Apple Inc. is looking to patent a design for a handheld device (or iPod) that displays its output on a small front-side display screen but receives input through a larger touch- and force-sensitive back-side interface, AppleInsider has discovered.
In a January 5th, 2007 filing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the iPod maker notes that increasingly popular hand-held electronics devices like the iPod are typically equipped with a liquid crystal display (LCD), which is often too small to make effective use of finger based touch input.
"Although a touch-screen interface could be embedded in or overlaid on the display, the use of even a single finger for input may occlude a significant portion of the display or cover more than a single operational control element," Apple wrote in the filing. "While this problem could be mitigated by limiting the touch area to a portion of the display screen (e.g., the display edges where horizontal or vertical motion could emulate slider controls), a single finger could still cover a substantial amount of the useful display area."