Saturday, December 14, 2024
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Future Apple Pencils could work with Macs (even if they don’t have touchscreens)

Future Apple Pencils could work with Macs even if they don’t have touchscreens. Apple has been granted a patent (number 10,613,666) for “content creation using electronic input device on non-electronic surfaces.”

In the patent data, Apple notes that styli have become popular input devices for touch-sensitive devices. In particular, use of an active stylus capable of generating stylus stimulation signals that can be sensed by the touch-sensitive device can improve the precision of stylus input. 

However, such styli require a touch-sensitive surface in order to generate content. Apple wants the Apple Pencil to work with non-touch surfaces. That would suggest that the stylus could someday work with Mac laptops and desktops

(That said, the patent images do show mock-ups of laptops with a clearly designated touch screen. Perhaps Apple is investigating various scenarios for using the Apple Pencil with a Mac.

Here’s the summary of the invention: “Content can be using an input device without a touch-sensitive surface. In some examples, touch-down and lift-off on a non-touch-sensitive surface can be monitored by a force sensor of the input device. The position and/or motion of the input device can be tracked according to various methods including one or more of a motion and orientation sensor, a camera, or an electromagnetic- or sound-based triangulation scheme. 

“The force data and position/motion data can be processed to generate content, including textual character input and three-dimensional objects. In some examples, the content can be generated based on tracking position and/or motion of the input device without requiring contact with a surface.”

Dennis Sellers
the authorDennis Sellers
Dennis Sellers is the editor/publisher of Apple World Today. He’s been an “Apple journalist” since 1995 (starting with the first big Apple news site, MacCentral). He loves to read, run, play sports, and watch movies.