Apple patents "visual buttons" to blend display and interface

Equally part Optimus keyboard and fanboy-style full-screen video iPod, Apple's new interface patents should provide plenty of fuel for the rumor fires in coming months. The two patents, filed in Europe and published yesterday, are titled "Display actuator," and "A Movable Display for Generating Input Signals." Apple is covering all their bases with these, saying the technology can apply to pretty much any type of electronic device, from phones to laptops. The basic idea is a "display actuator," which can be any type of display that can both show information and take user input like a click or a slide. This could easily be something simple like a button with an OLED display, but our hopes are high for a display that can double as a click wheel. Apple practically says as much themselves: "By reducing or eliminating the input devices, the display of the electronic device can be maximized within the user interface portion of the electronic device, or alternatively the electronic device can be minimized to the size of the display." Though we're not too clear on the patent-nese language, the technology definitely seems to be different than current pen or finger-based touch screens, so however it plays out we could be seeing a fresh interface type out of Apple before long. Or, just as likely, this could be relegated to the incredible stash of high-concept patents that Apple never seems to do anything with.

[Via Mac Rumors]

[Andres Mituta @ Aug 17th 2006 2:18PM]

Wow that finger (if that's what it's supposed to be) looks a lot like Mr Hanky the Christmas Poo... apple needs some better sketches

[Mack Swift @ Aug 17th 2006 2:23PM]

Doesn't Palm already have this feature on the Treos and Tungstens? Where you tap the bar on the bottom on the screen and the stylus writing area appears on the bottom.

[TuxedoMask @ Aug 17th 2006 2:25PM]

This sounds exactly like the interface used on the consoles in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

A visual interface, with illuminated sections that display data, but also accept physical input, be it pressing, or sliding motions.

[Apple kills another small project @ Aug 17th 2006 2:26PM]

isnt this basically the same thing as the OLED keyboard and the OLED mini board with the 3 big oled buttons and if you poush them their buttons? how could they get a patent for this ...

[Morty Salt @ Aug 17th 2006 2:33PM]

just like Creative got a patent for putting files in folders... our patent system is so screwed up.

[Adam A @ Aug 17th 2006 2:38PM]

Good thing I patented fingers!

[Andrew @ Aug 17th 2006 2:42PM]

I think that this is basically a big rectangle click wheel that also acts as a display, this wouldn't be a touch screen like those on the Palm PDAs. More pictures here:
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1973

[Apple kills another small project @ Aug 17th 2006 2:45PM]

great 1 more way to get smudges on the screen... what are they gonna do make it black and super shiny like the psp?

[Roger @ Aug 17th 2006 2:48PM]

i agree with the above poster.

how will this not be filthy with smudges?

[Michael Phang @ Aug 17th 2006 2:53PM]

Doesn't the iRiver U10/clix already employ this..? Maybe it's just a difference in the technical aspect, but the basic idea seems the same.

[ACD @ Aug 17th 2006 3:27PM]

The following is sarcasm ...

Hey that's nothing, I patented the idea of a single divine entity and I'm looking forward to suing all those Middle Easterners and right-wing Bible-belt Americans. I think I may also have a patent on publications that claim to be divinely inspired. Oh and I need to get around to suing Hollywood for making movies off of my divine entity. Wow, I have a lot work to do. Oh I also need to put together a company and get listed on the stock market so I can be like SCO [Ticker: SCOX] whose stock is at 2.60 which is quite a steal.

The end ... might I add that Immersion sucks just as much as SCO. The United States patent system sucks and people were warning us about it years ago. Then some of us citizens in the United States voted for Bush and so on goes the story.

[joe @ Aug 17th 2006 3:27PM]

this has been on the touchscreen sony p-series phones for years. what's new?

[Jeremy @ Aug 17th 2006 3:36PM]

I agree with Michael, it looks like they are trying to patent the iRiver U10, and definately doesn't look like are trying to patent a touchscreen interface.

[greatslack @ Aug 17th 2006 3:40PM]

Why are people so attached to the click wheel? Just make the entire thing a touch screen and people can touch the folder they want to go to instead of having to scroll around on a wheel which is somewhat difficult to be precise on. The scroll wheel was innovative 5 years ago. Now after Nintendo DS has had widespread appeal, people can see that a touch screen makes much more sense. Trying to recreate an obsolete interface on a touch screen seems kind of ludicrous to me.

[blackfeather @ Aug 17th 2006 3:44PM]

I just want to know why all patents have to be drawn by 8 year olds.

[Brad @ Aug 17th 2006 4:10PM]

So, they are either trying to patent the OLED enabled keyboard, or a virtual interface such as touchscreen PDAs. Either way, unless they are doing something that we dont quite understand, their is prior art, and they should have the patent invalidated.

BTW, Creative had their patent on the Zen interface for music players way before the iPod came out, and they werent trying to patent file folders. Its more ocmplicated than that.

[paul @ Aug 17th 2006 4:26PM]

why would u wont finger prints and dirt all on your screen...a scroll wheel on the side would be way better

[furny @ Aug 17th 2006 4:32PM]

already been done: http://www.jazzmutant.com/lemur_overview.php

[Mutiny32 @ Aug 17th 2006 4:38PM]

http://www.artlebedev.com/portfolio/optimus/

Notice the part at the bottom that says "patents pending."

