Apple Rotating Display?

[MacRumors]

According to one user supplied report, Apple has reportedly filed for a patent for a rotating display, allowing both vertical and horizontal alignments from a single screen. From the summary:

This invention relates generally to a processor-controlled system such as a computer system and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to an electrical arrangement in the system for managing video information for rotating computer display images.

The patent description reportedly appeared on LexisNexus' service dated March 23, 2004, but does not appear to be locatable in the US Patent Office site at the moment.

While pivoting displays have been marketed in the past (Radius Pivot), Apple has never offered one of their own.

Readers are cautioned, however, that this particular patent, however, may simply represent Newton technology patents finally becoming processed. The patent summary notes that the rotation feature would be "especially advantageous for pen-based and hand-held computers". Apple's Newton 2x00 handheld computer did allow for this same portrait and landscape rotation.

[arn]

Patent Summary:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to a processor-controlled system such as a computer system and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to an electrical arrangement in the system for managing video information for rotating computer display images.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Among the many image resolutions for computer displays in the market today, a common resolution for computer displays is 640*480. Such resolution for a display refers to a display having an overall screen measuring 640 pixels wide by 480 lines high. In fact, any displays having this horizontal format (i.e., its width being greater than its height) would provide ease and convenience for certain computer operations including showing TV images, operating drawing programs and performing spreadsheet calculations. Nevertheless, displays with a vertical format (i.e., its height being greater than its width) are better suited for certain other operations such as word processing, program coding and Internet access. One may suggest a computer display having a square viewing area (i.e., equal height and width) for satisfying both requirements, but practically speaking, the most common computer displays today are rectangular, and that forces an user to choose either a horizontally or a vertically formatted display at the time of purchase.

It would be ideal if a display device could rotate between the horizontal format and the vertical format depending on user needs and preference. While this rotation feature is useful for operating numerous computer applications, it is especially advantageous for pen-based and hand-held computers where the user's ability to comfortably operate the computer is greatly affected by the orientation and position in which the computer is held.

One known implementation discloses a computer system having a display device which can be physically rotated along its sides 90 degrees in either of two directions. Such a system can then cause the display device to display its image contents correctly adjusted for the newly-rotated display orientation. Unfortunately, typical image orientation adjustments for the rotated display monitor have significant performance penalty associated with their necessary calculation-intensive axis transformations.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It would be desirable and therefore an object for the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for rotating computer display images 90 degrees on a display device with little or no transformation calculations. It is another object for the present invention to provide the image rotation for the display device in both clockwise and counter- clockwise directions to support both left-handed and right-handed users. Yet another object for the present invention is to implement such rotation feature without significant system performance penalty.

Additional objects and advantages of the present invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part, will be obvious from the description or may be learned by practice of the invention. To achieve the foregoing objects, and in accordance with the purpose of the invention as embodied and broadly described herein, briefly, there is provided an apparatus including a memory system containing an image frame buffer for an associated display device, this memory system being coupled to a CPU and also being coupled to the display device via its video display controller. The image frame buffer can be manipulated by the CPU and retrieved by the video display controller for use by the display device. One aspect of the invention discloses an implementation wherein the CPU addresses the image frame buffer in a manner advantageous for CPU manipulation and the video display controller addresses the same image frame buffer in another manner advantageous for frame buffer retrieval by the video display controller. Such retrieval includes image presentations on the display device in a vertical format as well as in a horizontal format depending on user selection. During image rotation, one preferred but not limiting aspect of the invention provides the memory system, under the control of the video display controller, physically storing the image frame buffer in memory locations which are different from the locations as addressed by the CPU. Although typical display image rotation can be accomplished entirely in software, another aspect of the present invention provides an implementation that is operable entirely in hardware.

The present invention also may take advantage of the fact that the image frame buffer in the memory system is typically defined as a series of bytes storing the image information for the first horizontal line of the display device, followed by a fixed gap of unused bytes, and followed by another series of bytes for the next horizontal line of the display device, then another gap of unused bytes, and so on. For a display device measuring h pixels wide, by v pixels high, this makes an image frame buffer of v lines, each line containing the number of bytes needed to store the image data for h pixels plus a fixed number of unused gap bytes. The image frame buffer implemented as described provides further advantages for image rotation, if two other conditions are met: 1. A "defined frame buffer" (which contains the portion of the frame buffer used for the actual display data) starts at a page boundary address where all the address bits needed to describe offsets within the defined frame buffer are 0 (for a 1 megabyte buffer, for example, this means the least significant 20 bits of the lowest defined buffer address should be 0, a condition met by an hexadecimal address ending in 00000); and 2. The sum of the number of image data bytes per display line plus the number of gap bytes per line is a power of 2 (such as 2 (10)=1024 bytes).

[dobbin]

That would be really nice on an iMac.............

