Apple patents Tablet “proximity detector”

John Brownlee ()

Apple patents Tablet “proximity detector”A lot of the frenzied last minute speculation leading up to this morning’s Apple Tablet announcement is either going to look eerily prescient or downright silly in just a few hours time, but here’s one feature we can probably expect to see later today: Apple has just gotten itself a patent for a Tablet proximity director.

The patent doesn’t describe anything revolutionary, but it seems like a feature par for the course for a company as concerned with the cohesive and seamless user experience as Apple. Essentially, the proximity detector tracks objects that are near, but don’t touch, the Tablet’s display. For example, move your fingers in a typing position near the screen and a virtual keyboard would automatically pop up.

Seems like a lock to me — Jobs isn’t the type to be satisfied with an onscreen button that calls up a virtual keyboard — but six short hours should tell.

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About the author

John BrownleeJohn Brownlee is news editor here at Cult of Mac, and has also written about a lot of things for a lot of different places, including Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Lifehacker, AMC, Geek and the Consumerist. He lives in Cambridge with his charming inamorata and a tiny budgerigar punningly christened after Nabokov's most famous pervert. You can follow him here on Twitter.

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Posted in Apple Tablet, News |

  • http://paulmwatson.com/ Paul M. Watson

    The iPhone does fine without “an onscreen button that calls up a virtual keyboard.” It appears when you need it (focus a text field etc.) Not sure why they’d change that for the tablet?

  • Simon Landon

    “The iPhone does fine without “an onscreen button that calls up a virtual keyboard.” It appears when you need it (focus a text field etc.) Not sure why they’d change that for the tablet?”

    Of course you’re not sure why they’d change it. No one does yet. Unless you happen to know the specs and features of the tablet, we can’t say whether this would be a useful addition or not.

  • Matthew S.

    Although it’s true we don’t know yet, I highly doubt they would change it.