Apple has filed a patent showing a multitouch 3D interface that could be applied to the much rumoured Apple tablet. Most interestingly, the patent was submitted in the names of three French Apple employees rather than the company’s name. Something they want to keep secret?
Apple’s 3D interface patent was filed under the names of Fabrice Robinet and Thomas Goossens, software engineers at Apple, and Alexandre Moham a product and engineering manager at the firm.
While Apple’s name is not explicitly on the patent filing, the Baltimore Sun’s Gus Sentementes discovered that Apple does own the right to it. The patent’s correspondence address is noted as Morgan Lewis & Bockius, a law firm frequently used by Apple for patent applications.
The application which was filed in September 2008, states that “there is a need for electronic devices with touch screen displays that provide more transparent and intuitive user interfaces for navigating in 3D virtual spaces and manipulating three dimensional objects in these virtual spaces”.
A multi-touch, touchscreen device with a 3D dimensional interface? That sounds like just the killer app for Apple to squeeze into the mythical Apple tablet.
And to add to the evidence for Apple’s 3D interface plans, there’s the auto-adjusting 3D display patent that emerged in December. Could all the talk of bringing magazines to life on the Apple Tablet mean 3D?
Due TBA | £TBA | Apple (via Baltimore Sun)
Apple has filed a patent showing a multitouch 3D interface that could be applied to the much rumoured Apple tablet. Most interestingly, the patent was submitted in the names of three French Apple employees rather than the company’s name. Something they want to keep secret?
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