The
US Patents and Trademark Office has today made public a Microsoft patent application (serial no. 240,729) related to the graphical user interface found on the hotly anticipated
Windows Phone 7 Series mobile OS. Filed in September 2008, this application describes a "contiguous background" that extends beyond the dimensions of the screen (either vertically or horizontally, but not both) with anchored "mixed-media" elements being littered atop it -- all of which is to be served on a "media-playing device." That should sound pretty familiar, given that it's the central navigational concept of both Windows Phone 7 and the
Zune HD, and as such it makes a lot of sense for Microsoft to seek to legally protect its uniqueness. Before you start wondering about potential conflicts with
other UIs, take note that this requires a
continuous graphical background rather than a tiled or repeating image, plus space-orientating graphical elements, which should make it sufficiently nuanced to avoid any more patently unnecessary squabbles should Microsoft's claims be validated by the USPTO.
posted April 1st 2010 9:02PM
Go ahead, patent it as much as you like - i sucks big time, so it's not gonna be copied anyway.. ;-)
I see no innovation here. It's just a less graphical iPhone interface. Words sweep by instead of icons. Yawn.
Microsoft needs to fire Bill Gates' college roommate.
Hrm. This still smacks of an overly broad patent to me. Almost every interface one does though. Right now I am reading a website that "extends beyond the dimensions of the screen (either vertically or horizontally, but not both) with anchored "mixed-media" elements being littered atop it..." Oh wait, that is almost every website in existence.
But if you put that on a mobile phone suddenly it is something that can be patented?
There must be a better way for Microsoft to protect their product design without being awarded a generic interface patent that will just cause lawsuits and hinder further innovation in the future.
Besides, eventually all these mega-corps will just own the patents to everything and there will be no such thing as small business startups ever again... anything you try and do will have been patented.
That device looks like a Zune, anyone agree?
@Kinte Kunta Depends on the company, I guess :)
mobile shell allready does this
Interesting patent for one thing that makes sense if they try not to be like Apple they won't likely patent everything automically unless it grows by itself and with no need for a hassle anyway.
They would most likely move on and work on something else on those other places:no need for a hassle that you are angozing over the loss of it when it is lost,nobody would never throw it out and tried over and over evenly like the companies, they won't prove themselves if that try endless.
Microsoft has proven themselves that if things didn't work evenly they tried that, they would just drop and move on, don't care about the rest unless they hold some meaning to it, to revise the old mistakes, and leave some new mistakes there and just move:Nobody would never try that in a bad economic, and under a lot of pressure would they:Yes they will
The war isn't Microsoft vs Google vs Apple it's actually Microsoft vs Apple and why:Google is playing by both sides with testing the HTML and Flash programs doesn't that seems weird to most people?
Google=playing field= battlefield for Microsoft and Apple for the simple classical 1 on 1 battle war
Microsoft="Underground"
Apple="Mainstream"
Get the equation= Apple is the "Mainstream" which catches a lot of anention to Microsoft which is the "Underground" that doesn't want a lot of anention, but time wise knowledge is wanted
Now get this if Google try asking somebody to release the unknown game called "AudioSurf" out to the PC and The Mac then you can easily see instantly a battle brewing already and that would the first stepping stone in the realistic world near the future to build a realistic AudioSurf gaming place(where the Mainstream music is coming against Underground music, then imagine what it would be like)
@BoomUnknown WTF?
Really for all you people who say the UI sucks. Just open your closed minded view on technology..try a Zune HD for a day..you may like it but I fear you will and then commit suicide cause you feel you have betrayed you beloved company that looks at you as fodder.
@HighestRanked2 hmm..do you own a mustang by chance..cause when I thought the 2010 Camaro was the shit...al these Mustang owners were telling me.."it's too big", "it won't handle well", "it's ugly"..so I bought one and you know what happened today..car design of the year..see I never listen to what other people say because 95% of the people in the world are idiots and you sir definitely fall into that percentage. I buy what I think is good..regardless of who made it. I research I "try" before I buy. I use logic and reason..try googling those terms you might better yourself.
@jackburton Don't bother reasoning with these people. HighestRanked2 is a moron of the highest order, and reasoning with idiots like that is akin to trying to cool the sun down with a bucket of water.