[Poff]

Originally Posted by dobbin

That would be really nice on an iMac.............

Exactly what I was thinking! It would be rev-a-licious on the iMac. I'd use portrait-mode almost all the time, since most web-sites (like this one) would be better that way.

[otter-boy]

Originally Posted by arn

Among the many image resolutions for computer displays in the market today, a common resolution for computer displays is 640*480. Such resolution for a display refers to a display having an overall screen measuring 640 pixels wide by 480 lines high

Check out the resolution. It looks to be pretty old. Computer displays haven't used 640 x 480 in a while. Handhelds are only beginning to get resolutions like that, so you couldn't really say it is a common resolution for handhelds.

[dongmin]

Originally Posted by arn

"In fact, any displays having this horizontal format (i.e., its width being greater than its height) would provide ease and convenience for certain computer operations including showing TV images, operating drawing programs and performing spreadsheet calculations. Nevertheless, displays with a vertical format (i.e., its height being greater than its width) are better suited for certain other operations such as word processing, program coding and Internet access."

Return on the Newton? The Apple tablet? The vPod?

I'm intrigued about the line "computer operations including showing TV images", especially in light of the fact that this patent seems geared for handhelds. As far as I know, the Newton never had this functionality, so it COULD be suggesting a future product. Perhaps an iBook-iPod hybrid with a 640x480 color touch screen running on a G3 variant. Yes, I know I'm reading a lot into it.

[iZac]

thanks studioguy :P

[alset]

Arn, do you have extensive knowledge on the subject, or did you just do some research before posting the story?

Dan

[sinbushar]

so...what you're saying is that apple will release a G5 handheld device which can act as a cell phone, a 6 megapixel digital camera, a sight for your sniper, a graphing calculator, a portable dj station, and will also expand as a monitor with the ability to switch between portrait and landscape.....oh, and it may also have mp3 capabilities..

my REAL opinion: this means nothing...from what i've seen, its generally not the best idea to follow patent issues and what not...we just got updates...yesterday...so i really don't think anything else will be seen until mid/late july....and seriously, do we need anything else?...other than os 10.4, of course ....

-adel

[Snowy_River]

Originally Posted by sinbushar

...from what i've seen, its generally not the best idea to follow patent issues and what not...

Well put. Patents are applied for years before they're granted. Most likely, the G5 has technologies in it that are patent pending. Then, in a couple years, those patents will be granted and we'll get all excited because there's a new patent about 64-bit computing... until someone realizes that it had to do with the initial release of the G5...

[billyboy]

How are we supposed to make informed decisions with such scant info?

Id just like Apple to patent a detachable swivelable screen for a Powerbook.

[CrackedButter]

It would be cool and extend the functionality of the iMac if you could twist the screen and either put it into a portrait view and then back again into landscape, what would also be nicer is if the rendering was done on the fly without any need to access the control panel. Just tilt the screen and the desktop modifies itself.

Anybody remember those water toys you could get where you tip it upside down and the coloured oils would flow from top to bottom in interesting ways? Then tip it the other way and the oil would do the same again.

Imagine if you could tip the iMac screen into one view and the desktop (being 'aqua' and all) would gently wash itself into the new view as effortlessly as fast user switching. Just in the same way you would rotate a bottle half full of liquid, it travels with the force of gravity and the direction of the bottless tilt. Another excuse for the quartz systems lovely existence.

Novels and pratical all in one.

I would do a photoshop of what i'm trying to describe but college awaits me now!

[wordmunger]

How can Apple apply for a patent for this? Those Radius Pivot monitors were around for years. How can Apple possibly claim to have invented it?

[Ozi]

I doubt they want to claim the invetion as their own; they just want to patent the way they will apply it to their computers.

[rjwill246]

Originally Posted by wordmunger

How can Apple apply for a patent for this? Those Radius Pivot monitors were around for years. How can Apple possibly claim to have invented it?

There is absolutley no way to jump from the patent description to what you infer. The need to maintain pixel correct information for picture integrity with different "screen" orientations is what this is about. Getting the information displayed accurately on a widescreen Mac to a handheld device and as a bonus, the type of rotational screen that Radius had while ensuring that geometry and information capabilities are maintained is at the heart of this. How Radius did it and what Apple have applied for are not the same thing- at least Apple would hope that's the case and I am sure their patent attorneys have done their homework on this to ensure there is no patent violation. It's hard to imagine that Apple is unaware of the Radius monitor.

[gekko513]

Originally Posted by CrackedButter

It would be cool and extend the functionality of the iMac if you could twist the screen and either put it into a portrait view and then back again into landscape, what would also be nicer is if the rendering was done on the fly without any need to access the control panel. Just tilt the screen and the desktop modifies itself.

Anybody remember those water toys you could get where you tip it upside down and the coloured oils would flow from top to bottom in interesting ways? Then tip it the other way and the oil would do the same again.

