Recently a patent regarding the iPod Nano’s touchscreen interface has surfaced. Patent 20100328224 -”Playback Control using a Touch Interface”- suggests that Apple is looking at alternative ways of controlling the compact PMP even with the display hidden from sight in your bag or pocket. Even with the screen turned off, the Nano could recognize taps and gestures as controls.

“An electronic device, however, may not have dedicated playback control buttons or interfaces. In addition, a user may wish to control media playback operations without needing to first look at a display to select a specific displayed option. To allow a user to control media playback using a touch sensing device without requiring the selection of displayed options, the electronic device can include a mode or configuration for which the touch sensing device can sense touch events, but not display any content on a display. For example, an electronic device with a touch screen can have a mode in which no content is displayed on the touch screen (e.g., the touch screen remains dark), but the touch screen is operative to detect touch events of the user.” Apple patent 20100328224

The Nano or another touchscreen device could respond to generic inputs instead of demanding that users aim for where the onscreen controls would normally be. As for example, 1 tap could toggle between play/pause while a double tap could skip forward. What other devices do you think this feature would be useful on? Do you think that there would be too many accidental touches to the screen for this to be a viable option?

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[Source: Latest patents]

Authors: V_Geek

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