Apple Patents the Ultra Wide Touchpad for Notebooks
Apple was granted a patent for a wide area touchpad for its notebooks more than seven years after its original filing in August of 2004.
The document describes a technology that uses an image sensor to detect a user's hand location relative to a touch sensitive surface, which extends to the left and right of an existing trackpad, and the keyboard.
Apple envisioned the wide-trackpad to be a solution to make data input on notebooks much more user friendly and create intelligent palm-rest areas that can differentiate between scenarios in which a hand is simply "resting" and when it is applied to control objects on the screen. While the size of touchpads was traditionally minimized to prevent unintended data input, Apple went the other way and searched for ways to extend it.
The wide-area trackpad never went into production and we have no information and suspicion that this will happen anytime soon. The actual benefits of a much wider trackpad may not have been substantial enough to justify the expense of commercializing the idea, even if the move to 3D and previous patent filings that indicate that Apple could be using light beams for object detection above the keyboard could change that stance. In scenarios that rely on touch input, the identification of "accidental contact when a user does not intend to activate the touchpad" is rather tricky.
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Is apple going to patent the technique of touching the touchpad?
Pretty soon they'll be patenting buttons, and after that, moving your fingers in a downward motion and finally breathing. The sky is the limit in an east Texas court!
Do they have a working prototype?
No?
Then, they should STFU.
Pretty soon they'll be patenting buttons, and after that, moving your fingers in a downward motion and finally breathing. The sky is the limit in an east Texas court!
Luckily, I own the patent for raising the middle finger. They can not patent that, but as a consolation prize, they get that gesture every day.
Pretty soon they'll be patenting buttons
And then they'll declare war on all button-kind.
Steve Jobs hated buttons with a passion and I bet Apple is still on a crusade to eliminate as many buttons as possible.
btw: Apple trackpads are really good, but I doubt anyone could get an "ultra wide touchpad" to actually work.
No software is smart enough to eliminate all accidental inputs.
What are the advantages of this? A simple sensitivity adjustment makes a normal sized track pad more then adequate for common laptop uses. Anybody who needs more precise movement will just plug-in a mouse anyways.
What are the advantages of this? A simple sensitivity adjustment makes a normal sized track pad more then adequate for common laptop uses. Anybody who needs more precise movement will just plug-in a mouse anyways.
Oh god, I could imagine Apple patenting the touchscreen, no-click mouse.
I hate the current patent system and all the abuses there of that allow anyone to patent or own the rights to everything and anything just short of a full birth human. I hate civilization as it exist as it is some sick twisted system of domination and control. I hope it all goes back to the dark ages for a while just to make people appreciate knowledge and technology. It isn't nor should it be a cash cow but to improve the quality of life but instead companies like Apple or Exxon ect are prime examples of providing minimum to no innovation while maximizing profit at the least expense. In the end the best tech and ideas never get used but are owned. Copyright and Intellectual rights while being the optime of hypocrisy are slowly killing off any real creative expression and free thought in this world.
I have patented the "I let her touch me all she wants" follow by my other patent "I touch myself if she doesn't" .... hehehe
Thankfully for Apple they can still fill out the form for the "sleep on the dog house" patent.
I'll patent shit (and I already have a working prototype and production facility), nobody can produce it without paying royalties in cash!
Give Apple a bit of time, I'm sure they'll patent the planet Earth.
Personally, I don't see how this is a groundbreaking innovation since a lot of laptop users own a mouse.
I feel like this joke is kind of obligatory for this article, but still...
Next up: Apple to patent patenting things.
Lenovo w500 workstation laptop has a large pad before:
http://www.bing.com/images/search? [...] ORM=IDFRIR
people patenting stuff already done should be void and free general technology. If Lenovo thinkpad didn't patent that out already.
Do they have a working prototype?No?Then, they should STFU.
You don't know how the patent process works do you?
Oh you don't?
Then you should STFU.
A
I feel like this joke is kind of obligatory for this article, but still...Next up: Apple to patent patenting things.
Apple patent patents?
Patenting was invented for safeguarding, not making trouble to others!!!! Sad people misusing the law...
anyways.. what difference does it make to a user with wide or normal touch pad??? the smaller one is clumsy.. sightly bigger would do.. but wide?? no one is going to use that much of space!! c'mon apple.. stop patenting sh*t..
You don't know how the patent process works do you?Oh you don't?Then you should STFU.
lol.. House.. he means that even if you have an idea you can patent that.. not just if you make the idea into a product..
http://mashable.com/2012/01/18/ces [...] el-Nikiski
If you look at the last one...the Intel Nikiski.....isn't this already invented!?!!?
Well it's good to know if I get a brain injury I can always get a job at the US patent office.
touchpads are really annoying compared to a mouse anyway.
in my opinion touchpad should be in the right side of the keyboard:just like mouse is.Of course this will only work with 15-17+ inch laptops.
Oh god, I could imagine Apple patenting the touchscreen, no-click mouse.
Not sure if being sarcastic, but I'll say this anyway; it's called the Magic mouse. They did that already.
I will sue Apple for everything they have.....my P enis is a large and ultra wide touch pad...some exaggerations may have used in this post
they shouldnt allow to patent something unless its already build
Apple is nothing but a patent troll...
You don't know how the patent process works do you?Oh you don't?Then you should STFU.
Hello, troll.
lol.. House.. he means that even if you have an idea you can patent that.. not just if you make the idea into a product..
the wide pad already exists not only as a working prototype, but as a fully functional product in lenovo's w500.
Unless Apple has a working prototype of a pad that is earlier than lenovo's, they should not be allowed to patent something that exists already.
So..... yeah: STFU.
they shouldnt allow to patent something unless its already build
Even if they've already build a prototype they shouldn't be able to patent a "wide" touchpad, they should only be allowed to patent a touchpad that uses the specific algorithms for finger recognition that Apple developed, a wide touchpad on its own is not an invention, it's just an adjustment of the physical dimensions of an existing invention.
another pathetic and imbecile move courtesy by Apple... only shows Steve Job's spirit is within Apple employee. Retards.
Not sure if being sarcastic, but I'll say this anyway; it's called the Magic mouse. They did that already.
The magic mouse isn't button free.