Just when you thought you had heard everything about accelerometers... here's a movie buff's take on the subject and something else to chew on...iPhone responds to motion using a built-in accelerometer. When you rotate iPhone from portrait to landscape, the accelerometer detects the movement and changes the display accordingly.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/iphone-3gs/high-technology.html
The technology that allows this function is called an accelerometer...sometimes referred to as a Mercury switch, however an accelerometer is different, since it can have many other applications.
If you haven't heard the term Mercury switch before, you have clearly not watched enough movies. Generally from the war or spy genre when the bomber [generally an unsympathetic character] blows himself up as he accidentally trips the mercury switch... –detecting movement (preventing the hero [sympathetic character] picking up the device [orientation] and throwing it [acceleration] in the lake or fountain - which is almost always conveniently placed nearby. At it’s basic... the forerunner for this technology is a bit like a spirit level which is used to indicate if your hooks are in the right position before you hang your picture frames on the wall, however instead of only indicating level- the mercury hits the end of the device and completes the circuit thereby tripping the switch... BOOM!
An accelerator device also indicates orientation and acceleration but is more sensitive and safer (because it doesn’t contain mercury or explode....but if it is contained within an incendiary device I guess that would be the least of your worries)...
Now we have determined the difference between the mercury switch and an accelerometer it should be noted that Apple wasn’t the first to come up with this technology in fact it was reported that iPhone screen could infringe Sony Ericsson patent...
at least according to a report filed by Patrick Altoft on February 7, 2007 in which he claims a patent filed in 2004 and issued to Sony Ericsson on 1st August 2006 appears to discuss, in some detail, how a mobile phone could alter the screen from portrait to landscape depending on the handset orientation.
Still don't know what an accelerator is? (TEXAS Instruments Guide gives a clear definition)
http://www2.usfirst.org/2005comp/Manuals/Acceler1.pdf
Other more noble applications include Medical applications...
according to Perring S, Summers A, Jones EL, Bowen FJ, Hart K. they have developed A novel accelerometer tilt switch device for switch actuation in the patient with profound disability. 2003:84:921-3. [article] 1
References
http://www.mad4mobilephones.com/iphone-screen-could-infringe-sony-ericsson-patent/452/
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/labratstv/3543-how-the-apple-iphone-works-video.htm
http://www.labwithleo.com/
It must be true... Aha! conspiracy... just FYI the link no longer works... Me thinks Altoft sleep with the fishes...
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