It is a bit discouraging to see the simple ideas that get patents. But it's fun to get a peek a new ideas. And if simple things are getting patents, then at least it's good to see a mobile platform leader benefit from it.
This month, PalmSource received
US Patent #7,047,503 for "Method and apparatus for the selection of records." It obviously took a lot of work to put together the patent information and application, but it does give us a glimpse of one possible way that the PalmOS may be evolving in the form of the Access ALP platform.
Specifically, the patent is summarized as follows:
"An improved method and system for record selection. Specifically, one embodiment of the present invention interprets the 'gesture' of swiping the pen horizontally across a line-item of a record entry as a command to highlight the line-item and to select the entire record. Furthermore, a contiguous group of multiple records are highlighted and selected by selecting the first record, as above, and then continuing to swipe the pen vertically through the records, in accordance with another embodiment. Lastly, discontiguous records are selected by repeating the above sequence for two or more discontiguous groups of records. Previous selections are maintained until the user executes any other non-selection action."
Here's my "real English" version... You can select a single record in a list by making a rightward gesture on it. If you continue the gesture by moving downward, then additional consecutive records get selected. If you want another group of records, you do it again.
It makes a lot more sense when you look at the attached picture below. Will it change the face of mobile computing? Not really. Could it be a convenient new way to highlight records? I think so!
Note: If you are reading this article from the MobileRead front page, you'll need to make the jump before you find the clickable thumbnail with the diagram.