iPhone, iPad and iPod touch called many magical devices, and last but not least thanks to the revolutionary technology multitouch, that forever transformed the process of interaction with our gadgets. New Apple patent shows that this revolution continues.
Recently at the website of the Office Patent and Trademark U.S. patent application has been published, in which Apple describes a new technology for touch screens that could otherwise determine how strongly the user clicks on the screen.
The technology is called “variable total internal reflection” (VTIR) and with the available capacitive sensors able to detect the force applied to the screen. VTIR uses infrared rays to the light reflection from the back side of the touch screen. If there is no interference, the infrared beam is totally reflected from the surface of the screen similarly, as the surface of the water may act as a mirror, when viewed at a right angle. When there is interference on the part of the finger sensors detect this interference and recognize the touch screen.
At present, to determine the strength of contact Apple uses an accelerometer, which is embedded in the gadget. The most striking example of this technology – the application GarageBand for iOS, where the notes played depends on how much you push down sharply on the display. The new technology will also extend the functionality of multi-touch, which is currently only limited opportunities to touch and hold an item interface.
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