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Upside Down Phone Patent

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wed Feb 07, 2007 09:59 AM
from the upsidedowntalkin dept.
Handhelds Patents Hardware
An anonymous reader noted that "A patent has been filed for the "Upside Down Phone", which features the keypad on top and the screen on the bottom. The idea behind the upside down phone is, apparently, to allow faster texting by have a more comfortable position for the thumb to work from. A quick check of this seems to confirm the theory, making this one of those "Why didn't I think of that?" moments."
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  • I don't know..maybe because the hands will be right on top of the screen and you won't be able to see anything?

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by AoT (107216)
      not if you hold it right.

      I had a job during the summer where I had to do a lot of data entry into phones and I ended up holding the thing upside-down and using it that way because it was easier.

      Of course, this was all on a bicycle, so that makes a difference as well.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Radon360 (951529)

      I agree. Maybe I'm missing something, but the idea seems to go against simple ergonomics. I would compare it to the early versions of the Garmin hand-held GPS receivers. Several models had their buttons above the screen. You had to "drive" it with two hands; one to hold it and one to run the keypad with a finger so that you could navigate through the menus. It was my major gripe about their GPS at the time, and the reason that I went with a Magellen GPS receiver back then (I have since purchased a Garm

          • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

            by Goaway (82658)
            I don't know of a single company that both manufactures phones, and sells connectivity. Your point makes no sense.

    • Re:"Why didn't I think of that?" (Score:5, Informative)

      by fang2415 (987165) on Wednesday February 07 2007, @12:54PM (#17923216) Journal

      One of us *did* think of that. [slashdot.org]

      • Re:Really? Not for me. (Score:4, Informative)

        by sconeu (64226) on Wednesday February 07 2007, @12:31PM (#17922890) Homepage Journal
        I've never understood the infatuation with flip-phones

        No keyboard locking necessary. I can't count the number of times my wife has forgotten to lock the keyboard on her Nokia, and buttons get pushed on it in her purse.

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by green1 (322787)
          >> No keyboard locking necessary.

          unless you have a poorly designed flip phone that happened to have 3 buttons on the outside, and one of them was both the keyboard unlock, and the redial last number button... I CONSTANTLY had that phone calling people from my pocket even though it had both the flip closed AND the keyboard locked! (what idiot designs a phone where the keyguard is turned off by one of only 3 buttons that were NOT covered by the flip cover??? (hint: Samsung SCH-3500 ))

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Dan Slotman (974474)
        Anything is innovative once you see it. The summary's question, "Why didn't I think of that?" illustrates this point. Ideas are more scarce than we would like to believe. Columbus gave a simple test [wikipedia.org] that humorously backs this argument.

        In the story, Christopher Columbus attends a dinner which a Spanish gentleman is giving in his honor. Columbus asks all the gentlemen in attendance to make an egg stand on end. After all the men have tried and failed, they state that it is impossible. Columbus then places th

        • Re:"Why didn't I think of that?" (Score:4, Interesting)

          by Retric (704075) on Wednesday February 07 2007, @02:50PM (#17924862)
          The problem with that story is once your break it it's no longer an egg. It's the same with this keyboard idea many have considered placing the keyboard on the other side but considered it useless to not have the screen visible while you type. To truly be a "novel" solution it needs to not just be "new" but also useful. Otherwise several people may have considered and rejected the idea. Which is why you can patent using an existing drug to treat a new disease. Drug patents are not just about the drug but how to use or make it.

        • Re:"Why didn't I think of that?" (Score:5, Funny)

          by squiggleslash (241428) * on Wednesday February 07 2007, @04:35PM (#17926184) Homepage Journal

          Good story, and it reminds me of another story, involving - interestingly enough - Christopher Columbus again.

          In the story, Christopher Columbus attends a meeting involving Craig McCaw, Christopher Gent, Steve Jobs, and the entire staff of Nokia. Christopher asks all the people in attendance to design an easier way of entering text messages into a cellphone. After all those present have tried and failed, they state that it's impossible to get better than iTAP. Columbus then pulls out a whopping great IBM Model M keyboard, attaches it to his phone, and types in his text message. Columbus then states that it is "the simplest thing in the world. Anybody can do it, after he has been shown how!"

          Columbus then went on to patent his invention, but in one of the great tragedies of science and technology, received nothing in royalties due to the slight issue with his "solution" being as idiotic as his more famous attempt to stand an egg on end.

