Apple Patents Eyes-Free Multitouch Gestures to Save Battery Life

The United States Patent and Trademark Office today granted Apple a new patent (No. 8,407,623) that covers a system designed to allow multitouch on a mobile device screen even when the display is not showing any images. This is a patent that could potentially save battery on Apple’s devices by allowing users to perform simple eyes-free gestures to get a response.

In the patent description, Apple details commands that could be carried out without viewing the screen. For example, swiping a finger in a circular motion could change music volume or switch tracks, while a tap on an unactivated display could bring up the homescreen.

This patent also makes it possible for Apple to remove physical control buttons such as the home button or the volume up/down controls, as gestures on the display could replace the functionality of the current buttons, allowing for slimmer devices.

In some embodiments, a user can control the playback of media on an electronic device by providing inputs to an input interface, such as a physical button. For example, the electronic device can include several buttons, each of which is associated with a different playback operation. The buttons can be incorporated in the electronic device or remotely coupled, for example wirelessly or using a wire (e.g., buttons in a headphone cable).

Alternatively, the electronic device can instead or in addition display selectable playback options, which the user can select using an input interface. The selectable playback options can include, for example, play/pause options, fast forward and rewind options, next and last options, and volume control options. Upon receiving a selection of an option, the electronic device can perform the corresponding media playback operation.

To prevent unwanted touches from activating specific features, the patent describes a special mode that sounds like it is a cross between lock mode and an activated device that can be set when it is unlikely that accidental taps and touches would occur – i.e., using the screen turned off to initiate simple commands while driving or exercising.

Apple’s newest patent actually sounds a lot like how its current iPod nano functions, without the use of any physical buttons. With a purely gesture based interface, Apple could potentially eliminate some or all of the buttons on the iPad and the iPhone allowing for a larger display with less of a bevel, but it also sounds like a solid battery saving screen-off control option.