We've seen this done badly so many time that it's hard to imagine anyone so self serious as Apple taking a crack at it (even if they've
already done so in the desktop space), but for whatever reason the company picked up this 3D UI patent back in 2008 under the guise of a few French employees. The patent was just released in December, and describes in some detail a method of zooming around in 3D using multitouch. Of course, this picture seems to imply that it's for jumping through some representative icons on a 3D plane, but the patent seems more concerned with the core mechanics of using multiple fingers at once to get around in 3D space and manipulate 3D objects -- and then going to great lengths to cover Apple's back in regards to multitouch, capacitive touch, and "multifunction" devices. So, this could be something we see in "
the tablet," the next iPhone or even never, but at least we can rest assured that pinch to zoom won't be the only multitouch game in town forever.
posted January 5th 2010 11:03AM
We've seen this done badly so many time that..
*times*
Could be, but probably won't be.
Someone plz hack it to multitouch Quake.
For some reason that patent drawing reminds me of Microsoft Bob. And a bit of Katamari Forever's main menu.
So 2010 really is the year where 3D will get in our homes!
@RedChaos
The inside of Homes have been 3D for a long time now...surely you didn't believe you was living in paper mario world this whole time.
@7egend 3d touch flo anyone?
I have yet to hear how a 3-dimensional interface like this has any benefit to the user interface.
@Snails
Not sure about 3d but in some 4d systems you can store your ideas in smells.
aero UI mac edition?
@htd Aero is Microsoft's copy of Apple's Quartz graphics compositing engine that Apple developed 10 years earlier. http://developer.apple.com/graphicsimaging/quartz/ Aero was partly to blame why Vista was such a miserable resource hog and why no one wanted Vista.
What is apple hiding in their box?.... Many suprises ahead i think...
I think that this will be on the tablet and the comment that an ex-apple employee made about the consumer being surprised how we interact with it now,makes perfect sense
Remember 3d Linux? That almost got the kids eaten by the Velociraptors having to wait to navigate it. Sometimes cool looking != functional.
It's a UNIX system! I know this!
TapTap OS
More like BattlezoneOS.
If the tablet is as far ahead in the production cycle as they claim it is, don't you think it's a little too late for this patent to be utilized in this generation of Apple devices? I think it's more of a "just in case" thing...
@DirtyVegas
Depends, if the patent was filed in 2008, it could be a squeeze, but if it was granted in 2008, then it could be feasible.
@Michael Holmes
Nevermind, filed in 2008. Still not unplausible though...
Doesn't she say something like, "I know this, it's unix"...
at least there's an optical sensor in the front
So apparently 20+ years of prior art means nothing in the PTO these days!?! Or does using multitouch instead of mouse or keyboard mean it is a completely different concept and not an incremental improvement?
@akhnaten
Our patent system is essentially a PoS waiting to die. Unfortunately until it does, we have this crap PTO that accepts nearly everything and the result is that the real validity of a patent is only tested in the courts.
Pah, capacitive? Transistive is the way forward, I'm telling you man. Especially for 3D planes!
...
Reminds me of some devices I've seen.
Looks like a patent for a 3D pyramid/square bowling game to me.