Apple has been granted several Apple patents by the US Patent & Trademark Office. Following is a summary of each.

Patent number 7852417 is for a light sensitive display. It's for a display device including a viewing surface comprising: a stack of layers configured to display an image; a light guide adjacent to the viewing surface; a light source for establishing internally reflected light within the light guide; a plurality of light sensitive elements formed within the stacked structure, the plurality of light sensitive elements configured to detect a diffusion of the light from the light guide due to contact of an object on the light guide; and a layer included in the stacked structure, the layer including a non-continuous opening configured to direct the diffusion of the light towards the plurality of light sensitive elements to a greater extent than collimated light. The inventors are Adiel Abileah and Willem Den Boer.

Patent number 78523891 involves methods and apparatuses to display windows. In more than one embodiments of the invention, a window is closed automatically (e.g., after a timer expires, or when a condition or criterion is met, or a system input is received) without user input. In some examples, the window is translucent so that the portion of another window, when present, is visible under the window. In some examples, the image of the window is faded out before the window is closed and destroyed. In some examples, the window does not close in response to any input from a user input device. In some examples, the window is repositioned (or hidden) automatically when another translucent window is displayed. The degree of translucency, the speed for fading out, the discrete levels of translucency for fading out, the time to expire, and/or other parameters for controlling the display of the window may be set by the user or adjusted by the system (or application software programs) automatically according to system conditions or other criteria. The inventors are Imran Chaudhri and Bas Ording.

Patent number 7853253 is for a system and method of regulating data traffic between a client device and a server. The system determines whether a transmission of a data file is allowable based on pre-defined criteria. The system provides an indication of whether the transmission is allowable and under what conditions the transmission would be allowable. If the transmission of a data file is requested and the transmission is not allowable, a message is sent from the server to the client device that first pre-defined criteria are not met and the message indicates that the transmission of the data file will be allowed when second pre-defined criteria are met. The inventors are Sam Gharabally and Michael Chu.

Patent number 7853566 is for navigation of electronic back-ups. In one implementation a method is provided. The method includes receiving, while a current view is displayed in a user interface, a first user input requesting that a history view associated with the current view be displayed. The history view is displayed in response to the first user input, the history view including at least a first visual representation of an earlier version of the current view, the earlier version including a hierarchical structure wherein a first element of the earlier version includes a second element. There is received, while the history view is displayed, a second user input requesting that the current view be modified according to the second element. The method includes modifying, in response to the second user input, the current view according to the second element. The inventors are Pavel Cisler, Gene Zyrl Ragan, Mike Matas, Gregory N. Christie, Kevin Tiene, David Hart, Loic Vandereyken, Robert M. Chinn, and Marcel van Os.

Patent number 7853893 involves a graphical interface for browsing, searching and presenting classical works. Improved graphical user interfaces suitable for reviewing, browsing, previewing and/or purchasing media items are also disclosed. The methods and graphical user interfaces are particularly useful for a system that provides purchase and distribution of media in a client-server environment. The graphical user interfaces can be presented to a user at a client (client machine). In one embodiment, the methods and graphical user interfaces can assist users in locating media to be browsed, previewed or purchased. The media can, for example, be audio, video and/or image data. The methods and graphical user interfaces are particularly useful for reviewing, browsing, previewing and/or purchasing classical music. The inventors are Max Muller, Mike Wiese, David Heller, Bruno Posokhow, Jeffrey L. Robbin and Patrice Gautier.

Finally, Apple has been granted a patent (D628799) for iPod covers. The inventors are Bartley K. Andre, Daniel J. Coster, Daniele De Iuliis, Richard P. Howarth, Jonathan P. Ive, Steve Jobs, Duncan Robert Kerr, Shin Nishibori, Matthew Dean Rohrbach, Peter Russell-Clarke, Douglas B. Satzger, Calvin Q. Seid, Keane Vincent, Christopher J. Stringer, Eugene Antony Whang and Rico Zorkendorfer.

-- Dennis Sellers