EUREKA!!! I figured it out!!! The Apple, Inc. engineers are working on an Apple Branded Wireless Electricity – A/C Powered USB connector, plug, adapter, dongle, igadget, whatever you want to call it. In other words it will be an A/C powered device that you plug into the wall and it will wirelessly send electric energy through the air (via. magnetic field) to an empty or draining iPad, iPod, iPhone or Macbook battery. I’m talking about consumer based WIRELESS ELECTRICITY (WiTricity) to power our beloved gadgets wirelessly!!! It will be another device that Apple intends to extend to their “idevice” arsenal and “iprofits”… another gadget for newbies and vets to crave and covet… and most importantly another device that will further distance and distinguish Apple from the Microsoft, Android and Blackberry crowd.

So how is it possible to send wireless electric currents through the air in a room full of living breathing HUMANS!!! Its not wavelength radio transmissions like Bluetooth or WiFi signals that we are talking about this is high voltage alternating currents that comes from an outlet in a wall… Somehow scientists have figured out a way to separate the (human deadly) high voltage alternating currents from the (human friendly) electromagnetic field currents in the form of a grounded electrically charged object. This electrically charged object would be something that would plug into the wall socket or some type of powered source and it will send out magnetic field currents to a close proximity device with magnets and coils housed on a computing circuit-board like an iPod, iPad or iPhone.

The concept of Wireless Electricity is not new its about 170 years old… In the 1830s Francesco Zantedeschi, Michael Faraday and Joseph Henry all did extensive papers on electric currents in closed circuits. The highly acclaimed Nicola Tesla has a plethora of patents and theoretical works which formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems throughout the mid to late 1800s. In modern years MIT led the way in using resonant magnetic fields to transmit wireless power or “WiTricity” as coined by MIT Professor Marin Soljačić in 2007. In June 2009 Intel did a wireless power demonstration at IDF (see clip below). Sony, Haier Group and HP/Palm are among a handful of consumer branded companies that have successfully demonstrated wireless power in the last two years. Apple feels the pressure and making a concerted effort to create their device sometime this year.

In 2010 Apple was granted 563 patents… over the past 2 months alone Apple has been granted at least 8 key technologies that suggest they are building a wireless gadget that will be able to magnetically transfer electricity to their low powered IOS devices. The most notable patent was the “Harnessing Power Through Electromagnetic Induction Utilizing Printed Coils” which was submitted to the patent office on September 4, 2009 and approved on March 10, 2011. When this story broke techies and analysts started speculating about an internal generator within the IOS device that improved the battery life cycle by shaking it up or by running or some other physical activity! Definitely a cool concept and a good guess but it appears that this patent is not the intent of this technology… at least not yet. Then there was another article published in January 2011 stating the 10 Apple future technologies to watch for… surprisingly, not one technology in the top ten mentioned wireless electricity.

So here are 8 key Apple, Inc. Patents that have been approved recently.
1.. Harnessing Power Through Electromagnetic Induction… (March 10, 2011)
2.. Power Adapter with Internal Battery (March 31, 2011)
3.. Component Assemblies in Electronic Devices (April 7, 2011)
4.. Electronic Device and Connector (April 14, 2011)
5.. Type A USB Receptacle with Plug Detection (April 21, 2011)
6.. Portable Computer Electrical Grounding and Audio… (April 21, 2011)
7.. Magnetic Connector Having a Unitary Housing (April 21, 2011)
8.. Mounted Shock Sensor (May 5, 2011)

After scanning through each of these patents and referencing a variety of scientific notes and videos on the topic its all starting to make sense. There is mention of “a metal Faraday cage of a size that is slightly larger than said main logic board.” there’s talk about the “modified Series A universal serial bus (USB) receptacle connector, is equipped with the functionality to allow the electronic system in which it resides to be configured either as a host device or a peripheral device.” It goes on to even talk about “Upon detection of a plug, an algorithm may allow the system to determine… which device supplies power.”

So think of a wireless Apple device currently on the market. The AirPort Express BaseStation with 802.11n and AirTunes comes to mind. It already can transfer data wirelessly and provide internet connectivity so why not add wireless A/C power (ie. wireless electricity) while we are at it??? The patents seem to imply that Apple is focused on building a wireless (USB) receptacle that can act as a bridge to communicate, sync data and wirelessly store and charge Apple IOS hardware. I’m banking that they will produce a new AirPort BaseStation with the WiTricity label on it and put a bigger price tag on it.

