iPhone Touchscreen Could Be Pressure Sensitive According To Patent Filing

Earlier today, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published an Apple patent which describes a device that has built-in pressure sensors which will work together in tandem with touchscreen input so that an enhanced user interface navigation experience will happen. It has been described as Apple’s “Gesture and touch input detection through force sensing” patent application, where the nitty gritty boils down to this – a particular device (a future iPhone, we presume) would make use of the standard multitouch display that has a minimum of three force sensors that are located underneath the screen’s surface. Using these pressure-sensitive components around the device’s corners as well as other known areas would allow them to be in a special position of functioning as a secondary mode of input.

This particular patent filing also notes that existing forms of touch control might be accurate, but they are far from being sufficient when it comes to detecting select multitouch gestures. Take for instance, should someone invoke a gesture from the edge of a device’s screen, in the form of a left or right swipe, the input might not be logged as originally intended. Placing these sensors alongside the bezel might also work in the user’s favor, but it remains to be seen whether such a patent will be implemented in the real deal or not eventually.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Apple, Cellphones
Tags: iPhone, Patent