Apple seeks patent for 'innovation' resembling the ZX Spectrum, C64 and rPi 400
- Reference: 1646034967
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/02/28/apple_innovation_seems_strangely_familiar/
- Source link:
US Patent Application [1]20220057845 describes a "computer in an input device", which is but one way of visualising this startling innovation. Another could be as an input device stuck on top of a computer. It's a sort of philosophical conundrum.
The patent poets at Apple wax lyrical, thusly: "A computing device can include an enclosure that defines an internal volume and an external surface. An input component can be positioned at the external surface. A processing unit and a memory can be communicatively coupled and disposed within the internal volume."
[2]
So is it an input device with a computer in it, or a computing device with a keyboard "positioned at the external surface"? Is it neither? Is it both? We are left to ponder the profundity and the picture below.
[3]
Apple's new computer in a keyboard plan
Click to enlarge
Meanwhile, those of us with more than a little grey around the temples might recall a time when most, if not all, microcomputers – from companies like Commodore, Atari, Sinclair and even Apple – included both the input device and the computing innards in the one enclosure. It doesn't really seem like a thing you ought to be able to patent at this point – especially as it was revived in 2020 as the [4]Raspberry Pi 400 .
But Apple's not only revisiting its [5]halcyon youth . As it points out, "Large or bulky computing components have traditionally been needed within computing devices to achieve a desired level of performance," and therefore "Housings for such computing devices were thus constrained to designs including relatively large or uninterrupted internal volumes."
[6]
A device with a relatively large internal volume. Click to enlarge
However, "A strong demand for portable computing devices which also deliver high performance has driven miniaturization and reduction in size of the once bulky computing components used to power and drive the devices. … Consequently, further tailoring of housing designs, shapes, and configurations to provide additional or enhanced device functionality can therefore be desirable."
[7]Intel brings Evo thin, light laptop spec to vPro systems
[8]Canalys: Foldable shipments could 'exceed 30 million by 2024'
[9]Samsung's foldables fall to more realistic prices and harden up
[10]Sir Clive Sinclair: Personal computing pioneer missed out on being Britain's Steve Jobs
What the fruity folks from Cupertino go on to describe is a device that's basically in the form factor of a present-day keyboard, but contains all the guts necessary for a fully functional computer. It also includes a single port, configured for both power and data (it mentions USB-C, Thunderbolt 3 and Lightning as possible connectors).
And, here's the fun part: it might even be foldable. Like, really foldable. Behold: "For example, the computing device can be foldable about two axes … such that the computing device is divided into three parts (i.e., the two axes can allow a user to fold the computing device like a paper can be folded into three equal parts before being inserted into an envelope)."
[11]
Essentially the idea is that you use your computer plugged into a display at work, then fold it up and put it in your bag to take home. At home, you unfold it and plug the single wire into another display and Robert is your mother's brother.
Try doing that with a Commodore 64. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://pdfaiw.uspto.gov/.aiw?docid=20220057845&PageNum=1&&IDKey=6DFEACA535A9&HomeUrl=http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2%2526Sect2=HITOFF%2526u=%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsearch-adv.html%2526r=42%2526p=1%2526f=G%2526l=50%2526d=PG01%2526S1=(apple.AANM.%252BAND%252B20220224.PD.)%2526OS=aanm/apple%252Band%252Bpd/20220224%2526RS=(AANM/apple%252BAND%252BPD/20220224)
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YhyrXdiHv8fhzWDwO3y38gAAAIw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://regmedia.co.uk/2022/02/28/screehshot_us_patent_office.jpg
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/02/pi-400/
[5] https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/personal-computers/17/300
[6] https://regmedia.co.uk/2022/02/28/apple_ii_plus.jpg
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/24/intel_evo_launch/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/14/foldable_shipments_canalys/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/11/samsung_fold_3_flip_3/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/17/sir_clive_sinclair_obituary/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YhyrXdiHv8fhzWDwO3y38gAAAIw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Size of a real keyboard?
Ah, the Spectrum+ 48K? Had one myself. Got it for Christmas '84, and it cost £179.99, unless my increasingly elderly braincells mislead me.
(Edit: Just checked wikipedia. I was out by £0.04, but correct on the year - apparently, it came out in October of '84.)
