Apple Patent Application For Button-less Mouse Design

A patent application by Apple, released today, indicates that the company is continuing to explore new ways for users to command their Macs.

Patent Application number 20070080945 details a mouse having a button-less pan and scroll switch. Apple details that instead of using a traditional scroll wheel (or scroll ball in the case of the Mighty Mouse), the mouse would sense different hand positions and act in different ways according to how it is being held.

In one embodiment, the first mode of operation of the mouse may be a cursor control mode and the first operations on the display screen may be cursor movements on the display screen. Additionally, the second mode of operation of the mouse may be a pan and/or scroll control mode and the second operations on the display screen may be scrolling and/or panning movements on the display screen.

Patent applications can provide interesting insight into what concepts or technologies Apple is working on in their labs, however readers are reminded that only a subset of these applications will make it into final shipping products.