Seriously. What’s happening with the re-birth of the stylus. This tool was once standard with early smartphones – such as the Palm Treo – but has since been resurrected recently with the S Pen that’s found in Samsung’s Galaxy Note. In what could be a move to protect themselves against future patent infringement cases, Apple has filed an application with the USTPO for an “optical stylus.”
According to the filing the optical stylus could be used in a wide variety of Apple products, such as the iPhone or iPad, and is pressure sensitive. The description reads that when “the optical stylus is in contact with a surface based on signals received by a processor from a pressure sensor of the optical stylus.” In addition, similar to Samsung’s S Pen, Apple’s “optical stylus” pending patent also has the ability of “capturing an image while the optical stylus is in contact with the surface.”
Can’t see Samsung sitting still on this one very long, their lawyers are already drawing up court orders. Or, we’ll see some patent trolls pounce on this one. This changes everything, again.
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