The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today published an Apple patent application (viaAppleInsider) offering an interesting glimpse at the possibility of an iPhone or other mobile device using a flexible display contained within a transparent body body such as a glass tube or other shape. The display would be able to wraparound the sides and even rear of the device as needed in order to provide more viewable area.
This paper describes various embodiments that relate to an apparatus, method, and computer readable medium for creating a portable electronic device with a wraparound display.
In one embodiment, a consumer electronic product is described. The consumer electronic product includes at least a transparent housing and a flexible display assembly enclosed within the transparent housing. In the described embodiment, the flexible display assembly is configured to present visual content at any portion of the transparent housing.
Alternative device shapes
As part of the patent application, Apple explores a variety of options for such devices, including multiple form factors and the potential use of a second inner display underneath a transparent outer display to provide the illusion of 3D content. Apple also suggests the possibility of interchangeable end caps to fit specific situations, including joining multiple devices together to make a single larger screen. The patent application, which was filed in September 2011, is credited solely to Apple product design engineer Scott Myers. The concept of a flexible wraparound display for the iPhone or other mobile device is reminiscent of another Apple patent applicationwhich surfaced last month showing a slap bracelet accessory with a wraparound display that could clearly serve as a smart watch. Myers was one of three Apple engineers credited on that patent application, which was filed in August 2011.
Apple on Tuesday was granted a patent for a device control mode in which a user can interact with a multitouch display even when no content is being shown on screen, thereby saving battery life when a GUI is not needed.
Source: USPTO
Granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Apple's U.S. Patent No. 8,407,623 for "Playback control using a touch interface," describes a method of input that registers touch gestures when no content is displayed on the multitouch screen. That is to say, the multitouch panel is activated, but nothing is being displayed on screen.
As noted in the patent language, normal inputs like physical buttons can increase the size of a portable device or require moving parts that may be undesirable. According to the invention, these types of input controls may also require that a user look down at the device to change song tracks, adjust volume or perform other media playback actions. As seen by the example sixth-generation iPod nano, this can be troublesome when using the device during a workout when the display may be facing away from a user.
While the regular inputs are still available for users, such as push-button play and stop or rocker volume controls, the patent also allows for control the unit without having to look at it.
Table of touch input and device operation associations.
From the patent summary:
To allow a user to control media playback using a touch sensing device without requiring the selection of displayed options, the electronic device can include a mode or configuration for which the touch sensing device can sense touch events, but not display any content on a display. For example, an electronic device with a touch screen can have a mode in which no content is displayed on the touch screen (e.g., the touch screen remains dark), but the touch screen is operative to detect touch events of the user.
Apple's system can support any combination of touch events, which are then associated with certain playback actions. Specifically, the method can associate tap events that mimic button presses from a remote control. For example, the device can associate a single tap with the same operations a single button press of an inline remote triggers. Double taps and press-and-hold gestures are also supported, as is the case when skipping tracks or fast-forwarding through songs.
In another embodiment, the method can provide gesture inputs that don't correspond with button press events. In these examples, the user provides a circular touch motion to control the volume, much like legacy click-wheel iPods.
While the above gestures can be performed on a blank screen, or one that is not displaying a graphical user interface, the patent also allows for playback overlays if necessary. These particular embodiments function like usual iPod UIs in that a graphical asset is displayed for an operation, for example a volume bar will pop up when a volume adjustment gesture is recognized.
Volume overlay.
Without displaying on-screen graphics, the patent saves energy and allows for a more robust interactive experience that doesn't require a user to constantly look down at their device.
Apple's '623 patent was first filed for in 2009 and credits Duncan Kerr and Nick King as its inventors. http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/03/26/apple-patents-no-look-multitouch-user-interface-for-portable-devices
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday reissued Apple a patent for a mobile computer encased in a pen, adding cellular and GPS capabilities to the invention first filed for internationally in 1998. Simply titled "Portable computers," the invention, originally assigned to British Telecommunications PLC, describes a multifunction device equipped with a pair of accelerometers to recognize handwritten input, a built-in display and an embedded touch strip for GUI navigation.
