Apple patent applications offer glimpses of haptic screens, RFID readers, fingerprint ID

Alright, so you know the drill by now. A patent application doesn't necessarily mean an actual product is on the way -- but it's always fun to speculate, right? And this latest trio of applications from Apple certainly provides plenty of speculation fodder. The most notable of the lot is an application for a "multi-touch display screen with localized tactile feedback," which Apple seems to be at least considering as a possibility for the iPhone (or iPod touch). Like some similar systems, Apple's application covers a screen that uses a grid of piezoelectric actuators that can be activated at will to provide vibrational feedback when you touch the screen. Apple even goes so far as to use a virtual click wheel on an iPhone as an example. Other patent applications include a fairly self-explanatory RFID reader embedded in a touch screen, and a fingerprint identification system that could not only be used for security, but to identify individual fingers as an input method -- for instance, letting you use your index finger for play/stop and your middle finger to fast forward.

[AwesomeWells @ Jul 2nd 2009 12:13PM]

Fun to speculate? That's what Wall Street said...

[m3tric @ Jul 2nd 2009 7:44PM]

Oh great, now Apple can claim they invented haptic feedback

[iphonerulez @ Jul 3rd 2009 10:13AM]

These patents seem like a waste of time and probably money. Every two-bit company is is being allowed ti rip off Apple's IP and nothing is being done about it. This stuff is can't be enforced.

[Anthony M. @ Jul 2nd 2009 12:19PM]

Playing it safe, eh?

[larryryan0824 @ Jul 2nd 2009 12:19PM]

That's dope. I hope they hav that on the next iPhone.

[y3k.nik @ Jul 2nd 2009 12:23PM]

Well atleast you were a little creative with the whole first business.

[)ROFL( @ Jul 2nd 2009 12:27PM]

WOW, this is REALLY, REALLY OLD news.

[majortom1981 @ Jul 2nd 2009 12:27PM]

Shouldnt they work on having the 3gs get better battery life before they add on more battery sucking add ons?

[Jeremy @ Jul 2nd 2009 12:34PM]

If they could switch the screen to OLED or a hybrid OLED/LCD & Color Digital Ink system they could get a battery improvement. Combine that with continued shrinking of the chipset for even better improvement.

[Dking @ Jul 2nd 2009 1:27PM]

apple learns slowly.. so we might see that by 2012.. or later...

[Erik @ Jul 2nd 2009 2:33PM]

So i guess putting a faster processor in and improving battery while keeping the same size phone isnt good enough for you.

Go troll somewhere else kid, us adults are sick of your shit on our tech blogs.

[iDavey @ Jul 2nd 2009 3:12PM]

@Erik

It's kind of funny seeing you call someone a troll how much you ride on Apple's coattails and bash anything not from the mind of Steve.

But I digress.

His point is not trolling. It's been stated in many a reviews, yes the battery life is impressive for how much is crammed into the 3GS. But it still stands...the TIME its sustained is comparable to the 3G with just a little extra time. Nothing significant.

If this battery life was put on a 3G it would show AMAZING improvements. But since the improved battery life is used to accommodate the new processor and GPU...it doesnt seem like anything lengthened.

If you step beyond the company support, and see tech for just tech you'd realize that

[Zak @ Jul 2nd 2009 4:48PM]

Shouldn't you be directing your idiotic battery life whining at Palm? The Pre's battery doesn't even last a full day. The 3GS's battery is MUCH better. I watched 3 full length movies on mine and the battery was only down to 48%. In case you're bad at math, that's a minimum of 5.5 hours (it was actually closer to 6) of NONSTOP USE. That would kill a Pre from full to dead. The iPhone has the best battery life of any smartphone on the market right now, so there really isn't anything to "fix".

I've been using my 3GS all day today and I'm down to 80%. Try that with a Pre. Or at least smarten yourself up and figure out that other phones have much worse battery life than the iPhone.

[Mikey @ Jul 2nd 2009 4:54PM]

Zak, what the fuck does the Pre have to do with this post? Stop trolling and go away.

[loosely_coupled @ Jul 2nd 2009 6:47PM]

Zak is right here, although I'm not a major Apple fanboy. The iPhone 3GS has excellent battery life considering it's 3.5" screen, fast processor, PowerVR SGX GPU, and 256MB RAM. It literally blows away the Pre in this metric, although certainly some portion of it has to do with the the lack of background processing (how much we don't know).

[Webber @ Jul 2nd 2009 10:17PM]

@Zak
I'm sorry, I have an iPod (which has a much better battery life than an iPhone, no need to run a cellular network, 3G or constantly push email), and, with Wi-Fi turned off, I could only ever get to a little bit more than 3 hours of movie time. Please don't exaggerate just to troll, it makes the rest of us look bad. And to say the iPhone has the best battery life of any smartphone is ridiculous. It has the most complaints after the Pre and G1 for battery life, and there are more smartphones out there. I just got a BlackBerry, and can easily get it to last through three days (of moderate use), while my friend's iPhone (3G, the new model isn't out here yet, and isn't even that big an improvement), barely made it through a day of equal use. Though maybe that's because of the different screen sizes, I put that into account and ran several background apps alongside regular use.

