US-based tech giant Apple received a US patent on December 24, 2013, which explains a method for correctly determining user interactions with touchscreens for touch and hover events. This will enable users to bring fingers close to a screen, without exactly touching it.
The company also received another patent which helps in monitoring heart rate for smartphones. Touchscreen hovering might not be a new technology, as it was first introduced by Samsung with its Galaxy Note 2 smartphone in 2012. Moreover, the technology was implemented in all of the company’s gadgets released since then.
The ability to hover a finger or stylus over a touchscreen helps in opening up new possibilities. The new possibilities might be previewing a link’s source or an image without selecting it directly. Samsung might have been the first one to introduce such technology, but it seems like Apple wants to make it better.
The patent explains many methods for increasing the accuracy of hover events and can compensate for users with shaky fingers. There were also patent applications from Apple many years ago which described hover touch tech. The integrated heart sensor is a simple way for a future iPhone to read the EKG data.
Photo Credits: Gigaom
