Samsung patent application reveals touchscreen ruler interface

Samsung looks to have found a solution to the small problem of adding some dedicated input buttons to a device that fills up its face with a touchscreen although, as you can see above, it's still on the drawing board. Samsung's answer, according to a recent patent application, is to use a sliding ruler that hovers over the screen and provides a touch pad for the most often used functions. That also has the added benefit of being able to divide the screen into two separate areas, which could apparently be adjusted at will depending on the application. Of course, there's no indication as to when such a device might become a reality but, as Unwired View points out, it's certainly possible we could be seeing one sooner rather than later.

[Via Unwired View]

[Magallanes @ Nov 5th 2007 12:22PM]

I don't known why but i remember about witch hunting (ds).

[anonymous_coward @ Nov 5th 2007 1:42PM]

Uhh... ASUS Aura, anyone?
http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/05/asus-shows-far-out-aura-concept-phone/

[js @ Nov 5th 2007 2:48PM]

iPhone anyone?

blablabla

[Mike @ Nov 5th 2007 2:53PM]

I really like this idea... it's outside-of-the-box enough to be awesome, but not so much as to be ridiculous.

[bishoprook @ Nov 5th 2007 3:12PM]

This is a terrible idea, for two reasons.

First, it's forcing an interaction mode/design choice not just on one single application, but on all applications using this system. I'm sure Samsung has lots of ideas how their "ruler" could be useful in all sorts of applications, but practically, the majority of applications that users would LIKE to run on these systems will have no use for the "ruler." At that point, it becomes nothing but a hindrance, because it's blocking valuable screen real estate that could be used for something that is much more important in an application-specific context.

Second, as far as I can tell from these designs, it's not just something in software, there is an actual piece of hardware with its own LCD and its own touch sensors extending across the screen. Great. More moving parts to wear down and break. And the physical component will be forced by its very nature to be small, thin, and light--otherwise known as fragile.

Terrible, terrible idea to implement in hardware and enforce across an entire platform. As an application-specific, software-rendered interaction mode, it's pretty cool, but it's been done before.

[Justin @ Nov 5th 2007 5:19PM]

@ bishoprook

It looks a little awkward, granted, but Samsung is simply moving dedicated buttons from elsewhere on the back of the device onto a sliding "ruler." Do you have the same complaint about 99.9% of devices out there that have dedicated "menu", "back", and other buttons on the back? That's all this "ruler" is, and it attempts to solve one of the consistent cries from some users of touchscreen-only devices: give us a few important, dedicated buttons! Digital camera zoom buttons are a perfect example. Many people prefer the tactile feedback and dedicated placement of "real" zoom buttons on the back of a camera...

[spuds @ Nov 6th 2007 6:16AM]

There's an early version of this out, with the Samsung NV10/NV11 series of cameras. Not quite the same, but probably an early attempt at it.