Apple Granted Patent for 'In-Cell' Touchscreen Display Concepts

[chrmjenkins]

Why would you assume that this was in development in 2006? Touchscreen technology wasn't nearly as seriously being pursued, let alone 'make it one tenth of a millimeter thinner' touchscreen technology, at that point.

While it's possible Apple had this brilliant insight into the possibility of the future, but I am reduced to two possibilities.

1) They had their own technical people knowledgeable enough to know about the potential and create it independently of known research out there.
2) Some research division/company had this in development but was wavering about its potential, apple saw it and went and filed the patent themselves.

Both are very unlikely in my view. Perhaps you have another scenario?

 

[David Sharpe]

Why would you assume that this was in development in 2006? Touchscreen technology wasn't nearly as seriously being pursued, let alone 'make it one tenth of a millimeter thinner' touchscreen technology, at that point.

Because the patent was originally filed for in June 2007 before the original iPhone even went on sale.

 

[Vengeful]

Who cares? The iPone is currently too thin as it is. You see all these people holding it like it's a delicate thing. Should be grab-n-go like the 3Gs design.
The only thing that could interest me on this point is if it somehow saves or increases battery life.

I'm more (very) concerned with the lack of battery size increase and the effect this will have on talk and standby time. Very dissapointed on this.

I was looking forward to the new iPhone, but now it looks like I'll stay with my trusty 3Gs.

Just get a otterbox case on it to make thicker or even a mophie style with extra battery and bulk, problem solved! big props to you for sticking with the 3gs, dunno how you do it, it feels so slow now.

I actually like using the mophie case for extra battery life and protection, if the new phone is thinner than the new mophie will make it feel even better.

 

[talkaboutdesign]

Why would you assume that this was in development in 2006? Touchscreen technology wasn't nearly as seriously being pursued, let alone 'make it one tenth of a millimeter thinner' touchscreen technology, at that point.

Because if you look at the filing date on this patent you would see that it was filed on Jun., 2006

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-...8,243,027.PN.&OS=PN/8,243,027&RS=PN/8,243,027

 

[ahireasu]

Now how cool is that,apple got a patent for a technology that others developed in the first place.
I hope samsung has patented all there is on Tv technology they have coz soon apple will go and hell will brake lose.

 

[cameronjpu]

Primary method for thinning the phone is NOT increasing the battery life.

 

[jkichline]

Here's why...

I find this patent award odd. Surely it must be limiting in some technical way not apparent. Why would Apple be able to patent a technology their suppliers would have been developing?

Patents are attributed to the individuals who created the intellectual property, but companies will typically purchase and manage those patents as part of their portfolio. There's a good change that Apple envisioned this technology and worked with one of their display partners to engineer the solution. The names of those people are listed on the patent.

Since Apple invests large sums of money into these companies and pays for their engineering and production teams, this is transferred via a work-for-hire which Apple had someone like Sharp or LG sign in exchange for producing the end-product.

So what you have (and again, I'm speculating, but this is probably how it went down), Apple wanted a thinner screen, came up with some ideas, paid for engineering time and experience, and completed the patent, paying the manufacturer for their rights to the intellectual property. Apple is now the owner of the patent and would be in charge of enforcing it instead of the manufacturer.

 

[camnchar]

I piece of me dies every time Apple gets a new patent, you can guarantee they will abuse it.

That iPiece of you has already been patented by Apple.

 

[prezasti]

if thinness comes at the expense of battery juice, i don't like it.

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only 2 things come of this: thinness and brighter screen

nothing else.

This again? Who says it will use more Battery? The phone isn't even out yet.

 

[TMay]

I piece of me dies every time Apple gets a new patent, you can guarantee they will abuse it.

The rate Apple is going, you don't have much time left...

 

[Jamesesesesess]

Wouldn't this make replacement screens a hell of a lot more expensive? Or impossible if it's being patented?

I'll need to be extra careful with my next iPhone if it's included

 

[faroZ06]

People saying "NEEDZ BIGGER BATTERY!11!!!" need to relax, this isn't an Android phone. Surely they are tuning iOS 6 to be better than iOS 5, and all of the new iPhone components point towards not only newer, faster and overall better technology, but also efficiency. Making the battery bigger doesn't fix the problem, it just slows it down. I would trust Apple is fixing the problem by making a more efficient and smarter phone.

Wait, how does making the battery bigger not fix the problem? I'm all for efficiency, but I don't want them to use newly freed space for useless components or thinner design. I'd disable LTE as it is because it eats up the battery faster and isn't useful for me.

 

[TMay]

Wait, how does making the battery bigger not fix the problem? I'm all for efficiency, but I don't want them to use newly freed space for useless components or thinner design. I'd disable LTE as it is because it eats up the battery faster and isn't useful for me.

I'm guessing that you would be happy with a circa 1990's Motorola luunchbox cellphone...

 

[rinemy]

This is just way too scientific for me to understand, could someone elaborate on the potentials of this technology? ( Other than the thinness of the phone)

Former capacitive touch engineer here.

The In-Cell technology primary selling factor not only because it is thin but because it allows for other cost cutting measures.

