Apple Car recognized by patent

 

Have you heard of the Apple Car, a car made by Apple?

The Apple Car, which is expected to be launched as a fully autonomous vehicle, has almost everything under the veil. It is known that development began in 2014, but first official mention was made in 2021. As Apple has been leading the trend, many people wondered what the car would look like. Let's predict what the Apple Car will look like through the patents that Apple has applied for.

▲ apple.com

A technology patent that can control the transparency of a glass window,

As Apple showed its own sensibility and design innovation for each product, many people are looking forward to cars as well. Numerous images searched for ‘apple car design’ are all projected images, so each one shows a different look. But among the different elements, there is one thing in common. That is, it adopts a panoramic sunroof. The reason why the panoramic sunroof was applied to all the projected images is thought to be due to the movable panel assembly patent (US11235701 B1) registered by Apple in February. Looking at this patent, not only it can be opened and closed, but also the amount of light can be adjusted by changing the glass transparency of the sunroof according to the driver's operation.

 ▲ wipsglobal.com

US11235701 B1, 'Movable panel assenblies'

Smart key patent for vehicle control,

Looking at the mobile key user interface (US 17/222568) patent filed by Apple in April of last year, it seems that a smart key that can even control the vehicle will be applied to the Apple car, unlike the existing car key. The drawings in the patent include information on how to control a vehicle with an iPhone. It is expected that the iPhone will be used as the key to the Apple Car as it is compatible with Apple products such as iPhone, iPad, and MacBook. This patent not only controls the vehicle, but also includes a technology that activates the vehicle's lock when the driver drinks alcohol.

▲ wipsglobal.com

US 17/222568, 'Mobile key user interfaces'

  A patent setting destination using intelligent assistant, Siri,

Siri is a personal assistant application that works on Apple's smart devices. The biggest advantage is understanding the core of the command by grasping the entire context. Looking at the patent (us 17/576790) for guiding autonomous vehicles around destinations using intention signals published last May, it seems that it will provide a navigation function using Siri. You can set the destination through voice command, and you can get off by specifying the point where the driver wants to get off. This patent was first filed in 2019, but it appears that it has since been applied again with updated technology.

 ▲ wipsglobal.com

US 17/576790, 'Guidance of automonous vehicles in 

destination vicinities using intent signals'

Driving with gesture,

Ultimately, Apple is aiming to develop a fully autonomous vehicle that has no controls such as steering wheel and pedals. So, we came up with a way to steer the vehicle with just hand gestures. If you look at the patented gesture-based autonomous driving vehicle (US 10913463 B) registered in February of last year, you can change the driving direction of the vehicle with just a gesture. However, since only basic commands such as changing lanes or parking directions are available, it is thought that it will take time for the actual technology to be applied. It's unclear whether the technology will be implemented in Apple's cars, which are targeted for launch in 2025.

 ▲ wipsglobal.com

US 10913463, 'Gesture based control of autonomous vehicles'

 

Apple car raises expectations,

Last year, Apple had negotiated with several automakers around the world on vehicle production, but news broke that they had failed. In addition, a large number of key personnel left, such as Doug Field, who led the Apple Car project, moved to Ford, and Joe Bass, who was in charge of autonomous driving system engineering, resigned. However, Apple is not only continuously applying for and automobile-related patents, but also decided to cooperate with a Korean company to develop the sensor part of the DCU (integrated control unit) that controls all functions of an autonomous vehicle with a single OS. As rumors that the companies Foxconn and Luxshare are preparing to produce cars, consumers' expectations are increasing. How innovative the Apple Car, which is being developed with the aim of launching in 2025, will stand in front of us, as everything is still in the veil, I think we will have to wait a little longer.

[International IP Briefing] US, AU

 

US

U.S. Department of Energy Announces $3.16 billion to build battery manufacturing and supply chain for Electric Vehicles (EV)

On May 2, 2022, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $3.16 billion in funding to build battery manufacturing and supply chains for electric vehicles (EVs) in the U.S. based on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

On Nov. 8, 2021, the Biden government signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a large-scale investment bill worth $1 trillion for social reform and economic growth. The bill specifies more than $7 billion in aid to strengthen the battery supply chain, including investments to produce and recycle minerals without new mining or purchase of key minerals for battery manufacturing in the United States.

 The main contents of this presentation are as follows.

DOE's Infrastructure Investment Act provides $3.1 billion in funding to produce more batteries and components in the U.S., strengthen domestic supply chains, create decent jobs and cut costs. Infrastructure investment is supported for the construction of new, modified and expanded facilities, prototyping and battery recycling. DOE provides a separate $60 million to support processes related to power supply and recycling of electric vehicles.

This funding is a key component of the government's goal to strengthen the US' energy independence by reducing reliance on its battery supply chains on competing countries, and to have electric vehicles account for half of all vehicles sold in the US by 2030.

As the global lithium-ion battery market is expected to grow rapidly over the next 10 years, DOE will continue to prepare related infrastructure and cooperate with the industry in response to the growing market demand.

The ‘Infrastructure Investment Act’ includes investments in electric vehicle chargers (US$7.5 billion), electric transportation buses (US$5 billion), and clean school buses (US$5 billion) in addition to battery manufacturing and supply chain construction.

▲ clipartkorea.co.kr

< Original Source >

https://www.kiip.re.kr/board/trend/view.do?bd_gb=trend&bd_cd=1&bd_item=0&po_item_gb=&po_no=21259

 

 

 AU

Federal Court of Australia granted an appeal from IP Australia on the judgment recognizing artificial intelligence as an inventor

 On 13 April 2022, the Federal court of Australia granted an appeal from the Commissioner of IP Australia on a ruling that artificial intelligence (AI) could be regarded as an inventor.

