Patent is not on double click in general
Posted May 22, 2004 19:41 UTC (Sat) by
giraffedata (subscriber, #1954)
In reply to:
You want prior art? by spitzak
Parent article:
Stupid patent tricks
The patent doesn't claim double presses in general. The most famous prior art for the double press is Microsoft Windows!
The patent is upfront about the fact that double presses already exist. The claim is for a specific use of a double press.
The patent claims use of a double press to "launch" a different "function of an application." It also speaks of a "hardware button," which I get the impression is meant to allude to a button on a watch more than a mouse button. It's all kind of gibberish, but I agree with Dr. Stupid that what they're trying to describe without getting too specific is a button on a device whose entire user interface is just a few buttons. Pressing a button does something that would be called running a program in a full-size computer, and what arguments that program gets depends on how many times you press.
Looked at that narrowly, I can't think of any prior art. But it does have the obviousness problem that most "software patents" have.
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