Now that everyone knows the iSlate is real, the question is: what the hell is this thing going to be like? How will it work? What will wow us about the iSlate that we never really expected?
A tipster just dug up some great details about a new multi-touch gestures that may help answer these questions [CrunchGear summarized many other cool gestures here]. Obviously, we don’t know if Apple will use this technology, but patents from a company they previously acquired, Fingerworks, reveal two patents that might apply to the new Apple Tablet.
The first one enables you to write on a touchscreen in the same way that you would a piece of paper.
You clench your fist and pinch your thumb and index finger together like you’re holding a pen (see image above). Now, if you press your hand down to the tablet with this position, you can now write like you would on a piece of paper. Of course, it might be weird at first: you’ll probably hate the fact that you don’t have anything in your fingers, but we all thought the same thing about not having a keyboard. I’ll take the wait-and-see approach: if this does land itself on the iTablet, it’s definitely something I could see myself using. From the patent itself:
[0129] FIG. 15 is a proximity image of a right hand in a pen grip configuration. The thumb 201 and index fingertip 202 are pinched together as if they were holding a pen but in this case they are touching the surface instead. Actually the thumb and index finger appear the same here as in FIG. 14. However, the middle 203, ring 204, and pinky 205 fingers are curled under as if making a fist, so the knuckles from the top of the fingers actually touch the surface instead of the finger tips. The curling under of the knuckles actually places them behind the pinched thumb 201 and index fingertip 202 very close to the palm heels 206, 207. The knuckles also appear larger than the curled fingertips of FIG. 14 but the same size as the flattened fingertips in FIG. 13. These differences in size and arrangement will be measured by the pen grip detector 17 to distinguish this pen grip configuration from the closed and flattened hand configurations.
Another patent enables the touchscreen to identify if you are typing or if you just happen to have your hand on the screen. Similar to the way the iPhone detects that you are holding your phone up to your face to talk, this may be a small feature that goes a long way towards improving usability of the iSlate.
[0295] The typing recognition process described above thus allows the multi-touch surface to ergonomically emulate both the typing and hand resting capabilities of a standard mechanical keyboard. Crisp taps or impulsive presses on the surface generate key symbols as soon as the finger is released or decision diamond 792 verifies the impulse has peaked, ensuring prompt feedback to the user. Fingers intended to rest on the surface generate no keys as long as they are members of a synchronized finger press or release subset or are placed on the surface gently and remain there along with other fingers for a second or two. Once resting, fingers can be lifted and tapped or impulsively pressed on the surface to generate key symbols without having to lift other resting fingers. Typematic is initiated ether by impulsively pressing and maintaining distinguishable force on a key, or by holding a finger on a key while other fingers on the hand are lifted. Glancing motions of single fingers as they tap key regions are easily tolerated since most cursor manipulation must be initiated by synchronized slides of two or more fingers.
There is good reason to believe that Apple will be introducing a new language of touchscreen technology with the launch of the iSlate. The pen technology definitely has potential, and we’re excited to see whether it is implemented.
All of the information above comes from the US Patent website at http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=Fingerworks.AS.&OS=AN/Fingerworks&RS=AN/Fingerworks.
LOL!
Ah yes, groundbreaking.. on a steroids… astounding… enermous,… amazing…
what else to say before the official statement? All hype. What people need is the official thing, then its for their judgment if this ‘slate’ is really good as what the rumors suggested.
Its starting to became clear, that it is on these rumors Apple makes their product unveiling more exciting (They use anticipation to build a tremendous longing for their products) Details: http://bit.ly/apple-tablet-details-compiled
Please don’t name the device iSlate. God the ugly name does not suit a company like Apple. Call it iTablet or Applet (Apple Tablet for short)
Now Applet would be really funny when you run a Java app – “of course you run Java in an Applet, don’t be silly”
Pretty clever. At first, didn’t think palm element 207 made sense, but I think most write like that so nice way to capture what people naturally do when writing on paper.
I’ll be interested to see this in action…
Trying to emulate what they’re doing on the patent is a little difficult (for me).
Section 207 & 203 don’t touch the surface when I have my hand in a “writing” configuration and forcing all sections to come into contact with the surface is very uncomfortable.
Agree. When I hold palm flat, seems to work. But my natural writing style (which is horrendous but blame my third grade teacher who gave up after keeping me after school for several days) seems to only include 203-206 (basically side of hand). I haven’t looked at patent but they likely have various figures with different conventional configurations, or describe that in the specification.
Gotta love have patents sometimes give hints about whats in the pipeline. Trademarks can as well and publish much sooner compared to patents. When we see an Apple trademark for an automobile, even the non-Detroit automakers might tremble a bit.
