Microsoft patents Page Up / Page Down functionality, April 1st seen lingering in the distance
By Darren Murph 
posted Sep 2nd 2008 9:01AM
posted Sep 2nd 2008 9:01AM
[Via GigaOm]
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Just stupid...
not really, If I would have thought of this I would be typing this from a solid gold keyboard after I sued everyone back to the Apple IIc days
In quake 2 I had my railgun bound to PgDn.
... fyi
I patented "Alt+Tab" so I could name my first born that and make her/him feel special.
Use it and die.
Sorry. on a mac, i'll command-tab all i want!
Microsoft: The Freedom To Innovate (TM)
Actually this isn't stupid at all, MS really deserves this after putting up with all the BS patents that apple has been awarded that they have had to work around.
Way to go MS...this makes me happy.
They should patent the letter "Q" just so nobody can use it ever again. Damn annoying Q. Always stumping me in Scrabble.
er.... later there will be news about: XXXX company patents all the alphabet on the keyboard...
if you are reading my comment you owe Microsoft some cash money
this is so interesting
lol i love how they use the macbook pro page up and page down buttons in a story about microsoft. i saw the pic looked down at my keyboard and loled
i did the exact same thing. I looked at the bottoms, and thought hey that looks familiar....
i loled at that and your comment.
*buttons
lol, why cant you edit posts argh
I don't get it... my 15" Macbook Pro doesn't have Page Up/Down buttons. Have I been ripped off?!
might be a powerbook w/ backlit keys. I think the MBP doesnt have those.
Guy who can't page up/down. Use the Fn button + up or down
It's the Up/Down keys. And yeah, that's as funny as M$ putting a Mac on it's Windows Office page. Hilarious.
*has a MacBook Pro*
I was about to say the same thing... Oh, the irony!
FYI, I believe it's the MacBook/MacBook Pro revised keyboard (which started appearing at the beginning of this year) which doesn't have the page up/down labels on it. That's definitely an MBP; looks exactly like mine (MBP 3,1 – when keyboard backlight is on).
DFTT
FUCKING
ARSEHOLES!
Enough with the 'patents' shite!
agreed
apple should stop patenting everything so other companies don't have to either.
the majority of companies these days have to patent everything so apple doesn't first.
But see that is different, if you come up with the idea to implement multi touch on a phone and you develop all the software to make it amazing then you should be able to do it. but if it isnt your idea such as the pgUP and pgDOWN buttons then you shouldnt be able to. I mean you might as well patent a letter saying "a way of fixating the character "x" in an operating system and while typing..." i mean that is just ridiculous.
As long as you have come up with the idea, and apple has come up with most of theirs, then it is fine.
I think it's just another patent to throw in the closet. In the future some poor keyboard maker will include the functionality on one of their products, not realizing it's been patented then MS will sue them into oblivion and swallow all their assets whole!
I can't remember the last time I pressed one of those keys.
Become a software developer, and you'll love it. I'd die if I lost page up/down.
I prefer Space, Shift+Space nowadays. Pg Up and Pg Dn — who cares
I'm a C# software developer and I never use the page up or page down keys. I think they're worthless. Maybe they're handy for people stuck in Java hell.
Well, the next time you do press one of those keys, please send .001 cents to MS.
omg Meridimus... I never knew about space, space + shift functionality.
That's awesome. Thank you.
Hasn't Page up/down functionality been around alot longer than microsoft? Need research..!!!
Main Entry: desperate
adjective
1 a: having lost hope b: giving no ground for hope
2 a: moved by despair b: involving or employing extreme measures in an attempt to escape defeat or frustration
3: suffering extreme need or anxiety
4: Makers of the biggest product failure in history. See Microsoft. Windows Vista.
Main Entry: desperate
adjective
1 a: having lost hope b: giving no ground for hope
2 a: moved by despair b: involving or employing extreme measures in an attempt to escape defeat or frustration
3: suffering extreme need or anxiety
4: Makers of the biggest product failure in history. See Microsoft. Windows Vista.
Main Entry:
1du·pli·cate Listen to the pronunciation of 1duplicate
Pronunciation:
\ˈdü-pli-kət also ˈdyü-\
Function:
adjective
1 : consisting of or existing in two corresponding or identical parts or examples
2 : being the same as another
I wouldn't consider a product that made me $5+ billion profit a failure. What the hell do you consider a success?
Vista is already more successful than XP at this juncture, ergo it will be more successful overall. You are just one of the many sheep who don't know what they are talking about. Someone who actually knows a thing or two about computers would realize that Vista is better than XP. #Blue Screens with Vista: 0 Viruses and Spyware with Vista: 0. I make good money cleaning up people overly infected XP machines.