Coincidentally, or not, I have backed the [1]second release of the ZX Spectrum Next on Kickstarter. And recently bought myself an rPi 400. Guess I'm intrinsically drawn to this form-factor that Apple has just invented.
[1] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spectrumnext/zx-spectrum-next-issue-2
Re: Size of a real keyboard?
Yes, I was selling these early computers in a branch of John Lewis at the time.
Acorn Electron (mine had a weird yellow terminal screen that had no case on, just a frame, everything exposed).
BBC Micro 128 (I think), it looked flash with multi-coloured keys though I don't remember many selling
Commodore 64 - hot cakes
Atari (cannot remember the model, again very popular
ZX Spectrum, smaller than the others and I recall the keyboards on one model giving issues.
Then the multitude of games, all on cassette.......
Re: Size of a real keyboard?
My brother, my Dad and I relocated our rubber thump Speccy and put it inside an IBM keyboard.
Re: Size of a real keyboard?
I spent ages modding an IBM golfball typewriter only to discover the world had moved on when I finished! I still lust over a tellytype having used one for a while after doing punched cards!
Re: Size of a real keyboard?
Pre-Spectrum, what about the ZX80 and ZX81 (Timex whatevers in the States, I believe)?
But... given foldable... my head is hurting trying to work out how many billion examples of prior art laptops have been produced in the last thirty or forty years.
Output?
Presumably you plug it into the TV?
Re: Output?
UHF, composite or RGB with separate sync?
Re: Output?
UHF Channel 38.
Re: Output?
In NTSC
The rest of the world will just need new TVs that support NTSC (and only NTSC) - a small price to pay for such a revolutionary device.
Re: Output?
Except this time it will stand for Never The Same Computer twice
Re: Output?
Next they will patent exernal disks connected to the keyboard PC.
Re: Output?
No, first they will patent a pocketable "cassette" with magnetic tape that can conveniently store programmes and, perhaps, music too.
Re: Output?
Almost. I suspect it will be optionally wirelessly connected to a screen too so effectively its a laptop with a big external screen, which is how many people are using their laptops when working from home as they find the laptop screen to be way too small for extended work.
Re: Output?
> Almost. I suspect it will be optionally wirelessly connected to a screen too
Ah, good point. And being Apple there will be a wireless dongle to plug into the monitor that will, no doubt, cost rather more than a Fire Stick.
Atari ST ?
Wait...Apple are trying to patent an Atari ST ?
Re: Atari ST ?
Atari ST... ah yes, wasn't that the inferior knockoff clone of the Amiga 500?
(Note icon.)
Re: Atari ST ?
Or even ZX Spectrum +2, Amstrad CPC 464, Acorn Electron, Oric 1, Oric Atmos...
As usual with the US Patent Service, common sense prior art will almost certainly be ignored and it will be granted
Re: Atari ST ?
Upvote for the Oric 1 mention, it always seems to get forgotten. My first computer, because it seemed a great deal. 64kb of RAM (of course it wasn't mentioned the top 16k is normally hidden under the ROM) and a non-chicklet keyboard (but actually the keys were similar to the ones in calculators, not great for typing). Also introduced the joys of working around unfixable bugs in the built-in BASIC. A great learning experience!
Re: Atari ST ?
Zap
Re: Atari ST ?
Are you sure? Oric 1 was originally released months late as 16K of RAM, IIRC only 13K was available to users (mine is still boxed in the loft!) I didn't think they releleased the "48k" version before the Oric Atmos superceeded it? Perhaps my brain is confuzzled ...
Re: Atari ST ?
And also a BBC Micro, Amiga, TI, Tandy and pretty much any other home computer from the 1980s. If they want to patent retro computing then they should be forced to use 8-bit CPUs.
Re: 1980s
And 70s: Ohio Superboard, Nascom, Commodore PET and ITT 2020. (If you really want to wind up the most extreme Apple fanboys: the Xerox Alto.)
Re: 1980s
And Dragon.
Re: 1980s
Don't forget the MSX!
Re: 1980s
RM 380Z/480Z?
Exidy Sorcerer....
Re: 1980s
Wasn't the 380Z based on an industrial casing and the 480Z used the keyboard form factor?
Re: 1980s
480Z definitely, but the 380Z was separate keyboard.
Big black box with a keyswitch on the front and 2 8inch floppy drives; basically a PC before IBM made the first PX-XT
Re: 1980s
I forgot the Lynx.
