Fresh patent pushes GUI from Apple devices to remote controls

Jonny Evans
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November 19, 2009
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Fresh from MacRumors comes news of Apple’s latest patent filing - a system which will allow (third-party?) remote controls to offer users the same graphical user interface (GUI) as they expect to find on an iPod, iPhone or other Apple device.

The patent was filed in May 2008 and published today. The inventors include William Bull, former iPod User Interface manager at Apple and currently Senior Director of Mobile User Experience at Yahoo as well as former Apple executive Tony Fadell, known as the "father of the iPod".

The patent explains that while various accessories do exist for Apple devices, they tend to be controlled by remotes with different interfaces and features than those offered by Cupertino. This means some features just don’t work.

Under the invention, the GUI will be pushed out from the device to supporting remotes. “The portable media device can provide the accessory with an image to be displayed on the video screen; the image can include various user interface elements that can resemble or replicate a "native" GUI provided directly on the portable media device.”

Additional Apple patents published today include those for:

USER INTERFACES FOR EDITING VIDEO CLIPS
INTEGRATED SENSORS FOR TRACKING PERFORMANCE METRICS
Location Determination
INTERLEAVING CHARGE PUMPS FOR PROGRAMMABLE MEMORIES
THERMAL MANAGEMENT OF GRAPHICS PROCESSING UNITS
CURSOR MOTION BLURRING
Flex Circuit with Single Sided Routing and Double Sided Attach

More at MacRumors.

Comments (2)

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | November 19, 2009 - 11:14am

I just feel pity for the people who are at the "US Patent & Trademark Office". They have to go through all these patents (all patents, not just Apple's) which most of them are just rubbish (again, i'm not talking about Apple's patents).

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | November 19, 2009 - 2:52pm

From a quick check of the patent, I think that they are suggesting something different than you mention in the post. The patent seems to call for a standard for electronic devices to talk with a 'portable unit' aka iPhone/iPod Touch. The goal seems to be to deliver a selection of needed remote control GUI buttons and their IR/RF codes to the iPhone/iPod Touch in order to control the electronic device remotely. In other words, your iPhone/iPod Touch automatically becomes a custom remote for any supported electronic device. I have been hoping for something like this... After all, why do we need all the remotes floating around our houses?