Apple files patent for "solar cells on portable devices"

While we wait, and wait... and wait for manufactures to perfect long-lasting fuel cells, Apple and others are pursuing at least one other approach: solar augmentation. In a patent application dated April 24, 2008 and titled "Solar cells on portable devices" attributed to a number of Apple employees, Apple reveals possible plans to integrate solar cells into devices such as iPods and MacBooks. The application describes a scenario where, "Solar cells are typically stacked with other layers made of transparent or semi-transparent materials... Some of these layers may be used for display or input purposes, and some layers may be coated with various materials or they may be etched with product logos or other patterns." In other words, Apple is looking to cover the entire device, including the transparent display, with a layer of solar cells -- the latter approach already patented by Motorola. While the efficiency of solar cells and existing manufacturing techniques call into question the immediate viability of such an approach, it's intriguing nonetheless as a means to offset any lost battery life on the move to say, 3G.

[Via MacRumors]

[ReggieXuk @ May 26th 2008 6:58AM]

I said it would be good to use solar power to give extra juice to a processor, instead of depending only on the battery

[Razor @ May 26th 2008 8:48AM]

>The innovation here is the use of transparent materials so hide the solar panel under the LCD thus maximizes the surface area without interfering with the design, something very important to Apple and their customers.

Another bullshit patent, and there is no innovation here. There are watches by Bulova that already hide their solar panels behind the watch face. I'm sure that is only one of many examples of products that already carry this "innovation" Apple is claiming. And it only takes one to invalidate a patent.

This patent application should be thrown out. Apple can seriously go fuck themselves.

[Frankenstein Black @ May 26th 2008 9:52AM]

Hey Apple! Good luck with that...
http://www.konarka.com/

[Razor @ May 26th 2008 10:09AM]

@clak

I'll admit I prolly am. I'm just sick and tired of companies that are filing bogus patents constantly. The US needs some serious patent reform.

[CraigJ @ May 26th 2008 11:39AM]

@Razor. Really? Bulova has an LCD watch face that has solar cells under it? Google can't find it. What I did find is a watch with a face that IS a solar cell...

If Apple (or anyone for that matter) can produce a usable LCD or OLED screen and put the solar cells UNDER it and actually produce electricity that seems pretty innovative to me...

[potato @ May 26th 2008 1:31PM]

What CraigJ said. Not to mention that companies file patents primarily for THEIR OWN protection. There are way too many patent trolls out there, if they don't patent it, odds are someone else will, and THEN they'll turn around the sue Apple's pants off.

Clearly you've never worked in the tech field. Every single company, regardless how evil or benevolent they are, files RIDICULOUS numbers of patents, almost all to prevent someone else from patenting and suing.

So while you may think "this isn't innovation", some patent troll will patent it ANYWAYS.

[MacMan @ Jun 10th 2008 6:46AM]

apple can fuck off. solar cells are already on calculators etc. they are trying their arm. don't get me wrong, i am an apple geek at the best of times, they are 1337, but this is just ridiculous

[fred @ May 26th 2008 7:02AM]

"solar cells on portable devices"

Funny, people have been putting those on devices since the 80s. Now the great innovators at Apple are going to patent it. ok.

"While the efficiency of solar cells and existing manufacturing techniques call into question the immediate viability of such an approach, it's intriguing nonetheless as a means to offset any lost battery life on the move to say, 3G."

And a site that rails against these types of patents all of a sudden finds this "intriguing nonetheless as a means to offset any lost battery life on the move to say, 3G."

Yeah, of course have to work in another reference to a 3G iPhone.

[ReggieXuk @ May 26th 2008 7:06AM]

ouch

[w00t @ May 26th 2008 7:24AM]

There's a lot more to this patent than just attaching a solar panel to a portable device, which as you say is nothing new.

The innovation here is the use of transparent materials so hide the solar panel under the LCD thus maximizes the surface area without interfering with the design, something very important to Apple and their customers.

If you know of another device with solar panels under the screen please let me know, otherwise your point is not valid.

I personally think its a great idea, and look forward to my iPhone topping itself up whenever it's out of my pocket!

[partridge @ May 26th 2008 2:52PM]

@W00t Try any Solar Casio G-Shock watch. They've been hiding the solar panel under the LCD display for years now. YEARS...p

[Razor @ May 26th 2008 8:50AM]

See my reply above. Somehow the post system screwed up where my reply was supposed to go =P

[CraigJ @ May 26th 2008 12:59PM]

@fred. Read the patent application again... Your hatred of Apple seems to interfere with your reading comprehension.

[craig#2 @ May 26th 2008 7:04AM]

my iphone doesn't get too much direct sunlight..

[Distortedloop @ May 26th 2008 8:39AM]

I don't think you'll need direct "sunlight." ANY light will do for the little solar powered pocket calculators I still have laying around from 10-15 years ago...

[Vidit Bhargava @ May 26th 2008 10:52AM]

so...now do u hold out ur iphone in the sunlight or any light..intead of keeping it in ur pocket when not in use???

