Apple's patented the Tablet Mac (part II)

Well, what do you know? Yet another Apple tablet PC patent's shown up on the USPTO site, this one also with none other than Jonny Ive's Handcock on it (last time around it was both Jobs and Ive on the patent, though). Today's filing mainly pertains to touch-input user interface methods with multiple fingers, gestures, and motions, as well as methods for visually displaying and manipulating aspects of the UI -- exciting stuff, we know. But the point is that ok, we get it already Apple, you're working on a tablet PC. Now how about releasing it so you guys can focus those man-hours on a proper DVR / media Mac for us, eh?

[Via Mac Rumors]

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[fowler @ Feb 2nd 2006 4:28PM]

that hand is so awesome

[Mr. Tips @ Feb 2nd 2006 4:29PM]

If using it is going to mutate my hands like that....NO THANKS.

[rokorre @ Feb 2nd 2006 4:30PM]

sigh . . . one day my love

[Joe @ Feb 2nd 2006 4:30PM]

Christ, that's a scary looking hand in Fig. 23D.

[Alex @ Feb 2nd 2006 4:36PM]

Microsoft research has done some cool stuff with pen-based gestural input on tablet pcs, but none of it has ever ended up in the actual product. As usual, it looks like apple is going to be the first to bring an innovative ui to market, which is pretty sad considering Redmond has had several years to do this.

[Tim @ Feb 2nd 2006 4:37PM]

Yet another Windows nick. Do these guys ever come up with something original? There should be an acronym for stuff like this.


...Y.a.w.n.

[Gregory Giordano @ May 25th 2007 1:38PM]

right... because the concept of tablet architecture or non key/mouse Input is soley the provision of the PC. hmmm. you're kind of response is tired and boring and frankly the kind of bull that makes the PC wonk type have a bad name.

i suppose that MAC should be admonished for having monitors, mice and so on too. stop with the creepy, kneejerk PC vs MAC bulldada and grow up.

[hamish @ Feb 2nd 2006 4:37PM]

I'm actually thinking this is for a video ipod where the entire width of the ipod becomes a widescreen display, and the "scroll wheel" becomes touch screen.

[oliver @ Feb 2nd 2006 4:38PM]

duh, this 'tablet PC' IS the DVR/MediaMac. That is to say, the touch screen tablet will be the controls for your digital home (a la Sonos, for for movies and photos as well as music).

It's so obvious!

[Luis @ Feb 2nd 2006 4:40PM]

I think this is going to apply to the new video iPod. I was watching diggnation and Alex was talking about how cool it would be for the new iPod to have a 16:9 full touchscreen where the scrollwheel would pop up on screen when you touched the it, and allow you to do everything you normally would with the current scrollwheel. I also believe that is where apple is going with this patent. lets see what happens in a few weeks...

[Desert @ Feb 2nd 2006 4:41PM]

This is what Bush must have meant about 'Human-animal hybrids'.

[johnnie @ Feb 2nd 2006 4:44PM]

Hancock.

[Sam @ Feb 2nd 2006 4:44PM]

hmmmm.... anyone else see the potential for a touch sensitive iPod screen. There's always beed rumours of a "big" screen iPod with a touch sensitive screen. We know that the current 5G isnt THE video Ipod, according to Jobs, so maybe this represents a move towards an iPod with a huge touchy feely screen, that diagra does have a little click wheel esq circle with a finger on it.

Alternativley I could just have an overactive imagination......

[Bob Mc @ Feb 2nd 2006 4:44PM]

Fig. 27D could be the next video iPod...

Those hands are scary.

[Dim @ Feb 2nd 2006 4:46PM]

again, pls note that this is merely an application for patent (published according to statute 18 months after the earliest date of priority sought or filing), not a patent. apple seeks to obtain patent protection (an exclusionary right, not a right in itself to make/use/own) the invention described only by the claims listed at the end of the patent, generally much more specific/narrow than that suggested by a quick view of the figures or spec.

[Caleb @ Feb 2nd 2006 4:47PM]

Hancock, not Handcock. Although I'm sure the engadget editors will attribute it to a freudian slip.

[biscuitus @ Feb 2nd 2006 4:51PM]

umm...what's a "Handcock?"

[James Dehnert Sr @ Feb 2nd 2006 4:52PM]

Hmm, think Nokia 770 meets video iPod. Personally, I don't really want a tablet PC, but a web browser + media player + universal control + book reader, perhaps.

