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Apple awarded new patents

by Matt Tinsley Sep 3rd 2010 at 11:00AM

This past week, Apple had a host of new patents officially approved by the US Patent and Trademark Office. From streamlining the way images are rendered to preventing the accidental opening of applications, a large chunk of the patents seem to relate to the ways that a user interacts with a device. Macsimum News has a synopsis of all the patents awarded.

A few of the patents that stick out are for operations that we take for granted on a daily basis.

One of them relates to scrolling through a list on a touch input device (say your iPhone contacts list), with the acceleration of the scrolling of that list being determined by the input of your finger. That's pretty nifty!

Another is for immediate search feedback on a Web browser application, like the Safari search bar. So, for instance, when you start typing in the first few letters of a search query and a list pops up of the potential items that you're searching for - that's immediate search feedback.

I think I would be lost without this feature. Often times, I can't remember the title of a song, but if I can remember the first couple lyrics, I can type them in, and a link to the song title will appear in the list. Or when I can't quite remember how to spell a word (embarrassing, I know), I go to the Safari search bar instead of going to the dictionary. Somehow, it's always the easier place to turn to.

These are some pretty simple features, but they make such a profound difference in the ways that we use and interact with the computer devices around us on a daily basis. There's some solid innovation going on over there in Cupertino.

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This past week, Apple had a host of new patents officially approved by the US Patent and Trademark Office. From streamlining the way images...
 

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panu

European patent EP 880091 describes kinetic scrolling.

September 24 2010 at 1:35 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Kevin

Hate to let facts get in the way of a good PTO bashing, but...

Apple did _not_ just patent kinetic scrolling. They patented a very minor (and frankly, obvious) method of filling in missing kinetic scrolling information. That is, when you swipe your finger and some part of that touch info is missing, they fill it in with data extrapolated from a previous part of your swipe. That's all. Nothing earthshattering or critical to any other company.

Btw, since someone mentioned it, Apple also did not patent multi-touch or pinch zoom. They patented a way of deciding which direction to scroll.

September 07 2010 at 12:48 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
SwissMac

Samsung's new Tablet uses the scroll accelaration through lists action - I guess they'll either have to redo the thing or pay APple loadsamoney. For once APple will be on the correct end of this ridiculous software/process patenting system and not subject to the lawsuits of patent vulture legal firms.

September 04 2010 at 9:56 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Galley

Didn't that feature first appear in Inquisitor for Safari?

September 04 2010 at 8:11 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
n8

And let the lawsuits begin!!!

September 03 2010 at 7:34 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
David Ramsay

Search Bar - well I hope I am part of everyone and I like it!

September 03 2010 at 3:49 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
airmanchairman

"Or when I can't quite remember how to spell a word (embarrassing, I know), I go to the Safari search bar instead of going to the dictionary"

That's quite brilliant, much quicker than consulting a dictionary app, especially if you're already surfing.

Only a seasoned uber-geek and road warrior could have stumbled upon and come up with that gem!

September 03 2010 at 1:59 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
NutMac

I wish iOS mobile Safari had page search feature.

September 03 2010 at 1:34 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Chris

So if Apple has this kinetic touch scrolling patented do you think they will give notice to Android and other mobile OS who added this after they saw the iPhone do it originally?

Maybe a dick move but could Apple force all others to remove this kinda of scrolling from their software?

You have to admit, that Apple is pioneer this way of touch scrolling. Everyone has copied of them, so they should be awarded the patent.

September 03 2010 at 1:33 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Simplicated

If you are talking about the "smart" address field, you are probably correct. Everyone hates it.

But the article is talking about the Search field...

September 03 2010 at 12:58 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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