Infinite Loop / The Apple Ecosystem

New Apple patent prevents devices from crossing streams

A new Apple patent application would enable your wireless device to let you …

Patent DrawingI suspect that under a lot of circumstances, writing about patents would be pretty boring, and the resulting stories would probably be a snooze as well. On the other hand, there's rarely a dull moment when covering Apple patents, since many Apple patents and patent applications tend to be pretty cool ideas. The RFID configuration application is a good example of an Apple patent that was both a cool idea and a useful solution to a problem, and I think the application for that just screams "useful."

As far as useful patent applications go, Apple has applied for a patent involving the detection of wireless interference on a handheld device. It sounds like a mouthful, and the patent application is as confusing as ever, but in theory it's a fairly novel and simple idea. (Thanks to MacNN for drawing our attention to this patent.)

According to the application, accessories can impact the wireless signal of a device, particularly if the accessories are placed near the antenna or are of the unapproved aftermarket variety. This interference isn't a good thing if you want a strong signal (or any signal in some cases) while using an accessory, so Apple is proposing to let you know if your accessory might be harmful to the signal of the main device.

The warning would occur by way of a detector chip that is attached to the connector, which would be able to recognize types of accessories. It would let you know with either a message or some type of audio tone that your accessories might cause problems. Even if a particular accessory isn't on the list, your handheld could still let you know that it might be harmful to your signal. Presumably, the detector could also have a small antenna on it to detect wireless signals that wouldn't necessarily be passed through the connector port.

Best of all, once your wireless handheld figures out an accessory is trying to steal a slice of the spectrum, the antenna on the main device could be tuned to minimize the interference and allow you to use both the device and the accessory in harmony. The iPhone is the most obvious device that could use this type of technology, but it's unclear whether or not the product will contain an interference detector. I'm thinking it probably won't, but we could potentially see it in future iPhones and especially in future iterations of devices with lots of accessories (like iPods).

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