Using your iPhone in a whole new way with laser diodes, a patent suggests.
A future iPhone may have a new mechanic so you can use it in a completely different way. That’s according to a new patent, spotted by Patently Apple, and it will introduce side-mounted touch sensors so that you can, for instance, scroll through a page without touching the display. That would be quite cool.
And, unlike a tap on a screen, swiping up and down adds smeary fingerprints, so that might be alleviated with this new mechanic. Plus, of course, you will be able to see the whole screen without your finger in the way. And it’s likely Apple will be investing resources in finding irresistible new ways to use the iPhone with the sensors it will build in.
It’s part of a patent with the helpful title “Waveguide-based interferometric multi-point/distributed force and touch sensors” which talks about multiple sensors and lasers as ways of detecting touch on input surfaces such as the side of a device (like an iPhone).
But it could also be used to introduce a Force Touch capability to an Apple Pencil, so that how hard you press on a display with the Pencil changes the way the screen reacts—to darken a color, thicken a brush stroke or whatever.
Apple Pencil only works with the iPad, of course, and it’s not clear if this patent will lead to compatibility with the iPhone as well.
Here’s a taster of the patent: “A laser light source, such as a VCSEL, inserts light into a waveguide positioned adjacent to the sensing locations, and an input at a sensing location alters the inserted light in the waveguide allowing for determination of the input’s touch or force at the sensing location.”
Oh, there’s a lot more like that. There’s talk of reflectors, deformable surfaces, optical waveguides and more.
This may mean that you won’t even need to touch the side of the phone for the interaction to occur, merely pass your finger near the laser diodes. That in turn may mean there will be ways to get the phone to react even when wearing thick gloves, for instance.
Apple isn’t the first to try to use the sides of the phone as an extra way to interact with your phone. HTC devised edges that made the handset react differently when you squeezed them, though it never really took off. Sony has used side gestures to reveal new menus and add to the way you use the phone.
Apple’s purpose is not stated, though it will surely be to make using the iPhone smoother than ever. With Apple, it’s usually the case that even if you can’t imagine what the purpose could possibly be, as soon as it’s revealed, it makes so much sense as to seem nothing but inevitable.
As ever with patents, the date of this feature being released, if it ever is, is not known.