Imagine if you could tip the iMac screen into one view and the desktop (being 'aqua' and all) would gently wash itself into the new view as effortlessly as fast user switching. Just in the same way you would rotate a bottle half full of liquid, it travels with the force of gravity and the direction of the bottless tilt. Another excuse for the quartz systems lovely existence.

I love the idea! It would be useful to many people at the same time as it would not degrade user experience for the ones who don't want/need it. As a bonus it would be another unique Mac feature.

If the functionality is included with a new G5 iMac, I think I might go for that instead of a G5 PowerMac.

[CrackedButter]

Originally Posted by gekko513

I love the idea! It would be useful to many people at the same time as it would not degrade user experience for the ones who don't want/need it. As a bonus it would be another unique Mac feature.

If the functionality is included with a new G5 iMac, I think I might go for that instead of a G5 PowerMac.

I have always thought this of the iMac when it first launched and I have always hoped Apple would do something like this, what other flatscreen could do it so easily, plus not only would it be a 'mac' attribute and a first but it would also be confined to the iMac, unless Cinema displays on their own could be rotated just as easily.

[gadg]

Originally Posted by gekko513

As a bonus it would be another unique Mac feature.

Microsoft incorporated this into their Windows XP Tablet version last year. I tested a tablet pc for a while. Also, their Pocket PC version does the same.

I would love for this technology to be used by Apple in Powerbooks, together with tablet functionality. This weekend I had to decide between a Tablet PC and a Powerbook and decided the latter, mainly because I wanted to switch to Apple ... but also because tablet use is still only personal productivity gain, not connected productivity gain, for instance: hand written emails would get sent as a TIFF attachment ... yuck!

Should Apple decide to make a tablet notebook, I'm sure they would find a way to make it all work smoothly.

[shen]

Originally Posted by CrackedButter

Anybody remember those water toys you could get where you tip it upside down and the coloured oils would flow from top to bottom in interesting ways? Then tip it the other way and the oil would do the same again.

Imagine if you could tip the iMac screen into one view and the desktop (being 'aqua' and all) would gently wash itself into the new view as effortlessly as fast user switching.

screw the iMac, i want that on the laptops, just so i can tip my iBook and watch peoples faces when they see the screen change.

[arn]

Originally Posted by alset

Arn, do you have extensive knowledge on the subject, or did you just do some research before posting the story?

Dan

er... the 2nd post is just the summary of the patent as submitted.

Not sure what you mean by "extensive knowledge" on the subject.

arn

[Nikko1965]

I've got a Compaq TFT5000 monitor here in the office which supposedly allows all that pivoting mullarky. My PowerBook recognises it but doesn't support it which is a pity as it would save me getting Scroller's Wrist when looking at PDFs, CVs and portrait format photos (and not only on 'artistic' websites). So I don't see how this is something radically new. All they need do is add support where applicable.

[fixyourthinking]

I doubt this is a late Newton patent coming to fruition. I COULD see this as the full page display monitor though. This DID have a rotating image control panel, eventhough, the display itself did NOT rotate. It required a special nubus card and a SUN Micro like 13W3 connector instead of the standard Apple DB15 connection

The full page portrait display was used a lot in ad firms and at newspapers that used Macs.

I couldn't find a pic on Google - but I do believe the display itself was actually made for Apple by Radius and THEN LATER adopted by Radius. So it may actually be an Apple patent.

If any of you have seen the 20 in LCD Samsung rotating display - you'd know how really useful this could be.

[Hugin777]

Originally Posted by adzoox

If any of you have seen the 20 in LCD Samsung rotating display - you'd know how really useful this could be.

I have a semi-old Samsung SyncMaster 150T (15") with a pivot-stand.

Portrait mode is really useful. But there are two negatives:

1. this particular screen has a really bad vertical viewing angle. When viewed from below, the image darkens. So when used in portrait mode each eye sees a slightly different picture ! Very annoying.

2. text smoothing (anti-aliasing) on (digitally connected) LCDs takes advantage of the way pixels are divided into three subpixels horisontally. That means that text can use three times normal horisontal resolution, which is really nice. When used in portrait mode this instead becomes three times the vertical resolution, which isn't as useful for text.

[JongAm]

Well.. a few months ago, I suggested the idea to the Apple.
I thought that the current cinema-oriented width/height ratio of Apple display may be good for watching movies, but it is not good for reading documents.
So, if the iMac's screen can be rotated, it would be very nice for reading documents, especially multicolumn thesis.
Notebook screens also can be applied.

Usually they send me "Thank you note" but this time, they didn't.
Did they think the same thing I thougth? Who knows?

[Nermal]

Originally Posted by Macrumors

While pivoting displays have been marketed in the past (Radius Pivot)

I've got one of those in the garage