[tinyj316 @ Jul 2nd 2009 12:30PM]

If this makes its way into the iPhone 4, I'll be very pleased... especially because it will be a substantial upgrade over the 3GS (which I thankfully have not upgraded to)

[Jeremy @ Jul 2nd 2009 12:32PM]

Enough already Apple. The 3GS was a decent BUMP over the 3G but the next Gen in June 2010 better be a HUGE step up. Other manufacturers might not be getting the unit volume or press you are but their hardware anyway is poised to start overtaking you with bigger screens, much higher res screens, OLED screens, 2+ the camera performance. And yes we know it's also a software game which is why so many are starting their own app stores. You might be one of the two biggest in the hen house. But it won't stay that way if you only keep doing hardware bumps and putting out tons of patients that take forever to make it to market, if at all.

[Major4Play @ Jul 2nd 2009 1:16PM]

If you want to see units sold wait till Samsung, Motorola, LG and HTC launch all their new Android phones over the next year.

[lucasalberts @ Jul 2nd 2009 12:41PM]

this is awesome

[Chin-Paaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!! @ Jul 2nd 2009 12:41PM]

Maybe this will come to the Ipod Touch when its refreshed in September? I would really like if Apple would put an SD or any memory expansion slot on these devices or make a hard drive version of the Ipod Touch, I wouldn't mind the additional weight and thickness for all that storage. : )

[marty @ Jul 2nd 2009 12:54PM]

not gonna happen, don't even think about it

[ash chapman @ Jul 2nd 2009 12:59PM]

marty's on the money... c'mon, two months?

[Chin-Paaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!! @ Jul 2nd 2009 1:14PM]

Can I just have a hard drive Ipod Touch please?

[iDavey @ Jul 2nd 2009 1:34PM]

Spinning disk interferes with the capacitive screen.
You want HDD, you lose capacitive

[Chin-Paaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!! @ Jul 2nd 2009 2:14PM]

Really? I did not know that. At least Apple could put in an SD card slot or something but nooooooooo...........

[iDavey @ Jul 2nd 2009 3:16PM]

I see Apple's plan as...why give you an alternative for more storage...when you can just buy our new, larger capacity device for 2x/3x the price of a memory card.

As a business lover...I love that strategy. The customers are dumb enough to do it.
But as a consumer, I have to frown upon it by being so money hungry.

Some people I KNOW (not stating a majority or minority) only upgraded to the 3GS for a size boost from 16 to 32GB.
If they had the ability to just add a 16GB memory card, they'd take that option instead.

But by Apple not providing another way to expand your memory (same with iPod line) it MAKES the customer have to go and get the newest, largest device just so they can fit their growing media.

[Rassah @ Jul 2nd 2009 12:42PM]

There are already apps that allow you to launch different programs depending on which finger you scanned (on WinMobile, anyway). Is it possible to patent tech that someone else has put out a few years ago, simply because that (those) someone else(s) hasn't bothered to pattent it?

[AwesomeWells @ Jul 2nd 2009 12:48PM]

In the case of Apple, absolutely. Their recent filings include patents for copy n' paste, fingerprints, and gravity.

The history books should prove an interesting read when the dust finally settles.

[dennisheadley @ Jul 2nd 2009 2:26PM]

i wasn't aware of any WinMobile phone or any other phone for that matter that scans your finger prints. I am a Samsung Omnia user and I read up on Windows Mobile 6.1/6.5 all the time and try out a great deal of applications on it. I haven't come across a program to do what you are talking about. I also have an HP laptop with a fingerprint reader on it and I have yet to see a program for it that lets you swipe you finger across it in one direction or the other and have it recongnize it as lower the volume or raise the volume if its your middle finger, play or stop if its your index finger etc. You can configure what program to launch for each finger by setting each finger to be a seperate profile, but that is nowhere near near this, To accomplish this on current scanners you would have to touch your pinkie for volume down, ring finger for volume up, middle finger for stop, index for play, and so forth.

[Rassah @ Jul 2nd 2009 3:02PM]

A long time ago iPaq/HP had a WinMobile phone with a fingerprint scanner. Not sure if it had hacks to allow it to do that. The current Acer M900 has a fingerprint scanner, and already has software to control the phone depending on which finger you swipe, as well as fake a d-pad by scanning in which direction you are swiping your finger.

[iDavey @ Jul 2nd 2009 3:20PM]

Nothing against Apple...because I state this towards anyone doing this on a mobile device...

If the point for these phones are supposed to be "one handed use" now...
How is this going to make it one handed. It's requiring you to use two because if you can somehow manage to position your pinky and such in the awkward position to scan/slide it...you are something amazing.

