Apple Files Patent for Multi-Touch Gloves for Electronic Devices
The US Patent & Trademark Office released an application from Apple last week that was filed in June of 2007 describing their research into a set of gloves that will allow the wearer to operate multi-touch electronic devices.
Described as a cold weather glove, the invention consists of two layers: a thin inner layer, and a heavier outer layer. The glove is intended to be used with touch devices such as the iPhone and iPod Touch, so as to prevent the user from having to remove their gloves in cold weather environments in order to use their device. Interestingly the patent is written to cover a much broader range of devices apart from those mentioned above.
Apple has not developed a final model, but this patent at least show’s Apple’s recognition of the difficulty in operating touch screen devices in cold weather. If this technology progresses further, however, we may soon see the glove emerging as an input device to be used in conjunction with whatever futuristic computer systems that may emerge. If that is the case, then the futuristic computer systems seen in films like Minority Report may not be that far off, if Apple has anything to say about it.
[ via Source ]
