[EGreg]

When did Apple patent pinch-to-zoom?

This video is from 1988. Are you saying Apple patented it in 2011?

First of all in 2006, before the iPhone came out, I saw Jeff Han from NYU demoing much more than just pinch-to-zoom:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKh1Rv0PlOQ

And secondly, I thought Apple bought the pinch-to-zoom patent! I don't know much about it, but I am curious about the date.

[wickedchicken]

> When did Apple patent pinch-to-zoom? This video is from 1988.

The video is from 1988, but it appears the work was around 1983. The pinch-to-zoom (on 'portable communication devices') patent[1] was filed in 2006, issued in 2010.

[1] http://goo.gl/gHgEB

[EGreg]

If that is the case, what about the Jeff Han video which came out in 2006? Jeff Han was obviously working on it for at least a year before he gave that talk. Shouldn't that be obvious prior art? He talks about pinch and much more!

[001sky]

You may want to read this. Posted early to HN. Has hitsory of Multi Touch development. As of 1998/1999.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4448186