Apple files for patent on wide laptop touchpad

We tried really hard to make it through the day without mentioning Apple but, well, we just couldn't help ourselves. See, we came across this patent application Apple filed for a wide trackpad for laptops, and had to check it out. We're not exactly sure how this would work (if we're not mistaken, most of the surface occupied by the pad also happens to be prime real estate for our hands when we're using a laptop), but it certainly seems like part of a general trend at Apple to try to patent just about anything with the words "touch" and "interface" in it -- even if it doesn't seem like something that has any real practical application.

[Via Macsimsum]

[J @ Mar 2nd 2006 4:45PM]

This is just what the Hifi boombox needs. It will sense my frustration and turn off right before I throw it out the window.

[Mark Glasgowmark @ Mar 2nd 2006 4:49PM]

Uhh you should really read the patends before saying theres no space for your hands on it

1. A portable computer, comprising: a display assembly coupled to a base assembly, said base assembly having palm rest areas being positioned to support a user's palms; and a touchpad disposed on said base assembly, wherein said palm rest areas are formed by said touchpad.

2. The portable computer of claim 1, wherein said touchpad comprises regions having input device functionality, and wherein said touchpad is disposed in at least one of a left palm rest area and a right palm rest area.

3. The portable computer of claim 2, wherein said regions are capable of providing cursor control functionality and providing an area for a user to rest a body part.

4. The portable computer of claim 3, wherein one of said regions of said touchpad is capable of providing input device functionality concurrently while another of said regions provides an area for a user to rest a body part.

[Fuzz @ Mar 2nd 2006 4:50PM]

"but it certainly seems like part of a general trend at Apple to try to patent just about anything with the words "touch" and "interface" in it"

--If Nintendo Hasn't gotten there first.

[Apple Hater @ Mar 2nd 2006 4:52PM]

I'm glad that hackers cracked OS-X and now Mac is vunerable to virus attacks just as X86 based OS's.

[Jason Wilkin @ Mar 2nd 2006 4:55PM]

and I was just about to shoot myself after the 28th's realese of the extremely dissatisfiying "fun new products"

[jr @ Mar 2nd 2006 4:58PM]

Can I just premptively say THIS IS NOT A PATENT, it is an application TO the USPTO requesting a patent be granted (which may or may not occur).

[CupertinoSlim @ Mar 2nd 2006 4:59PM]

Glasgowmark nailed it, while the article overlooked it: the software processing contacts with the pad distinguishes between a small patch, like a fingertip, and a larger patch, like a palm. And it can handle multiple patches at once.

[Baz @ Mar 2nd 2006 5:00PM]

You think they could at least use phot0shop for a black and whit line drawing. Come on apple hand drawn diagrams...I expect more form you. Then again I expected more then a boom box and a $99 leather case that cost $3 to make in India.

[Brian Stuckey @ Mar 2nd 2006 5:02PM]

Actualy, Wacom has vertical strips like the one in the diagram on their Intous 3 pads. They operate like a scroll wheel on your mouse. I can see how these would be useful on a laptop where you can't easily have a scroll wheel.

[Dignan17 @ Mar 2nd 2006 5:17PM]

#2 - if you want to get nit-picky, they didn't say that "theres no space for your hands on it." They said it "happens to be prime real estate for our hands when we're using a laptop." Very different, and a reasonable observation.

My guess is that [theoretically, of course] the space on the sides would be for uses other than cursor control. If that entire width really was intended for controlling the cursor, there's no way it would scale properly. You'd be flying left and right across the screen, then dragging/lifting your finger a dozen times to go up and down.

I'd probably say that the extra spaces on the sides could be for gestures or something along those lines.

But for the most part I agree with Engadget here. It sure rings like an attempt to patent some idea that flung into their heads one day. "Hey look at all this space to the sides of the trackpad. What if..."

[Steve @ Mar 2nd 2006 5:22PM]

The patent application itself is well aware that this is prime palm space and in fact, the majority of the patent goes into detail about how the system will decide whether to ignore capacitance by touch based on context.