I don't see how Apple got this approved.

[Ben @ Aug 17th 2006 4:47PM]

As Andrew stated this hasnt been done before. This isn't multi-touch display. All it does is put the click-wheel interface under a screen. Your screen will actually tilt when you push on it.

[3rdsun @ Aug 17th 2006 4:52PM]

apple still sucks

[Andrew Burke @ Aug 17th 2006 5:28PM]

Here's the real trick -- you don't actually touch the screen. The display that's also a camera will sense your finger hovering above the screen.

As if Apple would allow all that smudging.

[jabbertrack @ Aug 17th 2006 5:35PM]

I don't get gow they can patent ideas that Star Trek set designers thought of over a decade ago.

WTF is the patent office doing... doesn't this fall under the realm of 'obvious'?

[M$ Apple @ Aug 17th 2006 5:51PM]

It's strange how my 5 year old Sony camcorder already has on-screen input via the lcd. Apple is 5 years too late on this technology from Sony.

**** Apple annouces to start using Intel chips and drops Power PC chips = If you can't beat them than join them.

Windows = 98% usuage
Mac = 2% usuage

[Asian Voice @ Aug 17th 2006 5:54PM]

Does Apple still make / sell computers?
I thought they were just an mp3 player company.

[Ian @ Aug 17th 2006 5:59PM]

Alpine "pulse touch" screens...

[Jeremy Childress @ Aug 17th 2006 6:07PM]

FYI: Here's a link to the application.

Application

[Emceay @ Aug 17th 2006 6:16PM]

Urge to kill... Rising.
That patent is kind of (kind of?!) vague
I'm going to have to patent the idea of subitting chicken scratches and descriptive dialogue to a mess of bureaucracy in an attempt to stifle innovation. And yes, stifle. Sure, people are innovators, but when you patent the basics what's left to innovate?
Toss this in the pile of things apple and sony have done to piss me off. Right next to the pile of things that microsoft has disappointed me with. Which, Ironically, is right next to the pile of the linux tutorials I was too lazy to read in order to be free.

[ben murray @ Aug 17th 2006 6:40PM]

its obvious how Apple will avoid streaky, smudgy marks on the screen

first there were iPod socks, now iPod Gloves (patent pending)

[Mark @ Aug 17th 2006 7:22PM]

welcome to 2001. I wonder if these guys filed a patent too?

[Mark @ Aug 17th 2006 7:24PM]

oops - forgot to include the URL:

http://www.dcontinuum.com/eu/portfolio.php?id=29

[x23 @ Aug 17th 2006 7:30PM]

it's almost pointless even pointing it out again...

but this isn't a patent on a touchscreen. it's more like if the current ipod clickable scroll wheel happened to have a display on it. now tell me... does the U10 do that? does this magical Sony camera do that? no. those are touchscreens. this isn't.

learn to read people. your anti-apple zealotry gets in the way of basic understanding.

[Nick @ Aug 17th 2006 9:24PM]

x23, this is the way it always goes when the rumor sites uncover an Apple patent. All the haters say "it's been done before" even though nobody but Apple (and hopefully the patent office) really knows what the patent is about. People wanna look intelligent, but it only reveals their stupidity.

[Ethan @ Aug 17th 2006 9:55PM]

Or maybe it shows you're simple-minded stupidity when you pass judgement and make claims, Nick.

[Ethan @ Aug 17th 2006 9:58PM]

And then I spell you're, as in you are. Wow. =) *shuts up*

[zoara @ Aug 18th 2006 7:38AM]

x23, I hadn't heard of the U10 before it was mentioned here. So I googled it, which meant I avoided falsely accusing people of being mistaken.

Check out the U10. It's doing what this patent is describing - not touch screen, but actual buttons.

[Fabian Bauhaus @ Aug 18th 2006 9:40AM]

The U10 isn't doing what the patent describes.

The patent is describing a button thats also a screen, which means that in case of the click wheel, the wheel itself would also be a screen.

The U10 on the other hand has a screen that can be pushed down on the right and the left. There are buttons underneath the display which are pushed by pushing down the whole screen on either side.

Basically, the U10 is just a regular LCD tha has been placed on top of the buttons as opposed to the patent which is describing the buttons themselves to be screens.

[andy @ Aug 18th 2006 4:19PM]

Reminds me of my vintage Casio TC-600 calculator watch where the whole screen would convert to a calculator for serious geekin' 1984 style. I was cool in high school...oh yes. :o

[armin @ Aug 19th 2006 1:46AM]

J/W, but i'm planning on buying a new "music/video player" soon...should i buy the ipod video(current gen) or wait for the "true video ipod" or go with a zune?

[serwei @ Aug 20th 2006 11:41PM]

iriver u10 for clicks man... but not the rotating aspect

[Blake @ Oct 10th 2006 1:14AM]

Next up, Intel patents new chemical
solution H2O (Pat. Pending)

Ok, since everything cool on the Internet has been patented -- I will just go and make my pet cat run around chasing my laser pointer...

Darn - that's patented, too.

When will someone at the US PTO get a clue?

Really, I'm NOT making this up - Pat. No. 6,651,591

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6,651,591.PN.&OS=PN/6,651,591&RS=PN/6,651,591