Apple Wants to Get Rid of Motherboard Cables

[Guest]

A substantial number of Apple patents filed these days deal with changes to the miniaturization of components that allow Apple to shrink the size of its mobile devices.

Apple Wants to Get Rid of Motherboard Cables : Read more

 

[soo-nah-mee]

Apple Wants to Get Rid of Motherboard Cables

Where's this article?
Is Tom's baiting us now?

 

[stingstang]

"The advantages of the invention are numerous" encompasses anything and everything. You just wait... Someone's going to slip up and apple's going to cite this.

 

[nforce4max]

Good ideas and great ones at that but for the wrong purpose though to maintain high prices while extracting ever greater profits.

 

[eklipz330]

[citation][nom]stingstang[/nom]"The advantages of the invention are numerous" encompasses anything and everything. You just wait... Someone's going to slip up and apple's going to cite this.[/citation]
well they just filed the patent, its gonna be years befor etheyre actually granted it. it's a good idea nonetheless, apple is good at brining innovation to the table, even though its at a very high price

 

[blingbling]

I can't wait for one of these multi-plane circuit boards to be left in a bar.

 

[digiex]

flex connectors has been existing for a long time. even my old calculator had flex connectors.

 

[LuckyDucky7]

well they just filed the patent, its gonna be years before theyre actually granted it. it's a good idea nonetheless, apple is good at brining innovation to the table, even though its at a very high price

It's Apple, so the Patent Office is just waiting to rush it through. Never mind that these flexible boards exist today- and they can be off to sue people who think up flexible e-reader displays without a hiccup.

Now that that's out of the way:

It's a good idea. I hate having to buy new screens when the flexible cable breaks on an iPod touch while you're trying to fix it.

 

[drwho1]

[citation][nom]blingbling[/nom]I can't wait for one of these multi-plane circuit boards to be left in a bar.[/citation]

LOL

 

[back_by_demand]

[citation][nom]digiex[/nom]flex connectors has been existing for a long time. even my old calculator had flex connectors.[/citation]
Doesn't matter, it could be 40 years ago, if Apple patents it first then the 100 billion calculators sold in that time don't count - that's how the law has been twisted.

 

[Guest]

[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]Doesn't matter, it could be 40 years ago, if Apple patents it first then the 100 billion calculators sold in that time don't count - that's how the law has been twisted.[/citation]

Are the newer style SLI/Crossfire connectors considered a flexible circuit board?

 

[ram1009]

Nothing new here. Flexible circuit boards are old news. Using one in a computer, maybe not. Possible advantage would be greater bandwith and higher frequency. Also higher cost.

 

[Marco925]

and to reduce the bill of materials and assembly cost of the circuit boards in its mobile devices.

Not like we, the consumer, will see any of these savings.

 

[hellwig]

I've seen flexible circuit boards used to connect screens and drives in laptops. They connect the scanner on my printer to the rest of the unit, they are frickin everywhere. And multi-plane circuit boards? I'm not sure how a plane differs from a layer, and there are multi-layer boards all over the place (16+ layers). So what exactly did apple patent here, the wheel?

 

[t_wilson]

So they want the circuit board to be a moving part, which means it will be a breakable part. Is a patent really needed for this? To have a computer with no internal wires, they would just need to integrate all the components to the board.

These companies now days churning out one ridiculous patent after another just to keep the patent trolling wheel rolling.

 

[starzty]

I just hope they aren't as hard to manage as the low profile foxconn connectors in the old Powerbooks. I remember trying to line them up and then screw together the case as fast as possible since they were held on by the pressure of the casing.

 

[Guest]

This is apple we are talking about, they obviously invented the wheel. Any use of the wheel before they existed are mere fairy tales.

The technology in the patent has been in use for at least 30 years in modern electronics.

 

[Guest]

So what exactly did apple patent here, the wheel?....
flexcables are long been used, but this patent seems to do with no extra connectors,looks like the copper layer and the board material are the connectors,and can be interconnected without the need of a separate connector.

 

[amk-aka-Phantom]

I SO prefer the normal cables to these flexible BS ones, they're a PAIN to manage and insert. Let Apple patent this junk all they want, we don't need it.

 

[RazberyBandit]

So they want to patent the idea of using flexible copper wiring within a flexible PCB? Where's the flexible PCB, or at least its proof of concept? Oh! Silly me... They don't need either one to get a patent for the use of something that may or may not exist. All they need to prove is they have an idea on how to implement it.

Jeez our patent system is broken.

 

[descendency]

[citation][nom]RazberyBandit[/nom]Jeez our patent system is broken.[/citation]
But we just signed patent reform!!!!

/s

 

[descendency]

Apple should patent the patenting of things that have been in use for 10+ years.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

Thats funny, I want to get rid of Apple because their products are not flexible. Jeez, flexible interconnect circuit boards....isnt that just a type of flat cable?? http://www.google.com.au/search?q=flat+cable&hl=en&biw=1280&bih=843&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=8qKDTo-TOuXWmAX9ssQg&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CCYQ_AUoAQ maybe you should do a google search before you patent something that already exists apple.
http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&biw=1280&bih=843&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=flexible+circuit+board&oq=flexible+circuit+board&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=67375l70781l0l71250l22l11l0l0l0l0l313l860l2-2.1l3l0

 

[Guest]

Hmm the instrument cluster of my 1969 Mustang had a flexible circuit board on the back of it. It amazes me Apple gets away with this stuff

 

[pjmelect]

Its not the flexible cable but the flexible board that Apple is patenting. But as has been previously stated the flexible board which you can mount components on has been around for years. Nothing new here.