The tech community is abuzz with a patent that was recently granted to the Cupertino company. Unearthed yet again by the good folks of Patently Apple — this patent describes an all-in-one desktop computer that looks very much like an iMac, that can switch between touch-based and mouse inputs. This looks like a fusion of the iMacs of the past that could bend and twist and the iMacs of present that can only be adjusted for vertical angles.
The report shows a confirmed patent for a touch-based iMac which will have a touchscreen layer on top of the regular screen. from the images of the patent, it is quite clear that the OS will be undergoing considerable changes to facilitate this new feature. But then it isn’t like the OS X is not touch-aware already. In fact, we should have seen it coming with all the complex gestures that Apple has been incorporating into their MacBooks and Magic Trackpad.
The logic behind having dual input is to make sure that the user gets the best of both worlds. The iMac is after all a powerful desktop computer that can do much more than a mere iPad. So there will, for a long time to come, be applications that will require the mouse and the keyboard for proper operations. But then the usefulness of touch-based inputs in some applications simply cannot be denied. So it looks like Apple is slowly bridging the gap to an all-touch world by doing it in steps.
The two interfaces for touch and mouse/keyboard-based inputs will not be interoperable. So the OS will transition between the two interfaces by sensing the change on its own. This can easily be done through an accelerometer to change the interface to suit the orientation the display is in. Another way to do it would be to include a rotation sensor on the display’s mount so that when the display is rotated it can switch to the appropriate interface automatically by calculating the angles of rotation. Another option being explored is having a strategically located touch sensitive area which the user grabs when changing the orientation and that acts as the transition switch.
This there will be two different input modes — a high resolution and a low resolution input mode with the lower resolution being suited for touch based input. The patent describes that when the system is entering the low resolution input mode, the typical elements of the high resolution input mode can “slide off” the screen. This would be a very Apple style transition where things like mouse pointer, directory items, menu bars, dock, etc. will simply move out of sight in a smooth transition animation; leaving the user with a clean and finger friendly-controls.
The terms high-resolution and low-resolution here are in no way connected to the display though. They simply mean that the interface elements will become larger or smaller, depending on the input mode. The display resolution will stay the same.
From the patent, it seems that proximity from the screen could also be a determining factor when it comes to transitioning. When you are using a mouse and a keybaord, you are usually sitting at a distance from the screen. But when you are using the touch-based input, you are likely to pull it closer to yourself, in the manner of reading a book perhaps. Depending on you individual habit, you can set the threshold of the transition in angles, so that it does not change without you wanting it to.
As for what applications are to be used with this, you can take your cues from the iPad already. There’s the iWork Touch that works splendidly well on the iPad. There’s also the iLife bundle. And there’s always the third-party ecosystem to give you the rest.
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