Absurd.

FWIW, i have been told by patent lawyers that 7 of 10 US patents fal when you fight them.  And there are lot of ridiculois US patents.  I guess US patent office is set for to earn money on number of patents, not quality.

Plenty of devices and programs have been and are using timed keys.
Mobile phones (ex my Nokia 3110), radios, timers, MiniPLC etc (slow/fast +/- edit), piano keys...

I have made and sold systems that use a one key keyboard:
short (<0,5s) = advance/+
longer (0,5..3s) = back/-
hold (3s) = Enter menu/store value/activate

Here, now that sohuld now be official too, but i guess MS will be granted the patent... :/

/Morgan
--
Morgan Olsson, Kivik, Sweden

--
http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList
mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu