Apple today was granted two Liquidmetal-related patents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
“The first is titled ‘Thermoplastic forming methods for amorphous alloy,’ and the second is titled “‘Manipulating surface topology of BMG feedstock,'” Jack Purcher reports for Patently Apple.
Purcher reports, “While the technology relates to creating parts of Apple’s products, the patents rarely ever reveal the exact parts and simply provide an umbrella of possible products it’s associated with, such as: ‘Sports equipment; medical devices; electronic components and equipment and thin films. Liquid metal may also relate to an iPhone, an electronic email sending/receiving device. It can be a part of a display, such as a digital display, a TV monitor, an electronic-book reader, a portable web-browser (e.g., iPad), and a computer monitor. It can also be an entertainment device, including a portable DVD player, conventional DVD player, Blue-Ray disk player, video game console, music player, such as a portable music player (e.g., iPod), etc. It can also be a part of a device that provides control, such as controlling the streaming of images, videos, sounds (e.g., Apple TV), or it can be a remote control for an electronic device. It can be a part of a computer or its accessories, such as the hard drive tower housing or casing, laptop housing, laptop keyboard, laptop track pad, desktop keyboard, mouse, and speaker. The article can also be applied to a device such as a watch or a clock.'”
Thirty (30) other new Apple patents, including AMOLED displays for MacBooks and iPhone, discussed in the full article here.
SEE ALSO:
Apple granted patent for Liquidmetal screws that could be used in Apple Car – May 12, 2015
Two new Liquidmetal patent filings from Apple revealed; list watch and jewelry among potential uses – April 23, 2015
Liquidmetal’s Apple alliance yet to bear fruit – September 30, 2014
Apple’s new Liquidmetal-related patent sparks speculation – July 7, 2014
Apple patents method for embedding sapphire displays in LiquidMetal device chassis – May 27, 2014
Liquidmetal-Visser agreement paves the way for more rapid adoption of amorphous metal manufacturing – May 21, 2014
Alert the Patent Trolls!
I have wondered if Apple may already be using Liquid Metal in some of their components. I would think it would be great for SoC chips. This may be how they could do their tiny SoC for the Apple Watch. Like with Gorilla Glass they will not tell us that is what they are using.
Imagine being able to pour a battery into an iPhone/iPad/Tesla.
They’re working like dogs to make the process cheap and flexible enough to make frames or ideally bodies for when aluminum can’t handle the thinness of devices. Could be another year, but this will be huge if it pans out.
Yay! 2 more patents for a product/substance we’ll never see used in anything other than a Apple SIM card tray..
Sasquatch, unicorn, chimera, yeti, Nessie, desirable Microsoft product…