An Apple patent has been published showcasing Apple’s intentions to conserve iPhone battery power, by allowing users to check the status of their iPhones with dual backlit status.
The patent is primarily focused around conserving power and allowing users to easily check the status of services such as Email, phone calls, low battery warning, SMS messages and so forth. A variety of backlit status indicators would be in place so an iPhone user could quickly glance at the device, perhaps while it’s sitting on a table or across the room, and quickly see any new notifications. Keeping the primary LCD off is a core element of this system which should in turn allow for even more battery life.
Seeing as how Apple is trying to avoid having to turn the LCD screen on, the backlit status indicators could not be powered by the primary LCD’s backlight. For this reason, Apple wants to introduce a secondary dual backlight system. As AppleInsider explains, this secondary backlight would be placed behind the primary LCD’s backlight in order to power the light status indicators, which need to be on when the LCD is not.
“The primary backlight system may block light from the secondary backlight system except for those one or more regions,” the filing explains. “Thus, the size and shape of the status indicator may be set by sizing and shaping the transparent or semitransparent regions of the primary backlight system. In addition to setting the size and shape of the icon, the color of the icon may also be set by adjusting the color of the light provided by the secondary backlight system.”
“For example, each indicator may have a particular color, blinking speed, or light intensity. These properties may be programmed into the electronic device by the user, or may be hard-coded or hard-wired into the system,” Apple said. “Thus, when the secondary backlight is turned on, the properties of the light provided by the secondary backlight system may depend on the status of the device. Also, if the status of the electronic device changes while the secondary backlight is on, the properties of the light provided by the secondary backlight system may change to reflect the new status.”
The 24-page filing revealed for the first time this week is credited to Apple engineer Michael Rosenblatt.
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One Comment to “Apple Patent Reveals Dual Backlit iPhone Status Indicators”
See, this could be useful. Cheap phones that are not even comparable to the iPhone have status indicator lights. It’s a must in my opinion.
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