[potato @ May 26th 2008 1:33PM]

While you CAN get SOME power from just about any visible light... Sunlight provides FAR more energy. If you hope to power something like a phone off solar cells, you're going to need a lot more than a desk lamp :)

[Wonderkid @ May 26th 2008 7:08AM]

This is how nature works! Most living things are covered in 'solar' detectors - including ourselves, plants etc. If whole products are made this way, they could trickle charge most of the time. Imagine how all that 'wasted' space on the back of your laptop screen could be used to absorb rays for all day surfing. No annoying power adapter required. Just like an animal! Introducing the Apple SolBook, As Nature Intended(tm) (To be followed by the SolPod...?)

[swingin' dick hero @ May 26th 2008 7:21AM]

"No annoying power adapter required. Just like an animal!"

Yeah, it would probably be quite annoying for, say, a cat to have a power adapter integrated in its body. I can see why God decided to skip that feature, keep up the good work G. But if Apple was to name their future products 'SolBook' or 'SolPod' I'd say that's an animal that needs to be put down. Fast.

[gad get @ May 26th 2008 7:22AM]

Animals recharge using solar collectors?

[Macfly @ May 26th 2008 7:57AM]

My cat is hybrid: runs on canned and dry food.
Too bad for gas emissions...

[Abuzar @ May 26th 2008 12:44PM]

Well, we DO produce Vitamin D from sunlight.

He probably meant plants get their energy from Sunlight.

[Homeboy @ May 26th 2008 7:27AM]

What about the chemical used for solar panels, we don't want to get poisoned if the screen cracks.

Either way the idea is goo but the technology isn't there yet. Some of the portable solar chargers out take ages to recharge a cellphone or large MP3 player. I fail to see how we'll see any of this in a macbook the coming 3 years since today's solar cells are not cheap nor powerful enough juice up a 65watt laptop.

[Jake Paul @ May 26th 2008 7:31AM]

Enough of this "solar" power talk for these hip, new devices. There is only one source of energy ample enough around these devices to power them for more than 20 min -- and it's called ego.

If all of these arrogant iPhone and Blackberry Whatever users could sync their battery up with their ego, they'd never need a wall charger. 24 hours a day, their never ending trite snarks about how amazing their lives are now thanks to a cell phone could channel directly into the phone and glow brighter, the more conceited the user.

[CraigJ @ May 26th 2008 11:44AM]

Sounds like someone is pissed off about the fact that they can't afford one...

[Matt @ May 26th 2008 12:12PM]

Bigger phone=bigger ego......


Sounds like the saying " the bigger the purse a girl carries, the more high maintinance she is"

[borkkana @ May 26th 2008 7:34AM]

11 years ago:

http://press.nokia.com/PR/199703/775637_5.html

[Alex @ May 26th 2008 12:33PM]

Dear Lordy, was the internet available to average people even 11 years ago?

[roole @ May 26th 2008 2:08PM]

"Average" people had the internet by late 1994, that's almost 14 years ago.

Netscape was widely used by then (it went public in June 1995), and Mosaic was used before then.

[fourthletter @ May 26th 2008 7:42AM]

American patent laws SUCK ! but anything just to keep everyone elses ideas on american soil eh ?

[catachip @ May 26th 2008 8:59AM]

U.S. patents are only valid in the U.S.

It's not like you file a patent here and it has to be recognized around the world. A company would need to file a patent in every country it wants to do business in.

[Riki @ May 26th 2008 7:57AM]

I have a Citizen watch that's solar powered like this. Aplle's patent is nothing new.

[catachip @ May 26th 2008 9:01AM]

Yeah, expect in the case of the watch, the back face of the watch (behind the hands) is actually the solar panel - it is not obscured by anything. Apple filed a patent for the solar panel, with a full LCD panel in front of it, that still works to convert solar energy. Completely different, and it is indeed an innovative idea.

[DrXym @ May 26th 2008 10:12AM]

Yup, I was thinking of the Citizen watch too. It has a solar cell built into its face so it charges automatically.

I have a Seiko Kinetic watch which is another way to recharge and potentially has potential too although its probably a bit more bulky.

I suppose it depends what kind of power you can draw this way. Watches are one thing, phones and ipods are another.

[Dennis @ May 26th 2008 9:27PM]

I also have a Citizen Eco-Drive watch and it sure doesn't look like there is a solar panel on the face.

[russwilliams @ May 26th 2008 8:14AM]

About time!
I thought about this years ago.
At least it will extend the battery life to some extent as opposed to actually getting a full charge.
A great idea and Im glad its Apple jumping on it first.

[russwilliams @ May 26th 2008 8:19AM]

BTW - this one is a pre-emptive strike by Apple. The tech is there in the labs but this wont see the light of day (pun intended) for 3 years easy.
I presume it wont come out until the transparent and infra-red thin film solar cells or painted solar cells are ready to be commercialized.
The transparent stuff is obvious, you still get to see the screen. Bu the infrared solar cells could be more interesting with reports saying its efficiency is upto 80% compared to 17% best average for normal solar silicone cells.