Think of the nice video interface to a home media player this could be. Add high speed wireless and you have an Apple version of Location Free TV too.

[yelohbird @ Feb 2nd 2006 4:56PM]

HANCOCK, not HANDcock PLEASE! The latter is NSFW =d

put it down all you want, but I think it's interesting to see Apple bring their iPod scroll-wheel to the tablet UI, which to me seems like a make-or-break move(think Sony's Jog-Dial, which was tested on early Vaio laptops, then subsequently killed).

[Keng @ Feb 2nd 2006 5:02PM]

Now, we see why Apple has long been rumored to have bought FingerWorks.com....cheaper than a lawsuit.

[BEETROOT @ Feb 2nd 2006 5:11PM]

Must be Costanza'a hands post iron incident.

[John Doe @ Feb 2nd 2006 5:13PM]

Yinda hard not too when all Microsoft did with their interface is slap a bunch of addon cabs into XP and add a memory leak and call it done. Honestly you�d think Microsoft would have learned its lesson with their Palm sized PC experiment. That being that the Windows standard interface does NOT fit all form factors. Something they somewhat learned with the Pocket PC. If Microsoft and their FANatics want people to stop hacking on them they shouldn�t make it so damn easy.

[John Doe @ Feb 2nd 2006 5:21PM]

"Yet another Windows nick. Do these guys ever come up with something original? There should be an acronym for stuff like this."

Yinda hard not too when all Microsoft did with their interface is slap a bunch of addon cabs into XP and add a memory leak and call it done. Honestly you�d think Microsoft would have learned its lesson with their Palm sized PC experiment. That being that the Windows standard interface does NOT fit all form factors. Something they somewhat learned with the Pocket PC. If Microsoft and their FANatics want people to stop hacking on them they shouldn�t make it so damn easy.

[toomanyplugs @ Feb 2nd 2006 5:33PM]

to Keng (#19):

Just what I was thinking... I'm still using two TouchStreams, one at work and one at home so I don't have to lug them around...

Let's just hope that Apple maintains the same level of tech that the Fingerworks guys came up with.

[ivan @ Feb 2nd 2006 5:42PM]

that hand position is the same one used for the original iMac puck mice

[JT @ Feb 2nd 2006 5:52PM]

I'm as far from a designer as it gets, but even I can predict in a not too distant future an iPod with a screen almost as big as the device, and where the controls are software-based, via a touchscreen. Say, october 2006.

[Frida @ Feb 2nd 2006 6:24PM]

Apple will domintate the home media, just like the i pod way. Bad new for the competition

[jnasato @ Feb 2nd 2006 6:25PM]

Iii see that Apple is still using that frog-hand artist..... One would think that Apple could afford better patent artists.

[nerd @ Feb 2nd 2006 6:40PM]

How come no one has made mention of how much this looks like Steve Jobs' profile? Take away the hair, and you've got yourself a vectorized Stevie.

[Kevin Miller @ Feb 2nd 2006 7:11PM]

Actually, this is the new Apple Etch-a-Sketch.

[John Belmont @ Feb 2nd 2006 7:48PM]

Something like this is just what people need. Something smaller than a laptop, that can be worked with your hands. Extremely simple, and simplicity is what sells. I find it hard to believe the machine would run with your hands though, seeing as a large majority of the buttons on a screenw ould be smaller than an average finger. A stylus would most likely come into play here. Something like this would be great. This touch technology could also come into play with desktops and laptops. It could revolutionize the way people work on their computers. Great stuff, definitely looking forward to more information.

[Rubberdemon @ Feb 2nd 2006 8:12PM]

Interesting speculation, but just imagine how often you'd be wiping your fingerprints off your juicy new ipod screen every time you want to watch 'lost'... Maybe they'll come with a free cloth.

[Stu L Tissimus @ Feb 2nd 2006 8:52PM]

I hope to god it's Newton 2. Secksy.

[keng @ Feb 2nd 2006 10:41PM]

To: toomanyplugs
2 TOUCHSTREAMS!!!! MAN THAT'S A GOLD MINE YOU JUST CAN'T AFFORD TO MINE!
they're still going for about $800 a piece on ebay and i wouldn't sell mine for twice the price except the day before the start selling them again only this time not maroon!

[Travis Harper @ Feb 2nd 2006 10:44PM]

LMAO at the comments regarding the hand in F23D.

