Take all these patent applications with a grain of salt. ** It’s a common tactic to claim WAY more than you can realistically get,** and sometimes the application is intentionally obscure so as not to tip-off the competition. Other times, it’s more of a legal placeholder than anything else until details are worked out. The claims will no doubt be whittled down through the review process.
This one is directed shifters for hydraulic brakes. Shimano earlier filed one for regular rim brakes. All except two claims rejected over a Sram application.
Things I find amusing about both applications: classic round bars FTW.
Jest aside, I could really use a wireless unit. One of my bikes doesn’t have internal routing, so Di2 is currently out (I really don’t want to mess with drilling a hole in titanium). I’d pay to equip that bike with wireless Di2. Yes, I know there’s Sram, but in the last few years I’ve had 1 Red right shifter (2nd gen) go kaput and 1 Red rear derailleur snap at the knuckle. Also, i find the whole press both buttons to shift front thing to be really counterintuitive