Walk the independent claim. Google's grant US12124632B2, "Systems and methods for customizing a haptic output of a haptic actuator of a user device" (issued October 22, 2024; inventors including Kelly Dobson and Khalid Sorensen), is a granted patent. Its CPC mix — G06F 3/016 haptics, G06F 3/015, G06F 3/0488 — points at the haptic-output-and-touch layer.
The element that does the work is customization. Actuators vary unit-to-unit, devices differ in their mechanical mounting, and users perceive haptics differently. The claim's contribution is a system to customize the haptic output to those variables — calibrating the drive to the specific actuator, device, or user so the felt result is consistent or personalized.
What it reads on is the haptics calibration layer in a phone or wearable — the software that tunes the drive signal rather than the actuator hardware. This is a complement to the hardware-side haptics claims from Apple, Meta, and Microsoft: it sits in the customization-and-control layer above the actuator.
Read against the haptics-hardware patents, this is a different layer of the same problem. Where Apple claims single-actuator multi-mode output, Meta claims tunable resonance, and Microsoft claims dual independent actuators, Google here claims the customization of whatever actuator is present. The haptics contest spans hardware and software layers, and the claims map onto both.
Scope discipline: the claim protects the recited customization system, not haptics generally and not any actuator design. A device that drives its actuator with a fixed, uncustomized signal operates outside it. The defensible element is the customization method tied to the actuator and user device.
Granted status makes US12124632B2 a live consideration in the haptics-software layer. For a strategist, it shows Google staking a position in customization rather than actuator hardware — a layer-aware choice consistent with a platform owner that ships software across many hardware variants it does not always build.