[nuffGigs @ Feb 3rd 2006 12:45AM]

I also think this might be for the future video iPods which will probably be released sometime before the '06 holiday season right after a higher capacity iPod is released.

[Shmoe @ Feb 3rd 2006 1:30AM]

Think iPod nano. What good is this? Fingerprints all over your screen to match your scratched nano with fingerprints.

[Joel @ Feb 3rd 2006 3:36AM]

Hey #34. Have you seen what a coating like TDK's Durabis 2 does with fingerprints and scratch-resistance on the new Blu-ray discs?

Have a little foresight and welcome to the 21st century.

[Jia @ Feb 3rd 2006 6:57AM]

Most of the multi-touch input and bimanual (2-handed) gestures on touch surfaces have been done and published before. See the videos and published papers for the DiamondTouch multi-touch multi-user tabletop tablet and work done at University of Toronto by Mike Wu:
http://www.merl.com/projects/DiamondTouch/
http://www.dgp.toronto.edu/~mchi/
http://www.merl.com/publications/TR2005-096/
http://www.merl.com/publications/TR2005-109/

[neale @ Feb 3rd 2006 7:45AM]

"7. I'm actually thinking this is for a video ipod where the entire width of the ipod becomes a widescreen display, and the "scroll wheel" becomes touch screen."

i agree. its def an ipod thats all screen, for maximizing movies but also using the scroll wheel. be wicked if it was also a remote control for my mac, change songs and stuff and my mac plays it through my speakers

[Eric @ Feb 3rd 2006 11:03AM]

Way back in 1993 or so I remember watching a program on TV called Beyond 2000 or Beyond Tomorrow or something. It was either British or Australian in origin. They were showing the "next revolution" in touch-screen controllers and had a working prototype of a multi-point touch sensor that was "to be used in the space shuttle to replace panels and panels of knobs and dials with a few simpler touch screens". The operator simply touched two points on the screen like they would when grabbing a knob and twist.

How could Apple get a patent on something that I KNOW has been in existance for more than a decade?

[arion @ Feb 3rd 2006 2:06PM]

I also thought of the video ipod with the scroll wheel on the touchscreen, but it can't just simply be that. A lot of people like the feel of pushing a button, which is why it's a click scroll wheel. But I say add the force-feedback from Immersion (anyone have the force-feedback mouse from logitech, i loved that thing...) for touchscreens. Check it out:

http://www.immersion.com/industrial/touchscreen/

[Bill @ Feb 3rd 2006 5:29PM]

This is just the beginning of the new products Apple will release to give the competitions some painful headaches for the next few years to come.More surprises to come, just wait.

Bill

[Richard Kuo @ Feb 4th 2006 10:26PM]

I do not believe Apple will be doing a tablet at the present time, or if they do, it will be downplayed significantly relative to the overall MacBook experience, similar to how Video iPod's were still all about music. Wintel tablets do a lot of things poorly and only a few things well. Apple's product philosophy is quite contrary to that approach.

Also keep in mind that companies nowadays file a bunch of patents for any direction they may want to head in so they can defend themselves against lawsuits later. It often has nothing to do with an actual product.

[Josh Lund @ Feb 6th 2006 2:00PM]

I hope this is more than just a big iPod or a multimedia controller. I'm a professional in multimedia/education, and this is just the thing I'm looking for to free me from the podium. To be able to walk around the classroom or the studio and teach, edit, what have you all in real time, wirelessly, without worrying about dropping a stylus...this is PERFECT! I'm hoping this is a special edition of the iBook or the MacBook, tablet style.

Oh, by the way, I'm a lifelong PC user who's considering the big switch. I love tablet PCs and the freedom they offer, and Mac coming out with a tablet would push me over into Macdom. We all know what they say:

Once you go Mac, you never go back.

[Jose @ Feb 9th 2006 5:37PM]

A step further toward the Apple Smart Home and Smart Cars. With the rising popularity of On-Demand TV, DVR, and Satellite Radio, I'd like to see a simplified integration of these technologies by Apple designers.

[Matt Linder @ Feb 27th 2006 3:50PM]

HELP!!!! I have fingers growing directly out of my wrist!!!

[Rob @ Mar 23rd 2006 4:20PM]

I created a wiki for building your own mac tablet pc:
http://www.editthis.info/mac_tablet_pc_wiki/index.php/Main_Page

[Pete @ May 7th 2006 9:31PM]

does this new video ipod have a name?

[david @ May 10th 2006 3:35PM]

i want to know when the new ipod is coming out.