Apple Assigned Three Patents

Ephemeral data storage
Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA, has been assigned a patent (12314408) developed by Benson; Wade, San Jose, CA, Chivetta; Anthony J., San Francisco, CA, and Capelis; D. J., San Francisco, CA, for an “ephemeral data storage.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Techniques are disclosed relating to securely storing data in a computing system. In some embodiments, a computing system performs a boot sequence that includes generating ephemeral key data and preventing the generated ephemeral key data from being stored in a non-volatile storage including persisting the generated ephemeral key data in the volatile storage. The boot sequence further includes creating, in the non-volatile storage, an ephemeral data volume and encrypting the ephemeral data volume by using the ephemeral key data persisted in the volatile storage.”

The patent application was filed on 2022-06-03 (17/805329).

Dual embedded storage nodes and vertical transfer gates for pixels of global shutter image sensors
Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA, has been assigned a patent (12274099) developed by Yang; Dajiang, Cupertino, CA, Lee; Hong Wei, Fan; Xiaofeng, San Jose, CA, Cellek; Oray O., Santa Cruz, CA, Li; Xiangli, Palo Alto, CA, and Shen; Kai, San Jose, CA, for “dual embedded storage nodes and vertical transfer gates for pixels of global shutter image sensors.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Disclosed herein are global shutter image sensors and methods of operating such image sensors. An image sensor includes a semiconductor wafer having a light receiving surface opposite an electrical connection surface; an oxide extending from the light receiving surface toward the electrical connection surface and at least partially surrounding a pixel region; a photodiode disposed within the pixel region; and a set of storage nodes disposed under the photodiode, between the photodiode and the electrical connection surface. The set of storage nodes comprises a first storage node and a second storage node. The storage nodes may be disposed vertically beneath the photodiode, or side by side.”

The patent application was filed on 2022-03-29 (17/707495).

Managed data assets for electronic devices
Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA, has been assigned a patent (12229307) developed by Vedula; Srinivas, Fremont, CA, Kerr; Joel N., San Jose, CA, and Lin; Yuehhsun, Mountain View, CA, for “managed data assets for electronic devices“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The disclosed technology provides for secure storage and usage of data at an electronic device. A device may include a hardened data manager that securely stores data associated with users of the device and/or another device. An application that does not have access to the securely stored data can still use the securely stored data by requesting that another system process at the device perform operations on the securely stored data and/or one or more updates to the securely stored data. For example, an application can request rendering of an avatar of a user. A rendering engine, separate from the application, can obtain securely stored base data from the hardened data manager, obtain updates to the securely stored base data, and render the avatar using the updates to the securely stored base data, without exposing the securely stored base data to the application.”

The patent application was filed on 2022-02-01 (17/590808).