Apple June 27, 2012

New Apple Patents for Rotating, Scaling and Translating Documents on iOS Touch Screens

The patents that Apple has recently won will definitely bring some victories in Apple’s competition with other mobile giants. The patents concern iOS functionality and the following touch gestures on displays: scrolling lists and rotating, scaling and translating documents.

Apple described the patents in an innovative way and received the acceptance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The processor of a device, let’s say iPhone 5, will be able of “detecting a movement of an object on the touch screen display; scrolling a list of items displayed on the touch screen display in a first direction in response to detecting the movement.”

The process of zooming in and out is somehow similar to those described by the patents but there’s nothing revolutionary with the zooming touch gestures. On the contrary, scrolling, scaling and resizing are unfamiliar for smartphones owners and soon Apple will introduce them too on the market, hopefully once with the new iPhone.