Apple seeks touchscreen display mouse patent Apple has filed a patent application for a mouse with a context-aware, configurable display perched on its back. As described in a US Patent and Trademark Office filing entitled Computer Input Device Including a Display Device, the mouse would have an LED, LCD, OLED, or TFT display inside that would project its contents …
Not battery life, battery levels - as in the indications you get on the Mac-end. If you've ever had the pleasure of owning one of these things you will notice after a period of ownership that the battery level reading becomes highly erratic. Brand new batteries like the ones it came with and within 5 minutes they're reading 85%, then the next day it's down to 60%, then 2 days after it's 20%, then back up to 70+%. It goes all over the shop. F*cking hopeless is the best review I could give it.
Actually, the first thing this mouse made me think of was an old games console from the early 80s'. It was the Mattel Intelivision and it had a numeric keypad that you would put "context sensitive" overlays onto. This would give you different buttons for different games. Also had a thumbpad and a couple of buttons.
Although the whole "one button mouse" thing makes Apple attempting to patent any context sensitive input seems rather hilarious.
Oh look, there's context sensitive menu now (must have hit my 2nd mouse button).
...because Arthur C Clarke thought of this idea first and described it in "Imperial Earth" (1976). The 'minisec', which resembled a smartphone, had configurable keytop displays to allow decently sized keys while keeping the minisec 'calculator-sized'.
I find I can't see very much of the top of my mouse when using it, because my hand covers it. Perhaps a tactile system would avoid the opacity problem? Some sort of raised area to indicate the clickable bits perhaps? In an advanced model they could even be made to move to provide feedback that the input had registered.
Or perhaps I don't need a transparent hand, perhaps I'm just 'holding it wrong', but Apple would never use such an excuse, would they?
I wonder about all the new fangled devices like smart phones, some of the smaller tablets and now this strange concoction. All I can say is the developers must have eyes like hawks and finger ends like needles. Some of the PDA's I've used were only usable with the stylus. That now seems to be a thing of the past. Instead we have things that make using them akin to looking through a keyhole and waving a wand to do anything. I wonder how old these developers are, not my age that's for certain. Personally I find my 24" widescreen monitor a bit restrictive these days. And what about the visually impaired or do they not count any more?
Well, sort of. It used an old PDA (an HTC Charmer if I remember correctly) to do motion tracking (only worked on a certain background but that's because I'm too lazy to code it properly) and could show anything as the PDA used SideWindow to act like as a touchscreen extra monitor for my PC. I even had a "rotate" function working, set to do the forwards and back functions when browsing online.
Not quite the same- this would have a proper mouse integrated into it. And wouldn't have a 200ms-or-so lag on the mouse functionality.
But on the other hand my mouse was able to run touchscreen Excel, make phone calls and even work as a keyboard!
If I'd known this was patentable I'd have grabbed the IP for this, but it did seem pretty simple and barely a step up from the rodent we all know and put up with.
not a fibre-based data transmission system. Lots of fibres lined up next to each other to carry a picture from one point to another wouldn't be that expensive- you need a length of fibre that's (Pixelcount x avg. distance) long, cut it up, and rebundle it. Holding it in place can be achieved by just sliding it through a mesh (to keep the pixels lined up) and potting it with a clear epoxy.
Fibre itself is really, really cheap. And a small OLED display would be able to be scaled up to cover a larger area (though it'd be relatively blocky and ugly and not at all Apple-like).
The concept is too similar to pre-existing products. Any patent office that awards Apple a patent for this didn't do their homework.
Apple didn't even do their homework.
I was looking at some devices the other week, that were strikingly similar.
What about Wacom's tablet/monitor combo graphics tablet device?
Simply joining a mouse to a touchscreen shouldn't be patentable, since it's not doing anything novel or new. And context-sensitivity displays aren't new. They've been around for a while.
What a great idea. Will it come with a mini mouse so the fat-fingered apple-twaterati can navigate to controls on their new screen. And will that one have a screen? Im off to patent a micro-mouse for navigating the screen on a mini mouse that is used to navigate the screen... sod it, i'm bored.
> These days absence of physical buttons does not indicate absence of functionality.
Sure it does. 2005 does not impress any of us that were using Macs in 1988. Apple has a very long and well established design history in this area. The fact that they finally acknowledged in as an option a couple of years ago really doesn't change the other 20 years that went before it.
The sudden existence of more buttons doesn't indicate any associated functionality.
Can I assume that those buttons will be present on a Mac laptop or that anyone will actually take advantage of them after 20 years of buying into Mac dogma?
Personally think it's a great idea, especially when in the context of say a numeric keypad. If you could have it so that each application could display it's own option on the mouse, brilliant.
Copy and paste for example, use your mouse to select text, then press another part of your mouse to copy, no cmd+c or right click > copy.
I know Razer makes a mouse with a keypad on the left "side" of the mouse. It is hardware buttons so you don't have to look down too. You hit the buttons with your thumb instead of having to move your entire hand to see a screeen. What use is a display that changes context but you have to interrupt the flow of using the computer to pull your hand up and refocus on a tiny screen? Not to mention the wear and tear on a touch screen that has a palm resting on it for many, many hours a day.
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