'Sensus' case adds even more touch surfaces to iPhone

JC Fletcher — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 16:00:00 EST

Devices to add more inputs to the iPhone are nothing new; there are a variety of keyboard peripherals, arcade sticks and game controllers to enable additional interaction with apps. But a peripheral that adds additional touch surfaces... that's new.

A company called Canopy has developed this unlikely device, in the form of a case called "Sensus" (the one above is a transparent prototype). It's designed to enable touch controls on the back of the phone - like the Vita's rear touchpad - as well as the sides.

"The sensors can handle up to ten independent responses," marketing coordinator Ian Spinelli tells me at GDC Online. These inputs add to the screen's six, enabling play for "multiplayer or mutant." The idea isn't so much about getting more fingers on the phone, but rather taking fingers off the screen, to avoid obscuring the game.

Spinelli offered examples of possible interactions, including swiping the edge of the case to strafe and tapping to pull a trigger.

"Right now we're doing a private SDK." In the future, developers will be able to download the SDK to add more touchiness for free, though Canopy has yet to determine if the actual developer hardware (a test unit of the Sensus) will also be free.

Update: Canopy informed us that dev kits and the SDK will be free to developers.

'Sensus' case adds even more touch surfaces to iPhone originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Oct 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple patent hints at iPhone/iPod Touch gaming

Scott Jon Siegel — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:30:00 EST

Filed under: Portable, Business, Mobile

A patent application filed by Apple in September 2006 has recently been published, revealing multi-touch technology aimed specifically at handling multitasking in gaming environments.

If it sounds wordy and confusing, it's because it's a patent. The technology described allows users to access a secondary application on a device without needing a second screen or overlay. If the user is tapping the screen, they're using the one interface, but if they're pressing down, they're accessing the other.

This would normally be a fairly unremarkable patent, except that the wording describes its usage as being specifically for "a game or gaming application." Our educated guess is that this patent is talking about games on the iPhone and iPod Touch, especially considering the patent references the secondary application as a "media-player," and makes at least one reference to the gaming application possibly being a "music-based game." Of course, it could also be something entirely different, or an out-of-date idea, given that the patent application is over a year old. Still, at least we know that Apple's thinking about it.

[via Engadget]

Apple patent hints at iPhone/iPod Touch gaming originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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