Apple Inc. has filed for a patent describing a computer mouse having a touch-sensitive shell capable of accepting multi-touch finger gestures, similar to the surface of the company’s iPhone handset.
“The invention relates to a configurable mouse with an extended sensing surface, which provides the mouse a customizable, programmable or adaptable way of generating inputs,” Apple wrote in the filing.
A “position detection mechanism” would detect the movement of the mouse along a surface, while “a multipoint touch detection mechanism” would simultaneously gather feedback from one or more objects that are contacting or in close proximity to a substantially large portion of the grippable mouse shell. “The mouse additionally includes a controller for processing signals generated by the position detection mechanism and multipoint touch detection mechanism,” Apple explained.
The controller would include methods for obtaining images of a hand as it interacts with any portion of an arbitrarily shaped mouse housing. It would also obtain touch patterns for each image, extract control information from the resulting touch patterns, and control some aspect of a host device based on the control information.
Link.
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