[CCTSM @ May 26th 2008 8:44AM]

Um. This seems utterly pointless; if you have a reflective display and stick a solar cell under it, said solar cell will do it's best to absorb all incoming light... and you no longer have any light to reflect out.


If you stick it under a self-lit display, said display would just waste power sending light down into the solar panel, if you remove the reflector below it.


(Also, a transparent solar cell is a bit silly; yes, it may be possible to make one that absorbs IR only, but until that happens, said transparent solar cell will not generate any power at all because it can't capture any photons. :/)

[Miker @ May 26th 2008 8:53AM]

Why don't they fit kinetic chargers in these devices like in Seiko watches, so the movement of you walking charges the battery up?

Hmmm...that's an idea...quick I better develop a patent like everyone else...I claim the rights to the idea, the name kPod, the lower case k, putting any sort of charging device into any sort of electronic device, and anything associated with with word "pod", such as "pea", "green", "plant", "tree", "fruit", "apple"...

[catachip @ May 26th 2008 9:03AM]

For those going on about their watches with solar cells, it's completely different. In that case the actual face of the watch is the solar cell, it doesn't have anything in front of it (with the exception of the numbers and moving hands as separate components or painted on). Apple's patent deals with putting an active LCD screen in front of solar cells, and still having them function to convert solar energy.

It's a completely different technology.

[MattNL @ May 26th 2008 9:24AM]

Alright:

* I can see sh*t on my laptop screen (or any device) sitting outside.
* I dont walk outside with a big smile on my face, showing off my iPod to everyone by letting it glare in the beautiful midday sun, apologizing to everyone that "im just recharging".
* Devices, in particulary "mac black" ones, get smoking hot in the sun.
* (sun)light is very, very bad for that nice "mac white" finish.
* Leaving things out in the open while recharging is not a smart move with electronics.
* Recharging things directly is more efficient then turning the lights on.
* no, I will not walk with my iPod clipped to my pants like some 70's pager
* no, I will not cover my house with macbooks for heating my water.
* I live in the Netherlands, so it's pretty useless for me anyway...

[7on @ May 26th 2008 11:05AM]

My iPhone and DS work perfectly in direct sunlight. My MB, not so much. These smaller devices are made to go brighter because they are smaller I bet.

[lance @ May 26th 2008 9:52AM]

with all the crap out bulldozed out of the way before me, I simply just want to say
ME LIKES!
Of course one little problemo,
great for phone,
bad for laptop that already gets to hot on my lap!
But i'm sure thats because of the battery to begin with.
By the way people, you don't need the sun to power your solar panels, just light, so the office lights or coffee house lights or crack house lights ..ahh light would do just fine.
In crazy caffeinated theory, the very light being generated on the lcd could feedback light into the panel if it's behind it in a layer. chicken or egg anyone?
ok my brain hurts.

[roole @ May 26th 2008 9:52AM]

Why not just portable (PMP-sized) solar batteries that I can hook up to charge anything?

[baabaa @ May 26th 2008 10:02AM]

Apple is copying Nokia again!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX-gTobCJHs


Bye, bye patent :p

[Steffen Jobbs @ May 26th 2008 10:53AM]

WTF. I guess we'll be using the foldable Nokia along with seawater-powered levitating automobiles. No wait. Maybe with our solar-powered portable belt-sized transporters. My goodness, this is straight out of Popular BS Science magazine. Back in the fifties I was reading those magazines showing half-mile high skyscrapers with transparent transport tubes for vehicles at different levels. And it was all supposed to come to fruition by the year 2000. None of that crap came true and neither will that morphing Nokia phone. Who the heck makes flexible integrated circuits?

By the time we get that morpher, our air will be completely polluted and the polar icecaps will have melted. Those events should take place within fifteen years.

[CosterMonger @ May 26th 2008 10:27AM]

http://www.peertopatent.org/

peer to patent anyone?

maybe this will make solar panels on electronic devices popular again, just like touch screens :), this thread will be full of apple fans {boys} defending apple for their innovation, getting ready for another snafu Engadget posters.

so is this going to be passive matrix?

[PSM @ May 26th 2008 10:30AM]

I don't care who gets the patent for it, but if they can get this technology to work I look forward to seeing it on my future devices.

[Charles Hanna @ May 26th 2008 11:13AM]

BULLSHIT!! Again another attempt by Apple to attempt to monopolize. This technology has long existed anyway (see http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/04/solar_powered_m.php)

And to sandwich it beneath a display? C'MON - so what happens when your OLED or organic EL display burns out from the sun? Even if the USPTO does their homework and is smarter than to allow this patent to be awarded, we as consumers should be all the wiser. As if it isn't bad enough that you have to PAY Apple to replace your battery on an iPod when it dies (and yes, ladies and gentlemen - it WILL DIE). Or even the bigger joke - when your NAND Flash cycles are used up and you don't have your music backed up on a harddrive...POOF!

OK, OK - I've jumped on a tangent...shoot me now!! LOL

[CraigJ @ May 26th 2008 11:42AM]

1. Look up the definition of the word monopoly
2. The example you cited doesn't have anything at all to do with this patent filing.