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Apple Patents: Flash Chips In Headsets, Car Navigation System Tethering

Submitted by Edward Kirk on July 16, 2009 - 6:19pm.
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The U.S. Patent and Trademark office published two new patent applications today showing that Apple is considering the use of flash memory in headsets to store device settings, as well as an attempt to patent the ability to tether with a car's navigation system for GPS navigation.

The first patent, titled Data store and enhanced features for headset of portable media device (#20090182913), considers the benefits of building a small amount of flash storage into iPhone headsets that could store device settings. This could potentially streamline the setup process for new devices. A user could possibly plug their headset in to the device and the settings from their previous device would be immediately transfered into the new one. The patent includes where the memory would be located, and how the data would be transferred across the headphone jack.


The second patent discusses tethering a mobile device like the iPhone to a car's navigation system to feed it data on the vehicle's speed, fuel consumption and break application. This would allow it to more accurately estimate the time of arrival.

[via Unwired View]

Submitted by Shutterrelease on July 17, 2009 - 5:29am.
I would love to have my iPhone fully integrated into my car. I have it connecting to my stereo through the dock connector but I can't control the iPod through the iPhone interface. I have to use the stereo UI, which sucks cheese. I want to be able to build my iPhone into the dash, use the touch screen to control the music, navigation, see the car's info, and make and take calls. Then be able to take to iPhone with me when I arrive at the destination. The iPhone UI is so great, and the multi-touch screen so usable, I really see some cool uses of having the iPhone being the controller for many devices. The 3.0 update will really allow this.