Apple granted original list-editing iPhone patent, 13 others
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted Apple an original iPhone patent for editing lists using touch gestures that allow for a seamless smartphone experience, as well as inventions regarding use of the handset as a portable hard drive and a filing for the company's now defunct Bluetooth headset.
A list of thirteen original Apple patents was officially published on Wednesday by the USPTO, with a key list editing filing not only arming the company's legal team with yet another weapon for future litigation, but also giving a glimpse into the how Apple sought to change the future of smartphones by creating a truly integrated user interface, according to Apple patent blog Patently Apple.
The original touchscreen patent, first filed for in June 2007, covers a method for displaying and managing lists on a portable multifunction device, and details a simple computer user interface controlled by finger gestures rather than a sequence of button presses and stylus touches.
What the abstract describes is the basic list management system found on current iOS devices.
Included in the patent background is a look at the state of portable devices at the time, which Apple claimed "resorted to adding more pushbuttons, increasing the density of push buttons, overloading the functions of pushbuttons, or using complex menu systems to allow a user to access, store and manipulate data." A far cry from what the company eventually released in the original one-button iPhone.
Apple's granted patent regarding list editing | Source: Patently Apple
The claim goes on to explain that devices which rely on physical pushbuttons are inherently limited in their configurability, and that a conventional user may find it frustrating to operate such an inflexible interface. As the argument slowly builds its case for touch-screens over physical buttons, Apple is quick to point out that the stylus is also obsolete.
Because such devices are designed to read the precise pinpoint contact of the stylus (when a user makes a selection on the touch screen with the stylus), making selections on the touch screen of the device without a stylus, for example, with a user's finger, can prove to be somewhat difficult.
The filing wraps up by concluding that a more transparent UI be implemented, one that features finger input to select and manipulate on-screen items that are easy to use, configure and adapt.
As we see in current iOS devices, Apple's answer to the "transparent UI" was to leverage another recently-granted patent for capacitive touch panels and a battery of multi-touch gestures to create a user experience that is far more customizable than physical pushbutton operation.
Along with the above list-editing patent, Apple was granted a filing regarding pairing and storage access between a handheld device and a computer which describes how the iPhone is able to be used as a portable hard drive.
Rounding out the patent list is a filing for Apple's Bluetooth headset, which was pulled from shelves following a lukewarm reception after it was introduced shortly after the first iPhone in 2007.
A list of thirteen original Apple patents was officially published on Wednesday by the USPTO, with a key list editing filing not only arming the company's legal team with yet another weapon for future litigation, but also giving a glimpse into the how Apple sought to change the future of smartphones by creating a truly integrated user interface, according to Apple patent blog Patently Apple.
The original touchscreen patent, first filed for in June 2007, covers a method for displaying and managing lists on a portable multifunction device, and details a simple computer user interface controlled by finger gestures rather than a sequence of button presses and stylus touches.
What the abstract describes is the basic list management system found on current iOS devices.
Included in the patent background is a look at the state of portable devices at the time, which Apple claimed "resorted to adding more pushbuttons, increasing the density of push buttons, overloading the functions of pushbuttons, or using complex menu systems to allow a user to access, store and manipulate data." A far cry from what the company eventually released in the original one-button iPhone.
Apple's granted patent regarding list editing | Source: Patently Apple
The claim goes on to explain that devices which rely on physical pushbuttons are inherently limited in their configurability, and that a conventional user may find it frustrating to operate such an inflexible interface. As the argument slowly builds its case for touch-screens over physical buttons, Apple is quick to point out that the stylus is also obsolete.
Because such devices are designed to read the precise pinpoint contact of the stylus (when a user makes a selection on the touch screen with the stylus), making selections on the touch screen of the device without a stylus, for example, with a user's finger, can prove to be somewhat difficult.
The filing wraps up by concluding that a more transparent UI be implemented, one that features finger input to select and manipulate on-screen items that are easy to use, configure and adapt.
As we see in current iOS devices, Apple's answer to the "transparent UI" was to leverage another recently-granted patent for capacitive touch panels and a battery of multi-touch gestures to create a user experience that is far more customizable than physical pushbutton operation.
Along with the above list-editing patent, Apple was granted a filing regarding pairing and storage access between a handheld device and a computer which describes how the iPhone is able to be used as a portable hard drive.
Rounding out the patent list is a filing for Apple's Bluetooth headset, which was pulled from shelves following a lukewarm reception after it was introduced shortly after the first iPhone in 2007.
Comments
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted Apple an original iPhone patent for editing lists using touch gestures that allow for a seamless smartphone experience ...
Clear as mud.
Why bother publishing articles like this at all? Anyone have a link to a site that actually explains this?
Clear as mud.
Why bother publishing articles like this at all? Anyone have a link to a site that actually explains this?
Try reading the story.
Clear as mud.
Why bother publishing articles like this at all? Anyone have a link to a site that actually explains this?