Dr. Stephen Thaler, an artificial intelligence developer, developed 'DABUS', an AI creativity machine that creates new ideas by connecting and expanding neural networks on their own.

 A research team led by Ryan Abbott of the University of Surrey in the UK applied for a patent invented by DABUS, an artificial intelligence (AI), to various patent offices around the world in 2018 with the inventor DABUS.

Patent offices in major countries such as the UK, US, Europe, and Korea decided to reject the patent on the grounds that artificial intelligence could not be recognized as the inventor of the DABUS invention.

IP Australia also rejected the registration, stating that Article 15 of the Patent Act 1990 stipulates that ‘a patent right is granted only to a person’, so that a non-human inventor cannot become a patentee.

  On 30 July 2021, the Federal Court of Australia ruled that "an inventor … can be an artificial intelligence system or device," stating that there is no definition of 'inventor' in the Australian Patent Act.

Accordingly, the commissioner of IP Australia appealed the above decision, on February 9, 2022, the Full Court of the Federal Court heard the appeal. On April 13, 2016, it was unanimously announced that they would grant an appeal of the director.

According to the IP Australia, the decision confirms the commissioner's view that, for the purposes of Australian patent law, an inventor named in a patent application must be a natural person.

▲ clipartkorea.co.kr

Original source

https://www.kiip.re.kr/board/trend/view.do?bd_gb=trend&bd_cd=1&bd_item=0&po_item_gb=ETC&po_no=21150

 

AI Patent Classifier III, WIPS PRISM

WIPS' AI Classifier has been officially launched.

In this issue 15, we will look into user interface and functionality.

WIPS PRISM is an application that classifies unclassified patent documents (patented technology) in accordance with user-defined criteria.

WIPS PRISM, starts to innovate in patent analytics with AI technology.

Precious resource, PET recycling

 

The use of plastics, especially PET, used for food packaging has recently increased dramatically due to the increase in food delivery and online shopping caused by COVID-19. Most of the waste resulting from the use of plastics was exported to China, but the Chinese government imposed a ban on the import of waste plastics as environmental pollution in the country worsened. In Korea, this year, introduced the so-called 'Bottle to Bottle ('B to B') recycling method, which washes - shreds PET bottles and recycle - reuse as food containers to reduce overflowing plastic waste. Since the introduction, a lot of efforts and technology development to recycle PET are rapidly progressing.

In this issue, among PET mechanical recycling technologies, we’d like to check the direction and current position of PET mechanical recycling technology by analyzing the overall flow of patent trends for technologies to remove contaminants to improve the quality of PET recycling and to improve the physical properties of PET recycling.

 1. PET Mechanical Recycling Technology Patent Trend

 <Technology detailed classification>

◎ Application trends by year and country

▲ Patent activity by application year

▲ Patent Application Trends in Major Market Countries by Year Section

Looking at the patent activity according to the filing year, it peaked from 1999 to 2000, but showed a decreasing trend thereafter, and repeated the increase and decrease in the 2010s, and a sharp increase trend is observed after 2018. In addition, from before the 1990s (section 1), patent applications were started mainly in Japan, the United States, and Europe, and, there was a decreasing trend after reaching the peak of patent applications from 1996 to 2000 (section 3), but from 2010s (after section 4) the number of applications in China, Korea, and the United States is increasing to the present.

◎ Application Trends by All Applicants

▲ Patent Application Status of Major Applicants by Major Market Countries

▲ Patent Application Share by Applicant Nationality

The applicant with the largest number of applications is SKC, and URRC (US), ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS (US), KRONES AG (DE), and PHOENIX TECHNOLOGIES (US) are mainly listed in the order of PET recycling manufacturers. As a result of examining the status of patent applications by applicant's nationality, applicants of US (US) nationality applied for the most patents, followed by Korea (KR), Japan (JP), China (CN), and Germany (DE).

◎ Pollutant removal technology application trend

▲ Patent status for methods and specific means for removing pollutants from waste PET

Looking at the current status of contaminant removal methods, the patents with characteristics of melt extrusion and washing showed the largest number of patents with 26 respectively, followed by others, solid-state polymerization, and dry-pulverization.

◎ PET recycling property improvement technology application trend

▲ Patent status for improved properties and specific means of PET recycling

Looking at the contents of the improvement of PET recycling properties, 38 patents on intrinsic viscosity improvement showed the largest number of patents, followed by color, others, and clumping ratio.

In order to reduce the overflowing plastic waste, the so-called 'Bottle to Bottle ('B to B')’ recycling method, in which PET bottles used in food containers are washed and shredded, and recycled back into food containers, will be recycled starting this year in Korea.

The notice of the Ministry of Environment contains facility standards for related companies and quality standards for recycled materials for ‘B to B’ recycling. The existing PET bottle recycling was a method of collecting discarded PET bottles and making low-value-added raw materials such as non-woven fabrics, stuffed cotton, and cushioning materials. However, if these recycled products are thrown away, further recycling is impossible, so they are incinerated or landfilled as waste. It has been criticized for being recyclable but not sustainable.

 Therefore, basic data such as the recent development status of mechanical recycling technology, which accounts for a large portion of PET recycling, and cost analysis for each application target, are closely required. In addition, it is judged that active technology development and policy support are necessary to improve the quality of PET recycling.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

※ References

- Green New Deal Planning, When will the PET bottle recycling market be stabilized (2020, environmental focus)

- Recycled plastic has a 'class' (2021, E-daily)

 

 ※ Report by Jaewon Moon, jwmoon@wips.co.kr 

IP Planning team l Team Manager

Majored in chemistry (nano material synthesis), has been conducting patent research and analysis for 8 years, and is currently in charge of contents and product planning using IP information.