News about the rumoured Apple’s tablet – pen support?

18th November, 2009 by Adina
Tags: Apple, Device, Pen Support

A recent published US patent filing suggests the Apple’s tablet could have the option for a pen input. The patent describes the process of getting ink data from a device that is characterized as “pen-aware computer system”. It shows a kind of device with slight interface cues from the Apple Newton, but has a different design, as well as a different engine. The technology should be an improvement of the old writing systems of the PDA. The document describes an “ink manager” that receives “ink information” from a pen-based input device and transforms it into “strokes” that are passed to a system capable of handwriting recognition. The system described uses “ink Phrases” to recognize handwriting. The new approach is to collect multiple strokes into phrases and then consider them all at once, instead of capturing and recognizing individual pen strokes. This allows better recognition of writing by considering the strokes into the context of other data.

A proximity system could be involved, to sense when the pen is lifted from the surface and moves to the next word. The system would support every application on the platform and make easier for the applications to intercept and recognize pen strokes.

As it happens with many patents, there is no guarantee that Apple intends to create a tablet with stylus support. This patent’s description could very well apply to an upgraded version of Inkwell for Mac OS X, as Apple claimed since 2007 to prefer pen-free and multi-touch input. The filing of this patent in July this year is putting, however, a question mark on Apple’s intention of delivering the famous tablet with pen input and also shows that the company is still interested in pen computing.

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