Philips Maestro
The Philips Maestro had a lot of functionality built into the keyboard unit, to the point that it cause all manner of grief when your colleague dumped a litre of orange juice into theirs.
The last time I saw one it was stuck to the wall of the cabin of Starbug in Red Dwarf.
Acorn electron, Sinclair QL, various pre-built Raspberry Pies...
WTF? Has Apple never heard of doing an internet search?
Obviously, we know the US Patent Office hasn't, so they will give it the thumbs up.
This reminds me of a current event where a protagonist is rewriting history...
Re: Acorn electron, Sinclair QL, various pre-built Raspberry Pies...
It's a quirk of the US patent system that you can apply for, and receive, a patent, WITHOUT any prior art checks.
It's then down to anyone who feels their Intellectual Property is damaged by the new patent, (eg current owners of existing patents for virtually the same thing) to defend themselves.
In a situation where there is no virtually similar patent (but lots and lots of prior art), the IP legalese becomes ... 'muddy'.
What else would you expect from a system written by lawyers...
The US Patent office wouldn't recognise a novel idea if it jumped up and bit the end of their collective *****. When is the USA going to recognise the difference between an idea (patent) and a design (copyright)? The patent will be worthless as it will never stand up in court, but that won't stop the Apple twonks from using it to bully other users of "their" design with their overpaid lawyers. I wonder if it will have rounded corners?
The actual features at issue were: glass to the edge of the device (that only Samsung could manufacture at the time), four columns of icons (to match the number of fingers on most hands) and Steve's most astonishing invention - the colour black.
I'll see your Atari ST and raise you a Commodore PET
Also, weren't the VT terminals effectively a computer in a keyboard? As others have said, it is likely that prior art will be ignored though.
Re: I'll see your Atari ST and raise you a Commodore PET
No, the PET was an all-in-one unit... CRT screen, processor and keyboard in one box
Re: I'll see your Atari ST and raise you a Commodore PET
Ah, a knock-off iMac?
ZX81
Predating the Spectrum - I replaced the ZX81 keyboard/case with a "tin box" with proper clackity keys. And if the patent actually says "input device", then a touch screen with a computer in...
Re: ZX81
Any laptop too.
And their attempt to claim "maybe this has been done before, but we've added something new!" is to say it can be more compact because of increasing miniaturisation is essentially the definition of obvious to someone familiar with the state of the art, or even just the general state of technology now. (And yes, the Spectrum ZX81 was essentially just big enough for its keyboard, Sinclair's talent was stripping things down to the bare essentials.)
Re: ZX81
You forget the door wedge called the ZX80.
Face smacks palm
But this one has rounded corners! Therefore, you cannot hold it wrong.
To really be able to ridicule this patent attempt, we need to look beyond the headline.
Who can name a previous example of an integrated computer and input device that folds up to a small portable package and doesn’t have an integrated display so no laptops, netbooks, notebooks etc?
Depends what you mean by computer and input device...
But have you heard of the Nokia E70 with a gullwing fold out keyboard in a mobile device, or the Blackberry, or perhaps the Samsung Galaxy Fold?
Oh, sorry, these all have displays (to be useable portably), so obviously not worth doing.
Re: Depends what you mean by computer and input device...
Why would they be not worth doing? Where did that come from? They would not affect Apple's patent claim.
Perhaps the folding device could include another screen within the folded surfaces, and could perhaps be used on top of your lap. I think Apple may be onto something here.
And just in case they think it's inovative because its size is constrained by the keys
Most keyboards have a computer in them in order to talk USB or Bluetooth or whatever. Sometimes they have zero cables too.
I'm going to give Apple the benefit of the doubt here.
I'm going to say that the people involved in this process, the designer, the accountants, the person/people who puts the patent together are just of an age where they don't remember such a thing being done.
You know, a bit like when Homer Simpson puts the legs on his chair to stop him falling over, thinking Edison had never had the same idea.
You have missed the entire purpose of a patent. There is no point patenting anything original as there would be no-one to sue. A patent only has value if it is so obvious that lots of people are already infringing it.
I will give you the benefit of the doubt of it being a Monday for not getting the sarcasm.
Size of a real keyboard?
My last Spectrum was in fact a full-size keyboard with a Specy motherboard etc built in
Much nicer than the dead flesh keyboard! That would have been about 1983?
Aint innovation grand!