Future iPads could come with a ‘smart bezel’ to make them feel bigger

[RaduTyrsina]

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Apple is a company known to file thousands of patents, but only a few of them turn out to become real products or features. Luke Dormehl from the CultOfMac has discovered a new patent filed with the U.S. Patents & Trademark Office which describes a method for incorporating virtual buttons into the iPad bezel, for carrying out tasks like scrolling.

A new patent published today reveals how a future generation iPad could feature a bezel able to detect gesture and touch inputs through Force Sensing. Not only would the technique described allow gestures — such as swipes — to continue off the normal surface of the screen, but it would also allow specific virtual buttons for tasks such as scrolling to be incorporated into the iPad’s bezel.

The patent is officially entitled as “Gesture and Touch Input Detection Through Force Sensing†and lists Nima Parivar as the inventor, a Senior Software Engineer at Apple. Thus, there’s a real chance that we could see a future generation iPad could with a “smart bezel†able to detect gesture and touch inputs through Force Sensing. It would allow specific virtual buttons for tasks such as scrolling to be incorporated into the iPad’s bezel. CultOfMac describes how the new technology would work:

These virtual buttons could then be used to detect a force signal corresponding to an object exert force on it, meaning that the iPad would know how hard you were pressing it. It is, of course, worth noting that recent iPad models have decreased the bezel size from earlier models. Should this patent find its way into future generation iPads, it would mean either reestablishing the thick frame around the iPad touchscreen, or modifying the patent method to work with the more slim-line bezel seen on the iPad Air and iPad mini.

So, the new smart sensor technology would detect whether the screen was being touched for action, or simple being held which would allow Apple to continue its trend of shrinking the iPad size. Could we see it as soon as this year?

Source: CultOfMac