By : TEHRAN TIMES
Source : http://www.tehrantimes.com
Category : Patent News
Apple has applied for patents on an advanced stylus that will sense movement and provide feedback to the user when it passes specific points on screen.
The patents, which were announced by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, were filed a few months after the original iPad launch in 2010 and show that Apple is considering potentially adding an iPen to it's current range of accessories.
An Apple stylus would be a change of direction for the company, whose former CEO, the late Steve Jobs, condemned the accessory in 2007, saying: “Who wants a stylus? You have to get them and put them away, you lose them, yuck! Nobody wants a stylus.”
The California-based tech giant’s patents suggest that the stylus would be able to sense the amount of pressure the user is applying, as well as the angle the user is holding the stylus at, and as a result could change what their touch screen devices show.
For example, an artist using the device could apply more pressure to the stylus to cause a device, such as an iPad, to show a thicker line.
Similarly the stylus would also be able to provide the user with feedback, such as a vibration, “when the device is over, near or passes the boundary of a window or application.”
According to Apple’s patent this could be used to “emulate the sensation of moving a pen across a smooth surface while a lower frequency signal may emulate the feel of moving a pen across a rougher surface.”
The same patent also shows that Apple would incorporate a speaker into the device that would play different noises to the user, based on their actions.
According to Apple this could be used to “simulate the sound of moving a pen or a paintbrush across a piece of paper or a canvas, with the speaker emitting different sounds for emulating a pen or a paintbrush.”
Interestingly the patent also references that the stylus would be able to work in mid-air, without actually coming into contact with a touch-screen device, through the use of inbuilt accelerometers and gyroscopes.
Source : http://www.tehrantimes.com/component/content/article/98312
