Microsoft patents Page Up / Page Down functionality, April 1st seen lingering in the distance

Here's one straight from the far left corner of left field. Microsoft has not only filed for, but actually received a patent that essentially amounts to Page Up / Page Down functionality. More specifically, the patent covers a "method and system for navigating paginated content in page-based increments," and it goes on to cite an example of "pressing a Page Down or Page Up keyboard key / button [that] allows a user to begin at any starting vertical location within a page, and navigate to that same location on the next or previous page." Brilliant, or just plain spiteful?

[Via GigaOm]

[Ethan Posted Sep 2nd 2008 2:22PM]

I'd like to patent jumping, the original use I found for my legs.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 2nd 2008 3:10PM]

Wait wait...ok, so i understand what the page up button does, but can someone please explain the page down button? This is just way too confusing...

[Ridgecity Posted Sep 2nd 2008 3:16PM]

Is this one the rumored big features on windows 7? next up, Print Screen will print screens!

[TechCF Posted Sep 2nd 2008 3:17PM]

The US patent system is not good, but I think joe is on to something. I hate when I press page down in a PDF or XPS document and only get one screen down, not page.

[kingotho Posted Sep 2nd 2008 3:28PM]

I'm patenting a method for moving a cursor around in four directions. I call them, (trumpets) the Directional Keys. Pay me.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 2nd 2008 4:04PM]

Sounds to me like they'll have to come up with coin slot operated keyboard buttons in order to get any use out of this patent.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 2nd 2008 4:07PM]

Wait? Surely it would be declined due to prior art. Surely somebody, before Microsoft, came up with pressing a button to go up a list of items by a screen/page worth and press another button to down a list of items by a screen/page worth. Surely someone at IBM's mainframe division thought of this first.

But I agree, the person at the Patent Office should have looked down to see that -- holy cow -- they've had a PgUp and PgDn keys for YEARS, so MS could not have just invented them.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 2nd 2008 6:47PM]

It will be revoked within a week. the up down key has been around since the dawn of time.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 3rd 2008 4:46AM]

Is everyone thinking what I'm thinking? What the f*&k Microsoft!

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 2nd 2008 11:07PM]

Thanks for yet another proof of how absurdly stupid the US patent system has become. Fear the day when someone documents the inhaling-exhaling process, for they shall undoubtedly receive a patent for it. Birth will require a lifetime license fee for breathing.

Freakin' idjits.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 2nd 2008 11:56PM]

I like how the pic is of the buttons on a MacBook Pro

[linuxamp Posted Sep 3rd 2008 12:08AM]

It would have been more believable if they were granted a patent for Ctrl+Alt+Del.

[darwiniandude Posted Sep 3rd 2008 8:21AM]

I just opened a PDF in preview on the macbook, and manually scrolled to half way through a page. I then used the FN key with the up down keys which gives Page UP and Page Down. It scrolled by exactly one page, eg halfway through each one.

Doesn't acrobat reader / word and other things do this? It's been awhile.

[kingu Posted Sep 3rd 2008 6:02PM]

I'll take the oppurtunity to complain before the rest of the characters used to do so are patented.

(Page) down with the system

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 3rd 2008 9:30PM]

The patent isn't about Page up / Page down. Go actually click on the patent link and actually read it.

It's about scroll position in a document and the number of times you have to hit page up / page down to get a particular area of interest into view.

The patent starts off describing the current behavior of page up / page down and why it causes unexpected results sometimes. Clearly it's not patenting page up / page down in itself.