Apple is known for filing dozens of patents and today we’ve decided to talk about a recent one that seems quite interesting.Apple was granted yet another stylus design patent on Tuesday, this time coming in the form of a smart pen capable of detecting hand movements for translation into digital line drawings and text.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded Apple U.S. Patent No. 8,922,530 for a "Communicating stylus," describing a smart writing utensil that uses accelerometers, wireless communication hardware and onboard storage to transfer hand-written notes and drawings onto the display of a digital device.
This new obvious allows users to write on paper and have their records simultaneously separated to their iPhone or iPad. This competence not sound so revolutionary, and that’s since other companies have combined identical products, such as Livescribe’s “smartpen” that uses an infrared camera that located in a tip in sequence to constraint handwriting. However, this tool requires special paper and also comes with other drawbacks that are separated by Apple’s design.
Instead of infrared, Apple's pen uses an array of sensors to track movement and power up when it is picked up and when its nib is pressed into paper. The patent describes a pen which can be tracked at any angle, so it will accurately relay movement whether the user is writing on a table, wall or in the air. The technology also does away with the need for buying special paper, as with the Livescribe pens.
For example, if the stylus were being used on a whiteboard, perhaps in a large classroom setting, the operator may require realtime reproduction for displaying output on a larger digital display. It should be noted that Apple's invention can be fitted with multiple accelerometers to measure movement in three dimensions, thus producing an accurate digital copy of stylus motion at any angle, whether it be on a desk, wall or in the air.
Other instances may not call for instant playback, such as note taking, in which case the stylus may save movement data onboard or conduct burst transmissions to save energy. Apple points out that a user can transmit data to a computing device that remains in their pocket or bag, a seamless solution for saving digital backups of physical notes.
Alternative embodiments include multiple transmitter and receiver configurations for location triangulation, embedded magnetometers for gathering orientation data and various nib layouts for writing with ink, graphite and other materials. Also noted is a capacitive version that can be used with as a traditional iPad stylus.
Apple would have to break plenty of tradition if it were to eventually offer a stylus for its devices. Steve Jobs' was dead set against the use of a stylus on his iDevices, but Apple has been known to cave to competitive pressures even if it meant going against its departed co-founder's wishes (hence the larger screens on the Apple iPhone 5, Apple iPhone 6 and Apple iPhone 6 Plus. Samsung has enjoyed success with the S Pen for the Samsung Galaxy Note phablets and now there is talk of LG offering the tool for the LG G4. So don't be surprised if Apple eventually includes a stylus/smart pen with a future version of the iPhone or iPad.