[neilg1]

Check this out -- apparently Apple have just filed a patent for bike computer software for the iPhone -- cadence, speed, HRM, altitude, incline, decline, GPS, and messaging etc....
could be interesting, although I guess an iPhone would make a pretty big head unit.
http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2010/08/apple-introduces-us-to-the-smart-bike.html

 

[tom_h]

The actual application is here:
http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.html&r=5&p=1&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&S1=apple.AS.&OS=an/apple&RS=AN/apple

Filing an application means very little. How that could result in an actual issued patent, is beyond me.

There are many junk patents issued, and they often fail to withstand a legal challenge.

However, large companies have a common tactic of filing 100s or 1000s applications per year, and hope something sticks. Often it's a tactic for cross-licensing with other companies

If another company has a good patent you need really bad, you offer them 10,000 of your patents in return. No one reads them all to see if those 10000 patents are unpatentable, or trivial, crapola.