“Apple has received a Granted Patent from the US Patent Office today that relates to one of earliest multi-touch patents on record. It’s one of the patents that Apple gained when acquiring a gesture recognition company called FingerWorks back in 2005. Multi-touch was the driver behind the revolutionary 2007 iPhone,” Jack Purcher reports for Patently Apple.

“Apple’s newly granted patent covers apparatus and methods for simultaneously tracking multiple finger and palm contacts as hands approach, touch, and slide across a proximity-sensing, multi-touch surface,” Purcher reports. “Identification and classification of intuitive hand configurations and motions enables unprecedented integration of typing, resting, pointing, scrolling, 3D manipulation, and handwriting into a versatile, ergonomic computer input device.”

Read more, and see Apple’s patent application illustrations and diagrams, in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers "Edward W." and "Dan K." for the heads up.]