Apple Patents Point to Thunderbolt on iOS Devices

[spaceman2001]

Thunderbolt is thicker than the Apple 30-pin connector that has been used on all the iPhones. I think that pretty well rules out the possibility of Thunderbolt being used on any future iPhone.

 

[Guest]

Intel worked with and consulted with Apple in the development.

IOS devices don't need full bandwidth of Thunderbolt, just needs to be fastest mobile data rate. Like the two guys who encounter the bear, one drops to put on sneakers. Other says, "Why? You can't outrun the bear." First replies, " I don't need to outrun the bear, I need to outrun you."

If true, IOS devices will probably get a different connector than on Macs. The connector is not relevant to the technology.

 

[xtc28]

Lets just say these devices are getting less simple and more powerful/capable everyday. Soon the bottleneck will open wider where as too utilize the speed transfer. I do agree that apple patents stuff they have no right to. But as someone else already stated it will probably get approved and the thieves will win again. As I type on my my macbook pro and answer my iphone while watching my apple tv. Im really not an apple corporate fan but i love their devices. Another problem i have is the lokdown like a penitentiary that apple imposes on us as devices users. Lucky for me I can hack. But it is getting to where its harder to do so with each and every generation. Why is it so important for apple to lock us out. Did we purchase the device or rent it. As far as I know Im not renting ANYTHING at all. But wait isnt Apple basically renting certain portions of its own hardware and software from other sources including open platforms ....... Wait I still dont have rights to the open sides either....... HMMMMM Filthy money grubbing greedy corporate BS!!

 

[Vladislaus]

[citation][nom]tofu2go[/nom]Yes, that someone would be you. You are correct in that DisplayPort 1.2 equates to just over 2 GB/s... but do you really think USB is capable of comparable bandwidth? USB 3.0 is limited to 4.80Gbps (bits, not bytes), that's only 0.6 GB/s, and that assumes that you can actually achieve the theoretical maximum. That's less than a third of DisplayPort's bandwidth. Granted, DisplayPort has enough bandwidth to daisy chain displays, so you don't necessarily need comparable bandwidth to power a single display... but exactly how much bandwidth should we have to power a single display?A 1024x768 display at 8bpp and 60 refreshes per second equates to roughly 380MB/s. A 1280x1024 x 8bpp x 60Hz is roughly 630 MB/s... or 0.63 GB/s. So no, USB 3.0 is no good for powering a high-res display.Just for kicks, what do we need for 1080p HD video? 1920x1080 x 8bpp x 60Hz... about 1GB/s. DisplayPort 1.2 can comfortably handle 2 HD displays. USB 3.0 can't handle even 1.[/citation]
8 bits per pixel?This hasn't been used for quite some time. Still at 1920x1080@24bpp 60Hz you need a bandwidth of almost 3Gbits/s, USB 3.0 has a speed of up to 5Gbits/s, so theoretically it's possible.

 

[Vladislaus]

[citation][nom]tofu2go[/nom]Yes, that person would be you.How much bandwidth does a person need for a 1080p HD display? 1920x1080 x 8bpp x 60Hz is roughly 1 GB/s. DisplayPort 1.2 thus has enough bandwidth for 2 displays.How much bandwidth does USB 3.0 provide, assuming you can actually achieve the theoretical maximum? 4.8 Gbps. That's bits, NOT bytes. 1 byte = 8 bits. 4.8 Gbps is only 0.6 GB/s. Less than a third of the bandwidth that DisplayPort provides and not enough to power a 1080p HD display. It is enough for a 1024x768 display, but that's about it.[/citation]
First the theoretical maximum of USB 3.0 is 5Gbits/s. 5Gbits/s is more than enough to output a 1080p output with a color depth of 24bits at 60 frames/s. In fact theoretically it's enough to output a QXGA signal.

 

[TheFoxyBox]

@tofu2go
Your original statement was was a reply to the question "So... what kind of application on the iOS actually requires the full bandwidth of thunderbolt?"
To which you replied "Connecting the iOS device to a thunderbolt display. What if you could carry slide presentations on your iPhone, and hook it up to a large screen thunderbolt display to give presentations. You could then use your iPhone as a clicker, swiping the display to advance slides."
The problem here is both of us will never be right or wrong since "Large screen thunderbolt display" could be any size display at any resolution.

