02 Jul 09 Apple’s New Patents for Haptic Screen, RFID Reader and Fingerprint Identification

What will the next generation iPhone bring? Well it’s a little too early to speculate on that but Apple is certainly working on it. A few new patents have emerged and they depict a few new features like haptic screens, RFID readers and fingerprint ID. The picture clearly suggests that such technology would definitely apply to the iPhone or the iPod touch.

The screen is using a grid of piezoelectronic actuators that will offer a tactile vibration response every time you press the screen. Do we need a haptic touchscreen? Yes we do:

However, one of a touchscreen’s biggest advantages (i.e., the ability to utilize the same physical space for different functions) is also one of a touchscreen’s biggest disadvantages. When the user is unable to view the display (because the user is occupied with other tasks), the user can only feel the smooth hard surface of the touchscreen, regardless of the shape, size and location of the virtual buttons and/or other display elements. This makes it difficult for users to find icons, hyperlinks, textboxes or other user-selectable input elements that are being displayed, if any are even being displayed, without looking at the display.

As for fingerprint identification or RFID reader, these are not exactly must-have features but they would be also useful in a future iPhone.

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Tags: Apple, fingerprint, haptic, ID, iPhone, patent, rfid readers