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Apple Applies for a Touchscreen Gesture Patent
SuperMog2002 writes "According to an article in PC Magazine, Apple has submitted an application for a patent on "several methods of applying gestures to touch-sensitive input devices." Could there be a new form of tablet PC or PDA in Apple's future?"
B&W, Palm, etc. have already been mentioned as having prior art. Honestly, this is why I hate corporations like that. But I think there's another party who also has prior art on such a thing. I mean, these kinds of patents are just stupidly ridiculous.
As far as I can make out, each claim specifically mentions a multipoint touchscreen. Unlike the touchscreens normally used in PDAs, it can register pressure at several points simultaneously. Furthermore all described gestures need the screen to be touched at several places at once. But since the patent mentions virtual controls, I wouldn't really describe the interaction as a gesture. Gestures typically are not performed on a control.
Please take that into account when you try to come up with prior art.
Palms have had this for awhile have they not? Not handwriting recognition - you could, say, drag the pen from top to bottom and the backlight would come on.
Palms only recognize one point at a time. The patent covers multi-point gestures, like (as described), zooming in on a point by simultaneously selecting the point with one finger and using another to control the zoom.
The post title, summary, and the article itself all make it sound like Apple is patenting all touch-screen gestures, but that's not what the patent application itself says.
Don't become a regular here -- you will become retarded.
What the heck am I doing on my Palm right now?
Using a one-point stylus. The patent application is for gestures using multiple points simultaneously. You can't do that with your Palm. Also note that it isn't a patent on multi-point touch screens or touch pads, which already exist, but on specific types of interfaces using them.
Don't become a regular here -- you will become retarded.
Actually, Apple bought Fingerworks.
Just to correct some people here, multi-touch pads already exist and work very well:
http://www.jazzmutant.com/lemur_overview.php
Saying that Apple bought fingerworks may not be enough for folks who don't know what that is. Fingerworks made a series of keyboards and other devices that allowed users to use 'gestures' for commands. The surface was flat, like a touchpad, so there were no keys, which threw many for a loop. A gesture would be, say, four fingers (all except the pinky) sliding together on the right surface of the keyboard to 'Save'. Gestures were programable, and many geeks loved the extensability. The keyboards were difficult to use, especially relearning typing without tactile feedback. But once you got it, these keyboards were *extremely* powerful. E.g., no mouse, since mousing is taken care of with gestures.
About a year ago, FingerWorks was bought out by some other company, that most now think is Apple. Many of the FingerWorks users are mad because they can no longer purchase new keyboards, or even get support for older keyboards that break. Apple had better think of something briliant to pacify this angry mob of **hundreds**.
**Disclamer -- typed with a FingerWorks TouchStream keyboard.