          It's a sad story, I know.

  • haHA (Score:5, Funny)

    by TinBromide (921574) on Wednesday February 07 2007, @10:02AM (#17920724)
    Gonna get rich! I just filed a patent for the upsidedown laptop, where you pull up the keyboard and look down at the screen.

    Makes it easier for those of you who type with your feet. (I'm looking at YOU, AOLers...)

  • Garmin GPS did this 10 years ago (Score:5, Informative)

    by cvd6262 (180823) on Wednesday February 07 2007, @10:04AM (#17920742)
    I bought a Garmin GPS12 [garmin.com] back in '98 that had the screen on the bottom. It made for great one-hand used.

    I guess adding "cellphone" to a design is just like adding "on the Internet" to a business plan.
    • You beat me to the punch, but I was going to post the same thing. I found the Garmin interface to be much easier to use than the competitors at the time (like Magellan), mainly because the "buttons on top" made it simpler to operate one handed.

      The disadvantage is that if you have the device mounted (on the dashboard of your car, or on a panel of your boat), your hand tends to block the screen while you punch the buttons. Buttons on bottom works better if you need constant view of the screen while you oper

    • Re:Garmin GPS did this 10 years ago (Score:5, Funny)

      by montyzooooma (853414) on Wednesday February 07 2007, @10:34AM (#17921202)
      "I bought a Garmin GPS12 back in '98 that had the screen on the bottom. It made for great one-hand use."

      Whoa! There's GPS porn?

  • Not Why Didn't I Think of That (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ISoldMyLowIdOnEbay (802697) on Wednesday February 07 2007, @10:05AM (#17920754)
    More

    How the H*ll Can You Patent That?

  • Layout patent? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by FredDC (1048502) on Wednesday February 07 2007, @10:06AM (#17920778)
    How is it possible to patent the layout of something? I'll just go and patent a much used way of laying bricks on top of eachother and everyone who builds a house has to pass by my bank account first? This patenting is getting way out of hand!
  • Well it's true, there are a lot of things that seem to be common sense that aren't yet patented. For example, my upcoming patent for a simple gesture to signify the consummation of a business deal. I like to call it the handshake.
    • If you're going to do that, I'm going to patent the gesture one can make to the patent office for accepting ideas that waste their time, and court time. I call it the middle finger salute.

      The cell phone idea is strange, since you have your head turned down more now to see the screen. Although it's similar to what they did with laptops - moving the keyboard against the monitor, instead of the front edge of the base.
  • I hope it was side talking as well!

  • what you're used to (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    making this one of those "Why didn't I think of that?" moments.

    This is simply because people don't think about ergonomics or what logically makes sense. Rather, they view things in terms they are familiar with. So since cellphones have always had the buttons on the bottom, everyone just assumed that's where they should go. The same can be said for interfaces in software development. Look at all the sourceforge projects that have GUIs. How many of them are just rehashes of the same bad interface design id

  • Nothing new (Score:5, Informative)

    by earthloop (449575) on Wednesday February 07 2007, @10:07AM (#17920792) Homepage
    Ericsson did this way back in 1999 with the "Hedvig".

    Project was cancelled, one reason being users didn't like the upside down configuration.

  • one of those "Why didn't I think of that?" moments.
    Sometimes known as an "obvious" invention. Which the law is supposed to prevent from being patented [iusmentis.com], if it were not abused by a patent regime administered to hand out as many artificial monopolies as possible.
    • Of course, most brilliant inventions seem "obvious" after you've heard of them.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Doc Ruby (173196)
        And most ideas that are obvious after they're stated were obvious before they were stated. While all ideas that were obvious before they were stated are still obvious afterwards.

        Taking an invention and running through all the combinations of directions of placement is not "novel". If I take AT&T's patented keypad and patent it with the numbers running right-left, or down-up, or both, that's an obvious invention from the prior art. So is putting the keypad above the display.

        These patents are exceptions t
    • I think you've got that backwards. If you are thinking "Why didn't I think of that?" you are also thinking "I didn't think of that." If you hadn't thought of it before, then it's not obvious. More importantly, nobody "skilled in the art" thought of it either. If they had, they would have patented it. A lack of an existing successful product is considered "objective evidence of nonobviousness," at least in US patent law. (IANAL, but I have recieved an infringement letter.)

