BlackBerry receives patent for a new camera design

BlackBerry has received a patent from the World Intellectual Patent Organization (WIPO) for a new camera design. The application was filed on December 23, 2016 and the patent was granted three days ago. The title of the patent is "Electronic device and method of controlling same for capturing digital images," and deals with a camera system that would work on a handset with a slide-out QWERTY similar to the BlackBerry Priv.

The camera would be on the back of the smartphone on the outer housing of the device. The rear part of the sliding QWERTY would feature another lens that would work in conjunction with the camera. The extra lens is called the conversion lens. When the QWERTY keyboard is open, the regular camera is available to the user. With the QWERTY closed, the camera and the conversion lens line up offering extra capabilities for the rear snapper.

In addition, TCL, the company behind BlackBerry Mobile, has registered a trademark for the name Uni with the USPTO. Last year, the company registered the name KEYone just before MWC, and the phone was introduced at the trade show. But TCL does have a VR headset called the Uni360, and a look at the trademark application using the Trademark Electronic Search System shows that the Uni trademark is for a VR device.

BlackBerry Mobile says that two new 'Berry handsets will be launched this year, both expected to carry a physical QWERTY keyboard. One of them could come with a slide-out QWERTY, although we would have to say that the public seemed to really fall in love with the dedicated QWERTY used on the BlackBerry KEYone.

MWC starts on February 26th, one week from this coming Monday. Check in often!


source: WIPO, USPTO via Let'sGoDigital (translated)