Apple patents touch-screen technology

by admin July 21, 2006 at 1:41 pm

New iPod or Mac Tablet coming soon?

Apple has filed a patent for a touch-screen technology that could be used in a media player or tablet PC.

The patent application, entitled ‘Proximity detector in a handheld device’, was discovered by news and rumour site AppleInsider.

An abstract for the claim describes the technology as a method that includes “sensing an object spaced away and in close proximity to the electronic device” .

According to the description, the technology could be used in many consumer electronics devices.

“The portable computing device may, for example, be a portable computer, tablet PC, PDA, media player (e.g. music player, video player, game player), digital camera, GPS module and the like,” the application states.

Apple provides images showing how the technology could be used to accompany the application, and mentions the iPod and iTunes as example uses.

Full story: vnunet.com