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Microsoft Applies For Page-Turn Animation Patent

Posted by timothy on from the on-the-internet dept.

eldavojohn writes "Ever seeking to out innovate their competition, Microsoft has applied for a patent on animating page flips in devices like the Nook or Kindle. The application summary reads, 'One or more pages are displayed on a touch display. A page-turning gesture directed to a displayed page is recognized. Responsive to such recognition, a virtual page turn is displayed on the touch display. The virtual page turn actively follows the page-turning gesture. The virtual page turn curls a lifted portion of the page to progressively reveal a back side of the page while progressively revealing a front side of a subsequent page. A lifted portion of the page is given an increased transparency that allows the back side of the page to be viewed through the front side of the page. A page-flipping gesture quickly flips two or more pages.' Maybe you've seen this before?"

12 of 293 comments (clear)

  1. Prior art? by thestudio_bob · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've seen this on Flash years ago as well as a Shockwave (Director)... the only thing they bring to the table is "on a touch display".

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    The real Sig captains the Northwestern. This one captains /.
  2. Yeah, That's New by mwandaw · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You gotta be kidding. There have been Flash animations like this available for years. I guess this is an example of a patent process gone wrong.

  3. unique by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    how does this differ from the ipad reader?

    1. Re:unique by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 3, Interesting

      how does this differ from the ipad reader?

      It differs by predating the iPad by over a year.

      However, I don't think that it is prior art that will invalidate this patent. None of the examples that I have read here do so. Note to all: the headline is a lie! This is not about a simple transition animation.

      What should invalidate this is that the whole idea is the most obvious use of a gesture interface ever! It looks like one of those simplistic examples they use in the introduction of a book on user interface design. Getting a patent is more than just being first to apply - you also have to have a non-obvious invention too. Unfortunately, the patent office is not known for understanding this.

  4. I claim prior art by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I used that in a short story I wrote that was published in the 80s and it's on record both in the US and Canadian copyright systems.

    MSFT can't patent what I already described in a public magazine.

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    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  5. Re:Cessation of forward movement icon by SalsaDoom · · Score: 0, Interesting

    7. The icon in claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 in which the word "STOP" appears in any human language.

    So... whats "STOP" in Klingon? Patent time baby!

    --
    "Computers will never truly be free until the last windows user is strangled with the entrails of the last mac user."
  6. Prior art from 32 years ago by Stormwatch · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Animated virtual pages? Nicholas Negroponte has been there and done that, back in 1978.

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    Circumcision is child abuse.
  7. OK, so what's the penalty for IP fraud? by kale77in · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If IP theft is possible, then surely IP fraud must be? If I claimed to own any random houses I happened to see, and put them down as security on financial documents, this would be viewed dimly by the courts. This is that.

    If patents secure intellectual 'property' then where's the aggressive penalty enforcement for intentional (or unintentional but negligent) misrepresentation of property rights? Given the money at issue, and their strain of their enforcement on the court system, these penalties ought to be severe, esp. for corporations. If anybody knows a government looking to increase revenue, then here's some.

  8. Thank god! by Orgasmatron · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Now I won't have to suffer through yet another pointless UI animation for an action that should be instant.

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    See that "Preview" button?
  9. The Door Into Summer by StonyCreekBare · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Robert A. Heinlein in his 1957 time-travel novel described exactly this idea in detail when his protagonist awoke in the "far distant" year of 2000. So it is hardly new.

  10. Prior Art - Acorn Archimedes by ajv · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The Acorn Archimedes, circa 1984, had a image animation demo in the default software package which had a rendered page turning effect similar to the one described.

    The ARM chip was the only processor in a desktop machine at the time powerful enough to do this by CPU alone. It would be years before an Intel chip would be powerful enough to do the same thing.

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    Andrew van der Stock
  11. Re:Have all the knowledgeable people left Microsof by mbstone · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I probably should have tried harder to get a job there back in the day, when being a MS employee was a path to personal financial success. Nowadays every couple of months I get a call from some child MS recruiter, who doesn't actually work for MS but for some Recruitment Process Outsourcing company, who hasn't read my resume, and who wants me to do some job that anybody who actually did read my resume would realize is a lousy match to my skill set. Not only that, he wants me to work for some other outsourcing company so that they can take 1/3 of my bill rate and send me to work there with few benefits and a funny-colored badge that says Non-Microsoft Employee. They can stuff it. I assume their sheer size and inertia will carry them for another decade or two as a going concern, but I wouldn't give them much longer than that.