Pen computer with screen (5), touch strip (14), finger switches (19a, 19b, 20), IR tranceivers (22a, 22b), LED (23), dock contacts (21), and microphone (16). | Source: USPTO
When Apple was transferred the U.S. patent rights in 2008, the invention was already assigned U.S. Patent No. 6,956,564. As of Tuesday, it carries the reissued designation of RE44,103 and broadens the patent language of the first filing while relating it to another property covering identical technologygranted in 2011.
Most important of the additions is the possibility of cellular or wireless data transmission through an onboard radio. The patent adds 11 claims to the original 36, each applying the words "cellular telephone" to the previous assertions, while one embodiment includes GPS positioning technology.
Image of cell tower, GPS and device as added with reissued patent.
As noted in the patent language, the invention was meant as an alternative to the then-current palm top computers (PPCs) which often took on a clamshell form factor with an integrated keyboard. Apple's invention provides for a portable computer with the same functionality of PPCs, but in an ergonomic chassis that fits comfortably in the user's hand.
The patent does away with the need for a bulky keyboard as the device has various sensors disposed throughout its body to detect hand movements, such as tilt and acceleration, which is then output as alphanumeric or graphical data.
Profile of pen computer.
From the patent summary:
According to the present invention there is provided a portable computer including movement detection means responsive to movement of the computer to produce an electrical output signal representative of such movement, processing means responsive to the output of said position detection means to determine detected movement data defining a user's intention, the processing means using said data to provide a mode response selected from a multiplicity of stored possible modes.
The built-in LCD screen is flanked by either pressure or touch sensitive multifunction buttons and a touch strip to navigate through written messages or other stored information. In another embodiment, the stylus body itself can be used to move through the on-screen data by tilting the unit away or toward the user. As is the case with the iPhone, the display orientation can be locked in either portrait or landscape mode.
Also incorporated into the numerous sensors already disposed throughout the pen body is a proximity sensor that can adjust font size based on how far away the device is from a user's eye line. This technique is further used to determine what hand the pen is in, thereby allowing on-screen text to be flipped accordingly.
Block schematic.
Interestingly, the patent calls for an ARM processor, the same micro-architecture Apple uses in its A-series SoCs.
Finally, the device can support sound input/output components that can be used to process speech-to-text and text-to-speech.
Various embodiments include docking stations, infrared data transmission and mouse simulation through surface sensors. The device can support full PDA functionality, such as email correspondence and storage of a contacts list.
While the "portable computer" is 15 years old, many of its technologies are being employed in Apple's latest iOS products like the iPhone and iPad. Indeed, some of the proposed hardware and software solutions go beyond what is offered on the modern consumer market. Perhaps most intriguing is the broadening of the patent to include cellphones, possibly suggesting that handwriting recognition or some other facet of the invention may make its way to a future iOS device.
Apple's patents was first applied for in Great Britain in 1997 and credits Hilary Lyndsay Williams as its inventor. http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/03/26/apples-reissued-pen-computer-patent-adds-cellular-connectivity-could-hint-at-future-mobile-device
Facebook announced on Monday it is rolling out a new feature so users can reply directly to comments left on their page. Finally.
Followings months of testing, the social network aims to make navigating through conversation threads easier with the new Replies feature. This means that, instead of having to leave a response to a friend's comment way after new ones have been added, you will be able to address each individual comment. Responses will be posted under the original comment too.
The site is also prioritizing comments based on engagement — the most active and popular ones will surface to the top of your posts. This will be especially helpful for pages with thousands of followers.
"You and your readers will have the ability to reply directly to comments left on your Page content and start conversation threads, which will make it easier for you to interact directly with individual readers and keep relevant conversations connected," said Vadim Lavrusik, Facebook's journalism program manager, in an official blog post. "Also, the most active and engaging conversations among your readers will be surfaced at the top of your posts ensuring that people who visit your Page will see the best conversations."
