Apple files patent for laptop with integrated camera
Yesterday, the Patent & Trademark Office revealed the contents of patent application 20050201047, which was filed by Apple, and contains a design for a laptop with a digital camera integrated into its lid. The patent itself reads: "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."Could it be a future iSight, built right into the computer itself? Or a low-res camera, similar to those built into many phones for snapping quick shots? Let the rumor-mongering begin!
[Via Macsimum]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Brian said 1:28PM on 9-16-2005
Prior Art?? I know I've seen laptops with integrated video cameras already. I'll have to dig up some pics.
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joe said 1:26PM on 9-16-2005
don't some vaio's already come with a built in camera?
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Number5 said 1:44PM on 9-16-2005
Yes, I have seen Vaio's a year ago with cameras built into the lid above the LCD screen. I web conferenced with a colleague using the Vaio with built in web cam. Nothing new to see here, but patents and trademarks are the new business model, and Apple is not the first to file patents to protect itself or go after other manufacturers for infringement.
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Dave said 1:48PM on 9-16-2005
Number 5: I'm sure that's what happened here. The patent was filed more than a year ago, but it was just made public yesterday. It could very well have been an example of Apple simply wanting the security of having gotten a patent in place.
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Charles said 5:16PM on 9-16-2005
Yeah, there have been Viao's with that built in camera going back to ~2000 (I remember lusting after one of those 505 something or other at the time).
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Cecil said 2:25PM on 9-16-2005
Sony Picturebook anyone? Came out in '99 or '98. Hell that was in the film Godzilla 2000 (hahaha). Followed up by that small VAIO with the wide screen. Both were rotateable. Pretty cool stuff, but apple will definately make one cooler and most importantly, of much higher image/video quality.
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Sean said 2:25PM on 9-16-2005
Isn't the patent more about the fact that the camera is the "latch", locking the screen to the keyboard?
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Alan said 2:25PM on 9-16-2005
I would still say that, after a year, it's still prior art. I swear it seems like Sony has had those for years.
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Noah said 2:38PM on 9-16-2005
Yes they have. I think this is the most recent one here. Here is another one that looks like the patent picture (http://reviews.designtechnica.com/firstlook24.html).
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Peter Koritschan said 2:38PM on 9-16-2005
yes, sony did have one since years, a kind of subnotebook (very small form factor, it hink like A5 paper size or so)...
they had a very cool commercial, where the guy is sitting at home in front of the laptop, and his wife comes out in new sexy lingery and starts making out with him, and then the camera cuts to the laptop screen, where you see some business partners in a meeting: he was videoconferencing... and during making out, the guy desperately tries to shut the lid... it was one funny commercial.
but as the other's point out: i'd love to see this from apple...
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Andrew Kaufmann said 3:02PM on 9-16-2005
I just know that I wouldn't be interested in one of those. Extra price for a feature I'd never use. I'd rather just have the option of buying a $50 webcam.
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Peter Koritschan said 4:03PM on 9-16-2005
I'd much rather see a tablet Mac with that built-in cam.... the future is now!
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H2ORANGE said 4:18PM on 9-16-2005
This merging technology may prove to be inevitable for portable computing, however. How many people resisted smartphones, and then camera phones, and then video phones, and then...
As computers are still being purchased by first time owners, the pool of veteran users have a plane of demands which is expanding before our eyes... Look at how the internet has changed... Can we really expect that our bloody laptops will not evolve into something greater?
The future is here and technology is gaining momentum again. This will happen and we'll grow to love it...
I'm waiting for the day when laptops are just peripherals of our desktops... accessories if you will. Sorry... I just saw Final Cut...
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Jonathan Neil said 5:06PM on 9-16-2005
Perhaps it is to be used a facial recognition lock or an iris scanner. It locks the notebook shut unless the proper biometric ID is presented. :P
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BrightBOX PVR said 5:08PM on 9-16-2005
Maybe it's a holigraphic laser. iLaser 3d video phone. Nah! It's just a security device. "Please step away from the ibook" "Warning this device is protected by iLaser, Please step away or risk being engraved with a windows logo tattoo!"
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John Pastor said 7:17PM on 9-16-2005
Maybe this has to do something with Sony designing their new PowerBooks, since Sony had a design similar to it.
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niji said 6:44PM on 9-16-2005
1. yes sony has prior art on incorporation of the camera into a computer.
2. yes, sony made it with the 505
3. no, the sony patent is not part of locking mechanism
4. in patents you broadly word it to include as much as possible. evidently, sony didnt use the concept of incorporating it into a lock
i really want an incorporated camera on a large standalone display from apple, however. with some sort of extendable arm of lense and correcting software that allows you to look at the screen and still have it appear that you are looking at the camera. so that during video conf you dont appear to be always looking down.
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niji said 6:44PM on 9-16-2005
1. yes sony has prior art on incorporation of the camera into a computer.
2. yes, sony made it with the 505
3. no, the sony patent is not part of locking mechanism
4. in patents you broadly word it to include as much as possible. evidently, sony didnt use the concept of incorporating it into a lock
i really want an incorporated camera on a large standalone display from apple, however. with some sort of extendable arm of lense and correcting software that allows you to look at the screen and still have it appear that you are looking at the camera. so that during video conf you dont appear to be always looking down.
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David Veerasingam said 6:55PM on 9-16-2005
I think this will be great for those of us who attend conferences and lectures. We can record the entire session with the built-in video camera.
No need to take notes!
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Wry Cooter said 10:20PM on 9-16-2005
Yeah but did Sony put theirs in the LOCK?
I agree with 18. Sony has prior art, but how is THEIR patent worded? Perhaps it has similarly strange restrictive clauses. I would like to see this in a tablet, with stereo mics,
And what if the camera, in the lock, doubled as a fingerprint scanner, to 1) open a laptop 2) log in user? I could see education and business finding this very enticing.
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