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Now you can answer calls without touching your smartphone.
Apple continues to develop technologies that make the fabric touchable. The company's patent, titled "Touch Fabric Device," explains how to use the fabric's built-in controls, and why it can be quite attractive. Traditional electronic devices can include a variety of input devices, including buttons, keys, mice, trackballs, joysticks, and touchpads or screens, according to Apple.
However, many traditional input devices and sensors are built with rigid materials and / or rigid substrates, which may limit their form factors.
The patent application illustrations show an example of a user touching an Apple Watch strap. Perhaps this is Apple's main interest in this idea. However, like all patents covering all possible applications of the company's offering, the list of devices that can use textile controls includes more than just the Apple Watch.
In particular, the described devices and techniques can be applied to various textile materials that can be embedded in consumer electronics, clothing, accessories, bags, upholstery materials, home textiles and other items that may include a textile component or element, as the company states.
Thus, if the technology becomes part of a real product, it will probably appear in a new line of straps for the Apple Watch. But it is possible that the case for the MacBook Pro will be able to display the current battery level of the laptop and the device's power off button. Other applications of the technology may include a control panel in the seat cover on an Apple Car or in the armrest of a sofa to control an Apple TV.
Apple continues to develop technologies that make the fabric touchable. The company's patent, titled "Touch Fabric Device," explains how to use the fabric's built-in controls, and why it can be quite attractive. Traditional electronic devices can include a variety of input devices, including buttons, keys, mice, trackballs, joysticks, and touchpads or screens, according to Apple.
However, many traditional input devices and sensors are built with rigid materials and / or rigid substrates, which may limit their form factors.
The patent application illustrations show an example of a user touching an Apple Watch strap. Perhaps this is Apple's main interest in this idea. However, like all patents covering all possible applications of the company's offering, the list of devices that can use textile controls includes more than just the Apple Watch.
In particular, the described devices and techniques can be applied to various textile materials that can be embedded in consumer electronics, clothing, accessories, bags, upholstery materials, home textiles and other items that may include a textile component or element, as the company states.
Thus, if the technology becomes part of a real product, it will probably appear in a new line of straps for the Apple Watch. But it is possible that the case for the MacBook Pro will be able to display the current battery level of the laptop and the device's power off button. Other applications of the technology may include a control panel in the seat cover on an Apple Car or in the armrest of a sofa to control an Apple TV.