[John Hinds @ Mar 2nd 2006 5:25PM]

The description for this article is rubbish.

"See, we came across this patent"

This was posted on Digg 4 hours ago and you got it from there.

Why has this site become
www.en-copytechnewsfromdiggand macrumoursites-gadget.com this week.

[Z @ Mar 2nd 2006 5:47PM]

As #6 said, this is a patent application. Hopefully the USPTO will reject the application as being an obvious advancement in the art. If, as #8 says, another company has already produced this technology, not to mention used and sold it to the public, then Apple should be denied a patent on the basis that the invention claimed is not novel.

Not to mention the fact that the claims, as they stand, are wildly broad and would not likely be accepted by the USPTO withouth substantial narrowing, if at all.

Just my $0.02.

[Ben @ Mar 2nd 2006 5:49PM]

lol I guess this is engadget in apple bashing mode.

[south @ Mar 2nd 2006 5:52PM]

and, John Hinds, even if they did find it on digg, how is that not "coming across it"?

the Engadget eds are just reporting on whatever tech news is important and attention-worthy this week. If they didn't report the topical stuff, none of us would bother reading this site. Give them a break.

[Z @ Mar 2nd 2006 5:58PM]

That wasn't the intention of my post, to criticize Apple. The intent was to comment on the patent, which itself is a reflection of the current state of the patent system. The system, intended to foster invention among independent inventors, now must deal with a flood of applications filed by companies in an attempt to grab intellectual property from other companies.

The review system takes too long, and patents are granted, in many cases, too easily. Once a patent is granted, it is considered presumptively valid, which means a visit to court to have the patent declared invalid. That trip to court can cost millions of dollars and take years to resolve, so companies license the technology to each other. This additional cost for litigation and licensing, for many patents that are at best, questionable in the first place, is passed along to the consumer, or taken from research budgets.

[Alex Newman @ Mar 2nd 2006 6:32PM]

Does anyone else get the idea that Apple is just filing patents just so that rumours are spread?

[elber @ Mar 2nd 2006 6:38PM]

why do you have to say you are trying to get through the day without an apple thing? is that nessisary? seriously if I see one more microsoft story on here im gonna puke

[Bill Fold @ Mar 2nd 2006 6:45PM]

uhhh, link plz?

[mike @ Mar 2nd 2006 6:48PM]

. I'm glad that hackers cracked OS-X and now Mac is vunerable to virus attacks just as X86 based OS's.

---

mmmm keep telling yourself that. until then, at least on this planet, ZERO viruses on OS X. ZERO.

[br @ Mar 2nd 2006 7:33PM]

If any of the people who said, "what about your palms hitting of it"???

Atcually bothered to find the patent, and read it!
You would see the real revelation here.

The trackpad, actually is intelligent enough to tell the difference between
accidental taps or palms, and intential ones!

[Ramone @ Mar 2nd 2006 7:38PM]

Big trackpad, but only one button??

[ryan Smart @ Mar 2nd 2006 8:02PM]

Bravo and good job to apple's rumor mill for staking the market with much less important information.

1) - Apple has made it painfully obvious about its move to Intel...
But I ask you this... �Has Apple, will Apple, release a intel based Xserve/PowerMac Desk top?
I say no... The Cell Processor is fare to powerful to ignore.
Some of you will say... But apple said it is moving to Intel... Yes. But did they say they where leaving the Power. No.
My guess is this @ Apples big 30th Birthday party on April 1st 2006 Apple will announce the availability of
Pro DeskTop Computers/Xserves/Work Stations/Clusters Utilizing STI's Cell Processors'
1) Scalability - The options are almost without Limit.
2) Power - both in computing power and power consumption.
3) Publicity - Ride the Sony PS3 Hype Machine that will start on or before Apple's April Anouncment.
4) Xgrid - Apple advertised heavily before the "move" to Intel but now will not talk.
5) Universal Applications... Yes a Universal application is usable on both PPC & Intel
based Mac's but Apple will very easily, if they have not already, add cell, altavic,
or even Parallel GPU coding.
Now I am not saying Apple will only utilize the Cell, But Use both Power Chips and Cell's as a Coprocessor or Something

In closing I ask you this...
Why are we hearing so-much about iPods/iTunes/and mobile computing but nothing on the Desktop/Power Home User?