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Doc Ruby (173196)
        No, it's a trivial variation on the existing (patented or not) device. The lack of a patent does not indicate that no one thought of it, or would have. Why does this variant need patent protection of its "investment" in its unique design, so others can't compete with it starting with a full bank account? In fact, that is exactly what this design does, competing with existing designs, deriving its design from their substantial investment.

        Patenting isn't an "I thought of it first" lottery. It's a major except
      • You're making the assumption that "if noone patented it, noone thought about it", which is, sad to say, bogus. Some people just don't run to the patent office for each and single triviality.

        In this case, for example, there I can remember at least two cases of phones built just like that. One even made it all the way to being marketted. (Dunno if it actually sold or not, though.) So, yes, other people "skilled in the art" _did_ think of it before. Go figure.

  • No more dirty screen ? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Rastignac (1014569) on Wednesday February 07 2007, @10:08AM (#17920810)
    The screen (at the bottom) won't be touched by the ear, so it will stay clean.
    No more dirty sticky traces on the screen !

  • Baseball caps (Score:3, Informative)

    by xs650 (741277) on Wednesday February 07 2007, @10:09AM (#17920830)
    What's next, a patent on wearing baseball caps backwards?

    As another poster said. my 7 year old Garmin MAP12 handheld GPS had the screen on the bottom and buttons on the top.

  • 'Texting' (Score:4, Funny)

    by bytesex (112972) on Wednesday February 07 2007, @10:13AM (#17920896) Homepage
    Brought to you for the people who do the most 'texting' (shudder at the term); British teens. So what if you gave one of 'em, when, in a rare moment, they use their phone for its intended purposes, a big push on the phone: they'd press all the buttons at once with their zitty cheecks. You'd have to scrape all that pus out from in between the buttons. Yek.
  • I don't think this is obvious. The common "Why didn't I think of that?" feeling that many people are getting right about now is evidence enough for me. And it's definitely useful for people who text a lot. But has it been done before? I haven't seen anything like it, but I never really paid attention to mobile phones and such. (I know, I know; I'll mail my Geek Card back to HQ)
    • For those of us that do think of things like this (and many others), it is more of a forehead smacking "I wish I could have afforded to patent that idea when I thought of it" moment. I think the requirement for a lawyer and an expensive application fee keeps lots of us would-be inventors from even getting in the game.

      ...now where did I put those writings about my soylent bulk animal farming aparatus...

  • I can't help thinking that... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by TheSHAD0W (258774) on Wednesday February 07 2007, @10:15AM (#17920916) Homepage
    ...the iPhone can do this in software. :-P
  • Wow, can you get patents for turning anything upside down? Dibs on the upside-down ping pong ball!

  • Plenty of Prior Art (Score:3, Informative)

    by LordSchnitzel (677741) on Wednesday February 07 2007, @10:17AM (#17920952)
    Here's a phone by B&O that came out in europe two years ago: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellphones/serene-bang- -olufsens-upside-down-cellphone-210756.php [gizmodo.com]

  • Next story? Upside-down slashdot! (Score:5, Funny)

    by neonux (1000992) on Wednesday February 07 2007, @10:31AM (#17921160)
    "A patent has been filed for the "Upside Down Slashdot" which features the comments on top and the fucking article on the bottom. The idea behind the upside down Slashdot is, apparently, to allow quicker reading by not having to RTFA. A quick check of this seems to confirm the theory, making this one of those "Why didn't I think of that?" moments."

  • bin done (Score:3, Informative)

    by b00le (714402) <interferenceNO@SPAMlibero.it> on Wednesday February 07 2007, @10:40AM (#17921278) Homepage
    The Serene phone from Samsung/Bang & Olufsen http://www.serenemobile.com/ [serenemobile.com] already does this -- even lets you switch configurations.

  • It's an *application* people (Score:4, Insightful)

    by hacksoncode (239847) on Wednesday February 07 2007, @02:18PM (#17924416)
    Complaining about the ridiculousness of a pending patent *application* is about as useful as complaining about people spending time thinking of what they'd wish for if they found a bottle with a genie in it.

    So someone thought they had a cool new idea because they hadn't ever seen anything like it and they were wrong... so what? If the patent *issues* then there's something to complain about (though pointing the patent office at the prior art would be a useful public service, unlike whining on Slashdot).

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