@jackburton Who's being closed-minded? The one who's willing to give something new a chance? Or the one who shoots it down because he/she is afraid it might be good?
(I'm assuming that's why; you provided no other reasons as to exactly WHY it 'sucks')
@HighestRanked2 So much for providing good reasoning for your misinformed opinion . . .
I agree sir. You suck big time.
@HighestRanked2 So they have a monopoly on smartphones? LOL.
And I'd like to know your opinion on Apple's suit against HTC. Is that a case of (Apple) "desperately attempting to stiffle competition by hoarding designs."? Well is it?
L freaking OL that you would defend Apple suing over their patents, but you're butthurt as hell over Microsoft patenting what is obviously something they have implemented first in a smartphone.
"either vertically or horizontally, but not both" The zig-zag UI?
Seems derivative, as it includes characteristics found in other GUIs that have been around since the 1980s. Adobe Illustrator is a good example. To be patentable, an invention has to be novel and not obvious.
This patent should get shot down. I have seen more than enough websites with horrible horizontally scrolling interfaces to get this negated on the basis of prior art.
So they are stealing XFree86/Xorg's decade old screenlet and workspace concept and trying to patent it as their own? The more the USPTO grants crap like this the more people like me have to move to another country to build things for people.
Isn't Android main screen the same thing, simulating "contiguous background"? It would be interesting if MS is ganging up on Android.
So Apple haters its ok for Microsoft to patent frivolous stuff but its worst thing in the world for Apple to do? I smell a double standard. Don't hide your Applehate at least. What a bunch of hypocrites.
Just listen to youself you defend Microsoft here and hate on Apple with exactly the same issue....
@kyphem Don't tell me you are surprised :)
the n900 has a panoramic desktop doesn't it ?
I am amazed that things like this can be patented. Maybe I should get into this business...
@Kinte Kunta Thats what the haters would have you believe when it involves Apple. Anyone else and it's a great idea.
Everyone has to complain about something....oh it can't copy and paste, oh this is just another gimmick that's been done before, oh I already got an Android phone and I can't afford to get a WinMo7 when it releases.
Get over it please, you sound like a whiny bunch of babies. My 3 year old daughters cries and whines less about everything than you guys do about WinMo7. Guess what? People are loving it like McDonald's and if Moneysoft doesn't wait 8 more months to release it, or at least announce it will come to the HTC HD2, then they will make a killing on this.
Yeah I know, last thing they need, right? The thing about this is you have to give them credit. They definitely "get it" when it comes to giving people what they want in their tech.
Glad i never bought Vista though, or I might have to boycott WinMo7 on principle....hahahahah
@HighestRanked2
Man, it sucks to see you on a thread.
http://www.engadget.com/exclude/highestranked2
I wish that would work.
@Jacob1 Lol, you fell for the bait.
Pretty sure that SPB Mobile Shell 3.x can claim prior art on this one.
Don't really think this should be patentable as it has been done before many times.
The panoramic GUI isn't as ground breaking as some are making it out to be, but it's nifty and should provide effective interfaces on devices of varying sizes (it'll translate well to the inevitable WM7 tablets).
But why aren't engadget commenters as frothing-at-the-mouth angry over this as they have been over similar GUI patents by other companies?
Doesn't my Sony X1060 do something similar?
a panoramic selection - only its individual images, not one continuous, but I don't think there is a large enough distinction...
@HighestRanked2 really? Because I don't recall the following being applied to Apple by us "iHaters": "They've been convicted of being an anti-competitive monopoly in a court of law before,"
.. so I read this but still can't stop thinking about how my Android phone's background 'bleeds' off of the screen.. I can manipulate the screen to move either left or right from home and voila, I can view more of the background.. or drag an icon to another page.. or a widget containing music.. or ..? Isn't that the same thing? I'm confused. Then isn't it wrong to patent something that already exists.. that you didn't .. create?
So far as I can tell the panoramic element isn't any different from the Compiz cube.
I always feel the mere notion of patenting a UI is a bit over the top. Besides : I'm pretty sure there will already be programs around utilizing a similar interface .Can those folks now look forward to some frivolous lawsuit from Microsoft?? Enough with the patenting of marginally different concepts ,please.