For now, threaded replies only apply to Facebook pages, not profiles. Users will be able to opt into the Replies through the Page admin panel. Facebook will be bringing the feature to all pages with more than 10,000 followers by July 10, 2013, but pages can turn the option off along the way.
"At launch, this feature will only be available on desktop and we plan to make it available in the Graph API and mobile in the future," Lavrusik added.
After launchingfree calling in North Americaearlier this year, Facebook is expanding its VOIP service to the UK. To make or receive calls, you need to have theFacebook Messenger applicationfor iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch installed. You can call any of your contacts by selecting the "i" button in conversation view and pressing "Free Call." Messenger supports backgrounding and push notifications, and you'll also be able to leave voice messages when your friends are offline.
With the addition of UK VOIP support, Facebook has essentially opened the door to free calls between its huge number of users in the UK, US, and Canada. We tested the service on its US launch and found the call quality to be "on par with competitors" such as Viber and Skype. We've reached out to Facebook to ask if it has any plans to launch the service in the rest of Europe, and will update you once we hear back.
While you might not get the complete Galaxy Smart Apps experience with another Android device, you can get a few features running so you won't feel too left out
The Samsung Galaxy S4 may have been a bit of a disappointment in terms of design, but it does push the envelope in terms of functionality. Along with the hardware Samsung has also paid a lot of emphasis to the software features with the S4 and went all out to demonstrate them at the glitzy launch event. While S4 has shown some nifty dedicated features, it has also carried forward a few smart features from the other S series devices like the Note II, Galaxy S III and even the Galaxy Grand. These features, while quite handy to have around, fortunately aren’t all that unique. There are plenty of apps available that will provide you with a similar, if not the same, experience. We’ve listed five such apps that can give you Samsung Smart Feature-styled experience on your existing Android smartphone.
Do note that not all S class features found in Samsung’s latest devices are available. The ones we have listed here are but a few from a longer list. So while they might not be tightly integrated as the ones found on Samsung devices with the TouchWiz UI, they can function independently and give you a similar experience.
Smart Stay
Smart Stay made its debut with the Galaxy S3. This is one feature that all of us would love to have. It’s especially annoying when you’re reading an e-book or a long email and your screen times out. Smart Stay is designed to keep the screen from timing out when you are looking at it. The app will check periodically to see if you’re looking at the screen and turn the backlight off when you are not. It uses the front camera to detect your face. When it senses you are looking away, it will turn off the backlight according to your Screen Time Out settings. With the S4, Samsung has taken the Smart Stay a notch higher – Smart Pause will pause your video when you look away and resume where you left off and Smart Scroll will automatically scroll emails, web pages up or down when you tilt the phone. While there aren’t any apps that will imitate the Smart Pause and the Smart Scroll, there are several that imitate the Smart Stay feature.
It functions the same way as Smart Stay. With the free version, you cannot fine tune the time-out and the scan time interval. For that you will need the pro version that can be downloaded from the Play store for Rs 50. With the pro version, you can set the scan and the time-out interval. Once set, you will see the "eye" icon in the status bar. When you look away from the screen, it will turn off the screen only when it has reached the set time-out. For instance, if you have set the time-out at 15 seconds, then your screen will be on till the time you are looking at it and when you turn away it won’t go off immediately - it will time-out only after 15 seconds have elapsed.
Air View is a feature that came up on the Galaxy Note. With this you could hover the S Pen over the screen to preview a video, email, text message etc. The S4 allows you to perform the same action using your fingers. Another feature of the S4 that generated a lot of buzz at the launch event was Air Gesture. Hovering your hand over the S4 will now allow you to accept calls, change music, browse pictures and even navigate the web. Again, gesture functionality isn’t unique and there are apps out there that allow gesture-based functionality. They might not be as sophisticated but can provide quite a bit of functionality.