In current application you have a LCD display with a PMMA (plastic) or Glass layer on top, these tend to be about 1mm thick. This layer is where the ITO (sensor) layer of the screen is built. The reason why this layer was implemented was because the LCD screen brought too much noise to the capacitive levels causing false fingers to occur.

So without having to include this glass / PMMA plastic layer a few bucks are cut from the total cost of the phone. This also removes a few ounces of weight if it is glass. Up till now this hasn't been done because noise mitigation algorithms were good enough to mitigate LCD noise in all situations.

Aside from a thinner phone the only other difference is you might see would be the LCD layer moved up closer to the top lens glass.

 

[olowott]

Hope all these research for little space used will lead to bigger battery juice

 

[rinemy]

Former capacitive touch engineer here.

The In-Cell technology primary selling factor is because it is thin but there are other costs that are cut involved.

In current application you have a LCD display with a PMMA (plastic) or Glass layer on top, these tend to be about 1mm thick. This layer is where the ITO (sensor) layer of the screen is built. The reason why this layer was implemented was because the LCD screen brought too much noise to the capacitive levels causing false fingers to occur.

So without having to include this glass / PMMA plastic layer a few bucks are cut from the total cost of the phone. This also removes a few ounces of weight if it is glass.

Aside from cost cutting measure the only other different is you might see the LCD layer moved up closer to the top lens glass.

Oh and one more thing to note. If your touch screen breaks, you have to replace the entire LCD. Might want to think about ponying up on the warranty if you're a little clumsy.

 

[bergert]

why not used before ?

Will this cause the phone to be more responsive? And if so, why didn't they do this a long time ago since the patent was origniall filed in 2006?

Because if you develop something new the people working on it need to be paid. It takes years - and of 50 every idea's only one will work. This is what is called R+D (research and development).

And once you prove it works, you have to find a way to mass-produce it; and produce it in a way that the resulting product will work too. Because if your keyboard keys get stuck (bad example, yes) you will turn it in for a refund. This is called RISK.

Now Samsung so far, has not done much of R+D, because it copied all "good" idea's of Apple (they were just too good, they were "obvious"- once Apple had done the R+D). And as Samsung is the manufacturer for Apple, they did not have much risk either. Now if it would be easy, and without risk (i.e. money wasted) - why has nobody else come up with this before ? Microsoft ? DELL ? ACER ?

 

[iMacFarlane]

This news is actually interesting!

I can't really say if it'll use less power, or be more responsive, but it's progress, right? Just another incremental baby step towards touch-sensitive image-producing surfaces. The next step may be to allow some sort of tactile feedback (other than that off-putting 'thing' that my son's Android phone does when you enter each character on the keyboard) or texture adjustments.

The movie wasn't great, but in "Red Planet" the landing crew pulls out this 'rod' then pulls a film/surface out of it, which is capable of high resolution display and touch sensitivity. That would be a definite iPad killer, no?

Wow, the internet is a big thing. Here's a picture it took me 0.7 seconds to find of what I'm talking about . . .

 

[darkplanets]

I piece of me dies every time Apple gets a new patent, you can guarantee they will abuse it.

A piece of me dies every time someone makes an inane comment like this. Without patents, R&D has no purpose. Why spend money to develop something that's going to put you ahead of your competitors if they can just copy it without the R&D cost? You either license it out (FRAND) or you don't (with the former being more economical), which is your choice since you're the inventor of the IP and spent money to develop it. Like it or not IP defense and protection is the cornerstone of rewarding innovation, and Apple (or any other "patent troll") defending their IP is within their legal right. I would hardly consider it "abuse," especially if the patent was awarded in the first place and the appropriate licensing conditions were offered (which they probably were).

 

[mdelvecchio]

All of this research just to make it thinner, and I don't care about the thickness.

you dont get it. battery innovation is at a standstill. by making the rest of the device thinner, they can increase the battery load. do you care about battery?

 

[faroZ06]

I'm guessing that you would be happy with a circa 1990's Motorola luunchbox cellphone...

No. The current iPhone thickness is fine. If any space is freed up, they should add more battery instead of making it even thinner than needed.

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you dont get it. battery innovation is at a standstill. by making the rest of the device thinner, they can increase the battery load. do you care about battery?

How does a thinner device increase the battery load?

 

[mdelvecchio]

My patience for the new iPhone gets lower and lower for every post

sorry, massa! didnt mean to upset you none, suh!

 

[Rogifan]

I piece of me dies every time Apple gets a new patent, you can guarantee they will abuse it.

A piece of you dies? Quit being so melodramatic.

 

[doelcm82]

I wish Apple would cut it out already with making it thinner. You'd think they won't be satisfied till the iPhone is paper-thin... It's bordering on too thin at this point. Give me a bigger battery, more RAM, a more powerful GPU or CPU and I'd be happy. I don't need a thinner device.

If you want it thicker, you can do that with a protective case. It could even include a supplemental battery.

If they make it thick for you, there would be no way for me to be satisfied, because I want it thin.

So I'm glad Apple is designing products for me and not for you.

 

[mdelvecchio]

I was looking forward to the new iPhone, but now it looks like I'll stay with my trusty 3Gs.

suuuure you will. 8x CPU, GPU, RAM, storage, data thruput, readability....all garbage as far as youre concerned. riiight.