Wired
On August 11, 2022 local time, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a patent filed by Apple that adds two new gestures to the Apple Pencil.
Is it possible to change the thickness of the pen by sliding?
The Apple Pencil patent filed by Apple states that it introduces two gestures, ‘slide’ and ‘roll’, on the device.
In Figure 4 below, in addition to the touch sensor installed in Apple Pencil (2nd generation), it is depicted that a second touch sensor is installed on the end side.
In addition, Figure 5 shows that the sensor will be mounted further at the end than that.
The touch operation in Figure 6 has already been realized with the Apple Pencil (2nd generation), but it seems that they are planning to add the slide operation in Figure 7 to this.
Patently Apple speculates that the slide gesture will allow you to select the thickness and width of the pen. You might also consider assigning things like copy and paste.
Rolling operation is expected to correspond to expansion and contraction
The rolling operation is supported by the extreme end touch sensor shown in Figure 5.
Patently Apple expects that this touch sensor will be able to enlarge or reduce the screen or image by tracing the surface in a round shape as shown in Figure 8.
Apple Pencil (3rd generation), which was widely rumored to appear last year
There were many rumors in 2021 that Apple was developing an Apple Pencil (3rd generation), but since this year there have been no such posts.
If the Apple Pencil (3rd generation) is announced this year, it may be the M2-equipped iPad Pro and iPad (10th generation) announcement event rumored for October 2022.
Source: USPTO via Patently Apple
Photo: Apple
(FT729)
Source: iPhone Mania