The article on AI linked to the original article. You can read the original article at Patently Apple which might go into more detail (I briefly glanced):
http://www.patentlyapple.com/patentl...-and-more.html
From what I can see these patents look unique.
Unique, until copied by Android OEM's.
As the wheels of government departments slowly turn, the copyists have more and more to answer for.
From what I can see these patents look unique.
Poor Apple, I love to see them scrounge around for anything that they can use against Android. Its all they can do really as Android is wiping the floor with them. And then its also fun to sit back and watch there law suits be shot down on the account that the patents are outdated or baseless. LOL go suck an egg Apple.
Android rules.
Poor Apple, I love to see them scrounge around for anything that they can use against Android. Its all they can do really as Android is wiping the floor with them. And then its also fun to sit back and watch there law suits be shot down on the account that the patents are outdated or baseless. LOL go suck an egg Apple.
Android rules.
Android rules what? Definitely the leader of dysfunctional, fragmented mediocrity resulting from cobbling together and hastily trying to steal everybody else's IP, whether from Microsoft, Oracle or Apple.
Apple are building a whole armoury of patents around touch screen and gestures which slowly but steadily will degrade even further the lousy Android user experience
Poor Apple, I love to see them scrounge around for anything that they can use against Android. Its all they can do really as Android is wiping the floor with them. And then its also fun to sit back and watch there law suits be shot down on the account that the patents are outdated or baseless. LOL go suck an egg Apple.
Android rules.
…
Yes, that IS what an Android fanboy might say to troll (under the old, oft-misused definition, meaning 'making crap up while simultaneously ignoring truth to serve a personal vision that runs contrariwise to the actual facts AND the general position of the place being trolled') the forums. That's an impressive emulation.
(There, I saved your bacon. Now run!)
Oh. Your entire posting history is nothing but this short-sighted nonsense.
…
I see.
?
Yes, that IS what an Android fanboy might say to troll (under the old, oft-misused definition, meaning 'making crap up while simultaneously ignoring truth to serve a personal vision that runs contrariwise to the actual facts AND the general position of the place being trolled') the forums. That's an impressive emulation.
(There, I saved your bacon. Now run!)
Oh. Your entire posting history is nothing but this short-sighted nonsense.
?
I see.
So.... there's a way to deal with posters that bring nothing but trollish nonsense......
From what I can see these patents look unique.
What's so unique about the list editing patent? I must be missing it. Replace the word finger with pointing device and you've got the same method used to edit lists that already exists in various programs. Hardly unique.
What's so unique about the list editing patent? I must be missing it. Replace the word finger with pointing device and you've got the same method used to edit lists that already exists in various programs. Hardly unique.
Can you show me examples of where that exact same action was done with a stylus?
Can you show me examples of where that exact same action was done with a stylus?
This particular touchscreen patent doesn't look to be anymore than what IBM Simon, the "original touchscreen phone", did back in '93.
For those unfamiliar with it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Simon
This particular touchscreen patent doesn't look to be anymore than what IBM Simon, the "original touchscreen phone", did back in '93.
For those unfamiliar with it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Simon
My question wasn't difficult to understand. Where is the evidence showing the specific methods of editing lists in these patents being used in prior devices?
Along with the above list-editing patent, Apple was granted a filing regarding pairing and storage access between a handheld device and a computer which describes how the iPhone is able to be used as a portable hard drive.
A shame this never came to be. I still carry a USB stick with me for large files which copies way faster than going through iDisk or similar methods.
My question wasn't difficult to understand. Where is the evidence showing the specific methods of editing lists in these patents being used in prior devices?
If it's not difficult to understand, what do you see as the difference in the way the Simon editted/accessed items in a list and Apple's patent?
If it's not difficult to understand, what do you see as the difference in the way the Simon editted/accessed items in a list and Apple's patent?
Maybe you should post some evidence that there are similarities. I imagine very few people, including yourself, have ever seen a Simon in action. There's certainly nothing in the info at the link you posted that would support your assertion.
I am of two minds about this - or three. Yes, the list editing in iOS is sublime, and was from day 1. Clearly some very clever people invented this. Probably Steve Jobs himself, RIP.
Second, it's very clever, but a patent? That prevents anyone else from doing the same thing? That seems overkill.
Third, Samsung is really going all out with its efforts to copy Apple products 1:1, to wit the latest Galaxy something Plus which looks 1:1 like an iPhone 3GS... I mean WTF Samsung, there should be a law against this. Oh wait, there is...
I love this sentence: "The claim goes on to explain that devices which rely on physical pushbuttons are inherently limited in their configurability"
It took Google 4 years to figure this out. They have claimed their hardware buttons as an advantage vs iOS. Until 2011, that is, when they removed them all. RIM still doesn't get it even today...
. . . which is one of the points I was making when I mentioned the almost 20 year old IBM Simon touchscreen phone. It didn't have any buttons either, using finger presses or an optional stylus to select and/or modify menu items and lists.