Thunderbolt can if it maximum capacity handle over 6 1080P displays
2.5/0.37 = 6.756756
although USB 3 can only handle one and there are better solutions than USB 3 such as HDMI but it is possible to run a 1080P display with one. So can we just agree that we are both right?

Also to get back on the topic of the article. I can see apple making the drivers for iOS devices cripple thunderbolt on windows & linux down to USB 3 so that only OSX can give you the the full speed of thunderbolt for your iOS devices. I know that this would quickly be overcome by jailbreakers. But would be a good marketing tactic.

 

[tsmatthx2]

You do realize USB 4.0 will come out right....? lol

 

[tsmatthx2]

Well let me check my math....first came 1, then 2, then 3......yup 4 is next

 

[robluft]

Given there's been enough patent posts on this site and every other site for the last three years people 1) hate to hear Apple is filing for a patent, 2) hate Apple sues for patent infringement, and 3) hate the patent system pretty much in general. For those who post anything about a patent read more than the title and understand what the patent is trying to protect ("claims"). Stepping off the soap box...

Apple is obviously opening up their plans for unification of tech devices to ensure interoperability. Thunderbolt's throughput is significant and if you stay in the "single use" mindset you'll dismiss this as overkill. Step out of the f'ing box people! They are going to co-integrate all apple devices to be interoperable simultaneously so you can watch a movie on the soon-to-be-released TV from your iPad, sync the movie to your iPhond, while downloading the next movie from iTunes on your macbook pro. The single cable interface form factor that will handle all this traffic will be pivotal to marketing a new TV which will be more like a content-rich AIO/HTPC computer.

Look at their past patents and you can see they are heading in this direction very, very methodically.

 

[dillonpeterliam]

Thunderbold is overkill and overpriced, stick to USB 3.0 fro the moment, oh wait, none of apples products support USB 3.0!?

 

[kartu]

[citation][nom]jimmysmitty[/nom]Last I checked, Thunderbolt was deeloped by Intel and all Apple did was pu it on their MacBook. Nothing more. I doubt Intel will allow Apple to patent it in a way to keep Apple from making it theirs only as it is meant for all PCs.[/citation]
Same story was there for magnetic locks (technology/patent is decades old). It didn't stop neither Apple, nor, what is much more remarkable, US patent office from allowing Apple to slap "on mobile device" on it and patent it.

 

[tsmatthx2]

USB 4.0 = roughly 6.25GB/s....faster than thunderbolt, problem solved k thanks gbye.

 

[joebob2000]

LOL@ the geek pissing match about how much bandwidth a slideshow takes. Wireless (read: less than 10mbit/s) display transport technologies have been commonly used for presentations for years. Derp, a slideshow is NOT going to need anything more than 1 FPS (unless you have very very fast readers, or are in love with gay transition effects) and on top of that they typically compress really easily (limited color palate and few gradients.) If you had a real job you probably would have seen these used before. Please, continue to piss and moan about how Thunderbolt is unappreciated.

 

[subaru41]

[citation][nom]agawtrip[/nom]EA Games - Challenge Everything.Apple - PATENT Everything.[/citation]
+1

Both Communist Companies are in business for the money and not the quality of there products.

 

[douglaskuntz]

[citation][nom]tofu2go[/nom]The AOC monitor is dubious. To my knowledge there is no standard for USB video displays, which means AOC has to write their own drivers for this display. Being a vendor supplied driver, data does not need to be sent over USB in a raw form. It is possible that they rely on compression and have decompression hardware in the monitor. [/citation]

AOC probably uses DisplayLink, http://www.displaylink.com which makes a chipset and software for USB to VGA adapters, USB monitors, USB docking stations, and USB projectors, up to 2560x1152@24/32bpp. And yep, it uses compression and decompression hardware, but they're not writing their own drivers. Install the DisplayLink software, the AOC monitor will work, or the MiMo monitor, or the Lenovo USB monitor, etc.

 

[eddieroolz]

Has Thunderbolt even taken off? I don't recall seeing any Thunderbolt-compatible devices.

 

[tsmatthx2]

No it hasn't, NOTHING uses it....and lots of things use USB.....USB wins....cake walk. USB 4.0.....clearly will be released and spank thundergay

 

[TheFoxyBox]

http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10549

External thunderbolt HDDs and SDDs that can be wired together.

 

[tsmatthx2]

haha fail, ever heard of SATA? lol

 

[TheFoxyBox]

Most laptops only have 1 place for drives. It's not a fail, more of a niche product that only a few people will ever have any use for.