Microsoft Patents Page Up & Down Keys
Microsoft recently applied for and received Patent #7,415,666. Microsoft has just patented the functions of two keys that are on every keyboard that is manufactured on this planet – Page Up & Page Down. Seriously. This patent was originally filed in March 4, 2005 and was awarded August 19, 2008.
This clearly shows how broken and dysfunctional the patent system really is. Maybe someone should quickly run and apply for a patent on Backspace – It is without doubt one of the most widely used keys on any keyboard! Or maybe Ford should patent the steering wheel or gas pedal? Maybe I could patent the process of typing a Blog!
Here is a excerpt from the actual patent Microsoft was recently awarded :
Method and system for navigating paginated content in page-based increments A method and system in a document viewer for scrolling a substantially exact increment in a document, such as one page, regardless of whether the zoom is such that some, all or one page is currently being viewed. In one implementation, pressing a Page Down or Page Up keyboard key/button allows a user to begin at any starting vertical location within a page, and navigate to that same location on the next or previous page. For example, if a user is viewing a page starting in a viewing area from the middle of that page and ending at the bottom, a Page Down command will cause the next page to be shown in the viewing area starting at the middle of the next page and ending at the bottom of the next page. Similar behavior occurs when there is more than one column of pages being displayed in a row.
Maybe it is because the patent offices are over worked, or maybe the internal processes they utilizes just need some serious revamping. None the less, the situation is broken and needs to be addressed.
How about Patent #5,443,036 - a method for exercising a cat with a laser pointer. Or Patent #6,960,975 - a space vehicle propelled by the pressure of inflationary vacuum state, which clearly defies the currently known laws of physics.
To say that Microsoft "patented page up and page down keys" simply because they are mentioned in this document is akin to alleging that Edison invented light because light is mentioned in a patent for a lightbulb . . .
sounds pretty similar to microsoft practically owning those keys, regardless of name.. as long as the function of the key is the same, or "similar" to what is written above in the article....
Come on Micro$oft give us break.
I had pageup and pagedown keys on my Commodore Vic-20 and COBOL based Data General Network server, hell Micro$oft wasn't even invited back then.
Sparky, they patented a novel method of using such keys. Not the general function. They hardly "own" the keys...like I said, they cite that the original function of those keys were already known. The patent actually has little to do with those keys, and is a method for calculating the vertical offset of a page in order to accurately jump to the next page based on a user input.
However, the patent system is somewhat broken, especially in the field of software engineering. There is NO comprehensive database comprising what is "the current state of the art" in the open source world. This creates a rift between what is known, and what can be proven as known. The courts need documentation of what constitutes the "prior art". If some hack creates a useful program in his basement, uploads it to the internet, and a small user base implements it....well it is KNOWN, but its hard to prove that its known, especially before a certain point in time, ie when the applicant files for his patent.
Anyways, I could go on and on....but this article is very flawed and propogates some serious misconceptions about Patents and IP law.
On a side note, I do agree with BuckeyeyeInNC. Aaron should understand what patents do and how they work BEFORE he writes an article claiming that Microsoft has patented the page up/page down key. As discussed above, Microsoft is patenting the formula to calculate scrolling. If for example, you were able to come up with a better formula to calculate the scrolling for the page up/page down keys, then you could patent that. One can not simply patent the bare functions of the page up/page down key. As keyboards have been around for decades and these bare functionalities are present, all keyboards in existence would be "prior art" and could be used to invalidate a patent, even if one was granted. In order for a patent to issue, you MUST prove to the Patent Office that your invention is patentable over the prior art. In this case, the formula used is what makes this invention different from just a page up/page down key.
In simplistic terms, the criteria for awarding a patent has most to do with whether or not the idea or process has already been patented.
When I read this, I noticed a few things you guys over looked because you were too busy trolling.
1.) The title is relative. If you look up the word relative you may find the definition as "Dependent on or interconnected with something else; not absolute"
2.) The author did not actually state that microsoft patented the physical keys themselves. What he said was "Microsoft has just patented the functions of two keys". The word 'functions' is also relative and can be quite 'universal'.
There are millions of good patents out there that protect rights and property. But this is one of the more retarded ones for sure.
Then why does he go on to rant about about patenting the steering wheel and gas pedal. This is comparable to GM patenting drive by wire, they didn't actually patent the steering wheel but how to use it differently.
Most applications respond to such keypresses by moving the content up or down by a fixed number of pixels. For example, if you open a PDF document that has pages 500 pixels tall (at 100% zoom) on a screen resolution of 1200 pixels tall and you press the PgDn key, you will probably end up ~1150 pixels further down the document. Thus, if you start on page 1, you'll end up somewhere near the top of page 3. Press the key again, you'll end up somewhere near the bottom of page 5.
Microsoft's patent covers a method of jumping about that document in terms of pages. If you press PgDn, you'll go down 500 pixels because that is the height of the page. If you zoom the page 200% so that it's 1000 pixels tall, PgDn will move you 1000 pixels because that is the height of the page. You'll never press PgDn and jump from page 3 to page 5, as the PgDn key will actual refer to pages, rather than a set number of pixels.
Microsoft did not patent the PgUp and PgDown keys, nor the way applications usually respond to those keys being pressed. As far as I'm aware, their approach is unique and thus suitable for patenting.
So all the keyboard manufacturers now have to scramble to find another way to make their page up/page down key work or get sued, after using the old method for decades? How about I patent the method humans intake oxygen and you find another way to breath?
no brain, no kwnowlege and very corrupt.
So they get to protect the pg up/dn functionality that supports zoomed documents… ? Interesting that they can do that and get the rights to it, but is that terribly useful? And how does that qualify as innovative? Silly patent and I don’t understand why Microsoft would go through the effort of obtaining it… unless they made it some integral part of their future OS somehow or more to the point of what it really is going after, make it part of their office suite baring the competition from implementing such features in say power point, excel or any of their other office applications.
Hmm… a keystroke that moves the exact place on the next page regardless of the zoom level… so does this rule out assigning a shortcut key to moving to the next page in one of these documents, or just reserve the right to control who can add keys that do that to Microsoft? The implications from this end are much more disturbing than what the article is suggesting.
It doesn’t matter what the patent actually protects – the concept has been around for a while now(bookmark/thumbnail views are one simple example of this exact feature) and I don’t think Microsoft first came up with it so they shouldn’t be awarded a patent even if it only protects creating a key that does it. I mean if this is the case, can I patent a login key? No keyboards I’ve used have that one – and even if it exists on some obscure interface already, I could pick from any number of other commonplace functions to make a patent on.
So if I understand any of this correctly… (not saying that I do) this is saying a hardware implementation of a shortcut key or common function is patentable? Huh? Innovative how? Hurry somebody, make a patent to close/open a tab in a browser before somebody else does and bars it from being on any keyboards unless the patent owner says so!
This is a pretty absurd patent after all.