Hi guys,
I've been following the law suites on Samsung who uses patented concepts in their Android OS that is owned by Apple.
The most noticeable patent that Apple seems to have won in the batlle is the one that concerns the way a list behave when you reach the end of the list (either at the top or bottom). This is the effect that the list keeps on scrolling revealing an empty space. Then when you release your finger the list jumps back to the screen edge.
Currently Androids answer to this was to introduce a (not so intuitive) alternative which shows a little blue line that lights up right on the edge when you reach the end of the list.
The problem with this, is it brings back the "annoyance" that you feel your phone is not responding to your finger movements because the list keeps still while this (very unnoticeable) blue line starts to light up.
My Alternative Suggestion:
Apple's patent seems to focus on the effect that you see an "additional" space beyond the end of the list, and when you lift your finger the list jumps back to the edge. We need an alternative that keeps the last item of the list fixed to the edge (since any effect that would bring it back to the edge would be violating the patent).
Now the problem is the alternative should be easily implemented and not consume a lot of processing on it's own!
So my suggestion is to create and effect where the list of items, "pulls appart" from each other, like when you pull on a thightly wound spring and the coils of the springs separate in equal distances from each which sum is equal to the total distance you are pulling beyond the end of the list.
The effect should be applied to only the items that start under your finger. So if you have your finger on the 3rd item in the list, only the second and 3rd item should pull apart, while the first item always stick to the edge.
Then when you lift your finger the items jumps back to the "no space" state like, a tightly wound spring would if you let it go.
Because the last item does not leave the edge of the screen to reveal a space beyond it, this does not violate the Apple patent.
This effect is a bit limited to lists.
For documents we could have a "strech" effect that you would see if you hold a square rubber type material by one edge and then pull on the other end with only 2 fingers.
But this motion will require a bit of processing and I don't know if this is acceptable under the requirements.
Hope you guys like this alternative! And I hope to see it as an patch or in the next upgrade. I don't know how to even start coding my own effect for Android, so I can only share the idea.
If Android wants to or can patent this idea, I would love to give them permission to use my idea. This forum post is the only and first time I have mentioned this. So I did not see this or copy it from any other place!
Edit:
PS. If this is of any help to Android: The Apple patent on this seems to be limited to "while your finger is touching the screen", so if you would say "throw/flick" the list or document and the document would move in that direction on its own and when reaching the end keep on moving at a exponentially reduced rate, so that it would look like it is "grinding to a stop" and then jumps back, it would not be a patent violation. So as long as you are not "pulling" the document or list beyond it's end (with your finger touching the screen) to reveal a gap, that is not part of the patented concept.
