Type of Article: MacTech Blog

Download an app from the Mac App Store or the Apple App Store, and Apple plans to make sure you’re using it per the company’s enforcement policy, according to a patent (number 20120095877) at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

If Apple follows through on a new patent (number 20120096361) at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, you may soon be able to generate a geographically based slideshow of the digital media items — such as photos and videos — on your OS X and iOS devices.

Apple is working on ways to easily capture digital signatures, per a patent (number 20120093409) at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are provided for capturing a signature, and placing a representation of the captured signature in an appropriate field of a document. A camera or other appropriate sensor can capture an image of a signature provided by a user on a piece of paper. The signature can be digitized to create a representation that a device may use in a displayed document.

An Apple patent for a computer housing that’s aesthetically pleasing, lightweight and environmentally friendly has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

A multipart computer housing is described. The multipart computer housing includes at least a structural support layer and a body. The body includes at least an outer layer formed of lightweight flexible material and an inner layer attached to the outer layer.

An Apple patent (number 20120092559) for rolling shutter distortion correction has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and apparently involves the camera in the iPad. It relates to correcting for a rolling shutter distortion in digital images; for example, a video clip composed of a sequence of digital images.