When Lighthouse's intelligent security camera finally went on sale just over a year ago, the company believed that with AI recognition and 3D sensing technology, it offered something truly unique over its rivals. However, the promise of automatic face detection didn't really resonate with consumers, and the hardware maker shut down less than 10 months later. While the company slipped quietly into the night, its technology didn't, with none other than Apple ghosting in to acquire its innovations.

We're not going to say that Automated Transactions LLC is a "patent troll," but several others have. The American Bankers Association has called ATL a troll. The Credit Union National Association called ATL a troll—they even illustrated the accusation with a picture of a troll. Individual lawyers, legal commentators, and banks have all described ATL as a troll. Inventor and ATL founder David Barcelou got so fed up with people labeling his firm a patent troll that he sued about a dozen individuals and organizations for libel in 2016. Last year, a New Hampshire state judge dismissed Barcelou's lawsuit.

Face ID has been a successful replacement for Touch ID, boasting fewer false positives than the more physical biometric security system while still remaining fast to use. While it has brought some benefits, there are still some advantages to using Touch ID over Face ID, such as in situations where it isn't prudent to use Face ID or to unlock the iPhone while it is still in the user's pocket.

It seems that Google may be stepping up its Pixel design game and ditching that giant ugly notch. A new patent filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization shows a clean display devoid of notches, holes, foreheads or chins. It’s actually the second patent that describes a notchless, almost bezelless Pixel. Phone site 91mobiles reported on that one yesterday.

New rule narrows landmark 2014 Supreme Court decision limiting software patents.

Qualcomm today announced that it has posted €1.34 billion in security bonds required for the chipmaker to be able to enforce a preliminary injunction on select iPhone models in Germany, after a court in the country found Apple to be infringing Qualcomm patents related to power savings technology used in smartphones. Last month, a German court ordered Apple to cease the import and sale of all infringing iPhone models in Germany. Apple was also ordered to recall those iPhone models from third-party resellers in Germany, according to Qualcomm.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 43 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today to kick off 2019. In this particular report we cover Multiplayer Gaming, Ride Hailing for Maps, Home Automation with Siri, Glass Metal, Apple Pencil and a design patent for Fabric. We wrap up this week's granted patent report with our traditional listing of the remaining granted patents that were issued to Apple today.

Samsung claims that it has invented a new holographic device that will actually project high-quality 3D images in the air without you having to look at a display from a specific angle, unlike the Nintendo 3DS. The display, according to the patent published by the World Intellectual Property Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office, uses a new type of spatial light modulator that eliminates ‘the limited viewing angle and low resolution of current holographic technologies’.

This week the European Patent Office published two major patent applications from Apple that relates to biometrics and more specifically to both Face and Touch ID on the same iPhone. In part one we focus on the first monstrous 982 page patent filing.

Facebook might not only know where you are in the future, but also where you're going next. Buzzfeed News has discovered that the social network has filed a patent application entitled "Offline Trajectories" for a technology can predict where you're going "based at least in part on previously logged location data." Based on the application's wording, it'll be able to use your previously logged location, as well as other people's, to make predictions.

A Chinese court said Apple infringed on two Qualcomm patents and must stop selling seven of its most popular smartphones in the country, Qualcomm said on Monday, the latest turn in a broad legal battle between the two big tech companies. The court decision bars Apple from selling the iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X in the country, Qualcomm said.

On Nov. 27, the world’s second-largest semiconductor chip maker, Intel, was granted a patent for a processing system that mines Bitcoin but utilizes more “energy-efficient hardware accelerators.” According to the patent called the “Optimized SHA256 Datapath,” the newly invented “high-performance” Bitcoin mining process could reduce overall power consumption by 15 percent.

Flex, Foldi and Duplex are three trademark filings that LG has filed, that were uncovered last week. Judging by their names, they most likely will describe some sort of foldable or bendable product, as that’s the new trend every OEM is moving towards. However, the folks over at LetsGoDigital have uncovered another trademark filing for a rather interesting device. This time around, it’s an LG Display patent filing, meaning the display division is at least considering this option.

With Google betting on a foldable future for Android, it seems all phone manufacturers are getting these type of devices ready. Even Apple is looking into this form factor that offers the convenience of extreme portability when folded and a larger screen whenever you need it.

Facebook filed a patent for technology that could target entire families with ads. The tech uses photos and various other data collected by the social network. In a patent filed last May and made public Thursday, the company describes a system enabled by "deep learning techniques" meant to identify groups of people living under the same roof and their relationships to each other. It uses image captions, hashtags, as well as ISP and search data to build a cache of information that's stored and later fed to its network of advertisers.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 57 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover Apple's use of liquid metal in the integral housing of the iPhone fusing metal with glass. Apple was also granted five design patents today with one of them being for the original 2017. We wrap up this week's granted patent report with our traditional listing of the remaining granted patents that were issued to Apple today.

Facebook’s proposed technology would analyze your #wifey tags, shared IP addresses, and photos to predict whom you live with.

The way Siri typically works is that it listens to the user command when prompted, sends anonymized received speech data to Apple's servers, first converting from audio to plain text, then interpreting the command and sending the result back to the user's iPhone or iPad. The process of performing speech recognition is intensive, and is offloaded from devices to Apple's servers as it isn't necessarily capable of being performed on an item like an iPhone.

Dyson has a lengthy list of air purifiers, but it's reportedly considering developing a model that's not quite anything it's ever created before. According to Bloomberg, the company has lodged patents for a wearable air purifier that will double as a pair of headphones. Wearable purifiers are already a thing, especially for countries like China where air pollution gets so bad it can increase the chances of getting stroke or cancer. However, they mostly come in the form of necklaces and, in some cases, scarves or masks.

A seamless display with a hidden camera at its center. A transparent antenna that allows a totally seamless body. A holographic device. Even a headphone jack! Those are some of the technologies included in an extremely detailed Samsung phone patent published last month by the World Intellectual Property Organization.