Apple, Inc. is seeking patent protection for an invention that would embed advertisements in a device's operating system, with the ability to disable the device until the advertisement is acknowledged. The patent application, bearing serial number 105916, was originally filed on April 18, 2008 and was published on October 22, 2009.
Claim 14 of the patent application states that the invention involves "A computer-implemented method for providing an advertisement in a device, the method comprising: providing an operating system of a device with at least one advertisement, the operating system configured to temporarily disable a function thereof and present the advertisement in the device while the function is disabled; and receiving a report from the device confirming that the advertisement has been presented." Purchasers might be allowed to access and use the operating system at a reduced cost by viewing or listening to the advertisements.
The invention would not be limited to operating systems on personal computers. Paragraph 0031 of the Detailed Description states that the invention could extend to any electronic device, such as "...portable and desktop computers, servers, electronics, media players, game devices, mobile phones, wireless devices, email devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), embedded devices, televisions, set top boxes, etc."
While the buying public may find the forced viewing of advertisements out of character for Apple and unacceptable to say the least, the idea seems novel, and Apple's potential advertising income no doubt would be astronomical. No word yet on whether Apple actually intends to exploit the invention itself or develop a licensing scheme.
Apple's patent application can be found here.
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