What about
2.7 / 3 / 3.33GHz Power6 (Duel Core) 1 or 2 on a Motherboard
16GB Ram
4GHz Cell coprocessor unit (Running GPU/Core audio/Core Image/ & Xgrid Functions)

Now put that into any of the Power/Xserve/Work Station boxes and you have an instant Work Horse

[Matt @ Mar 2nd 2006 8:05PM]

Maybe they will see the light and add a "wide" two button clickr too!

[WesD @ Mar 2nd 2006 8:37PM]

#21 - My Acer's touchpad has an option to turn on it's "Intelligent Sensor" for the touchpad. It works too, so there really is no real revelation here, just the idea of a disproportionate input device.

Also, never mind my palms, that's where I use my portable mouse!!!

[glacia00 @ Mar 2nd 2006 9:03PM]

""patent just about anything with the words "touch" and "interface" in it -- even if it doesn't seem like something that has any real practical application.""


Sadly this is very much a strategy in many high tech fields. I've worked at 3 companies that used this very strategy. While you occasionally hear of some large award quite often companies engaged in litigation simply end up cross- licensing instead of the suit actually coming to a decision.

Therefore it pays to have a huge portfolio even if it's actually mostly useless. The hope is that a company who sues you will jump at the chance to get the use of your huge port and will settle.

And as far as collecting royalties from licensing patents it's often so small an amount that few companies even list it in earnings.

While legal departments will grab the pitchforks and torches for saying it in high tech companies patents are almost useless. Design cycles are so fast that if you truly design something unique it's out the door then replaced by something else so quickly that a patent is almost not worth bothering with.

The real sin of the patent-anything strategy is that it means the PTO is so buried they have given up reviewing patents. They have stated that they rely on litigation to sort it out. And believe it or not almost no patent lawyers do a patent search. They are relying on the PTO. Relying on them being too buried that is. So no surprise � the lawyers are the only guaranteed winner. They get paid to write the useless patents and paid regardless of how a suit ends.

[pewtey @ Mar 2nd 2006 9:36PM]

Remember, just because Apple applies for a patent doesn't mean it's the start of some new product. Employees at Apple (and many other companies) are under contract that whatever ideas they develop on company time and with company resources is�you guessed it�company property. So this trackpad patent could just as easily be a bi-product of the R&D put forth on the MacBook Pro as it could some fancy new style of trackpad they're working on.

Of course, that's not as much fun. :-)

[Chris @ Mar 2nd 2006 9:50PM]

"Apple Hater: 4. I'm glad that hackers cracked OS-X and now Mac is vunerable to virus attacks just as X86 based OS's."

Ummm, most of OS X is open source UNIX which uhhhh, doesn't really need to be cracked. Thanks for sharing with us all the things you don't know.
At least I know my PM G5 and MBPro is safe from Mr. Cracker Pants Apple Hater.

[Steve Jobs @ Mar 2nd 2006 11:00PM]

hi, i'm a troll. spam me please: [e-mail]

[x23 @ Mar 3rd 2006 1:20AM]

"1) - Apple has made it painfully obvious about its move to Intel...
But I ask you this... �Has Apple, will Apple, release a intel based Xserve/PowerMac Desk top?
I say no... The Cell Processor is fare to powerful to ignore.
Some of you will say... But apple said it is moving to Intel... Yes. But did they say they where leaving the Power. No."

yes. in fact they did. in addition to laying out the roadmap last year the the WWDC to move EVERY mac to Intel by the end of 2007 (now moved up to the end of 2006) Steve Jobs has also been quoted as saying that the Cell processor was not a good general purpose computing chip and would not be used in Macs.

from the NYT :

"Kutaragi tried to interest Jobs in adopting the Cell microprocessor, which is being developed by IBM for use in the coming PlayStation 3, in exchange for access to certain Sony technologies. Jobs rejected the idea, telling Kutaragi that he was disappointed with the Cell design, which he believed would be even less effective than the Power PC."

so the "Some of you will say" ... includes Steve Jobs himself. and your resounding "But did they say they where leaving the Power. No." is a wholly make-believe.

