Apple Inc. (NASDQ:AAPL) has been issued 35 patents by the U.S Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday, including patent No. 8,441,790, “electronic device housing as acoustic input device,”.
According to Apple Insider, Patent no. 8,441,790 features a technology that enables device to detect and respond to a sound produced by user input, such as taps, scratches or any other noise resulting from an impact with the housing. Device sensors transmit signal to a microprocessor that corresponds with the interpretation of the input.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) Patent Description
From Patent description: “The interpretation maybe based on the type of input, nature of the input, the location of the contact on the housing, the amplitude of input, as well as other various other factors. For example, a scratch may be interpreted differently from a tap, and so forth. Additionally, a tap on the housing near an output or input device may actuate the device whereas a tap on another surface of the housing may be interpreted as a keystroke.”
Multiple taps near a camera can turn the device on, whereas another tap can click a picture. Each stroke or tap is identified in accordance with a sound vocabulary employed in the device.
In another example, dragging a finger upwards may raise the device volume, while a swipe across the surface may be interpreted as drag and drop event. Similarly, finger movement in a certain pattern may lock or unlock the device.
Apple Insider writes that the company’s acoustic input patent was first filed for in 2009 and credits Aleksandar Pance, Nicholas Vincent King, Duncan Kerr and Brett Bilbrey as its inventors.
