Would be cool if Apple used the active core to direct impacts to a replaceable piece like Bumpies.
fenshwey
How can they patent existing technology? Lenovo/IBM active protection system already does this to protect high end think pads. That's Apple "Blue sky" thinking for you. Patent someone else's idea and make millions off it. Patent system is a joke. Patents going back as far as 1995 talking about active protection. How can you patent such an obvious idea I'll never know, its not an invention.
abi
Control moment gyro is a good option for such system.
Stan Sieler
Maybe they can implement it with a codename honoring a cat ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtWbpyjJqrU
(See 1:10)
RonArt
Tie a fishing line between the phone and the user's belt. The user can't lose the phone, or have it stolen, or drop it all the way to the ground. Total cost: a few cents. No patent needed.
Gadgeteer
fenshwey, It really would help you if you would read an article before jumping to conclusions. This is nothing like a laptop's active protection system. All those do is stop the hard drive to avoid a head crash. This is about actually reorienting an iPhone in mid-air so it doesn't land on the glass. If you know of a laptop that can protectively spin itself around, I'd be mightily impressed.
Gregg Eshelman
This is why the USPTO should go back to requiring a demonstration of a working example of the patented technology etc. After that requirement was done away with, all kinds of silly nuttery and patent trolls came out of the woodwork.
Tuppe
Yeah, I bet they patented it so no one could ever use it. There's no reason for them to use this. Something like 90% of Apple's income seems to come from Apple fanboys' broken phones. I rarely meet iPhone users who hadn't bought 2 iPhones because they dropped the old one. I'm also very dubious how well it can overcome the initial angular momentum. Usually when you try to panic catch your phone, you end up flipping it 3000rpm with 9 Megatonnes of kinetic energy. I reckon that some 2 gram pissant motors have virtually no saying in that case.