Elan Microelectronics demonstrates its eFinger multitouch tech running on Android
By Paul Miller 
posted April 12th 2009 10:25AM
posted April 12th 2009 10:25AM
[Thanks, Phelipe H]
posted April 12th 2009 10:25AM
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As an Apple fanboy:
Good on them!
They have some product and not just words.
They had a product before this, for one the multitouch touchpad in the eee has elan drivers.
Can you stfu ever and not mention your stupidly addiction with the apple fruit fanboism in relation to any other gadget posted here?
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/08/elan-turns-the-tables-on-apple-sues-for-multitouch-patent-infri/
I'm just proving that as an Apple FANBOY, I can go "Up yours Apple!"
If you say up yours Apple then you are a very poor fanboy.
You are an idiot maybe you should get an Apple tattoo on your forehead, do you also identify yourself with the brand of breakfast cereal you love ?
/Facepalm
If you must know, I eat toast instead of cereal.
Gah. I'm trying to show that not all Apple fanboys are mindless zombies, kay? My gosh. I'm trying to be different and here I am getting beaten back into what everyone thinks we are "NO! YOU ARE FANBOIII. MUST. HELP. APPLE. NO MATTER WHAT."
You sound more like a reasoned customer. Fanboys don't go against their company.
Lol "if you must know, I eat toast instead of cereal..."
I liked that one ^_^
I think some companies need to get their patents revoked for the sake of advancements in technology.
So you think someone can come up with an idea, then someone else can steal it. And the person who stole it is in the right, because they are advancing the tech? You really have no grasp of copy right.
Elan had had the patent prior to Apple...... doh!
If Elan had the same patent prior, then the patent office wouldn't grant Apple the same patent back in January of 2009.
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=7,479,949&OS=7,479,949&RS=7,479,949
@Muddy
Pity this is a patent case, not a copyright. then, or you might just understand that an insufficient patent search can sometimes result in two or more patent holders both having patents for the same or almost the same thing.
Copyright covers the actual code required to do the thing.
Patent covers the concept behind how the thing is done.
Sy, they would. Patents are not filtered well on the front end. Most of it is done in the back end through litigation. That's just a matter of reality.
Don't believe me?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2178-boy-takes-swing-at-us-patents.html
That is a patent on swinging sideways on a swing.
What if Thomas Edison had patented "a device that emits light by using electricity"?
They'd let him do it too, since back then nobody would foresee the full potential of the invention and all its applications. That would suck ass.
@ran
I agree, but only if you are a patent troll and have no intent on building/selling a product with
your patent. Then the patent office can take it back.
I agree totally
So... This is actually what the court case is about.
*Drools*
Android needs this, RIGHT NOW!
I hope Elan wins.
And gets this out for WinMo
Yeah, coz it's a great idea that everyone has this technology and not just a US business.
The sad part is, THEY WILL SETTLE. And Apple will still win, and Android won't ever get official multitouch.
WinMo couldn't handle this..
You can't handle WinMo.
@superhobo
Only you can!
That's why you are so smart!
Apple didn't invent multi-touch and neither did fingerworks......
If they did where are the lawsuits against Microsoft (win7 Multi-touch) or Perceptive Pixel ?
gouken85:
Me and anyone else with an IQ above 100.
"Apple didn't invent multi-touch and neither did fingerworks......
If they did where are the lawsuits against Microsoft (win7 Multi-touch) or Perceptive Pixel ?"
Win7 multi-touch is still about 5 years behind what Fingerworks had 5 years ago. It's also software only, meaning Elan's patent would cover it before anything Apple had. And it's Microsoft, no sense in throwing money away, because they aren't even close to competing anyway.
The previous patent posted of Elan's doesn't begin to cover Fingerworks' (Apple's) implementation. Fingerworks from the start included things like independent finger detection and non-synchronous gestures. Their patent apps are all about detecting the order of fingers on a surface and tracking them at any points on the surface not on "lines"... commands were second to the finger detection algorithms.
The closest thing to what Fingerworks did is what Perceptive Pixel is doing. But they are using optical/IR cameras to detect fingers on a non-electronic surface. So even though the results are similar, the implementation is way different. Microsoft Surface does the same thing, plus a few tricks but that's not what windows 7 uses.
From what I see Elan is trying to fire the first lawyer salvo across Apple's bow so they can release "any" product and get OEMs to buy it. They're trying to "backdate" their innovation under a patent that has nothing to do with what iPhone does. The guys like Google know Apple has the patent and sit on Apple's board so they're not going to disagree and put the feature in Android. That leaves Elan out of luck selling very expensive LCD chips and mods no body can use. Frankly, like Wacom, they've had years to do something new in the screen input department (and supposedly had already invented it!) but choose not to "popularize" their tech to cash in on the high profits.
for winmo...lol what a waste. I cannot believe how fast and responsive that interface is in the video. windows VISTA couldnt handle that inteface at that speed, like their broke ass based on legacy trash code in winmo could.
**** apple. SERIOUSLY.
They denied the G1 the ability to have this GORGEOUS DISPLAY OF MULTITOUCH because of a patent they didn't have the right to have in the first place. Super slick UI.
I think I'll patent making stuff out of aluminum......Wait what?
Patents are starting to suck so hard.Whoever gave this patent should be forced to masturbate constantly in-front of everyone.
Fix the comment system
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/engadgetcomment/
Want to fix the comment system? We have an app for that.
Haha... an't that the fucking truth. :)
Some people like that kind of thing. Nice trenchcoat, by the way.
Yes! We have 100 signatures! How many do we need to get Engadget to do something about it?
That's sick. What a bunch of thieves at Apple. I hope Elan wins billions and shuts that friggin fruit company down.
Talk about innovation. What a BS company Apple is !
ROFL, Apple awarded with the multi-touch patent back in January. Sorry to bust your bubble, but Apple have legal legs to stand on.
No. they were given a cut-down patent compared to what they actually wanted, covering specific gestures and certain kinds of scrolling in the browser. Multi-Touch itself cannot be patented, and if they tried Bell Labs and Jazzmutant would have something to say about it. They have prototypes and products from before the iPhone was a twinkle in Steve Jobs' eye.
@Phoenix
People don't understand the patent system, and say stupid things.
You can't patent ideas only process. There are many ways to do multitouch.
So drop the whole multi touch has been around since the 80s so Apple can't patent it.
You just agreed with me, apple can't stop somebody if they're doing it even slightly differently. There were products before apple, there will be products after apple.
Sy, Apple bought their patent when they bought Fingerworks, Apple didn't actually do anything but buy the company Remington Stylee.
Bell Labs demoed multi-touch, including the pinch gesture in 1984, get over it.
I'm loving the multi-touch touchpad on my Eee.
I can justify having a $300 MacBook alternative.
Yep - By stealing the OS - way to go!
Unless he, you know, bought the OS disc and then just broke the EULA.
I'm really not big fan of patents like this... Johs uses multi-touch on Eee, I saw it on MS Surface, ... seriously can we move forward and make these freely available in general regardless of the size of the device?
it's Palm 3 yesra ago, iPhone last year, Android today and Pre in May ... one thing (which should be protected by patent) is making the same UI, the other simple things like this
The only thing Apple has innovated is the art of stealing and deception.
EXACTLY!
There were zillions of devices with the same interface on the market, YEARS before the iphone was released!