The same thing would then be said for anything that made special converters to combine multiple types of cables into 1 cable.
We were all warned a long time ago that MS products sucked, remember the Magic 8 Ball said, "Outlook not so good"
It's nothing new either, and for that reason I doubt it's patentable. There is definite prior art, and as stated, the obviousness test fails instantly. To clear up a little misinformation here, what they are talking about is a port (i.e. a mechanical interface) that can house 2+ other disparate interfaces, so those other interfaces can be used *without* requiring a dongle -- though from the looks of it, you're going to need a dongle if you want to use more than one of them at a time. It doesn't look like their example port is designed to allow both an SD card and USB cable to be used at once -- unless you use a dongle! So on the face of it what they're trying to patent is any case where two physically different connectors can be plugged into the same socket, and the electrical connection that is made is matched correctly to the connector type. It does bear a strong resemblence to the eSATAp port which is simply a USB port embedded in an eSATA port, allowing you to plug in either (but not both) types of devices. IANAL but it seems like this patent will (or more properly, should) fail on two counts: 1. Obvious. The given example of SD+USB is good enough. Remove one side of the USB socket and an equal sized hole in one side of an SD socket, and glue them together. Done. 2. Prior art. eSATAp is one example. So are combo RJ11/RJ45 jacks, and pretty much every 'N-in-1 USB card reader' that has combined e.g. SD+xD into a single slot. The little USB stick multi-readers combine them all into a single 'socket'.
You'd actually have a point if you could plug SD cards into eSATAp ports. The difference in function & design is what renders this patent valid.
Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
A man who was line-camping for the new iPhone is first into the first store stocking the item. He's there even before the employees.
The Apple Genius shows up looking rushed with a large white suitcase and says "Sorry to disappoint you, but we only have one iPhone to sell today due to the number of them that were pre-ordered online. So you there, first in the line, come with me." He opens the store and gets behind the counter, the man in the line walks up to the counter ready to receive his new phone.
The Genius pulls a small, sleek black box from behind the counter and hands it to the man. The man runs towards the door and is almost out when he notices the Genius running after him dragging the big suitcase he came in with, yelling:
Wait! You forgot the cables!
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
1. Everyone knows that it's not really invented unless Apple invents it. When Apple does it, it's a "Coolvention."
2. All these "pre-existing" devices should expect letters from Apple's lawyers in a short while.
Okay, with my attempt a mild humor failing so badly, I have to wonder why they are bothering with wires at all. Seems to me, with all this inductive charging and what-not, seems to me various signals could be crammed into a single point of inductive charging. Headphones should be bluetooth. Everything should be contactless. Fewer things to break. I essentially operate this way now with my Nexus 4. Since it has built-in Qi inductive charging, I do all my phone I/O over WiFi.
They like Bob Saget even less than they like me...
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
So basically, adding USB to the multi-card slots that already exist on most laptops.
Laptops of Yore would do SD, Memory-Stick, XD, and often CF, etc.
I'd be shocked if there isn't clear prior art for the patent as written.
Slightly different, but I think dating even back to the PowerBook days, many Apple laptops have a combined headphone jack (3.5mm) / toslink port. Plug in headphones, they work fine. Plug in an optical audio cable, it works fine.
And hopefully an indicator that the next iPhone/ iPad will not only allow SD cards but also use a non-proprietary USB3 cable.
Well, I can dream, can't I?
I was really hoping for the force-feedback codpiece.
I know that it's just the vernacular for a certain kind of device, but I find myself a bit uneasy with the idea of any sort of 'force-feedback' in the general vicinity of my ballsack...
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
"The Aristocrats!"
"The ferrets, they're every where I tell you!"
I want to point out, the patent goes to some lengths to try and patent the generic concept. The USB-or-SD card example in the patent comes with this disclaimer:
The foregoing description has broad application. For example, while examples disclosed herein may focus on an input port for receiving a USB plug and a SD card, it should be appreciated that the concepts disclosed herein may equally apply to connectors and plugs. Similarly, although the input port may be discussed with respect to a computer, the devices and techniques disclosed herein are equally applicable to any type of device including an external connector for transferring data and/or power.
I'm not a patent lawyer to know if in the rest of the description they have narrowed it in some way, but I suspect if they really want to make it that broad there are a few examples of prior art out there to be found. As for obviousness, I can think of a ton of things it would physically trivial to construct. How about a power socket with an RJ11 to plug in your phone between the pins? Or how about a ethernet (pins up) / Compact Flash (pins back) jack? All you need is two physical designs that don't interfere with each other when overlaid.
