RIM Applies for More New Patents

RIM, makers of the BlackBerry series of handhelds, has applied for a bunch of patents in keyboard design, security and device to device communication.

The first idea is a series of triangular keyboard layout designs. The designs follow the SureType concept of putting two letters on one key, but these go ahead and put upto 3 keys in one, two of which belong to one row, while the third one belonging to the previous or next row. It took me a while to get used to SureType, but these looks like it would take a LOT longer. I think the most effective multi-key button layout I've used is probably the Sony Ericsson M600i.

The second patent is a security method that should prevent theft or loss. It works similar to the recently announced NTT DoCoMo phone concept. It comes with a holster that you can wear. When the phone gets removed from the holster, you have a very short time to unlock the phone (probably a four digit pin code). If this isn't done in that period, the phone locks up and starts an alarm to alert the owner or anyone else nearby.

Finally, the third is a really unique idea of having two devices communicate with each other via vibrations, coming from the thought that current radio frequency based communications standards such as Bluetooth and WiFi are not secure enough and are interceptible. Each device has a vibration unit and a vibration sensor each to send and receive 'data' respectively. Based on the strength of the vibration, different signals can be transmitted. Sounds nice, but these might need to be placed together on the same, hard surface for it to work. Also, I wonder how it'll work in cars or buses.

These are interesting ideas, but don't expect any of these ideas to materialize very soon in new BlackBerry devices, though.