Lawyers for Sony Computer Entertainment America must have been mighty
busy last October, hatching the wild scheme that came to light this
week -- a series of eight intertwining patent applications all
describing a single device with an intriguing touchscreen interface.
Though it's hard to tell what form the final device might take -- the
apps suggest sliders, clamshells and slates -- a few distinct ideas
bubble to the surface, and we'll knock them out one by one. First, the
inventors seem to be rather particular about having a touchpad that's
separate from the main screen -- perhaps even on its back like the
rumored PSP2 -- and Sony's trying to patent a way to manipulate
objects through the screen as well. Second, there's a lot of mumbo-
jumbo about being able to "enhance" or "transform" the user interface
in response to different forms of input, which seems to boil down to
this: Sony's trying to get some multitouch up in there, especially
pinch-to-zoom.
Last but not least, the company's looking to cordon off a section of
touchscreen buttons, including a 'paste' command, and patent a
"prediction engine" that would dynamically change the onscreen layout
based on your past behavior. If most of these ideas sound more at home
in a new tablet computer rather than a gaming handheld, then great
minds think alike. Still, SCEA is Sony's gaming division -- forlorn
Linux computing aside -- so consider us stumped for now.
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