The MacBook Air got so thin that it couldn't take the MagSafe charger cable from the rest of the portable line. It now has a slightly thinner version called MagSafe2, and yes you can get an adapter for your older power bricks - it's $10.
In their defense, Apple is doing what the market tells them to. Every time they take a current design and make it smaller/thinner/lighter, people line up to buy it.
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
Right, but the patent was filed in 2011, when the obvious prior art (eSATAp, which combines eSATA and USB ports in a seemingly identical fashion to that described in the patent) has been around since 2008.
There's nothing wrong with what Apple wants to do with ports. In fact, I think it's a great way to expand connectivity on laptops with minimal space for ports. I've got a Macbook Air that would benefit greatly from this. But there's no justification for trying to patent an idea that has been shipping in laptops for years prior.
Except this patent is for a specific combination (USB+SD card), not the general concept of n-in-one ports. In fact, it's for a specific physical configuration of the contacts and guides that allows for the combination of USB and SD card. It is not an attempt to "patent an idea" of any kind. It's a patent for a specific implementation.
The patent purports to cover any such combination (see paragraph 54 of the patent), not just USB/SD.
I agree with you that the patent is being intentionally broad (and as such is going to hit prior art), but your examples seem a bit different. Gluing multiple connectors together (the RJ11/power example) or using a single connector with pins in different locations (ethernet/CF) is not quite the same as a port that can accept multiple physically different and otherwise unrelated connectors in the same socket.
DisplayPort, for example, can act as a single-link DVI port. With a passive adapter, the DP host sends DVI signals out over the pins, repurposing them (it can't do dual-link DVI because there aren't enough pins). But that's not the same as if somebody somehow designed a port that you could plug a DVI and DisplayPort connector to directly. I don't think such a thing would be possible (the ports are too different in size), but you get the idea.
The application says that USB/SD is one example but that it could apply to many others as well:
"The foregoing description has broad application. For example, while examples disclosed herein may focus on an input port for receiving a USB plug and a SD card, it should be appreciated that the concepts disclosed herein may equally apply to connectors and plugs. Similarly, although the input port may be discussed with respect to a computer, the devices and techniques disclosed herein are equally applicable to any type of device including an external connector for transferring data and/or power."
I've had no problems with wireless charging on my touchpad.
Personally I *like* having wired connections for charging, plugging in video out, plugging in headphones, etc.
There are basically no high-quality bluetooth headphones for listening to music, and can you imagine how long it'll take before every single monitor/tv out there can accept wireless video signals? Also, if you have inductive charging as your only option it immediately makes all of the aftermarket usb chargers useless.
Now I *would* appreciate ports with waterproof covers/plugs.
Actually, I think the ethernet/CF idea is spot on Apple's diagram in this patent. You'll notice they use two sets of contacts, one for SD, one for USB. In Apple's case they are at different depths, the SD card slides in further by the physical shape of the connector, hitting the deeper contacts.
Display Port is a bad example because it's one physical port that does two things electrically. Those headphone / AV out jacks on things like camcorders would would be another example. Those concepts are based on taking one physical form factor and doing two electrical things.
My Universal power strip idea is a bad example because it's multiple physical port types, but they all access the same thing, so there's no electrical difference.
But the Ethernet/CF idea is darn similar, take two physical ports and just find a way to physically overlay them in less space.
And how is any of these prior art for a combined USB and SD card reader?
I think it'd be obvious given eSATAp, another combined USB and storage connector.
What would be really useful is a single port that combined:
USB (all flavors)
SDCard
iPod30PinConnector
Thunderbolt
This would provide excellent backward compatibility. It's a shame each time they upgrade the connector to have to throw away your external devices (e.g., BMW car).
Apple could do a LOT better at legacy support.
I'm not a patent lawyer to know if in the rest of the description they have narrowed it in some way
Here's a key thing to remember, which most people posting on Slashdot fail to do: the important bit is the claims. For example, Claim 1 does not mention USB, SD cards, or any other specific connector, so it isn't limited to specific connectors.
SD is a storage connector, and eSATA is a storage connector. How does s/eSATA/SD/g pass the obviousness test?
can you imagine how long it'll take before every single monitor/tv out there can accept wireless video signals?
How long does it take for every TV with an HDMI input to accept AirPlay signals? About as long as it takes to ship an Apple TV to your door.
to the best of my recollection, not counting power connectors or internal card slots, Apple products have used only four truly proprietary ports in its entire history: the two iPhone dock connectors [and external storage and video connectors for various laptops].
