Neonode Beat Apple to "Slide to Unlock" Patent by 3 Years: Analysis

[btarunr]

Even as Apple is going on a childish suing spree over every touchscreen device manufacturer that uses a "slide to unlock" mechanism to wake sleeping devices up, it has emerged that Apple wasn't the first to patent such as technology to begin with, it was Neonode, which envisaged the concept 3 years earlier, and patented it. Neonode is a Swedish mobile phone manufacturer. Neonode had this patent filed under US Pat. No. 8,095,879, its claim that details the technology leaving no room for ambiguity:

12. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the user interface is characterised in, that an active application, function, service or setting is advanced one step by gliding the object along the touch sensitive area from left to right, and that the active application, function, service or setting is closed or backed one step by gliding the object along the touch sensitive area from right to left.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[btarunr]

 

[the54thvoid]

I'm sure Apple will argue that the patent does not implicitly refer to the device being made safe from unintentional usage during the locked state, as such the application is not closed or moved back one step but the device itself is 'closed' until the slide feature is reactivated.

Or, they'll bribe someone.

 

[m1dg3t]

Stupid Apple, competition is for big boy's

 

[entropy13]

I'm sure Apple will argue that the patent does not implicitly refer to the device being made safe from unintentional usage during the locked state, as such the application is not closed or moved back one step but the device itself is 'closed' until the slide feature is reactivated.

Finally, someone who is enlightened.

Or, they'll bribe someone.

The Holy Apple will not stoop to the level of the infidels.

Stupid Apple, competition is for big boy's

Spoken like a true heathen.

 

[sparkyar]

but they still hold the patents for "overpriced pieces of shlt"

no one can beat them at that

 

[m1dg3t]

Spoken like a true heathen.

Oh i'm sorry did i hurt your feeling's?

 

[newtekie1]

Seriously, is slide to unlock really that big of a deal? I find it annoying and disabled it on my phone...

 

[R_1]

I think that most of the recent patent cases showed law abuse. That is why our legal system should stop defending software patents. That is how the modern society dealt with slavery, racism or sexism.

 

[entropy13]

but they still hold the patents for "overpriced pieces of shlt"

no one can beat them at that

Of course "no one can beat them at that" now since they already were "beaten" by others. There are no Apple products that are "pieces of shlt." The others already "won" in that regard.

Oh i'm sorry did i hurt your feeling's?

Certainly. It hurts me so that an ignoramus like you continue to disregard the enlightenment provided by Apple.

Seriously, is slide to unlock really that big of a deal? I find it annoying and disabled it on my phone...

But it's a feature! It's good for you! It's MAGIC! And everyone likes magic!

 

[SetsunaFZero]

:me gusta: at ur comments
Lawyers love these patent trolls
Always when u think this cant get more worse, Apple shows us the true.
For some reason i wish apple would go bankrupt but this wont happen :/

 

[OnePostWonder]

Of course "no one can beat them at that" now since they already were "beaten" by others. There are no Apple products that are "pieces of shlt." The others already "won" in that regard.

Your use of quotation marks is "unnerving".

 

[m1dg3t]

Certainly. It hurts me so that an ignoramus like you continue to disregard the enlightenment provided by Apple.

You are almost funny

The only thing Apple has going for them is their marketing dept, which you have apparently also become a victim of

 

[Cheeseball]

Retarded thing to hold a patent for.

 

[radrok]

This to prove that patents over this kind of things are stoopid.

Also someone in this thread is being trolled hard

 

[brandonwh64]

Certainly. It hurts me so that an ignoramus like you continue to disregard the enlightenment provided by Apple.

 

[sparkyar]

and they must fill a patent for apple trolls

 

[laszlo]

don't put your finger in your nose in public places!

we sue u as is patented from 50000 years

 

[Rowsol]

You can patent a finger motion? wtf

 

[Halk]

Apple have nothing but patents. They've pioneered a few things - Mac OS, iOS, iPads, iPods but each time they end up being copied by other people.

In order to sustain any advantage they must be able to keep their products unique in comparison to other people's, that means that other people need to be hindered when they try to emulate Apple's success.

However, I don't think that's reasonable at all. I think Apple have already made their billions from those inventions and patents should only be able to do so much. Apple of course will fight tooth and nail to preserve it.

What is staggering to me is Apple's share price. They've incredibly overvalued. Unless they come out with a killer product every 5 years then they're going to fade away. At a certain point critical mass will marginalise their products. iPods have very much vanished as products in comparison to their heyday, Apple has cannibalised that market with iPhones (wisely though). iPhones at the moment are "the phone to have" for most people (not for me and I suspect many people here) but I think there will be a tipping point where people choosing between an iPhone, a razor, a nexus, a galaxy etc will not choose the one phone that doesn't let them do as much as the others. Likewise if the pad format continues then eventually the ipad will have nothing to offer.

Historically any company that patents something enjoys the benefits of it, but usually not for as long as the patent. Apple are no different - but it's understandable why they devote a fuckton of legal resources to try to maintain it.

Their share price is silly though.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

BrandonWh64 , im not having that m8, ya cant put scrubs in that pic , scrubs is funny.
everything else is fine though

its a shame the man ape who invented the door sliding lock didnt patent it ,now he'd be rich'
cheers though ,yet another example of patent ridiculousness ,

who patented the on off button and have they got apples number?

 

[Zehnsucht]

I still have my Neonode N2, and the only reason why I'm not using it is because I wanted GPS functionality.

The "touch" screen is far superior than on my SE X10. (it's not touch, it's a grid of light diodes).

 

[xenocide]

You can patent a finger motion? wtf

The entire patent system is fucked. Originally it was designed to protect inventors and disallow huge corporations from selling an identical product to one you invented and benefiting from their size. The major catch was you could only patent tangible things, and exact designs. These days there are mostly patents for extra vague obscure ideas and concepts. It's no longer a company patenting an exact phone, it's them patenting things like gestures, or "slide to unlock" or multi-touch. Apple actually has a patent for Undervolting. THEY HAVE A PATENT ON A SCIENTIFIC CONCEPT. Think about that.

 

[Completely Bonkers]

BUSINESS MODEL

Do loop = 0 to ad-infinitum
m_vector=random(x)+random(y)+random(z)
call lawyers[patent, movement(m_vector)]
Next loop

Do loop = 0 to ad-infinitum
call lawyers[sue]
Next loop

 

[Brewster0101]

Where does one find all the worlds patents? How does one know they've accidentley copied someone else's idea?