14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is one of the biggest supporters of styluses, as the entire Surface product lineup is built around it, so it’s not necessarily a surprise that the company is looking into ways to further improve these devices.
One of Microsoft’s most recent ideas regarding the future of the Surface Pen is building a device which not only that is flexible, but also doubles as a charging dock for a wireless earpiece.
And thanks to its flexibility, the Surface Pen can simply be worn on your ear, just like a typical earpiece.
Wearing the stylus over the ear
A patent describing a technology called “Flexible carpenter’s stylus with dockable earpiece” was discovered recently by Microsoft watcher WalkingCat. The patent explains that the battery in the stylus can be used to power a stand-alone earpiece, but at the same time, the two can be used together thanks to the pen flexibility that allows for a headset form factor.
“The carpenter's stylus can be used as an input device for a touch screen display. Additionally, the flexible portion has an integrated dock that can hold a dockable wireless earpiece. The earpiece dock securely stores the wireless earpiece and provides power to charge a battery of the wireless earpiece,” the patent reads.
“The flexible portion of the carpenter's stylus can be bent into a headset shape, allowing the whole peripheral to be worn over a user's ear. When the carpenter's stylus is worn as a headset, the earpiece remains fully functional. Thus, the user can wear the carpenter's stylus on their ear, while also using the peripheral as a hands-free headset. Alternately, the earpiece can be removed from the carpenter's stylus and used independently of the stylus body as the stylus body is used as a touch input device.”
Needless to say, this is just a patent for the time being, so it should by no means be considered a confirmation that this tech is heading to mass production.