New Tech Shout

Apple Pencil patent

It turns out that Apple wants to put everything on the upcoming Apple Pencil, and the kitchen sink. Recently the new stylus was patented and judging by all the details that we have, the device sounds like a beast. A camera, bio-metric sensor, microphone and gesture control are all talked about.

It all begins with Apple filing a patent application with the US Patent and Trademark Organization. The patent talks about a "touch-based input for stylus" and explains how to place a touch sensor on a stylus with tactile input at the user's natural grip position. A touch sensor on the stylus may read gestures and help in drawing and sketching with extra sensitivity. The patent states that the touch sensor can be used to detect a tap, double tap, triple tap or other gesture of taping.

It may also detect position of the grip and the finger. The stylus could end up using a capacitive sensor to prevent unintentional taps and read a "rolling gesture" as well. It means moving the finger around the stylus ' circumference, or the stylus ' housing's rolling motion. All possible components and features are listed in the document including a microphone, Mute button, biometric sensor, camera, force track-pad and more.

We have learned as far back as 2015 about the location of a camera in the tip of the stylus. Haptic feedback was also mentioned in a paper from that year, while a patent on the use of ultrasound for the accuracy of the device was presented in 2018. One might think the Apple Pencil may compliment the iPhone even better with so many features and we might even see a bigger iPhone as a rival to the Galaxy Note.