When Apple makes this industry altering announcement it will be at an exclusive event where industry gurus and media giants will be present. Seeing all the recent high activity approvals for Apple, Inc. patents I am projecting that this announcement will take place on June 6, 2011, the Steve Jobs Keynote at the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC). And they will be releasing the product sometime in September or October of 2011… sorry guys its highly unlikely that the fall announcement will be an iPad 3, so give it up. The way I see it, Apple won’t need to do any major new iPhone, iPod or iPad upgrade for while with this kind of EPIC announcement.

It looks like NASA, Sony, HP/Palm, Intel, Apple and many scientists over the past 170 or so years have been toying around with the idea of electric currents in closed circuits, so I’m sure by now kinks have been worked out to prevent fried logic boards or terrifyingly freakish hair raising events. At any rate this will be a gold mine for whomever harnesses wireless power and packages it to the public in the portable media and communications market. I mean there are already wireless electric energy toothbrushes and televisions but they have yet to capture the imagination of the mass consumer market. From portable media players, to touch screen phones to tablets… Apple is the one company who can take abstract scientific breakthroughs and make them accessible and adaptable for public acceptance. Soon they will be known as the worlds largest and most notable producer of consumer based WiTricity able gadgets.

- Bendrix

面包屑 = Breadcrumbs:
“面包屑” is the Chinese translation of “Breadcrumbs”. This link “面包屑” represents the trail of my digital realizations and residual thought bits as it relates to observations in an ever-changing digital landscape. The concept comes from the trail of breadcrumbs left by Hansel and Gretel in the popular fairytale.

Image found on Patently Mac.

WOW!!! If I’m reading it correctly Apple is attempting to create a wireless energy transfer OR extend battery life OR produce wireless power without the use of connecting wires. Or maybe its all of the above. I know a bunch of people have reported about this Apple, Inc. patent #20110057629, back in mid March 2011 but I stumbled on the actual patent this morning while rummaging through the US Patent and Trademark website. It excited me so much I felt it was necessary to start my first blog entry on the subject.

Now I’m no expert in this field of science (or any field of science for that matter) but its really not hard to realize  the historical significance of what this would mean to mechanical engineering and the computing science world. Make no mistake Apple is not the first to dabble in electromagnetic induction; It was discovered first by Francesco Zantedeschi then by Michael Faraday and Joseph Henry independently at the early start of the 1830s. Various forms of mechanical devices and electric based motors use this science but I firmly believe that Apple is attempting to be the first to market wireless A/C power to the mainstream market.

From what I can gauge there are six applicable forms of electromagnetic induction. It appears that Apple intends to use one or several of these applications for future IOS and/or Mac OS powered devices. The patent speaks of “harnessing power through electromagnetic induction utilizing printed coils… A system of one or more moveable magnets adjacent to printed coils on a circuit.” Again I’m no expert but its not hard to figure out that Apple is looking to produce some type of A/C dongle that has the ability to act like a repeater or amplify magnetic waves to activate the magnets and coils housed on the circuit board – each one hyper acting or stabalizing a kinetic force via. a wireless electrical A/C current to input, store, stream and release energy.

I  believe that this wireless A/C dongle would have a close proximity recommended range in order for it to vibe with the device(s). For several years I have heard that this technology was on the horizon, but I had absolutely no clue how such a technology would work without us wirelessly electrocuting our bodies. It really made no sense how it could possibly work. Now that I had a glimpse of the patent and done some further reading and the sample video below is useful as well… I can see how such a technology might be energy efficient, safe and fulfill the need of a wireless hungry population. Another patented Apple product that they can sell to the mass market.

It looks like this patent was filed on September 4, 2010 and it was just approved on March 10, 2011 so that means that Apple, Inc. approximately has an 8 month lead over everyone else. Another important note… on May 4, 2011 Apple released their iMac lineup with a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse/trackpad. This looks like another way Apple will define themselves from the crowd and will be a HUGE selling point. I’m thinking they might glaze over this at the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June 2011 OR maybe it will be a featured release in the iPad 3 sometime between September 2011 to March 2012. Of course this is post is all coming from the imaginary ramblings in my mind. I can not confirm the what who and how of this patent but its a fact that they did file it, so they will certainly intend to do something with it.. At any rate, we shall see how this all unfolds.
(check out the Patent #20110057629 link to learn more)

- Bendrix

面包屑 = Breadcrumbs:
“面包屑” is the Chinese translation of “Breadcrumbs”. This link “面包屑” represents the trail of my digital realizations and residual thought bits as it relates to  observations in an ever-changing digital landscape. The concept comes from the trail of breadcrumbs left by Hansel and Gretel in the popular fairytale.