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Truly wireless charging, it’s a tech utopia we all long for. Sure, we’re getting there, but it still requires contact, which is only slightly better. If places like Starbucks starts putting pads in their tables, hooray, but it’s a far cry from a real charging zone. A recent Apple patent outlines just that, the wireless charging dream we’ve all been dreaming.
In a patent application published a few days ago, “Wireless Power Utilization in a Local Computing Environment,” Apple is filing for some tech that looks like wireless charging heaven. Using near-field magnetic resonance, Apple aspires (in theory) to create a wireless charging dome that reaches out up to a yard from the source, powering anything nearby with NFMR resonator circuits in them. Mice, keyboards, phones, remotes, whathaveyou. It’s a dream come true.
Or rather it could be a dream come true if this is actually coming down the development pipe and works according to plan. Sure, jacking up NFMR so that the “near-field” is several feet could charge distant devices, but it could also mess with things like credit cards, and who knows what else. On top of that, there’s also the chance this patent is more of a defensive move, and that this kind of charging is still a way off, but the patent was filed “just in case.” Either way, it’s nice to dream, right? But shorter the time we’re reduced to dreaming, the better. [WIRED]
So after other firms came up with the idea, apple have decided to patent it,now no one else can do it. Talk about a killjoy.
there should be a basic rule when applying/granting for patent. WORKING PROTOTYPE or it its denied
Nice idea, but in practice it would be awful for independents and individuals… a lot of the time they need to get a grant to create a prototype, and that means revealing their plans to get said grant; if they don’t have a patent before then, they could quite easily be screwed over.
that would be too harsh. i say you should have one year to get a working prototype and have it last for two years after its last use in a product or for 6 years, which ever comes first.
matt i agree. else i will just come up with some hazy patent for FTL travel and everyone has to pay me even though i havent actually designed anything.
as people say, other companies have made this, how can apple patent it? only in america!
I think these guys here might have a word or two to say about this patent: http://www.witricity.com/ and these chaps are actually talking about embedding charging mats into consumer environments like coffee houses: http://www.wirelesspowerconsortium.com/
Aren’t there already products on the market that do this? This is a pretty cool idea, and would be great to see it in a lot of different products!
Yes there may be products that already do this but they didn’t patent it so Apple can now sue them.
Of those that have commented hands up how many of you have actually read Apple’s patent application? Or did you just read the article, take the assertions the author makes as fact and decide you had sufficient enough information to form an opinion. Perhaps it’s the case you already know all the argument/facts where Apple are concerned and your comments will go to illuminate your knowledge rather than highlight your ignorance.
” apple have decided to patent it,now no one else can do it.”
“Yes there may be products that already do this but they didn’t patent it so Apple can now sue them.”
“So we are allowed to patent physical laws now lol. Apple has called dibs on Faraday’s law of inductance with the caveat of over a distance.”
Well that’s cleared that up then. Thank-you
Not in the way that this patent suggests; current ‘wireless’ technology merely places the object (usually a phone) on a charging ‘pad’, which in turn is connected to a socket; so its not actually really wireless.
This, on the other hand, suggests true wireless charging; being able to charge your phone without any physical contact whatsoever.
i think you misunderstand the tech involved. wires are still used in both cases to power the transmitter. the difference between what apple are proposing and current charging pads is that the distance between the device and charger is greater than the few millimetres of material separating them. in either case the energy is transferred without making a conducting contact.
when i build my time machine sod going back to kill Hitler and proving Jesus wasn’t real, I am going to get all of apples patent portfolio and patent it a month before apple was due to patent each one, then share them with everyone for free
With a time machine you can only got back in time up to the point at which the time macine was first invented, no further.
not after i have used the time machine to go into the future and invent an organic time machine which can bypass these restrictions first
or meet up with dr who and get his tech from him so i can travel anywhere
(i would have to abduct amy pond too)
So we are allowed to patent physical laws now lol. Apple has called dibs on Faraday’s law of inductance with the caveat of over a distance.
The patent system really is a joke anyone else wish to lay claim to a physical law? think aero dynamic lift might be a money earner
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This is such crap. It stifles all creativity and remote charging has been shown to work in prototype form by many other people before. I cant see how this can be allowed to continue what next? apple patient the combustion engine? and electricity!!!
Isn’t apple the company who said wireless charging was to complicated and confusing for users?
Not quite. Phil Schiller said he didn’t think it was beneficial to have another piece of hardware to charge your phone. If the phone has to sit on a “wireless” charging station why not just plug in the cable anyway.
This patent covers a device that would charge devices within a small radius. So if you had a desk with your iMac, MacBook, Wireless keyboard and mouse, and your iPhone it would charge these devices within the radius.
So… do they actually have something going for it, or are they now just patenting any nice idea they find on the internet?