Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Apple investigating multi-haptic feedback for multi-touch devices

Future multi-touch devices like the iPhone and iPad could offer a number of physical feedback responses to a user's touch, resulting in a more interactive and efficient input method through haptic feedback.

The details of a haptic feedback system are detailed in a new patent application filed by Apple, and revealed this week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Entitled "Multi Touch with Multi Haptics," it describes a system that would detect multi-touch gestures, and provide "an appropriate multi-haptic response."

"Research has shown that providing the multi-touch surface with the ability to provide physical (haptic) feedback makes the multi-touch experience even more efficient and realistic to the user," the application reads. "For example, physical keyboards provide a physical indication (a bump, for example) indicative of the home key. This physical sensation can not be provided by a conventional multi-touch system thereby forcing the user to visually locate the home key thereby making keyboard use less efficient and fatiguing."

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