While this isn’t as accurate and thorough as Air Gesture, Wave Control offers a limited selection of features and control. The app gives you the ability to control your music and video playback with predefined hand gestures. You can perform actions like stop, fast forward, rewind, control volume, screen on/off, access recent apps, and more. For instance, one wave across will skip forward to the next song, two waves to access the previous song etc. The free version of the app is ad-supported. The paid version of the app is ad-free and also allows you to customise waves – it will cost you Rs 161.39.
One of the camera features of the S4 is "Sound & Shot". What it basically does is records audio while you are clicking a picture. So instead of simply looking at a picture of a champagne bottle being uncorked, you can also hear the pop thanks to "Sound & Shout". This is definitely an exciting feature. While currently there are no apps that allow you to record sound and take picture simultaneously, there are a couple of apps that you can use to add audio in a post or record a clip before and after you take a photo.
Telling Photos app allows you to add an audio clip to images that you have clicked. You can add an existing audio clip or record a message. If the audio clip is lengthy, then you can easily snip it within the app itself. The resultant video file can be shared on Facebook via the apps itself. With the trial version of the app, the video will be limited to 3 seconds. The pro version will cost you Rs 71.69 on the Play Store.
With Audio Photos, you can add sound to your images
On the other hand, Audio Photos will record audio a few seconds before and after the photo is taken. When you play the file, you will hear the recorded audio along with the picture. You can share the video file via email and even on Facebook. It has both a free and paid version. With the paid version, you can customise how many seconds of audio you want to record before and after the image. It’s priced at Rs 164.21.
The bane of travelling to a country whose language you don’t speak is not being able to communicate with the locals to get what you need. While you could rely on phrasebooks, it’s not always as effective. To address these woes, the S4 features the S Translator. Select the language you seek the translation into and type out or speak what you need to translate. The S Translator will text back or read the translated text in the language specified. You can share this with the locals and S Translator will translate their reply back to you in your language. It’s a very handy tool for the frequent traveller.
Looking for a translation app? Google Translate is a good option
This has been a popular online tool for a very long time and now it has made its way to the mobile platform as well. Google provides you with translations in over 60 different languages. It supports text, voice and even augmented reality. The app provides support for 17 languages, when it comes to translation by speaking instead of typing, and 40 languages when it comes to reading out translated text. It also has a "Conversation Mode", which is a speech-to-speech translation feature with support for around 14 languages. Google Translate, like Google Goggles, also supports augmented reality – you can take a picture and then select the text you want to translate. You can also use the handwriting tool to write out the text you want to translate. Additionally, it provides you with the option to access the translation history offline. Goggles allows you to take photos of locations, monuments, arts, logs etc., which are scanned and information regarding the same from web links to Wikipedia details are provided.
A popular feature in the Galaxy S series is the Pop-Up Play video option, which is replicated in the S4 as well. What it means is that you can toggle the video screen as a pop-up box and work in the background. It’s a great feature as you don’t have to pause the video you are watching when you receive a text or email and send reply. You can perform both tasks simultaneously.
This is one of the most popular video players available for the Android platform, as it supports the widest range of video formats. It also provides gesture-based functions to change the brightness, playback position and volume without ever bringing up the player controls. But the highlight, of course, is the ability to play the video as a pop-up file. To do so, while watching a video, simply click on the Home button; instead of exiting the application, the player will launch the video as a floating pop-up. You have the increase/decrease, play/pause and exit functions available. When the video is playing as a pop-up, you can go about working in the background without any problem. And when done, you can click on the option to go back to the regular full-screen player. An additional benefit of the player is that you can also play the last-accessed file exactly from the point you left off. The pop-up box can be positioned anywhere you wish on the display by dragging it across the screen. The best part about this app is that it’s free.
So while you might not get the complete Galaxy Smart Apps experience with another Android device, you can get a few features running so you won't feel too left out.