​A method for fashioning electronic devices with flexible displays using organic light-emitting diodes and “having fastened bent edges” is described in a new patent assigned to Apple. Patent 9,256,250 was one of 21 assigned to Apple and published Tuesday in the Patent and Trademark Office's Official Gazette. Devices such as smartphones “are often provided with rigid displays made from rigid display structures,” said the patent, which lists three inventors and was applied for in April 2014. But such rigid structures “often include a significant amount of inactive border area around the display for accommodating display circuitry for operating display pixels in an active region of the display,” the patent said. “It is not uncommon for the width of the inactive border to be up to a centimeter wide or more,” making those displays “bulky” and requiring the use of “electronic device housings with wide bezels,” it said. The patent described an alternative method of wrapping the bent edges to “conform to the shape of an internal support structure.” Typical of most patents, the invention doesn’t delve into how the method might be incorporated into commercial devices, such as Apple’s next-generation iPhone. Apple representatives didn’t comment Wednesday.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group announced a new architecture and supporting set of tools that enable developers to create Internet gateways for Bluetooth products. The Bluetooth Internet gateway architecture and toolkit show developers, manufacturers, OEMs and others how to create a connection between Bluetooth and the cloud without the need for a smartphone or tablet as a go-between, said the group. It called the latest Bluetooth communication capability a way to control sensors "regardless of proximity.” Bluetooth gateways allow any Bluetooth sensor to relay data to the cloud and back again, and the architecture gives users the ability to monitor and control fixed Bluetooth sensors from a remote location, said the industry group. Examples include controlling lights while on vacation or unlocking a door for a pet sitter, it said. Consumers aren’t satisfied with current connected home capabilities, said Steve Hegenderfer, Bluetooth SIG director-developer programs. The Bluetooth Internet gateway architecture allows routers, thermostats, security systems -- the always on, always connected infrastructure in the home -- to speak to and control low-power sensors and relay that information to the cloud for control from “anywhere,” he said. The Bluetooth gateway starter kit can be downloaded at Bluetooth.com.

In what it called the first user interface for voice-activated drawing, Mitsubishi combined voice recognition and drawing functions to enable users to display spoken words on a tablet or smartphone by dragging a finger across the screen. When users press down on the screen and then speak, their spoken words can be displayed wherever the finger is dragged across the screen, said the company Monday night.

Nationwide wireless carriers must certify by March 9 their signal booster consent status, the FCC Wireless Bureau reminded carriers in a public notice listed in Tuesday's Daily Digest. The requirement comes from a Feb. 20, 2013, commission order adopting new rules, including a requirement that consumers have "provider consent (via registration with the relevant provider)" before operating signal boosters, said the PN in docket 10-4. To monitor consumer access, it said, "the Commission required all nationwide wireless service providers to make public certain information regarding their consent for their subscribers" to use signal boosters. The carriers must publicly indicate the status of their consent for each signal booster certified for consumer use by March 9, either by a filing in docket 10-4 or in some other way, the PN said.

“Expeditious action" is needed by the FCC on 28 GHz, 37 GHz, 39 GHz and 64-71 GHz in the form of proceedings that would help the 5G transition, Nokia said in an ex parte filing Monday in docket 14-177 on a meeting between Nokia executives and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. The company previously advocated that the FCC could better facilitate 5G by considering bands below 6 GHz and in the 6-24 GHz range. Nokia said now that 5G requires both millimeter wave bandwidth and low- and mid-band spectrum, and the FCC should also act on 3.5 GHz and "consider that band as [the] 150 MHz centerpiece for an extremely valuable swatch of spectrum from 3.1 GHz to 4.2 GHz, all of which should be studied for mobile broadband." Also, Nokia said, given the infrastructure such as small cells that will be needed for 5G, the FCC "should consider the need for wireless backhaul when studying new bands for mobile broadband" and act to lower regulatory burdens for deploying such infrastructure. "Ubiquitous 5G coverage will be impracticable under the current local government and commercial frameworks that stifle, rather than embrace, wireless infrastructure deployment," Nokia said. The company said the agency should reform its experimental licensing process to foster more and longer experimentation across multiple bands.

