Fresh on the heels of what would seem to be an innovation war between Apple and Palm, the United States Patent Office has awarded Apple the patent on the multi-touch and touch-screen input methods in question.
The massive patent is titled Touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics, and can be found here. Of note, some of the applications within this patent date back to September 2006, before the original iPhone was even announced.
The patent reads: A computer-implemented method for use in conjunction with a computing device with a touch screen display comprises: detecting one or more finger contacts with the touch screen display, applying one or more heuristics to the one or more finger contacts to determine a command for the device, and processing the command. The one or more heuristics comprise: a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a one-dimensional vertical screen scrolling command, a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a two-dimensional screen translation command, and a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a command to transition from displaying a respective item in a set of items to displaying a next item in the set of items.
Interestingly, as of late Apple and Palm have made statements that seem directed towards the other company. Apple COO Tim Cook said that Apple would vigorously defend its multi-touch patents, and Palm snapped back explaining that they would defend their proprietary technology as well.
“We approach this business as a software platform business. We are watching the landscape. We like competition as long as they don’t rip off our IP. And if they do, we will go after anyone who does,” Cook has explained. “I don’t want to talk about any specific company. We are ready to suit up and go against anyone. However, we will not stand for having our IP ripped off.” This of course has led many to believe that we may see a mammoth lawsuit filed over the use of multi-touch input methods. Which in turn may negatively affect competitive innovation, which is never good for the industry.
As MacRumors and WorldofApple both note, Apple CEO is Steve Jobs is listed as the primary inventor along with Scott Forstall and a slew of Apple engineers.
