Google for “Apple Patents” and you’ll end up finding 104,000,000 results. A LOT of pages right? Well, add more to that list; Apple has been granted the patent to communicate location information between a mobile device and an accessory.

The official record by the US Patent office – patent no 8,386,677 has been awarded to Apple Inc for “Communicating location information between a portable device and an accessory”.

Basically now Apple “owns” the right to send and receive location information between a mobile device and an accessory.

The patent has come at a time when Apple has been rumored to be designing a multi-touch enabled GPS watch. Whether it is true or not only time and Tim Cook can tell! Until then the “iWatch” remains something that “I” watch with eagerness.

The patent looks simple and straight-forward but think about it.

This patent could potentially lead Apple to an another series of “Patent Wars”. Wondering how? Remember the GNSS/GPS companies?  Their data collection tablets send and receive location information between GNSS/GPS receivers and rugged mobile tablets. This patent looks like its right on the money when it comes to their usage!  I admit, I am no legal expert but this is how the patent looks to me.

According to the US patent organization, the abstract details the invention as “Location data is exchanged between a portable media device and an accessory. If the portable media player is equipped with location determining capability, the portable media device can communicate its location data to the accessory, and the accessory can use this location data to perform various tasks. If the accessory is equipped with location assistance capability, the accessory can communicate location data to the portable media device, and the portable media device can use this location data to perform various tasks.”

Patents and Apple – a match made in the complex world of technology.

Two patent embodiments with GPS receiver in PMD (left) and accessory device (right). (Source: Apple Insider)