Microsoft files to patent virtual page turning

Microsoft has filed for a patent to cover something that Apple’s iBook application does very well–simulating the turning page of a book while reading. According to a TechCrunch article, Microsoft filed the patent application back in 2009 when it was looking at offering a tablet like the iPad called the Courier. It seems Microsoft had a similar thought for the Courier as Apple did with the iPad when it came to using the tablet for reading ebooks. An excerpt from the patent application states:

One or more pages are displayed on a touch display. A page-turning gesture directed to a displayed page is recognized. Responsive to such recognition, a virtual page turn is displayed on the touch display. The virtual page turn actively follows the page-turning gesture. The virtual page turn curls a lifted portion of the page to progressively reveal a back side of the page while progressively revealing a front side of a subsequent page. A lifted portion of the page is given an increased transparency that allows the back side of the page to be viewed through the front side of the page. A page-flipping gesture quickly flips two or more pages.

Now to be clear, Microsoft hasn’t been awarded a chance of getting patent yet and as the article alludes the chances of them patent for simulating the turning of a page virtually may be pretty slim. After all, one would think you can’t patent the animation of a physical action. If so, Disney and Hanna-Barbera are sunk.

Read more at TechCrunch.