Apple wins patents to MacBook Air, iChat, iPhone compass icon, more

Macsimum news reports that Apple has received a number of patents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. These patents include:

• iChat, involving its video conferencing

• A stereo-windowing system with translucent window support involving Quartz Extreme

• A news-feed viewer

• A portable power source

• Two MacBook Air-related patents

• A patent design for the iPhone compass icon

As with all patents, these designs might never appear in actual shipping products (except the iPhone's compass icon, of course). Then again, we may see evidence of some of them in today's "Back to the Mac" announcements, especially if the MacBook Air does get updated.