It just seems kind of useless in real life application.
Not to mention you have to activate this program someway. And let's face it...the problem with that is there's not enough buttons on the iPhone to be assigning such.

[Rassah @ Jul 2nd 2009 3:27PM]

If Apple adds a fingerprint scanner under the home button (or next to it someplace), this would be usefull for one handed while driving. Phone will be in a cradle, one hand on steering wheel, other swiping fingers on the phone to control it. I already to that on my phone, except instead of fingerprint scanners I use the multitude of buttons and d-pad to controll play/stop and fast forward/reqind, onehanded, without looking at it.

[dennisheadley @ Jul 2nd 2009 3:37PM]

Thanks for the information Rassah.

The Omnia that i use has a optical D-Pad that senses direction and can be programmed to perform functions, but it does not have the capability of recognizing what finger is being used on it. I just wasn't aware there was a phone that combined that and a fingerprint scanner into one element.

Like you I use the optical pad on the omnia to perform different tasks depending on which way i swipe accross it or if i click it. This is great for doing common tasks without looking at the phone.

[Phreak @ Jul 2nd 2009 12:50PM]

I wouldn't let Apple scan my fingerprint, or any other company for that matter. I may be biased but I'm not comfortable with it so it's not really exciting news for me.

[Duke @ Jul 2nd 2009 2:41PM]

Well, make sure to keep that tinfoil hat on nice and tight!

Seriously though, if you look past the idea of fingerprint ID (which I am sure would be optional to use) and the other things they mentioned, it would be a nice addition.

[Phreak @ Jul 2nd 2009 3:04PM]

Yeah, the feedback would be nice. *tilts the tinfoil hat to the side* :))

[Wwhat @ Jul 2nd 2009 4:21PM]

Yeah apple is not known for.. oh wait.. nm.

[Duke @ Jul 2nd 2009 4:31PM]

Awesome to see another reader with a sense of humor today! High-five*

[sweet greggo @ Jul 2nd 2009 12:54PM]

Patents mean nothing, obviously. Haptic (or "tactile") feedback? You mean, like most of the Samsung touchscreen phone released last year?

Apparently it's okay just to keep issuing patents for the same thing over and over. They end up just being completely unenforceable. What happened to all of Apple's elephant stomping at Palm? Palm called their bluff, that's what happened. You can't sue someone for violating your patent when your own patent was a copy of previous patents filed 25 years ago, and Apple knows it.

In short, fuck Apple.

C'mon fanbois!!!!! start the downranking!

[Dr. Spaceman @ Jul 2nd 2009 2:38PM]

No. Those phones just vibrate a bit when you tap something. This is about making the surface of the screen 3D so you can actually feel and press buttons.

[sweet greggo @ Jul 2nd 2009 2:56PM]

"Like some similar systems, Apple's application covers a screen that uses a grid of piezoelectric actuators that can be activated at will to provide vibrational feedback when you touch the screen."

Where do read that in that statement?

or are you talking about this?
http://www.engadget.com/2004/09/02/necs-3d-imaging-cellphone-display/

or this?
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2006/06/05/samsung-sdi-creates-new-3d-amoled-display/

or this?
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/01/06/toshiba-matsushita-display-teases-handheld-high-res-no-glasses/

[sweet greggo @ Jul 2nd 2009 2:57PM]

Nevermind. I see what you're talking about now. Sounds neat!

[BigMoe @ Jul 2nd 2009 1:03PM]

HAHA! use "your middle finger to fast forward!" What a way to flip-off Beyonce's "If I was a boy..!" HAHA! me like :)

[Shunnabunich @ Jul 2nd 2009 7:19PM]

You'd have to put "If I Was A Boy" onto your iPhone yourself first, so really, you still lose.

[gotsmart @ Jul 2nd 2009 1:03PM]

Combine fingerprint-reading ability with the "Find My iPhone" functionality and you can not only FIND your iPhone but transmit the thief's fingerprints directly to the police! If Apple adds the ability to remotely trigger the camera, you could even include a mugshot.

[Major4Play @ Jul 2nd 2009 1:14PM]

Except its illegal to take and record someone elses fingerprints and tracking your phone down to a criminals house could get you killed.

Why not just insure it and keep a recent backup, how hard is that ?

[Wwhat @ Jul 2nd 2009 4:23PM]

"its illegal to take and record someone elses fingerprints"
Not a lawyer are you?

[Major4Play @ Jul 2nd 2009 1:13PM]

STOP THE PRESS

Apple trys to patent something other phones have had for years then sell it to customers as a "new" feature

What a surprise !

[Doug @ Jul 2nd 2009 1:28PM]

Something is wrong with our patent system. Apple really has no clue how they would build this. It is just an idea at this point and now if it is ever invented, even by someone else, it will belong to Apple. I don't think technology companies should be allowed to generate patent after patent like this without any investment in actually demonstrating a unit that works.