14 DAY TRIAL // We have all seen what the iPhone multi-touch interface is capable of and now the time has come to see this technology applied on a larger scale. That is if we are to believe and credit Apple with the ability to implement a patent discovered by pcjoint.com on the US Patent and Trademark Office's website.
As the page says, the result of this patent would be a "sensor arrangement for use with a touch sensor that identifies hand parts". In other words, this is supposed to be a bigger scale version of what we have already seen in action when using an iPhone. Even more, the new developing multi-touch interface will be able to recognize a lot more gestures and types of action.
On the patent page one can read the following: "Apparatus and methods are disclosed for simultaneously tracking multiple finger and palm contacts as hands approach, touch, and slide across a proximity-sensing, multi-touch surface. 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."
If this Apple project comes to life, we will see another type of input device on top of our desks, one that would replace the ancient keyboard and mouse, unifying them into a single piece of hardware.
Its applications can't be enumerated until a working prototype of some sort will be realized by Apple, but until then one can only imagine what a 3D manipulation multi-touch input device can be capable of. If you've seen Steven Spielberg's "Minority Report", starring Tom Cruise, you must definitely remember the computer interface system.
The thing that Apple could come with might - more or less - be capable of doing what the interface pictured in the movie did, and if Apple is smart enough - and, over the years, they proved they are - they will implement it on an horizontal surface. Why is that? Because, as I've seen in a similar application of this concept but using a WII remote control sensor as a multi-touch interface, making all those moves in the air for a prolonged period of time can make your arms hurt like hell. And I suppose nobody would want that.
This patent might be seen as an evolution of the idea that stood behind the launch of the iPhone for people that haven't followed Apple's acquisitions, but for those who did it, this comes as a direct consequence of their acquisition of Fingerworks, a company that made a business out of the gesture input, mouse emulation and multi-touch technology.
Fingerworks has implemented these technologies in the TouchStream and iGesture solutions, two products that might stand behind what Apple is trying to accomplish with their latest multi-touch interface patent discovered on US Patent and Trademark Office's website.
Hopefully, Apple will rise to the expectations and will prove to be able to bring to life a very interesting project that, someday, might revolutionize the way we use computers.