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Apple Apply for Patent on awesome multi-touch mouse

By: Daniel Chubb | July 5, 2007 | 5 Comments

Apple multi-touch mouse Patent

Apple kind of stumbled upon a new idea which is well bloody awesome to tell you the truth, the new device is a multi-touch mouse with a stunning transparent top shell plus it will have a illumination source inside which will light up the mouse, another key feature will be when holding the mouse because when you grip the multi-touch interface mouse it there will be points or multipoints of contact are imaged as points of light due to reflection and other areas are imaged as dark areas. This means that there will be a small camera inside the mouse picturing these images when you grip the mouse.

So basically when you add the image processing software and processor you will have a mouse that is completely configurable and programmable plus adaptable way of generating inputs. The way it really works is that there is detection mechanism that detects the movement of the mouse along a surface, plus a multipoint touch detection mechanism that detects one or more objects. This is the next generation in the computer world and the computer mouse will in fact be very futuristic. It basically will work like the multi touch feature like the iPhone.

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  • rich

    It sounds ****. A mouse has 2 buttons and a scroll wheel, thats the way it should work. Apple should stop trying to reinvent things that don’t need reinventing. Otherwise they end up with the mess of an OS they have at the moment.

  • Barbarossa

    For many years I have been using an antique Kensington 4-button ‘ThinkingMouse.’ It has no scroll wheel and uses an ADB connection so I have to connect it with a $40 iMate dongle — BUT it’s the best time saver since learning how to type! With 4 buttons I have 6 programmable clicks in each App.

    When mice went to scroll wheels this mouse was discontinued as the Wheel, I assume, took up too much mouse real estate. Extra buttons were relegated to bizarre positions on the sides that I find much too awkward to use.

    Now, if Apple actually releases a mouse like this with a multitouch top, I can finally upgrade to something I can use. Certainly the fact that there are no moving parts is a great advantage.

    The mouse is symmetrical for Left- or Right-handed use, and if you hold the mouse, ahh, “funny” as I do – between thumb and index finger, there is no problem clicking any part of the surface.

    One can slide an index finger up or down to scroll, or SIDEWAYS to scroll sideways! Imagine clicking on 4 positions, or even 6 or 9 with programmable clicks – basically the top surface would be a 3 X 3 grid – rather like your number pad but laid out better.

    One wouldn’t HAVE to use all these clicks anymore than anyone would have to use all the controls of other multi-button mice; the default set would be Right and Left-click and scroll Up & Down.

    If Apple DOES make one of these, I will be the first in line to get one. I just hope the software for the mouse is as good as Kensington ‘MouseWorks.’

  • Don

    There’s nothing wrong with Apple trying to reinvent. That’s how they can escape the legacy trap so successfully…when they are successful. Nice patent but it remains to be seen whether Apple will create the coolest mouse ever, or merely the worst possible implementation of a cool mouse idea, which is what ALL their mice have been up to now: the worst possible implementation of a mouse. I cannot even begin to describe how much better my $20 Kensington mouse is than the overpriced, horrific UI of the Mighty Mouse.

  • Mitch

    Is this guy Rich kidding? He’s against any kind of innovation, because one version along the way was good for him?
    Rich, mice started with just one button. (Well, they started with three and four, but that was thrown out quickly). Are you saying that the first iteration is what everyone should be using, because innovation should not happen?
    It was Windows that made a two-button mouse necessary. Not useful: necessary. Windows is so poorly designed they needed another button for all the same operations! (and couldn’t make its use clear to users since.)
    I thought everyone knew that a scroll wheel was a newer development in mice.

  • http://tenkio.co.uk Rich

    Its very clear that 2 mouse buttons gives you the best productivity. Single click on the left, alt functions on the right. It just makes sense. Apple tried the whole one button thing, all it does is serve to make the OS a pain in the arse to use, quite often you have to hold down a button on the keyboard just to get an alt function.

    I’m not saying innovation is a bad thing, but style over substance is, which is what all Apple / Mac products are nowadays. Users are too blinded by the pretty colours to realise.