Did you forget the Newton MessagePad 2000 dock connector or the AppleJack controller port for the Pippin console? And was the DuoDock connector on the PowerBook Duo subnotebooks proprietary?
A year or two ago I bought some combination eSATA/USB2/USB3 connectors for a potential project. Pretty neat.
http://www.delock.de/produkte/G_65285/merkmale.html
http://delock.tragant.com.tw/index.php?p=3&prono=65285
And of course the more common eSATA/USB2 connector
http://portal.fciconnect.com/Comergent//fci/drawing/10074703.pdf
There have also been a number of combo flash card readers, where a single slot take an XD or an SD or a... card.
I don't get this...
Except to save one tenth of a square inch they have made it so you can't plug in USB and SD at the same time. Fail.
Ah, damned if they do, damned if they don't. Got it.
Remember that they save space on the board inside the device too, oh and they probably measure in SI units.
Given the description of the port, it's likely that it would simply replace the SD port slot on the side of a future Macbook, or replace one of the USB ports (there is more than one).
But, no, keep up with the hate. Far more productive.
Hmm. I thought Apple was against the whole concept of users being able to insert sd cards in their trendy white appliances. I guess Jobs really is dead.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Hmm. I thought Apple was against the whole concept of users being able to insert sd cards in their trendy white appliances. I guess Jobs really is dead.
Hmm... I must be imagining the SD card slot on my 4 year old MacBook Pro, then.
"No, no, no. Don't tug on that. You never know what it might be attached to."
Ignoring the relative merits of the application, the background section, a whopping 8 sentences contained this gem: ...thus loosing additional connectivity.
It is insulting when the assholes running roughshod over what was a well intentioned process will not even maintain the appearance of earnestness.
Even Google won't provide an sd slot on their Google branded mobile hardware (use the cloud, you sheep!)
Of course nearly every other vendor that bundles Android with a mobile device does. Some, I.e. Acer on their Iconia tablets, even include a USB host connector.
It's ok so long as it's not a device restricted to only content from iTunes.
But imagine the malware potential.
Connectors are interfaces. I am convinced an interface should not be patentable (nor protected by any IP). whether it is a physical connector, or a software API.
Oh, fuck.
bad enough every video cable is an adapter, now what, more? [groans]
Yes!
Let's not confuse multi-port with adapter.
Multi-port:
My prior art, the earphone-mains combo.
Adapter:
Something like the Ether Killer.
I made my comment based solely on the patent's claims. A lot of other users appear to have got hung up on parts of the description of the invention, but the claims are the only part of any patent that has legal force, not the description. Claim 1 appears general enough to cover any pair of connectors like this. Claim 2, a dependent claim, names both USB and memory, making no specific reference to the MultiMediaCard or Secure Digital specification.
So it's hate now to point out stupid, pointless design choices?
In much the same way that I'm not counting the mini-DIN-8 that they used for serial ports. Standard connector, trivially adapted.
Oh, yeah. I forgot about that one. Still ancient history, but slightly less ancient. ;-)
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
How is it stupid? Where previously you only had a USB port, now you could have a USB port and an SD port, with the minor inconvenience of only being able to use it as an either/or.
The alternative is no SD slot (which is the choice they made before) in the case of smaller devices.
Also, this hasn't even been included in any product yet, so declaring it as "fail" because it's an either/or connector without actually seeing it in use is just being contrary for the sake of it because it's something Apple came up with. What is your alternative? That they just stick with a normal USB port? (Genuinely curious).
I assume something like hostage-ware, but instead of locking your computer up it threatens to simulate a track-cleat-nut-stompin' every 20 minutes until you pay up...
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Ah, ok, laptops. For a second there I thought we were talking about ipads. Upon reflection, that sounds silly. Replaceable memory in a non-laptop appliance... Jobs hasn't been dead *that* long.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
It's ok so long as it's not a device restricted to only content from iTunes.
Understood. Which includes basically any appliance that isn't a laptop. So this SD card thingy is for laptops only. Got it.
Parenthetically, this DRM-enforcement-by-forbidding-replaceable-storage thing was so last decade, with DRM-unencumbered music available from so many sources, including itunes. The storage-restricted business model is getting a bit old in the tooth.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Everything is obvious, once someone else has done it. Laptop power adapters that attach and release magnetically, saving your computer from your clumsiness/kids/cats, are totally obvious. But it took someone 20+ years to actually do it...