Microsoft files patent for muscle-based computer controls
While everyone is going “ga-ga” over Apple’s dynamic tactile feedback keyboard patent , Microsoft has quietly filed a patent for several methods of controlling a computer using Electromyography (EMG). The technique would record the electrical activity of muscles and translate those signals into instruction sets which would control a computer. EMG technology is not new, it is used in some advanced prosthetic devices and is the technology behind the military’s research into EMG-controlled flight systems which allows a pilot to control his plane using EMG-based gestures. The Microsoft patent takes this technology and applies it to consumer devices describing, in one example…

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Uh, um, ok… remember how Steve Jobs called the finger, the “best pointing device in the world” while chiding the stylus? Well, guess he wasn’t lumping handwriting capabilities in with his lambasting if there’s anything to this patent application for recognizing and processing “ink information” from a pen-based...
It looks like it’s going to be one of those days . Emblaze , parent company of Else and creator of the First Else that we felt compelled to check the pulse of at CES, is going down the long, dangerous road of patent disputes, challenging both Microsoft and Apple with a lawsuit having something to do with streaming of media. Emblaze didn’t...
Nokia makes the world’s most widely-used handsets — by a wide margin — and they went on the offensive to defend their technology announcing a lawsuit against Apple, Inc. The claim, filed in Delaware district court, alleges 10-counts of patent infringement for technologies used in all iPhones produced since 2007. Nokia’s...
Sony could one day have one controller to rule them all, if this patent is any indication. The electronics giant has filed a patent for something it may or may not one day produce: a video game console controller which uses an LCD interface to simulate buttons, rather than relying on a physical, static configuration. It appears that there would...
Filed under: Apple Corporate Word from Jim Dalrymple at The Loop tonight that Monday brought a new patent lawsuit against Apple… and 17 other tech companies, including Microsoft, Adobe, Autodesk, Sony, Kodak (!) and more. This time, the complaining company, BetaNet, has a 1993 patent that it says covers a “Secure System for Activating...
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In the time it takes your computer to boot up, you can probably make some toast or a cup of tea before the thing is ready to use. In the near future, you might only have enough time to take a sip of that tea or check your watch. Mindful of how frustrating the wait is, makers of PCs’ basic input/output systems (BIOS) are working on bringing...
It’s all lawsuits and complaints galore this year with Apple against Nokia, Nokia against Apple and now Motorola against Research In Motion. Apparently, according to Motorola, RIM is violating five Motorola patents which involve Wi-Fi access, application management, power management and UI. So, Motorola decided to file a complaint with the...
Our dreams of an actually useful wearable computer have still yet to materialize, but the second-generation Kopin Golden-i concept — now inconspicuously Motorola-branded — is an interesting attempt. It’s based around a head mounted, magnified SVGA LCD that is meant to be “glanceable” while the user remains aware of...
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