“On September 15, 2005, the US Patent & Trademark Office revealed Apple’s patent application 20050201047 entitled Camera Latch. The inventor listed is Christoph H. Krah for serial number 800166, originally filed March 12, 2004. In this report: Background and Summary of the Invention along with special sections entitled Specific Points of Interest and Symbol Illumination System,” Macsimum News reports. “The following Apple invention relates to a unique Camera that’s built right into a Laptop computer via a new latch. The patent states: The portable computer includes a base. The portable computer also includes a lid that pivots relative to the base. The portable computer further includes a latch including a data capture device such as a camera that is configured to secure the lid to the base.”
Macsimum News writes, “Having a camera for stills or video conferencing built right into a laptop is long over due. In order for iChat AV to be ubiquitous, Apple has to provide this built-in feature on all their laptops. In addition, the fact that the camera will also be considered for other applications is very interesting, especially for the iPod, standard monitors and yes even televisions. The unit’s ability to use a functional illumination system to provide users with various status conditions could be interesting. When the unit is closed, the latch could be assigned a color LED scheme that could notify you that that new email has arrived or that someone is urgently trying to reach you via iChat AV for a work related brainstorming session or urgent problem. I’m sure that you could think of other unique applications here.”
Full article, along with links to the patent application here.
DAMN, I hate it when my tags don’t work! Try this link:
http://tinyurl.com/c8mws
Aw hell, that one doesn’t want to work now, either…
you guys have the ability to find the Cybershot DSC-T7 on your own, I’m sure…
“…what sort of technology would be needed to put an Apple standard (Quality) camera into the top of a laptop screen that is already only 1/2 inch thin? … The boys are good but not that good!”
The Sony cyber-shot DSC-T7 is ultra thin because the image is immediately bent at a 90 degree angle downward into the camera. Apple could easily do something similar or they can merely utilize fiber-optics to send the image to any place that has room for high quality imaging sensors.
Imagine Apple jumping into the video telecommunications industry with their imaging and graphics technologies? If Apple ever does make an iPhone, it will be NOTHING like anything you have ever seen before. And I have no doubt that Apple will put iPhone video technology into everything from iPods to iMacs. Only Steve & Co. have the foresight and willingness (balls?) to make all telephones obsolete within a few years. [Have you seen the resolution of the iPod nano? Do you know that although its screen is physically smaller than the iPod mini, it has MORE lines of text? Check out the nano’s solitaire game. It not only still has all 7 rows of cards, but the color pictures on the J, Q, K are quite visible!!]
QT H.264, high res mini color screens, iSight, close buddies with Motorola, what else does Apple need to instantly be the best video telecommunications company in the next year?
From the comments on here, I am quite saddened that there aren’t more dreamers in this world.
“…whereas MS and its ilk takes great ideas, dumbs them down and gives them a different name.”
You missed something Buffy, they also make it proprietary so it will only run in Windows. Remember Halo from Bungie? A Mac game that M$ scooped up for xBox, When people say there are no games for the Mac tell them that!
MW = times
as in, the times they are a-changin’
Give me TWO cameras.. one for the upper left corner, and one for the upper right. Now we can do realtime 3D!
Figure, hmm, 2007 to get to that point?
This is cool!!
I Imagine this has one step further that they are not mentioning….
First they said that the device could be removable from it’s dock. Second that it would have its own memory built in, Third a LCD screen. Humm… What apple product has all of these features already?
My thought is that this will actually be a built in dock for the next generation of Nano Pods.
This could mean that the next gen Nano Pods would come with a camera attached, as well as WiFi or Bluetooth? I hope I am at least on the right track here. I have thought that Apple laptops needed a built in iPod dock for a while. Now, with the Nano’s size it would be simple to integrate it. I had not thought of adding a camera or letting it swivel. But it has been widely speculated that wireless would be added at some point.
Just my 2 cents.
—-
Ernie Dambach
“it is no small thing to live a simple life” J.R.R. Tolkien
How about this radical idea Apple? Add a pop-out stand for the bottom of the laptop (like the old days, but a bit sturdier) to allow cooling and easier access to the keyboard. Also I wish you’d bring back the handle (like the clamshell ibooks).