Apple Wins Patent for a Touch Display System for the Desktop & Tablets

Apple has been granted a patent for a touch display system that clearly illustrates that it's to cover both an iMac Touch (desktop) and tablets. Apple's patent was originally filed in 2007 just prior to the official launch of the iPhone. The concept of a touch display for a desktop was then further advanced late last summer when Apple's proposed iMac Touch desktop system was revealed. With OS X Lion slowly adding iOS features, we may one day see such a system emerge.

As desktops like the iMac run cooler, get thinner and lighter due to next generation architectures like Haswell, the idea of an iMac Touch desktop seems more likely over time. Furthermore, another round of Apple patents surfaced last month that hinted at a possible future hybrid system.

Without a doubt the concept of a hybrid system is definitely being bandied around in Apple's research labs and Apple's granted patent Figures below bear that out. Whether the concept ever breaks out of the lab and materializes commercially is another matter that only time will tell.

Video & Sound Editing + Page-Turning for iBook

Apple's patent covered a touch display centric video editing app that included sound editing and Apple's now famous page-turning feature for iBook which is the best in the industry.

The Famous Pinch to Zoom Gesture + DJ Music App

Apple's patent covered a range of gestures including their famous Pinch to Zoom gesture as well as a series of touch related applications covering photo management (iPhoto), a photo editor and a DJ music app that the developer Algoriddim ended up delivering for the iPad, iPhone and more.

Apple's Key Touch Display Patent

Technically speaking, Apple's patent covers a system, method, and software for implementing gestures with touch sensitive devices (such as a touch sensitive display) for managing and editing media files on a computer system. Specifically, gestural inputs of a human hand over a touch/proximity sensitive device may be used to control, edit, and manipulate files, such as media files including without limitation photo files and video files.

In accordance with one embodiment, gestural inputs over a touch sensitive computer desktop application display used to effect the conventional mouse/trackball actions, such as target, select, right click action, scrolling, etc.

In accordance with another embodiment, gestural inputs over a touch sensitive display may be used to affect editing commands for editing image files, such as photo files. The gestural inputs could be recognized via a user interface ("UI") element, such as a slide bar. The gestural inputs via a UI element can be varied by changing the number of touchdown points on the UI element.

Apple credits Greg Christie as the sole inventor of this Granted Patent titled " Gestures for controlling, manipulating, and editing of media files using touch sensitive devices" originally filed in Q2 2007.

Apple Granted Design Patents for MacBook & Earbuds

Today, the US Patent and Trademark Office has granted Apple design patents for their earphones and 2009 MacBook which sported the older styled trackpad.  

Apple credits CEO Steve Jobs, VP Industrial Design Jonathan Ive and team members Bartley Andre, Daniel Coster, Daniele De Iuliis, Richard Howarth, Duncan Kerr, Shin Nishibori, Matthew Dean Rohrbach, Douglas Satzger, Calvin Seid, Vincent Seid, Christopher Stringer, Eugene Whang and Rico Zorkendorfer as the inventors of Granted Patent D639,295.

Other Granted Patents Published Today

Using Ambient Light Sensor to Augment Proximity Sensor Output

Generating Test Benches for Pre-Silicon Validation of Retimed Complex IC Designs Against a Reference Design: Apple's invention relates to generating test benches for pre-silicon validation of retimed complex IC designs against a reference design.

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