The Apple Pencil Professional was unveiled in Might 2024 with customized haptic response, a ‘squeeze’ perform, and a built-in gyroscope. It’s at present the flagship stylus accessible to clients who wish to use a writing accent with their iPad. Apple’s stylus at present wants a contact delicate floor for enter, however this won’t be a requirement sooner or later. The corporate might ultimately provide an Apple Pencil with a trackball tip and optical sensors that will permit customers to create content material on any floor, with out a touchscreen. The US Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) has granted the tech large a patent for an Apple Pencil that makes use of a number of applied sciences to supply the identical performance.
Apple Pencil Patent Hints at Know-how That Permits Writing With out a Touchscreen
In keeping with a patent document, first spotted by Patently Apple, the Cupertino firm might need been engaged on a brand new Apple Pencil that may draw on any floor. The stylus would use a trackball tip and two optical sensors that will allow the rumoured Apple Pencil to create content material on a number of surfaces, with out requiring a touchscreen.
The patent reveals that the optical sensors that Apple is probably going to make use of might both be an optical circulate sensor and/or a laser speckle circulate sensor. The patent design exhibits that the optical sensors can be positioned on high of the trackball tip. To map the motion of the floor, it would detect spatial-temporal picture brightness variation, in keeping with the doc.
Optical circulate sensors might seize the picture of the setting to detect gentle mirrored from the floor on which a person is drawing, the patent doc cited for example. It additional added that the laser speckle circulate sensors can probably detect speckle patterns emitting from coherent illumination to estimate movement of the enter gadget or a tool that doesn’t have a contact delicate display screen.
The patent doc additionally revealed that the optical sensors can be utilized for producing content material or drawing on a makeshift enter gadget, comparable to a tabletop or a wall. Moreover, Apple can utilise the optical sensors to detect traits of the floor together with place, orientation, and movement of the enter gadget.
If Apple decides to proceed with improvement of its patented stylus design, it might probably be an improve from the present Apple Pencil Pro. For context, the US-based tech large had launched the Apple Pencil Professional in 2024 with customized haptic suggestions, squeeze perform, a gyroscope, and help for Discover My know-how.