Future Apple Pencil may have totally different options supplied by swappable sleeves as evidenced by a brand new patent submitting (quantity US 20240061520 A1) for a “Handheld Gadget With Sleeves.” And the equipment may work with the Imaginative and prescient Professional by way of an iPad.
Concerning the patent submitting
Within the patent submitting, Apple notes digital gadgets may be managed with equipment akin to laptop mice and different enter equipment. Some gadgets, akin to pill computer systems, have touch-sensitive shows. An enter gadget akin to a pc stylus could also be used to work together with a touch-sensitive show.
For instance, a consumer of a stylus could draw on the show. In digital actuality techniques, force-feedback gloves can be utilized to manage digital objects. Mobile telephones could have contact display screen shows and vibrators which can be used to create haptic suggestions in response to the touch enter.
Apple says that gadgets akin to these “might not be handy for a consumer, could also be cumbersome or uncomfortable, or could present insufficient suggestions.” The tech big’s concept features a head-mounted gadget (the Imaginative and prescient Professional) and a handheld enter gadget (an Apple Pencil)for controlling the digital gadget. The top-mounted gadget or different gadget could have a show configured to show digital content material that’s overlaid onto real-world content material.
The Pencil Stylus could embody a stylus and a detachable sleeve on the stylus. The input-output capabilities of the hand held enter gadget could also be shared between the stylus and the detachable sleeve. The stylus could embody contact sensor circuitry, a force-sensitive tip, and a movement sensor. The sleeve could embody conductors for translating contact enter on the sleeve to the contact sensor circuitry on the stylus, a deformable member for translating forces on the sleeve to the force-sensitive tip of the stylus, and visible markers that may be detected by an exterior digicam and used with movement sensor information from the stylus to trace the hand held enter gadget.
What’s extra, the detachable sleeve could embody haptic output gadgets and a battery and could also be connected to an merchandise with out electronics. In fact, an Apple Pencil with swappable sleeves must present enter to a Imaginative and prescient Professional utilizing an iPad as an intermediate gadget.
Abstract of the patent submitting
Right here’s Apple’s summary of the patent submitting: “A system could embody an digital gadget akin to a head-mounted gadget and a handheld enter gadget for controlling the digital gadget. The hand held enter gadget could embody a stylus and a detachable sleeve on the stylus. The input-output capabilities of the hand held enter gadget could also be shared between the stylus and the detachable sleeve.
“The stylus could embody contact sensor circuitry, a force-sensitive tip, and a movement sensor. The sleeve could embody conductors for translating contact enter on the sleeve to the contact sensor circuitry on the stylus, a deformable member for translating forces on the sleeve to the force-sensitive tip of the stylus, and visible markers that may be detected by an exterior digicam and used with movement sensor information from the stylus to trace the hand held enter gadget. The detachable sleeve could embody haptic output gadgets and a battery and could also be connected to an merchandise with out electronics.