[Adrian @ Mar 3rd 2006 5:36AM]

But you can still buy a Dell notebook for less than a Mac Mini ... looks like with all Apple's creativity in the world they still can't get their hands around VALUE FOR MONEY.

Next.

[Alex K. @ Mar 3rd 2006 7:30AM]

The commentors on this page are some of the stupidest ever.

#1 The Cell sucks and get over it Apple is switching to Intel and although AMD is better now for desktops, the crown of best laptop/desktop processors frequently teeters between AMD and Intel.
#2 This isn't an overpatent, if you actually read some discriptions it's obviously a unique device, sensing which inputs are valid and not by sensing where your hands are in relation to your fingers.
#3 Mac OS X doesn't have any viruses. Every couple of months the article "First Mac OS X virus appears" and then they determine that it's not really a virus since they never replicate themselves and usually are just proof of concept. The latest one is just the 4th "First" virus for Mac OS X.
#4 That said, saying how much Macs suck cause they have ONE virus is just rediculous. Windows gets almost a virus a day, so why bash the Mac for having ONE POTENTIAL and most likely NOT a virus?
#5 Don't give me the "safety by obscurity" crap. 10 million + computer users use OS X alone, Macs are at their highest popularity in some time, and it's a prime target. It's been 6 years now, Mac OS X has no real threats.

[James @ Mar 3rd 2006 12:22PM]

holy crap look at all the butthurt apple lovers. hilarious!

"#34. The commentors on this page are some of the stupidest ever."

yeah, just like yours.

#2 get a life. it's obvious you're an apple lover. getting mad over #1s comments against your precious apple.

all you apple guys need help. anytime someone bashes apple you guys come out in force to try to defend them. it's so sad and pathetic. no company is perfect and apple is far from it.

"In closing I ask you this...
Why are we hearing so-much about iPods/iTunes/and mobile computing but nothing on the Desktop/Power Home User?"

why? because macs suck and In closing I ask you this...
Why are we hearing so-much about iPods/iTunes/and mobile computing but nothing on the Desktop/Power Home User?

why? because ipods are the only things apple makes that's worth a damn. their computer users are simple minded and think the same way. they all state the same reasons for liking apple and osx. there are no individual thoughts between them. they are just sheep. now cry me a river you apple lovers. lol. i just love pissing you guys off since it's terribly easy to do.

[Webdog @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:08PM]

Can you really blame Apple for patenting very conceivable idea they come up with? Half the world is suing them for patent infringement, and the other half has a class-action suit against them because they were too stupid to turn their volume down.

[bennard @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:24PM]

This looks to be an extension of the FingerWorks technology. FingerWorks was acquired by another company last year, and no buyer was announced. Many people speculated it was Apple.

FingerWorks had previously integrated their keyboard technology into a replacement keyboard for PowerBook laptops called the Mac N Touch.

If you want to read about the FingerWorks patents, check out patents #6,323,846 and #6,570,557.

If Apple did acquire the company, then making some tweaks to the technology would let them create some new patents.

[bennard @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:31PM]

Links didn't go through in the last post so,
http://www.fingerworks.com

Mac N Touch keyboard for Powerbooks:
http://www.fingerworks.com/TS_PowerBook.html

Dissertation on the technology written by one of the FingerWorks founders:
http://www.ece.udel.edu/~westerma/main.pdf

[xixix @ Mar 3rd 2006 5:23PM]

I think Apple should be punished very hard for trying to filing for patents about everything. They are really trying to stop making innovations. If you want to make a product that have a few transistors, they want to suck up all your profits. This is apperently abusing Patent Office and Intellectual Rights for their benefit.

My grand grand grand grand grand father had discovered the "A" letter character. I want 1/5 of all their profits for using my character.