The National Wireless Safety Alliance and the Telecommunications Industry Registered Apprenticeship Program signed a memorandum of understanding establishing a framework of job task requirements that ensure safe and quality work, as well as an agreement to develop a "systematic approach to provide certification of workers," they said in a news release Tuesday: "TIRAP and NWSA agree to work together toward the goal of developing one aligned body of knowledge with common titling based on input and coordination between both groups." The groups said they "agree to take all actions feasible to coordinate non-restricted information and work closely together for integrated and consistent application of position development and certification." Thursday, the FCC and Department of Labor, which takes part in TIRAP, hold an event on communications tower safety and TIRAP.

Improved targeting and personalization made possible by digital coupons is leading to higher activity rates as brands and retailers respond to consumer demand for mobile integration, said a Juniper Research report Monday. The research cautioned that retailers not offering mobile integration will likely have “far lower levels of visibility on consumer activity” and be at a disadvantage when trying to customize offers and increase lifetime value of the consumer. More than 3 billion loyalty cards will operate solely on mobile devices or be integrated into mobile apps by 2020, up from 1.4 billion last year, said Juniper.

The FCC should act to protect the privacy of Americans' cellular communications against the "secretive" use of StingRays by law enforcement agencies, wrote Jason Norman, senior managing editor of the Federal Communications Law Journal, in a new 179-page piece explaining the usage of such cell-site simulators, their impact on privacy and security and why they undermine the justice system. Increased use of StingRays has come under fire by privacy and civil liberties advocates and others because they scoop up cellphone information from all nearby bystanders, not just suspects being targeted by law enforcement agencies, creating potential privacy implications. Norman argued StingRays are potential signal jammers, which are prohibited by the FCC except in narrow circumstances and only for use by federal law enforcement agencies. He said it could be illegal for state and local police to use such devices, which might cause interference. Norman also wrote that the FCC has formed a task force to probe potential abuses by foreign intelligence services and private individuals, but not those by U.S. government agencies. But FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has said Title III of the Communications Act gives the agency power to address threats posed by such devices and that the commission needs to work with industry to secure wireless networks and better protect privacy, wrote Norman. This means enhancing encryption standards and security features for all devices over wireless networks, he said. "An insecure communications network is the Achilles heel of a strong nation, and while unchecked mass surveillance by law enforcement is profoundly disturbing, the thought that anyone with moderate technical knowledge and a few hundred dollars in their pocket can eavesdrop on 99% of our communications is terrifying," he wrote. The FCC didn't comment.

The satellite industry is continuing its push for rule changes for the FCC spectrum frontiers NPRM. In an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 14-177, the Satellite Industry Association recapped a meeting it and numerous members had with Commissioner Ajit Pai about industry concerns on the idea of spectrum sharing in and among the 28, 37 and 39 GHz bands, including that earth stations should have co-primary status in the 28 and 39 GHz bands, as SIA has previously advocated (see 1601290010). At the meeting with Pai were SIA President Tom Stroup and executives from Boeing, EchoStar, Intelsat, Iridium, Kymeta, Lockheed Martin, O3b, OneWeb, SES, SpaceX and ViaSat.

Regulators around the world have wrestled with zero rating and are offering different solutions, said Ellen Goodman, professor at Rutgers Law School, in a new paper. The Netherlands banned zero rating, while Chile allows only zero rating of noncommercial services like Wikipedia, Goodman wrote. The EU has been silent, while the U.S. is taking case-by-case approach, she said. “Even where there has been a preliminary decision, the issue of zero rating is in flux,” Goodman said. “The market impact of differential pricing is difficult to predict and assess, and is likely to vary with the particular practice, the state of broadband competition, and other features of fluid Internet market structures.” In the U.S., zero rating is being looked at against the backdrop of the war over net neutrality, Goodman said. “The zero-rating debate revisits the almost theological conflicts of net neutrality,” she wrote. “What constitutes innovation and what regulatory and business relationships best promote it? Are broadband carriers, if unconstrained by regulation, incentivized to keep connectivity costs artificially high? Do data caps constitute rent seeking or efficient price discrimination?”