A long Apple patent dispute relating to the iPhone’s ‘slide to unlock feature’ has been resolved in favor of Apple, according to online sources.
After filing the application for the patent 6 years ago in December 2005, US Patent and Trademark Office authorities made a belated decision to allow Apple to take credit for the innovation, allowing them to use their ownership of the feature to open additional lawsuits. Here’s what the patent entails.
“A device with a touch-sensitive display may be unlocked via gestures performed on the touch-sensitive display. The device is unlocked if contact with the display corresponds to a predefined gesture for unlocking the device. The device displays one or more unlock images with respect to which the predefined gesture is to be performed in order to unlock the device. The performance of the predefined gesture with respect to the unlock image may include moving the unlock image to a predefined location and/or moving the unlock image along a predefined path. The device may also display visual cues of the predefined gesture on the touch screen to remind a user of the gesture. In addition, there is a need for sensory feedback to the user regarding progress towards satisfaction of a user input condition that is required for the transition to occur.”
According to the patent, apparently any gesture to unlock a touchscreen mobile device is a violation of the terms. This means a lot of other unlock methods are going to be affected, such as those on Android HTC phones.
Hopefully there won’t be too much inconvenience caused for existing users of other gesture based phone unlock methods, but now Apple has control of the patent more lawsuits against similar unlock features will probably arrive.
Let us know your thoughts on our comments below or via our @Gadget_Helpline Twitter page or Official Facebook group.