Apple Patents "Always On" Display

A recent Apple patent filing could point to future iPhones and iPods with an always-on display.

As much as we love touching our iPhones on a regular basis, sometimes we find ourselves checking the device’s status a little more often than we’d like. With no visible cues of new alerts, such as new text messages, emails or voicemails, iPhone owners have to constantly pick up and hit a button just to inspect the lock screen for updates.

A patent filed recently into the United States Patent and Trademark Office and credited to Apple engineer Michael Rosenblatt describes a method whereby a second backlight (likely a low-power LED) would be able to pass through the primary backlight, and offer visibility for simple icons on the screen at all times.

Apple details the method in its filing, “To provide an icon on the display of the electronic device that is indicative of the status of the device, the secondary backlight system may be turned ON. The secondary backlight system may be separated from the display by the primary backlight system. Thus, the light provided by the secondary backlight system may be projected through one or more transparent or semitransparent regions of the primary backlight system to reach the display.”

It continues, “The primary backlight system may block light from the secondary backlight system except for those one or more regions. 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.”

The addition of a secondary LED light shouldn’t have a terrible effect on battery life, as it will also save from having the user constantly turn on the primary backlight, which also has its own drain on power. Other cell phones, such as various BlackBerrys, have blinking LED indicators to notify the user of a new alert. An always-on alert notification would allow the iPhone to rest in its dock without frequent prodding.

While many companies file patents for technologies that never see the light of day, this is one technology that would be greatly appreciated by all iPhone users.