From introducing the mouse to a mass market to getting rid of its buttons by order of Steve Jobs, Apple has always been at the forefront when it comes to driving mouse technology forward.
A new Apple patent published today promises to keep that tradition by describing a future Magic Mouse with integrated Force Touch sensors.
Coming soon, we hope, to a Mac near you!
Photo: Apple/USPTO
Apple’s pressure-sensing Force Touch tech first made its debut on Apple Watch, before spreading to the Magic Trackpad 2 and the iPhone 6s.
With Apple gradually rolling out the technology across its various platforms, it’s no surprise that the company would have the mouse in its sights next. As we saw with the Magic Trackpad 2, Apple has already started incorporating aspects of Force Touch into OS X, but hopefully featuring the UI element on all input devices would result in Apple more thoroughly baking the feature into its desktop OS — rather than making it the bolted-on extra it currently feels.
As today’s patent notes, Apple’s invention covers:
“A force sensing input device [with] at least one force sensor and at least one top portion movably connected to at least one bottom portion. When a force is applied to the top portion, the top portion exerts pressure on the force sensor. The force sensor obtains force data based upon the pressure. The amount of force applied to the top portion, within a range of force amounts, is determined from at least the force data. In this way, a broader range of inputs may be receivable from the force sensing input device as compared to input devices that merely detect whether or not a button or similar element has been pushed.”
The patent was first filed at the start of 2013, and is credited to Input Devices mechanical engineer James Wright and product design manager Keith Hendren.
How would you like to see Force Touch used in future versions of OS X? Leave your comments below.
Source: USPTO
Via: Patently Apple
