Apple is accused of infringing patents with "Do Not Disturb While Driving" and … Siri?

This is nothing new that Apple has accused, by several companies, of infringing patents related to iOS features or other systems and even hardware. Sometimes these accusations come from companies known as patent trolls, whose purpose is to purchase various patent registrations and prosecute whoever infringes them.

This is the case with Apple with the “Do Not Disturb While Driving”, implemented on devices with iOS 11. As disclosed by Patently Apple, SMTM Technology is suing Ma for infringing a patent it acquired from inventor Nick Bovis, entitled “Mobile Device Idle and Idle Mode Check” (“Mobile Device Inactive Mode and Inactive Mode Verification”).

According to the description of that patent, a mobile device can be configured to not receive alerts or notifications while in a moving vehicle. When a message is received, the patent indicates that the user has two options: to be notified of the message or to send an automatic reply, depending on whether he is driving or not.

In addition, the Bovis patent indicates that the device goes into sleep mode (off mode) when connecting with the Bluetooth of the vehicle system, preventing calls and messages from disturbing the driver. This is basically the same reaction as the feature on iOS, which can be configured to activate automatically when the device connects to Bluetooth.

As is customary in patent infringement proceedings, SMTM requests a judgment and the payment of “royalties reasonable ”, in addition to a fine for damages, including lost profits. However, what calls attention to the permanent injunction that the company requested against Apple, preventing it from infringing the patent "for the rest of its life".

The patent infringement report was filed the day before yesterday (11/7) in the Northern District of California, in the city of San Francisco.

Apple accused by voice recognition company

At a Crab he was not left out of the proceedings. Still according to disclosed by Patently Apple, Advanced Voice Recognition Systems (AVRS) filed a lawsuit against Ma for infringing its speech and transition recognition patent.

Crab

The patent, registered as “Speech Recognition and Transcription Between Users with Heterogeneous Protocols” (“Speech Recognition and Transcription Among Users Having Heterogeneous Protocols”), one of several that AVRS has in the field of voice recognition.

In the patent infringement report, presented by the company in the Northern Arizona District Court, it is described that Siri offers voice and natural language recognition solution, used in various devices of the Cupertino giant, such as the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, HomePod and Macs.

According to the AVRS complaint, Apple has been aware of the patent since 2013 and, since then, has been provisionally infringing it. As in the aforementioned action, the company asks for a royalties for unauthorized use of the resource and increased damage due to alleged patent infringement.

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Patent trolls or not, the fact that processes like these are already part of Ma's routine.

via AppleInsider, 9to5Mac