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Apple patents chip hub to manage device communication traffic

Patent drawing
Patent drawing from the official filing.

Apple describes a small controller chip that sits between various communication parts inside a device. It monitors their activity and sends control signals to adjust how they operate, such as changing power levels or timing, to prevent interference.

Why it mattersThis internal management system helps ensure that different wireless features in a phone or laptop work together smoothly without causing signal dropouts.

In the filing’s own words

Embodiments relate to coordinating the operations of subsystems in a communication system of an electronic device where a coexistence hub device monitors the state information transmitted as coexistence messages over one or more multi-drop buses, processes the monitored coexistence messages and sends out control messages as coexistence messages to other systems on chips (SOCs). The coexistence hub device can also update the operations of the communication system. The coexistence hub device may receive an operation policy from a central processor and may execute the operation policy without further coordination of the central processor. The coexistence hub device broadcasts the control messages as coexistence messages according to the executed operation policy.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. An integrated circuit (IC) chip, comprising: a multi-drop bus; and an application processor coupled to the multi-drop bus and configured to: operate in a first power mode consuming less power than the application processor operating in a second power mode; receive a signal from a first device over the multi-drop bus; modify the received signal according to a predetermined rule; and send the modified signal to a second device over the multi-drop bus to enable the second device, wherein the second device is different from the first device, and wherein the first device and the second device are coupled through the multi-drop bus as a shared connection to a coexistence hub device configured to partially control operations of the first device and the second device.

Facts

Company
Apple (APPLE INC.)
Official title
COORDINATING OPERATIONS OF MULTIPLE COMMUNICATION CHIPS VIA LOCAL HUB DEVICE
Publication number
US20260310622A1
Application number
19712633
Filed
Jun 18, 2026
Published
Oct 8, 2026
Inventors
4
Claims
20

Classified under

G06F 13/36 Physics & computingG06F 2213/40 Physics & computing
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.