An ‘Apple Glove’ could have ‘ultrasonic force detection’

Apple has been granted another patent (number 11,397,486) for an “Apple Glove.” This one is dubbed “ultrasonic force detection” and is designed to allow the glove to be used with touch and non-touch devices.

About the patent

Many types of input devices are presently available for performing operations in a computing system, such as buttons or keys, mice, trackballs, joysticks, touch sensor panels, touch screens, and touch screens. The latter can allow a user to perform various functions by touching the touch sensor panel using a finger, stylus or other object at a location often dictated by a user interface (UI) being displayed by the display device.

In general, touch screens can recognize a touch and the position of the touch on the touch sensor panel, and the computing system can then interpret the touch in accordance with the display appearing at the time of the touch, and thereafter can perform one or more actions based on the touch. In the case of some touch sensing systems, a physical touch on the display is not needed to detect a touch. 

For example, in some capacitive-type touch sensing systems, fringing electrical fields used to detect touch can extend beyond the surface of the display, and objects approaching near the surface may be detected near the surface without actually touching the surface. In the patent data Apple says that, however, capacitive-type touch sensing systems can experience reduced performance due to conductive, electrically-floating objects (e.g., water droplets) in contact with the touch-sensitive surface. The tech giant’s solution is a wearable input device can be used to detect force applied by a body part to a surface that may or may not be touch sensitive. 

Summary of the patent

Here’s Apple’s (somewhat technical) abstract of the patent: “Ultrasonic force detection systems and methods can be based on propagation of ultrasonic waves in a user’s body (e.g., in a user’s digit). An amount of force can be determined using time-of-flight (TOF) techniques of one or more ultrasonic waves propagating in the user’s body. In some examples, an electronic device including a transducer can be coupled to a digit, and can transmit ultrasonic waves into the digit. 

“As the wave propagates through the thickness of the digit, a reflection of at least a portion of the transmitted wave can occur due to the bone and/or due to reaching the opposite side of the digit (e.g., finger pad). One or more reflections can be measured to determine the amount of force.”