European patent granted for 'tilt and scroll' smartphone technology
The European Patent Office has granted a European patent for Innoventions' RotoView "tilt and scroll" display navigation system for smartphones and other mobile electronic devices. This European patent further expands the company's previously acquired US patents for the invention and creates a wider portfolio of licensing opportunities in the international market.
With a RotoView-enabled smartphone, the user simply tilts the device left-right or up-down to see beyond the virtual boundaries of the display. At any time, the user can exit this Navigation mode to "fix" the display, and then resume the Navigation mode. The user can even zoom in and out.
Innoventions was first awarded US Patent 6,466,198 for RotoView in 2002, and subsequent US Patent 6,933,923 in 2005. RotoView was described by online magazine Brighthand.com as one of nine technologies "that could profoundly change handhelds."
"The grant of a European patent further validates the novelty of our 'tilt and scroll' view navigation technology," said David Y. Feinstein, president of Innoventions. "We invented RotoView to replace the cumbersome mechanical navigation switches currently used in mobile devices, whether they are smartphones, hand held GPS or portable gaming systems. RotoView's simple, intuitive concept represents the future for smartphone navigation."
RotoView is targeted to enhance the touch screen technology recently introduced in smart phones.
"While these new smart phones successfully demonstrate the viability of combining accelerometer sensors and touch screens, the technology is only used to rotate the display 90 degrees. In contrast, RotoView uses accelerometer movements to scroll around the display, bringing smartphone view navigation to the next level," Feinstein added.
Innoventions is actively searching for companies interested in acquiring or licensing the RotoView patent portfolio. An inexpensive, off-the-shelf PC-based RotoView Evaluation System is available for engineers and product managers interested in the technology.
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