Wow. Just... wow.
I wish that they would patent capslock too, and send a legion of apes armed with un-conventional weapons against everyone using it.
stupid
If you read the patent, and not the dodgy summaries of the patent then you'd realise they're not patenting the Page Down/Page Up keys. They wouldn't get a patent for that as the idea has been around for ages. The patent relates to moving to the exact same place on the next page including the zoom level which page up/page down keys dont do.
Yes, but that would require something other than a quick reaction so you can use your $ key again to spell Microsoft.
But it is sad that Engadget would write up something like this after this take on the story had already been shown to be wrong on other sites.
I wish engadget would let us rate the actual articles... so we could all low rank this one..
It's still an utterly stupid patent. All they're patenting is the ability to go up/down exactly one page. And maintaining zoom levels? Maybe the Pg Up/Pg Dn buttons don't do that, but a thousand buttons within various programs do that already. Go set your zoom in Adobe and hit the next page button... the zoom level is magically maintained. Wow! I can't even think of a program that doesn't do that. Should something like this really be protected by a patent?
Hmm, this seems to infringe upon my patent on "just plain hitting keys on a keyboard."
Hasn't anyone at the Patent Office used a keyboard before?
The real question is if anyone at the U.S. patent office has any common sense... or at least just sense.
Didn't Apple get a patent for inventing the "FANBOY" and "DOUCHEBAG" ?
IIRC Jobs was the mastermind behind the web's downfall.
And it appears you're infringing on their patents by being both. Particularly the latter.
Apple tried to get a patent for Douchbag, but it was already give to Microsoft, right after they stabbed IBM in the back over OS/2 and turned the code into Windows NT.
As a matter of fact, the WWW was created on Jobs second machine - the NeXT.
Someone needs a patent on trolls, so we can sue them into silence.
I'm filing a patent for the tab and esc key right now ...
Ok Balmer, we'll see who laughs last when I patent the letters m,i,c,r,o,s,f and t.
Both brilliant AND spiteful...
Maybe I should patent the alphabet, and charge everybody in this world 10% of their income for using "my" alphabet
Maybe you should. Knock yourself out, we'll see how that one goes.
Oh, Microsoft. Is the world not enough?
I believe the specific wording means they patented the method (ie, the algorithm in the code) that achieves said functionality, and not the functionality itself.
Still stupid, but far less stupid and sinister than you guys are making it out to be.
I wonder if Apple, Google, Adobe, etc. will pool research resources to reverse-engineer the patented method that achieves this novel PageUp/PageDown functionality...
meh that'd just give me motivation to learn and use Chinese
What happened April 1st?
April fools?
If this is true, it makes me think that members of the "OJ Jury" work in the patent office.
Does that mean i can "page up" to an interesting story on engadget ?
Microsoft: The Freedom To Innovate (TM)
Just in case anyone forgot:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/29130
I invented The Question Mark !!!
I'm not sure if my English is sufficient to understand the patent fully, but as I see it the patent is about a new method for scrolling up/down regardless of a zoomsetting/page or window dimension. So they are getting a patent on a special software algorithm (which is different from the page up/dn algorithm we use now), not on the keys or their current function?
I see Esk, Catarl, and Pig-Up. There doesn't seem to be any ANY key.
someone please patent ctrl-alt-del!
I for one will be submitting my patent for the space bar tommorow.
How is this any different from the current page up and page down buttons on every PC?
The sad thing here is not that they applied for this patent, the sad thing is that it was awarded to them. Surely the person that awarded the patent to them has used a computer, and has likely even pressed those keys in their life. Amazing.
OK, I know it's not my place, but I just voted up the previous few posts because it looked like someone was spamming the down-votes.
It's time tech journalists learn a bit about patents so that they can inform their readers a bit better. This patent covers neither the PU and PD keys nor the mere concept of moving to the same place on a new page. Rather, the claims (the only part of the patent that matters) cover a specific formula for computing how to do this for arbitrary zoom level. I don't even see mention of the specific claims in the article, even though they are sitting right there on the front page of the patent summary, linked to from the original GigaOm article that Engadget references.
It's also important to remember that patents can be challenged in court, especially if an inventing party can prove they came up with the idea first by producing evidence (such as mention in prior writings).
Ok MF why dont you patent the Ctrl+Alt+Supr as a "New way to turn off your computer" or the BSOD as a "New way to error recovery"
Microsoft rarely uses patents for monetary gain. From what I have read and know, they use it to defend against lawsuits by companies trying to sue them.
P.S: I use Vista and the Mac extensively at home and sync my pictures/data between them. I am writing this post on a Powerbook G4 (Power PC).
