Apple has been granted a patent (number 8,253,518) for a foldable cover for an electronic device. That would be the company's Smart Cover for the iPad.

A magnetic attachment mechanism and method is described in the patent. The magnetic attachment mechanism can be used to releasably attach at least two objects together in a preferred configuration without fasteners and without external intervention.

The magnetic attachment mechanism can be used to releasably attach an accessory device to an electronic device. The accessory device can be used to augment the functionality of usefulness of the electronic device.

The inventors are Andrew Lauder, Matthew D. Rohrbach, Daniel J. Coster, Christopher J. Stringer, Florence W. Ow, Jiang Ai, Jonathan P. Ive, Elvis M. Kibiti, John P. Ternus and Sean D. Lubner.

Also popping up at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office are:

° Patent number 8255360 for methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for synchronizing database changes among multiple devices.

° Patent number 8255571 for updating multiple computing devices. A system includes a server site that includes a memory for storing update data sets that correspond to data sets stored on multiple computing devices of a user. The system also includes a synchronization manager for determining that one computing device associated with the user and another computing device associated with the user are absent one or more data updates stored in the memory at the server site.

° Patent number 8256005 for a method and apparatus to prevent hacking of encrypted audio or video content during playback.

° Patent number 8255895 for a method and apparatus for distributing and synchronizing objects.

° Patent number 8255830 for methods and graphical user interfaces for editing on a multifunction device with a touch screen display.

° Patent number 8255815 for motion picture preview icons.

° Patent number 8254459 for a method for adaptively performing motion estimation.

° Patent number 8254572 for secure provisioning of a portable device using a representation of a key.

° Patent number 8255436 for per thread garbage collection. Objects associated only with a thread that created them are tracked. At a garbage collection time for a particular thread, it is determined which objects associated only with that thread remain reachable from a restricted root set associated with the thread. Any thread-only objects that are not determined to be reachable are garbage collected.

° Patent number 8255670 for replay reduction for power saving.

° Patent number 8255731 for methods and an apparatus for power state-based back-up.

° Patent number 8255876 for an execution difference identification tool. Displaying instrument output is disclosed. Instrument output data is received. A difference between two or more corresponding portions of data included in the received instrument output data is determined. At least a selected part of the received instrument output data is displayed in a manner that highlights the difference.

° Patent number 8255834 for displaying a set of data elements. A set of elements, such as, for example, a path, a directory list, a playlist, and a listing of information associated with a file or a song, may be truncated so that a partial set may be generated and displayed. The truncation may be performed in an intelligent manner to produce a meaningful truncated portion.

° Patent number 8255826 for a method and apparatus for resizing buffered windows.

° Patent number 8255810 for a portable touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for using emoji characters while in a locked mode.

° Patent number 8255798 for a device, method, and graphical user interface for electronic document translation on a touch-screen display.

° Patent number 8255796 for a method that efficiently designs a document. The method initially provides the user with a selection of templates, each with a default configuration for content. After the user selects a template, the method provides the user with a selection of page designs to add to the selected template.

° Patent number 8255789 for providing spreadsheet features.

° Patent number 8255640 for a portable media device and a method for operating a portable media device.

° Patent number 8255545 for dual-phase content synchronization.

° Patent number 8255389 for computer-implemented method and an apparatus for use in a computing apparatus.

° Patent number 8255069 for a digital audio processor, herein a graphical user interface is presented on the monitor of the processor to display user actionable control elements in a scene of a real world environment for creating and processing music; the graphical user interface is adapted to activate pre-set functions for generating and processing digital audio data in the digital audio processor for each of the user actionable control elements.