Apple Assigned Four Patents

Cloud storage and synchronization of messages
Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,190,586) developed by Lindeman, Kevin J., Morgan Hill, CA, Garcia, Roberto, Santa Clara, CA, Thirumalai, Gokul, Mountain View, CA, Aybes, Alexandre A., San Francisco, CA, Sarma, Bhaskar P., Santa Clara, CA, Herrnstadt, Ori, Los Altos Hills, CA, Pisolkar, Raghav V., Santa Clara, CA, Ford, Michael D., Menlo Park, CA, and Loh, Robert Y., Sunnyvale, CA, for “cloud storage and synchronization of messages.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A messaging system uses a cloud storage backup system for messages and a temporary storage for messages that are not deliverable to offline devices at the time that the messages are sent by one or more messaging servers. The messages are backed up through a synchronization process that transfers a batch of a plurality of messages rather than a single message or an entire database of messages. A conversation state can be synchronized first before synchronizing messages through the transfer of one or more batches of messages.”

The patent application was filed on July 9, 2020 (16/925,244).

Preserving clone relationships between files
Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,188,422) developed by Cisler, Pavel, Redwood City, CA, Wolf, Christopher A., Bahama, NC, Vandereyken, Loic E., Palo Alto, CA, and Weiss, Eric A., Paris, France, for “techniques for preserving clone relationships between files.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”The described embodiments set forth techniques for preserving clone relationships between files at a computing device. In particular, the techniques involve identifying clone relationships between files in conjunction with performing operations on the files where it can be beneficial to preserve the clone relationships. The operations can include, for example, preserving clone relationships between files that are being copied from a source storage device, that supports file cloning) to a destination storage device that supports file cloning. Additionally, the operations can include preserving clone relationships when backing up and restoring files between a source storage device, that supports file cloning) and a destination storage device that does not support file cloning. In this manner, the various benefits afforded by the clone relationships between files can be retained even as the files are propagated to destination storage devices that may or may not support file cloning.”

The patent application was filed on September 29, 2017 (15/721,287).

Implementing dynamic file systems
Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,176,089) developed by Garvey, John, Victoria, CA, Mackovitch, Michael S., and Rutenbar, Peter J., Sunnyvale, CA, for “systems and methods for implementing dynamic file systems.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Representative embodiments set forth herein disclose techniques for implementing dynamic file system volumes that can share storage space with other file system (FS) volumes within the same partition/storage device. According to some embodiments, techniques are disclosed for establishing an FS volume within a container. According to other embodiments, techniques are disclosed for handling input/output (I/O) requests across different FS volumes. According to yet other embodiments, techniques are disclosed for efficiently establishing, within a storage device, an FS volume from an image of the FS volume.”

The patent application was filed on December 13, 2016 (15/377,996).

Secure credential storage and retrieval
Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA, has been assigned a patent (11,164,179) developed by Greiche, Hubert, Santa Clara, CA, Fasoli, Gianpaolo, Redwood City, CA, Abrams, Stacey R., and Heard, Richard W., San Francisco, CA, for “secure credential storage and retrieval.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Techniques are disclosed relating to securely receiving and storing credentials. In some embodiments, a computing device includes an application executable to supply a credential to an external system. A secure circuit of the computing device is configured to send, to a credential storage, a request for the credential, the request including a first certificate identifying a first public key and a stipulation to perform a user authentication before permitting use of a first private key corresponding to the first public key. The secure circuit receives, from the credential storage, the credential encrypted using the first public key and, based on the stipulation, performs the user authentication prior to decrypting the credential and supplying it to the application. In some embodiments, the secure circuit receives the first certificate by providing information about hardware included in the computing device to a hardware verification service.”

The patent application was filed on May 31, 2019 (16/428,724).