Apple Files Patent for Touchscreen Tech With Haptics
As one of the world's leading tech companies, Apple has played a key role in the progression of touchscreen devices. In 2007, the Cupertino company released the first-generation iPhone. While groundbreaking for many reasons, the first-generation iPhone was the world's first touchscreen device featuring multi-touch technology. Since then, Apple has included multi-touch technology in nearly all of its touchscreen devices.
Apple's New Patent for Haptics Touchscreen Tech
It appears that Apple's next project may involve the development of touchscreen devices with haptics feedback. Earlier this month, Apple fined a patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for touchscreen tech that's capable of mimicking the physical characteristics of a mechanical keyboard.
Available to view at the USPTO's official website, the patent essentially describes a virtual touchscreen-controlled keyboard - like the keyboards used on nearly all smartphones and tablets - that responds with tactile feedback like a mechanical keyboard. Apple says the virtual keyboard will feature a layer of haptic electrodes that creates tactile feedback.
"A virtual keyboard device includes a surface, a static pattern electrostatic haptic electrode disposed on an area of the surface," wrote Apple in the patent.
