Apple patents multitouch display that lets users push virtual buttons

PanARMENIAN.Net - After the release of 3D Touch force-sensing input on iPhone 6s, Apple continues its push for the perfect input technology, most recently winning a patent that uses inline proximity sensors to detect non-contact hover gestures, Apple Insider reports.

Granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday, Apple's patent for "Proximity and multi-touch sensor detection and demodulation" details methods by which photodiodes, or other proximity sensing hardware, work in tandem with traditional multitouch displays to essentially shift the user interaction area beyond the screen. In some ways the invention is similar in scope to 3D Touch, but measures input in an opposite direction along the z-axis relative to an iPhone's screen.

Non-contact user interfaces have long been studied as a means of user input, though recent work in the area has concentrated on long-range implementations that rely on cameras and other specialized optical systems. The 3D motion capture technology Apple acquired with its 2013 purchase of PrimeSense, an Israeli firm that worked on first generation Xbox Kinect hardware, is a good example of a modern large scale UI deployment.

With the patent, Apple proposes a more intimate solution optimized for use in iPhone, MacBook and other portable devices. Like current iOS devices, the invention includes in part a capacitive sensing element disposed throughout an LCD display with multiple piggybacked proximity sensors. This hybrid solution provides a more complete "image" of touch inputs by delivering hover gesture detection.