A new Apple patent surfaced at the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Aug. 20, which allows the manipulation on a touchscreen, similar to an iPad.
U.S. Patent 8,514,221, also known as "Working with 3D objects," deals with detecting three-dimensional (3-D) gestures on a display.
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"The device has touch sensors that can sense positions and movements of objects contacting a surface of the display, and proximity sensors that can sense positions and movements of objects in a [3D] space in the vicinity of the display surface (including movements in proximity to, but not actually touching, the display surface)," described the patent. "The touch sensors can be sensitive to haptic and/or tactile contact with a user, and map touch positions and finger movements to predefined touch inputs and 2D gesture inputs, respectively."
The patent, however, might not be in its final phase. According to Apple, modifications may be made such as combining, deleting, or modifying an element.
Nicholas King and Benjamin Todd are credited as the inventors of the patent, which was filed on July 9, 2012.
The publication of the patent comes as a Bloomberg report noted Apple is preparing to launch a thinner 9.7-inch iPad. The report added the iPad 5 could launch "in the last three months of the year."
As Latinos Post reported, sources have told The Wall Street Journal that Apple will use the same touch-panel technology seen on the iPad mini for the full-size iPad.
In regards to a release date, the Greek website Techmaniacs also reported that the next-generation tablets, the iPad 5 and iPad mini 2, might debut on Oct. 25.
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