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Micron Lands Broad "Slide To Unlock" Patent

Posted by timothy on from the is-it-malice-blindness-or-incompetence dept.

Zordak writes "Micron has recently landed U.S. Patent 8,352,745, which claims priority back to a February 2000 application---well before Apple's 2004 slide-to-unlock application. While claim construction is a highly technical art, the claims here are (for once) almost as broad as they sound, and may cover the bulk of touch screen smart phones on the market today. Dennis Crouch's Patently-O has a discussion."

3 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. The USPTO is holding roundtables by ciaran_o_riordan · · Score: 5, Informative

    The USPTO is holding roundtables with software developers to ask for suggestions. If anyone can add to what's there already, I've some suggestions on this wiki:

    http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Suggestions_for_the_USPTO_in_2013

    (But remember, the patent office has only a small role in patent policy. Most substantial changes will have to come from Congress or the Supreme Court.)

    --
    Expert in software patents or patent law? Contribute to the ESP wiki!
    1. Re:The USPTO is holding roundtables by logjon · · Score: 5, Informative

      Alternatively, since they have to follow court rulings, we could try: OBVIOUSNESS TEST FOR SOFTWARE PATENTS SHOULD BE DONE BY SOMEONE WHOSE EXPERTISE IN THE FIELD INVOLVES MORE THAN SENDING E-MAIL IN OUTLOOK. Seriously, where do they find these people? If it's software to do X, it should be examined by someone with expertise in the field of software AND the field of X.

      --
      The stories and info posted here are artistic works of fiction and falsehood.
      Only fools would take it as fact.
  2. Android slide-to-unlock not covered by this patent by pv2b · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm not a patent expert, although I did once watch a very informative video about how patents work. This makes me eminently qualified on the subject by slashdot standards.

    Looking at the independent claims, it looks like at least the lock screen as implemented by Samsung (starting at the unlock button, drag a certain distance in any direction to unlock) and possibly other Android phones out there is safe from this patent.

    1. A system comprising:

    a touch screen upon which a user is to enter, by drawing, a geometric pattern in a specified direction to gain access to the system; and

    a processing circuit coupled to the touch screen to compare the user entered geometric pattern to a predefined geometric pattern stored in a memory.

    Since the system on Samsung phones works no matter which direction you drag, it looks like the "slide to unlock" implementation in Samsung phones is clear.

    However, I think this patent may very well be applicable to the "pattern lock" of android phones.