Apple Patents Rolling In One After Another

Is it just me, or has there been a lot of talk about Apple patents in the blogosphere? Well, here's a quick overview of all the latest Apple patents that have hit the Cafe Mignon radar:

First off, Gizmodo's claims of an iPhone Nano....

It sounds crazy, so soon after launch, but the iPhone nano could be coming out before Xmas. Kasper at Apple Insider claims:
• "The second iteration of the handset is presumed to marry iPod functionality with rudimentary cellular capabilities."
•"More resource-heavy internet browsing and email capabilities are not expected of the device."
•"Pricing of the new handset is expected to fall significantly below the $500+ asking cost of today's iPhone models, these sources say, but not so much so as to pinch sales of an upcoming revision to the iPod nano."

He also makes reference to the same clickwheel dialpad patent JP Morgan did in their statement and retraction.

Why isn't this filed under the Department of Duh? Kasper's track record has been better than good lately, and when he quotes extremely reputable sources, he's not screwing around. (Last time he was this adamant, if my memory serves me right, it was in reference to the iPod HiFi.) Kind of makes sense if Apple wants to hit those market share targets. Like with the full-sized and nano iPod, there's always a bigger market for lower end gear. [Apple Insider]

TUAW tells of another Apple patent, but this time it's a wireless iPod. Hmmmm.

Ryan from Cybernet (thanks!) dropped a note about his find of a new Apple patent. These things spring up faster than mushrooms (or rabbits, depending on your preference for down home expressions), but sometimes they are a good indication of what Apple is at least considering producing in the future.

This one's all about the iPod, by the looks of it, and giving it the ability to "wirelessly control and access a media server." Ryan speculates that means iTunes, which would mean that you could listen to streaming music from your iTunes install, through your iPod. But I think he's thinking small on this one-- what if Apple wanted to create an iPod that actually hooked up to AppleTV. You could sit in your bedroom watching the latest Daily Show, streaming from the AppleTV in the other room, while someone else watched the latest episode of Lost on the television. The possibilities there are very interesting-- combine a widescreen iPod with a wireless function like this (and we might as well throw in MobileSafari, right?), and you're looking at a very droolworthy multimedia gadget.

Of course, as with all Apple patents, this is total and complete speculation-- this patent may never actually be built, and even if it is, we might be looking at something planned years from now. But it's always fun to guess at what Apple's doing next.

And finally, Giz talks of and iPod Karaoke patent, bleh.

Some may call this latest iPod/iPhone patent from Apple "dynamics lyrics display for portable media devices," but we call this Karaoke City. The patent details a scheme to activate "karaoke style lyrics," which then grabs lyrics and displays the lyrics in time and in sync with the music that's playing. This way, the right words are highlighted at the right time, automagically, thanks to the software that supposedly detects and matches vocals to lyrics. If they can make ANY song a karaoke song, it'll make driving to the supermarket infinitely more fun than it is now. [UnwiredView]