14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is one of the companies that brought the stylus back in our lives with the Surface lineup of devices, and naturally, it’s now looking into ways to improve the Surface Pen with new features.
A recent patent could provide us with an early glimpse into how the company wants to overhaul its own pen, as it describes a “stylus with touch-sensitive retention clip.”
Basically, what Microsoft is thinking of is a Surface Pen that instead of a traditional retention clip could feature a touch-sensitive version supporting certain gestures. For example, it could be used to scroll on a website, which means that users could do this easily without even touching the screen.
More expensive Surface Pen
Microsoft could tweak the new retention clip to serve many other purposes, though it goes without saying that adding a touch-sensitive part would make the Surface Pen overall more expensive.
The company explains in the description section of the patent how the new Surface Pen could work like thanks to this new feature:
“ A stylus includes an elongate gripping member terminating at a writing tip, a communication interface housed within the elongate gripping member, a touch-sensitive retention clip extending from the elongate gripping member, and a controller housed within the elongate gripping member. The communication interface is configured to wirelessly communicate with a computing device. The controller is configured to detect a position or movement of a finger along a length of the touch-sensitive retention clip, and send to the computing device, via the communication interface, information based on the position or movement of the finger along the length of the touch-sensitive retention clip. ”
As usual, a patent is by no means confirmation that a certain technology is ready to enter production, but on the other hand, it provides us with an early look at how a company wants to improve certain features. A new Surface Pen could see daylight later this year together with a refresh of the Surface lineup.