“The newest iPod patent says that the touch and the screen don’t have to go together. The next gen iPod will have a display surface covering the front, and a non ‘coplanar’ touch surface on the back. Here’s how it’ll work,” Gizmodo reports.
“The front screen of the iPod or iPhone Nano shows everything, but is no more touchy-feely than your iPod’s screen today. When you touch the backside, however, transparent ‘ghost’ controls appear on the front. You’d then use your finger on the backside of the device to navigate your way through the transparent controls up front. The key to the equation is force sensitivity. As you run your finger along the backside, the cursor hovers, but when you press harder, you can click on things,” Gizmodo reports.
“Apple’s patent covers not just music and video navigation but phone controls and more,” Gizmodo reports.
Full article here.
United States Patent Application #20070103454 (filed: January 5, 2007; published: May 10, 2007):
Back-Side Interface for Hand-Held Devices
An electronic device uses separate surfaces for input and output. One of the surfaces (e.g., the bottom) includes a force-sensitive touch-surface through which a user provides input (e.g., cursor manipulation and control element selection). On a second surface (e.g., the top), a display element is used to present information appropriate to the device’s function (e.g., video information), one or more control elements and a cursor. The cursor is controlled through manipulation of the back-side touch-surface. The cursor identifies where on the back-side touch-surface the user’s finger has made contact. When the cursor is positioned over the desired control element, the user selects or activates the function associated with the control element by applying pressure to the force-sensitive touch-surface with their finger. Accordingly, the electronic device may be operated with a single hand, wherein cursor movement and control element selection may be accomplished without lifting one’s finger.
Full patent application here.
AppleInsider also covers the story here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Bizarro Ballmer” for the heads up.]
um..iPhone nano?
“…and boy have we patened it!”
BOOM!
I wonder how much getting used to this would require… and does it require two hands (one to hold the device, the other to use the touch-sensitive back)?
Having a hard time visualizing this in use.
Not sure how easy it will be to use such devices with one hand…
Interesting nontheless…
I can’t see the scroll wheel being too difficult because they can surely build in good error correction and because you’re only touching in one place then any movement you make is in relation to that touch, if you move your finger off and on, they can just reposition the control to suit your starting point. With buttons for numbers and letters you’d have to make numerous touches and know where each one was in relation to the other, without visual feedback and being able to feel the buttons I would think it would be far too difficult to work.
Good. This means no problems with touch-sensitive screens getting scratched…
Apple patents “ROM” interface — “read operator’s mind.”
Good for pointing, not good for multifinger gestures. One-handed ergonomics on a device as small and thin as an iPod Nano or an iPhone are great, with the index finger doing the pointing, but the idea of doing pinch/squeeze is not so good. Neither does it help to do it two-handed. For that, one needs two hands and a front surface.
the whole thing could just be a big fish ………for all us fishers!
Challenging to make cases for devices like this since you’d have to have a way to expose both sides.
So it’s a trackpad in reverse?
Sounds like Apple have invented things we never knew we needed.
AGAIN!
@Random Coolzip
Think of it like the trackpad on a Macbook. The display & touch area are seperate but the input on the latter is displayed on the former. In this case, just happens to be on the _back_ of the display…
Definitely will take some practice but being Apple, they would have thought of all the aspects of the UI…
Pretty cool!
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
“…it’s like magic” ……… BOOM!
This would allow them to make devices that are even smaller than now without having two (battery-consuming) screens front & back, yet still remain useful.
I would hate to be an Apple Engineer. Steve works out what the ideal device would be then says ‘build it’.
I smell disinformation.
this patent sounds really interesting, i expect it to be very intuitive.
Would be hell for case makers, though. How do you create a case with the front AND back open that still protects it?
Gizmodo: “the next gen iPod will . . .”
Um, this is just a patent, folks – not an announcement. Apple might never sell a product with this.
Also, why would an iPod (not iPhone) need a numeric keypad? Is it just me, or does this look more like a potential idea for the phone, not the music player?
That was my idea about 6 months ago. BOO HOO.
I had this idea a couple of years ago, I think it’ll work just fine. I do believe you’ll need two hands to operate it effectively. It would make a great game controller. I Love games–NOT.
Pay no attention..
This is just a protection patent. That is all.
Ten years later, M$ copies it and calls it their “innovation”!
this is just an image,the cursor is very bad,remember multi-touch?yes we need multi-touch on ipods too or we stick with the click wheel to gain more market share.
Yes, this looks like either a hedge for the “iPhone nano” or the device itself. The model coming next month is quite expensive, if quite capable, while this sort of model would be less – of both. Next month we see the phone that does many things well, including being an iPod, and later we will see this stripped-down version at half the price and fewer features – maybe no movies, for example.
DLMeyer – the Voice of G.L.Horton’s Stage Page Pod-Cast
“The next gen iPod will have a display surface covering the front. . .”
So, Apple files a patent on some future technology they’re working on and Gizmodo jumps to the conclusion that it will be in the next generation?!?!?