Apple snags Nike+iPod patents

Apple has been granted two patents for the technology used in its collaboration with Nike in the Nike + iPod product line. The first patent deals with the way signals from the transmitter are intercepted and decoded, using the length between data bits and other information to determine the pace of the runner and other information. For the technically inclined, the apparatus calls for, in part, a timer for determining the time between adjacent transitions; logic for determining the maximum period in the data stream without a transition and for determining a first threshold corresponding to a period of time less than the maximum period and greater than the data bit period; and a filter for determining whether a considered transition corresponds to a data bit or a preamble.

Apple lists Daniel J. Coster (San Francisco, CA) and Christopher J. Stringer (Portola Valley, CA) as the inventors of this design patent which was originally filed in May 2006.

Filed under: iPod, Apple
Other story tags: patents