touch sensor: Apple may add more features to its Pencil – Times of India

Apple may introduce a touch-sensitive control to the future Apple Pencil to recognise more gestures, as the tech giant has been granted a patent by USPTO for “Touch-based input for stylus“, as per a report by AppleInsider.
Apple is considering adding a touch sensor to the stylus which will help the stylus receive tactile input at the part which is the natural grip location of the user.
The abstract of the patent reads: “Touch-based input devices, such as a stylus, can receive tactile input from a user. The tactile input functions can be performed by a touch sensor, such as a capacitive sensing device. A touch sensor can be integrated into a stylus in a low profile form.”
The thought behind having more input options with the stylus is borne out of the fact that while holding the stylus, the user is limited in his/her input options to a touchscreen device like the iPad. Which is why the patent has floated the idea of adding a touch sensor to the Apple Pencil is a low profile form.
“Accordingly, additional input capabilities that are integrated into the input device would provide the user with expanded input capabilities without the need to simultaneously operate additional input devices.”, adds the patent.
The patent adds that such a stylus will be able to differentiate between the tactile inputs given by the user and ignore the inputs that are registered while the user is just holding the stylus at his/her natural grip location.
Earlier patents for the Apple Pencil (December 2019) were about integrating haptic feedback into the Pencil for a more realistic feel of drawing on paper and about the Pencil using a camera to record the physical characteristics of a surface.
The goal, in short, looks to make the stylus do more than what it is capable of right now. And the tech giant could very well add more control to the Apple Pencil of the coming generations. It is just not clear when it would do that.