New Patent app: Apple Touch Sensitive iPod with multiple touch sensitive surfaces

Patent Application: 20060197750
Filed: April 26, 2005
Inventors: Kerr; Duncan, Hotelling; Steve and Huppi; Brian

Imagine an iPod with no buttons and a screen covering its entire front surface – is this the face of the next iPod?

The new Apple patent application describes a touch sensitive iPod where the display fills the entire front surface and the side (or sides) of the iPod are touch sensitive as well.

Apple’s suggested implementations include portable electronic devices such as cellular phones, PDAs and media players that are operated with one hand.


The touch screen and touch sensitive surface completely replace all other input means of the hand held electronic device
(except the hold switch)

Essentially, the new iPod is a handheld device which is operated by presure on its various touch senstive surfaces- The iPod is smart enough to ignore constant touches and adapt to whether the user is left of right handed. The placement of the touch sensitive panels for this iPod/phone encourage its use with one hand (or with two in a described tablet form factor). The sides of the device act as buttons but the front surface can act to allow selection of virtual buttons and scrollwheels with visual feedback and perhaps the use of gestures (they are mentioned as a possible inclusion in such a product).

A further patent expands the idea with the device not being just an iPod but an adaptable Multi-functional hand-held device (pat app number 20060197753). This is exciting as it includes the possibility the nest gen device could include phone and perhaps other functions (listed in the application include mobile phone, a PDA, a media player, a camera, a same player, a handtop, an Internet terminal, a GPS receiver, or a remote controller). Various types of input are used including shaking and squeezing. Several exciting prospect are mentioned in the application:

Change UI Based on Received Communication Signals

(pat app number 20060197753)

A hand-held electronic device may be configured to actively look for signals in the surrounding environment, and change its mode based on the signal. That is, the device tries to match the mode with the signal. If the device receives a phone signal over the cellular network, the device may turn into a phone, i.e., the phone mode is activated or brought forward relative to the other modes. If a device receives an email, the device may turn into an email terminal. As another example, when a user walks into a home theater room, the device may sense signals from the media control unit and turn itself into a remote control including functionality to control the various devices of the home theater (TV, amp, DVD, lighting). In other cases, the device may sense signals, which are being broadcast in physical stores, and turn itself into a device that is well suited for that store. For example, in a bank, the device may change into a calculator or bring a money program into view, or in a grocery store, the device may turn into a money payment device or bring a grocery list into view.
This seems to e a logical next step for the iPod- essentially the display becomes the iPod. I hope they annouce this as a product on September 12th as rumored.

More details of the iPod touchscreen patent below:
As a result, the hand held electronic device appears to only have a display and no input means. The device is therefore more aesthetically pleasing (e.g., smooth surface with no breaks gaps or lines), and in many cases can be made smaller without sacrificing screen size and input functionality, which is very beneficial for hand held electronic device

iPod to recognise users and use

The hand held electronic device may be designed to recognize hand images and to control aspects of the hand held electronic device based on the hand images. Each hand image represents a profile of the fingers or other portions of the hand in contact with the touch sensitive surface as well as the touch screen at a particular instant in time, i.e., the hand image describes how the device is held. Profiles based on hand signals may be used to determine the identity of the user (e.g., Bob or Carol) or to a type of user (e.g., left or right handed user). The hand held device may contain a list of hand profiles with actions associated therewith. The hand profiles generally describe how the device is held while the actions describe what type of action to perform based on the hand profile.

In addition, the hand image may be used to determine the orientation of the device as for example when the device is held at 0, 90, 180 and 270 degrees. With this information, the device may be configured to always display images in an upright no matter what orientation the device is in

the touch regions may be located on the sides or back surface of the housing, and may even be located at the bezel located at the front surface of the housing. In all of these cases, a large portion of the front surface of the housing is saved for the display so that the viewing area of the hand held electronic device can be maximized. Furthermore, placing touch sensing regions at these locations tend to encourage one handed use.

For example, the touch sensing regions can be placed at locations where the finger of the hand are normally positioned when holding the hand held electronic device. The fingers can therefore be used to initiate inputs as well as hold the hand held electronic device during use. Moreover, the hand does not have to be constantly repositioned in order to actuate different input devices since they are located in the area of the various digits of the hand.

The touch sensitive surface may be alternatively or additionally be provided directly by the housing. is, the touch sensing components are integrated or incorporated into or disposed underneath the housing such that the housing itself is the touch sensing device (rather than using a separate touch panel). This particular implementation is believed to be more aesthetically pleasing than using touch panels in that the housing can have a uniform appearance with no lines, breaks or openings in the surface.It should be noted that in embodiments associated with being hand held, the portable electronic device described above may correspond to any consumer related electronic product configured for handheld use. By way of example, the portable electronic device may correspond to tablet PCs, PDAs, media players (music, images, video), game players, telephones, cellular phones, mobile radios, cameras, GPS modules, remote controls, and/or the like.

Another aspect of the invention pertains to the placement of the touch sensing components. The touch sensing components can be placed on the sides, top, bottom, front and back surfaces of the device.

In one example, the touch sensing device is placed on the back of the device opposite the display. In cases such as these, the touch plane may be mapped to the display such that there is a one to one relationship therebetween.

Gestures and Visual Feedback iPod

Visual feedback feature allows the display of pop-up buttons and indicators around the touch surface, which can disappear when not in use or required, or glowing special effects that trace or outline a users fingers in contact with the touch surface, or otherwise provide visual feedback for the users of the device. In one implementation, the handheld device is configured to sense one or more touches and provide visual feedback in the area of the touches. In another implementation, the handheld device is configured to provide visual feedback on the touch surface, detect a touch in the area of the visual feedback, and to perform an action that is associated with the visual feedback.

Conclusions

Perhaps the rumors are true and a new iPod is due on the 12 September- this looks to be a great product… Time will tell whether it’s on its way!