What is the USPTO number for MICROSOFT SURFACE ?
January 12, 2011 9:49 PM   Subscribe

Second-generation MICROSOFT SURFACE features LCD screens which also contain integrated infrared sensors. OSLCD, "Optical-Sensor LCD", or "Pixel-Sense", apparently developed some time ago by Samsung. Can someone help me find the US Patent for these LCD screens?

I am curious if the subpixels on the screens are RGBI RGBI RGBI, or if there are instead two thin layers, one atop the other. Where should I look to find the actual patent info? Or, for people having further discussions about this exciting new tech breakthrough?
posted by shipbreaker to Technology (3 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
It looks like Microsoft Research called it ThinSight, which made the blog rounds in 2007. This paper (PDF) has some details. It sounds like the original prototype at least used two layers, with the infrared hardware added to an existing LCD screen.

I couldn't find anything on patents, but I would be kind of shocked if there wasn't one since these corporate research groups patent everything. Maybe still pending?
posted by smackfu at 6:36 AM on January 13, 2011


BIG BIG companies like apple and microsoft tell the patent office not to show to documentation online till they want them to . So you might not find the patents online because microsoft doesnt want the patent office showing the application yet.
posted by majortom1981 at 9:38 AM on January 13, 2011


Response by poster: doublehappy is right, I should do my own research

doublehappy is wrong, that's a patent for KINECT

smackfu is slightly wrong, the SURFACE 2.0 tech is different and new.

majortom1981 may be right.

Perhaps metafilter in-the-green ain't quite the right place to be asking about this. But that is how I wanted to spend my Question-Of-The-Week.

By the way, digging around in the Bill Buxton patents I found a link to this:

http://www.billbuxton.com/multitouchOverview.html

which is extremely helpful and is very interesting to me. So, thanks everyone!!
posted by shipbreaker at 8:31 PM on January 13, 2011


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