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!ENGADGET PLEASE CORRECT YOUR ARTICLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Engadget please correct your article with the real facts as stated by as many as three intelligent posters!!! And for all the rest read the comments dont just write man its is stupid, that means -> you like every other news site that does not investigate enough to look at the actual patent are stupid. I hate bad journalism. I am inclined to think there is no good journalism. Nowhere has anybody but intelligent posters picked up on that. If anybody can point me to a tech cite that has at least corrected their article, I will exclusively read that one from now on. Well this is just the is just a sign of the superficiallity that will be the doom of Man!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!ENGADGET PLEASE CORRECT YOUR ARTICLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am so getting one of those! Or both.
I have been thinking about a patent of my own for awhile, but didn't think it was pass, but this seals the deal. I'm going to patent pushing buttons with characters on them to make those characters appear as text on a display. If I charge $0.01 per keypress I should be able to buy a continent by the end of the week.
Assuming MS or apple don't already own that patent.
which reminds me, to apply for a patent of an "internet knife" can be use to stab a person you are chatting with.
The date on the patent is march of 2005. Why is this being reported now?
Isn't that a Macbook Pro keyboard on the photo?
Yes it is!
You think you need this or are you the first to need it?
TFO!
[Totally F**king Obvious]
What's really surprising is that IBM didn't beat them to it.
This isn't the first ridiculous patent Microsoft has applied for. It is further proof that Microsoft has given up any pretence of creative ability, and is now being run entirely by lawyers who have no faith in their own product or their ability to stay competitive. Now it's just endless litigation over ridiculous infringement suits. All Microsoft did is add a button to access the scroll/page down function that has been around since the early days of Unix at least (in fact I wonder if those keys didn't already exist on Unix keyboards). Later they used it on Word, as did every other word processing company. The patent is baseless. The US Patents Office's has a well-established role as corporate America's bitch.
talk to apple about random patents preventing innovation
then repost
thanks
This is a perfect example of MS innovative initiatives. Unable to truly create new ideas for just about anything they do, resorting to claim a patent for what is essentially page up, page down is not surprising. This and their upcoming Skymart ( another silly moniker ) are prime example of "me too" mentally of this company.
Look no further than your beloved Apple for being an atrocious patent king.
Seem the patent is "a patent for making the Page Up and Page Down keys move exactly one page in a word processing environment, rather than the usual behaviour of moving up one screens' worth of text."
So it's slightly different than default is the argument I guess.
Prior art examples? Opera, Firefox3, etc.
Dismissed!
In other news, keyboard makers begin shipping updated models with enlarged "Scroll Down A Lot" and "Scroll Up A Lot" keys.
Some patent facts :
a ) patent are not copyright.
b ) patent are granted by country and are valid only for 20 (afaik) years (such GIF patent). A special rule will give a international grant for the first year but nothing more. So yes, many Microsoft and Apple patent are currently void (but copyright is still valid and can last "a century").
c ) the bureaucracy to grant a patent can last several years (or even decades), from to ask a patent and to be granted can take many years. So, you can sum the cost involving to have a worldwide patent. Currently only pharmaceutics and big corporation can have the luxury to do it.
d ) There are several things that you can't patent , tough US patent currently are in the basis of "patent everywhere". Can happens that a US patent will not be granted in EU / Japan / Korea and the rest of the world?. yes, it's happen.
d ) You CAN patent stupid things but it's a different affair to be able to ask for royalties, a patent considered as "used widely" or "can hurts the market, stop a scientific advance and such can be used freely without asking for the owner of the patent. The term generic and widely used can void the ask for royalties. For example, you can be granted with the patent of "to breath" (of course not), but you can't use it for ask for royalties or abusive practices
e ) Patent can be easily void, if page up and page down is patented but page down and page up is not patented and can be used freely. Also page high and page low.
f ) Mostly patent are absurd and can't grant any rights over the work and products involving the patent, for example Unisys-Gif vs some webpages.
So, this patent can be used only for FUD but it's useless in any other matter.
Strange indeed, but it's about time, seems like every other company is making tons of money off of them from generic patent laws.
OMG is this a preemptive April Fools Day mock press release or what
I call dibs on the space bar!
Wow this must be joke I hope.
Joeyboy, I think you hit the nail on the head. The frustating part is that so many people have probably thought of this before during moments of frustation at navigating documents. I know i've wished for this feature (and therefore thought of this feature) many times over the years.
Just further proof that the US patent system has lost sight of the spirit of a patent.
Next they might just invent CTRL-ALT-DEL!
Does anybody use those keys nowadays? A lot of new keyboards don't even have them anymore. I only use them in some FPS games. =p
Hurry up Apple, patent the alt key!