So, similar to the way you could exchange data between PalmPilots using infrared ports back in the late 90s? :-)
This is addressed in the article, yes.
No actually
"Instead of BLE, Apple proposes that one alternative would be the use of optical transmitters and receivers. While the patent does not say this, the concept is similar to the old IRTalk system of using infrared optical equipment to beam files to another device. Apple used IR data transfer in the Newton and certain pre-G3 PowerBooks."
So, yes, actually.
So of course the patent is going to mention it's similar because that would admit prior art.
So, similar to the way you could exchange data between PalmPilots using infrared ports back in the late 90s? :-)
This is addressed in the article, yes.
No actually
"Instead of BLE, Apple proposes that one alternative would be the use of optical transmitters and receivers. While the patent does not say this, the concept is similar to the old IRTalk system of using infrared optical equipment to beam files to another device. Apple used IR data transfer in the Newton and certain pre-G3 PowerBooks."
So, yes, actually.
So of course the patent is going to mention it's similar because that would admit prior art.
All technologies build off of other technologies. This does not mean they aren't original ideas or implementations. I have no idea if this is or isn't something that will be defendable in a court of law if it ever becomes part of a working product, but I am certain that it will be different from the IR that a Palm Pilot used.
A while back, there was the "Tap to share" feature on Samsung phones, where you could just tap 2 phones to share some stuff. Then Airdrop came along and made it so much more elegant.
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A while back, there was the "Tap to share" feature on Samsung phones, where you could just tap 2 phones to share some stuff. Then Airdrop came along and made it so much more elegant.