Everyone’s found themselves in this situation at one time or another: you’re in a picture-perfect setting, but a selfie at arm’s length won’t cut it. You want to be in the picture, so you wait for a friendly looking passerby and ask them to take it. But, now it’s out of your control, and chances are the resulting snap won’t turn out exactly as you’d imagined. Samsung knows you’re too polite to hold the stranger up while you convey your vision, so it has come up with a camera feature that does the explaining for you. It’s described in a recent patent filing, and the gist is that you select the backdrop and take an initial snap that acts as a guide for the next, similar to how some panorama modes work. With a silhouette of the desired scene now showing atop the live view, the designated stranger just needs to let you get in the shot, line the overlay up with the live scene, and hit the shutter release.

The patent application also talks of editing the overlay, such as adding a circle to show the photographer where you’d like your face to be in relation to the backdrop. If you want the passerby to know how well they’re doing, the claims explain an on-screen “composition score” that would rate their lining-up skills. And, if you’d rather trust the final decision to the camera, a ball-in-the-hole scenario is described that’ll automatically engage the shutter release when the live view matches your ideal layout. This is just words and a few diagrams at this stage, mind, but if the patent gets granted, we could eventually see such a feature added to Samsung’s smartphones or Galaxy cameras. Until then, you’ll just have to put your trust in strangers and hope they have at least a basic understanding of the rule of thirds.

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Software, Mobile, Samsung

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Source: USPTO (1), (2) (PDF)

The rest is here:
Samsung thinks the strangers who take pictures of you could do a better job

Just last week Microsoft added Foxconn’s parent company to its growing list of licensees for patents it asserts are key to Android, and now ZTE has inked a deal with Ballmer and Co. as well. Now that the pact is in place, Microsoft says it’s struck patent accords with roughly 20 hardware makers, and that 60 percent of phones sold with Google’s open source OS are covered by such licenses. With HTC and LG already paying Redmond royalties for devices using Android, that leaves the likes of Google, Motorola and Huawei as the odd manufacturers out. If Motorola has its way, however, that won’t change.

Filed under: Mobile, Microsoft, Google

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Source: Reuters

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ZTE licenses Microsoft’s Android-related patents

In HTC and Nokia’s ongoing patent litigation, one patent infringement claim against HTC was dismissed today by the District Court of Mannheim, Germany. The patent in question — regarding “a communication network terminal for accessing internet” — describes a “terminal” that can access the internet.

As FOSS Patents points out, today’s dismissal was part of an ongoing collaboration between Google and Android phone makers who’ve been targeted by Nokia over claims against the Google Play store. “Nokia had alleged that Android’s app architecture centered around the Google Play store infringes the ’016 patent because of the way it allows third-party app developers to provide data to the end-user devices on which their programs run via a Google-operated server,” the site notes. In that regard, today’s dismissal marked a victory for Google beyond HTC — though HTC issued a statement this afternoon exclaiming its “delight” over the court’s ruling. Nokia has yet to return our request for comment.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Software, Mobile, HTC, Nokia, Google

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Source: FOSS Patents

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German court dismisses Nokia patent claim against HTC, HTC ‘delighted’

Miami U.S. District Judge Robert Scola had choice words for Apple and Samsung Google during a patent dispute between the pair, accusing the two of of having “no interest in efficiently and expeditiously resolving this dispute” and instead using such proceedings “as a business strategy.” The Florida case began in 2010 and has since swelled to over 180 claims, causing the pair to ask the court to reduce the scope of the case. That caused Judge Scola to rail against the combatants, saying “without a hint of irony, the parties now ask the court to mop up a mess that they made,” adding that he would “decline this invitation.” Instead, he gave them four months to streamline the case themselves, lest it be placed on hold until all the nearly 100 terms in dispute are defined to everyone’s satisfaction — but we know how that’s gone before.

Update: The original post mentioned Samsung and Apple as the disputants, but it’s actually a suit involving Google and Apple. Thanks for all who pointed it out.

Filed under: Cellphones, Misc, Tablets, Apple, Samsung

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Via: Games Industry International

Source: Bloomberg

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Miami judge accuses Google, Apple of using the courts ‘as a business strategy’ (updated)

You can’t normally read about IP and the mobile industry without coming across two endlessly warring tech companies — especially when Apple is involved. But today marks a different sort of patent exchange for Cupertino: a cooperative one. Japan-based Access Corporation, a mobile software provider, has agreed to license its patent portfolio — acquired from its purchase of PalmSource (yes, that’s the company behind Palm OS) — to Apple, in a deal valued at about 1 billion Yen (roughly $10 million USD). It’s not the first deal of this kind for Access’ smartphone IP. Back in 2010, Microsoft entered into a similar arrangement that gave it the rights to the same portfolio. The lesson here, kids? Money, it solves everything.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Apple

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Via: Apple Insider

Source: Macotakara (Translated)

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Apple reaches smartphone patent licensing deal, agrees to pay Japanese company $10 million for rights