Apple Patent Haptic Screens

A patent application doesn’t necessarily mean an actual product is on the way but it is a good way to catch a glimpse at what may come to be. And this latest trio of patent applications from Apple certainly provides plenty of speculation and excitement.

The most notable is an application for a “multi-touch display screen with localized tactile feedback,” which Apple seems to be at least considering as a possibility for the iPhone (or iPod touch). Apple’s application covers a screen that uses a grid of piezoelectric actuators that can be activated at will to provide vibrational feedback when you touch the screen. Apple even goes so far as to use a virtual click wheel on an iPhone as an example.

Other patent applications include a fairly self-explanatory RFID reader embedded in a touch screen, and a fingerprint identification system that could not only be used for security, but to identify individual fingers as an input method — for instance, letting you use your index finger for play/stop and your middle finger to fast forward.

Whatever the case may be it is clear that Apple is still hard at work pushing and evolving their iPhone/touch technology and the future of that tech is sounding pretty good.

-Steve

[engadget]