INQ word of the day: antidisestablishmentarianism
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Apple gets a slide-to-unlock patent for smartphones and tablets
TOYMAKER FOR THE WELL HEELED Apple has been granted a patent that describes using gestures to unlock a device.
Apple's slide-to-unlock on IOS is one of the first things users see and was a considerable improvement over clunky unlock mechanisms used in previous phones. Not surprisingly Apple filed a patent application with the US Patent and Trademark Office titled, "Unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock image" back in June 2009.
Over two years later, Apple was finally granted its slide-to-unlock patent, possibly giving the fruit themed firm another weapon in its arsenal against Google and its partners. Just about every smartphone operating system, including Google's Android, Microsoft's Windows Phone and HP's now defunct WebOS uses gestures to unlock a device.
Apple's patent application is pretty self-explanatory but it's not surprising that the firm went into considerable detail trying to seal off any loop-holes that competitors might use to avoid paying royalties if Apple acts on its patent. The first point in the patent application's description provides a glimpse into the detail Apple went into to describe dragging a few pixels across a screen.
"A method of unlocking a hand-held electronic device, the device including a touch-sensitive display, the method comprising: detecting a contact with the touch-sensitive display at a first predefined location corresponding to an unlock image; continuously moving the unlock image on the touch-sensitive display in accordance with movement of the contact while continuous contact with the touch screen is maintained, wherein the unlock image is a graphical, interactive user-interface object with which a user interacts in order to unlock the device; and unlocking the hand-held electronic device if the moving the unlock image on the touch-sensitive display results in movement of the unlock image from the first predefined location to a predefined unlock region on the touch-sensitive display."
Google and its device partners, in particular Samsung, will have their teams of patent lawyers looking over Patent 8,046,721 to find any weak points before Apple hauls them into court. µ
Tags: Apple
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It's not just palm who had prior art by mid 2009. Android would of been out for over 18 months by this time and has better unlock methods which this patent covers (but apple doesn't use).
Whoever granted this patent must live in a closed box and fed apples daily.
This must be part of Job's master plan to 'destroy' android.
I for one will be sticking with my droid and may the empire strike back
This is beyond stupid, i guess this is why it had to happen in the US of A.
Will Belong to Apple. Like tapping a phone number to dial, swipe to unlock.
Patent trolls!
FU apple, I will never use your stinkin phones!
At least there are some details in the patent that people can read and understand. Not like the vague other patents out there. Everyone will know where they stand with this patent. I don't like Apple but they did a good job on this one.
So it looks like you have to put your finger at a certain place on a certain image to move it to unlock a device?
Would this include a screensaver as a screensaver does not have to have a certain place on the screen, plus it does not indicate a moving image, plus the moving image does not need to move just your finger across the screen?
and a better security unlock would be how many taps of the screen.
Yes very detailed patent Apple. Yes I'm sure your patent is very water tight in relation to it.
Now the downside..... You don't UNLOCK a device by gesture you activate the OS GUI by gesture!
Now if Google, Samsung or HTC would like to send me a nice new phone for saving them silly money on lawyers I would be most grateful. :)
So they patented moving your finger from left to right to unlock a device
Off to file a petent for moving a finger downwards onto a button to type the letter m. And every time you hit the m button, you owe me a quid.
I'm also patenting the movement of front-to-back motion of the hand to clean the crap from your bum'ole so every time you wipe your butt you owe me another quid.
I like this patenting malarkey
How can you grant any patents based on gestures? Does it mean, if I patent functionality such as saying "hello" to my house front door, which would recognize my voice, and trigger locks, light (if dark), and other appliances in my house, then no one else can program word "hello" into competing devices???? Our patent agency is just a bunch of corrupted dbags that should be thrown to jail!
In April, the judge in 'Apple v Samsung' (The Hague) issued a preliminary dismissal of their European 'slide-to-unlock' patent on grounds of prior art.:
http://www.appleinsider.com/ar...
He also treated their claim to a European patent on so-called 'multitouch gestures' with pretty much the same level of casual disdain.:
http://www.eplawpatentblog.com...
With precedent like that, Apple would be silly to even consider using this new US patent against anybody with the cash for proper defense.
Palm WebOS had a slide to unlock in the original Pre which was alreay available when Apple filed for this patent. Even if Palm foolishly did not patent it first it is still prior art and should invalidate Apple's patent if challenged.
Apple these days is beginning to make Microsoft look like boy scouts. They are pure evil. I'll never ever buy one of their products. They just want to sue away their competition.
Are Patents retroactive?
"... before Apple hauls them into court."
IANAL, but I suspect Apple must first offer infringers of the patent the opportunity to license it for a "reasonable" compensation to Apple.
Should the company decline to negotiate or accept a licensing offer, then litigation might be a possibility.
Dweeb