Actually the technology used along with this will be able to sense your hand even if it isn’t making complete contact — just needs to be within a certain range from the screen — that was another patent I believe.
Does the patent also cover southpaws?
Yes. They’re going to have left handed iSlates with green covered grips so we can tell them apart.
I think it’d be cool if it automatically smudged text when left-handers write. Or right-handers, for matter, if they’re writing in right-to-left languages like Arabic instead of left-to-right like English.
Ooooh, and maybe rubbing the side of your clenched fist could erase the text where you rub, leaving little virtual eraser particles on the page. While the particles are there, you could still undo the erase. Blowing on the tablet (on a microphone, I guess) would blow the particles away, clearing the space for editing as well as the undo buffer.
Someone invented that ages ago. It’s called the pencil, paper, and eraser.
You know what sucks? Software patents.
You know the question that everyone’s really asking?
“Who the hell is going to buy it?”
Jon & Kath, Mark B, maybe Jim, not so sure about Sally…
Damn. The first production run was only for three units.
Is it a patent APPLICATION, or a GRANTED patent? Also, it seems to be from 2007.
its all about modular mobile form factors:
-part notebook/binder & part computer
-smart pens= part stylus + part real pen, bluetooth capable device
-can clip in multiple “dumb” displays/e-paper/HID/ multi touch & stylus capable components with both color and e-ink settings
-1 10inch beautiful multi touch capable HD display
-opt paper thin keyboard just clips right into the binder
-wireless power transmission from battery or charge unit/station/desk/tables to modular components
-multidock/multi port pocket compartments
-network capable can access/share data with mac/linux/pcs
-DLNA/XBMC compliant can stream and access media streams on local network and the clouds
-wireless sync & charging for supported smart phone devices
-media player that supports open standards and codecs
-itunes store/app competitor a marketplace of many different options and offerings
-GUI that can seamlessly change from iphone/mobile like to desktop/bumtop/courier like depending on orientation portrait/landscape
-GUI that can account for multiple “dumb” displays clipped into the binder
-highly subsidized from telecom company
-wifi/bluetooth
-edge/3G/wimax
-compliant with HD radio/sat radio
-over the air TV if available in area
-smart pens = you can write on paper and sync to comp or just write on e-paper or HD display as it was a stylus or just clip in that keyboard component and type your choice
-gps with maps and turn by turn directions
-palm or google could pull this off?
-removable battery
-modular means you can swap out hard drives, add memory, and other options built into the binder itself
imagine then re-imagine the possibilities!
Wonder if it will be able to read fingerspelling?
That looks like the letter t.
Think about the “total distance” your fingers travel when writing on a paper versus simple taps on a keyboard, even if it’s a virtual keyboard. Now think about the number of fingers you can use while typing and how they timeshare: when one finger is typing a letter, another is ready to punch in the second letter…
This method however would work perfectly for me on small devices where I can only use only one finger and space is scarce.
I think this is an excellent piece of investigative journalism. Patents, a great source of Appl’s secrets!
$ SOLD
Both concepts are a great idea. I’d be curious as to how the writing actually worked. As for the second patent, my TX 2 already does that, quite well actually. Perhaps they just came up with a different way of the computer processing that specific touch point.
I won’t be surprised that on 27th January, when Apple finally announces the tablet, Arrington comes up with his Techcrunch Review and reveal he has been using it for the last 1 month.
Just like what they did with NexusOne. Making a fool out of us.
What a ridiculous length to go to, just to avoid using a stylus! Yes, learn a whole new hand posture (because no one on earth holds a pen like that), relearn how to write (because most of the movement in writing is micro-adjustments at the tips of your fingers moving the pen, not bulk hand movements forming the entire letter), only be able to write in the middle of the screen (because this method would fall apart the second you got near the dominant hand edge, or bottom edge), and require a huge amount of surface area (because it would be impossible to write small text this way), all just to sort of approximate something that is kind of like writing with a pen. OR, you could just use a stylus, and write EXACTLY like you do when writing on paper.
Of course we can’t do that, because somewhere along the iPhone marketing trail, we decided that styli were cumbersome, uncool, and archaic, and multi-touch was the One True solution to everything.
You call this news? I read about these patents more than 4 months ago.
For the record, OS X already does native handwriting recognition when you have a USB graphics tablet installed:
http://www.apple.com/accessibility/macosx/physical.html
(see “Inkwell” 3/4 of the way down the page)
Hmm, maybe its not just handwriting. If it senses you have your palm in contact, why not both and it becomes a keyboard with or without it actually being visible. It would virtually locate keys relative to your palm placement and maybe even learn your typing habit! That would be very cool!!
Microsoft already patented that one.