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Apple filed patent to protect six iPad accessories including a stylus and its holder

By Cookie Monster - on 7 Jun 2015, 5:00pm

Apple filed patent to protect six iPad accessories including a stylus and its holder

 Image source: Patently Apple

Since the passing of Steve Jobs in 2011, Apple has been adopting product strategies that Steve famously hated such as bigger iPhones, and a wider and confusing product portfolio (e.g. Apple Watch). Now, it seems that Apple is getting serious about developing a stylus for the iPad.

According to Patently Apple, the Cupertino-based company updated a patent application relating to magnetic attachments. The new application seeks to extend protection rights for six possible future iPad accessories which can be magnetically attached to the tablet. One of those a accessories is the stylus and its holder, which are explicitly highlighted in the patent claims in-part:

Patent Claim #4: "The accessory device as recited in claim 3 wherein the mechanical information tool is a stylus."

Patent Claim #5: "The accessory device as recited in claim 4, wherein in response to the magnetic attachment of the stylus to the host device function is a stylus input recognition mode."

Patent Claim #6: "The accessory device as recited in claim 5, wherein the host device responds to movement of the stylus in the stylus input recognition mode."

As you can seen from the main image at the top, Apple specifically highlights #804 and #806 as the stylus holder and stylus respectively. It is written in the patent application that the iPad could recognize the attachment of the stylus holder, which in turn "instructs" the touch screen display to detect the movement of the stylus. 

The latest patent application ties in with an earlier report by AppleInsider that Apple's 12.9-inch iPad Pro will come with a stylus which is developed in-house. The other five accessories mentioned include a magnetically attached keyboard, camera, card swipe reader, antenna system and data storage device.

From the looks of it, Apple seems to have plans to expand the functionality of the iPad beyond just a media consumption and productivity device. This could also explain why Apple CEO Tim Cook remains optimistic about the future of the iPad despite the declining sales of the tablets. The mentioned accessories have the potential to accelerate the adoption of iPads in the enterprise sector.

Source: Patently Apple

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