Thursday, March 7, 2013

#12: Apple's In-Car Tablet Magnetic Kit

Apple's Magnetic Stand for Tablet Device - post 12



Apple recently has a patent application published by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.  The patent describes a magnetic mount for a tablet and then a magnet “stand” that attaches it to the car.  It also describes a magnet mount to an overhead console in the car.  The system allows the tablet to easily detach from the car mount.  It also includes sensors so the tablet can automatically go into car mode when it senses it is securely locked into the car mount.

The tablet would also wirelessly interact with the car to display car functions, present navigation, act as a backup camera monitor, and link to the car audio system.  It could respond to audible commands as well.

The patent cites a stand that has “a magnetic attachment unit that interacts with the magnet attachment mechanism to secure the tablet device and the stand, wherein a sensor in the tablet device senses that the tablet device is secured to the stand causing the tablet to automatically interact with the motor vehicle in a wireless mode.”

Link to:
Magnetic Stand for Tablet Device

4 comments:

  1. I'm wondering if this patent might infringe on other patents relating to vehicle mobile stands and systems. I know that Motorola Atrix HD has a stand which consumers can place in the car and the phone will automatically become more driver-friendly (GPS, music/radio, etc.)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sounds like a really interesting patent, hopefully they haven't infringed on any other patents. Then again, as we talked about in class even if some parts of that patent infringe on another patent it must infringe on every part of the claim.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That seems like an interesting patent, but I feel like I've seen quite a few magnetic car mounts. A simple Google search for 'magnetic car mount' brings up a few. Doesn't seem like 'new' or 'not obvious'. But maybe they've framed the description or the claims in a clever manner.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I agree, I wonder how this claim will differ from other magnetic mounts in the market. I don't think this mount will infringe as it will be specifically designed for the use of an iPad and probably have features that wouldn't be on other mounts.

    ReplyDelete