New Apple Patent Envisions a Pen That Would Write on Paper and Transfer Notes to an iPhone/iPad

[RaduTyrsina]

We've seen dozens of patents pertaining Apple's engineers and these keep us hoping that we'll see new iPhones or iPads with super features. According to PatentlyApple, Apple was granted yet another stylus design patent which describes a smart pen capable of detecting hand movements for translation into digital line drawings and text.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded Apple U.S. Patent No. 8,922,530 for a "Communicating stylus," describing a smart writing utensil that uses accelerometers, wireless communication hardware and onboard storage to transfer hand-written notes and drawings onto the display of a digital device. Here are some more details:

The stylus may be used for entering data into the computing device without actually touching the device nor requiring any specialized paper. Rather, the stylus is able to enter data into the computing device, corresponding to images or text drawn draw on any surface. Additionally, the stylus can enter the data from a distance, such as from across the room, to the computing device.

This allows a user in one embodiment to keep the computing device stored, for example with a cellular phone, in his pocket and still be able to use the stylus to enter text or drawings into the device. This makes it easy, for example, in a classroom setting for a user to take handwritten notes and simultaneously create a digital version of those notes. Additionally, in another embodiment, the stylus allows for the user to write on a whiteboard mounted on a wall and simultaneously display what he has written on a computing device.

Unfortunately, most of the patents like this one don't appear in real products, and if we take into account the huge efforts needed for a multitouch interface, there's a big chance this will remain just a dream for now.

Source: Patently Apple