A patent application submitted by the Apple company in July of last year was published recently, and in it the American company describes a clip-on, attachable device iPod-s, which is able to perceive touches. According to the description provided by Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC),, the accessory would have the functionality of a trackpad or a touchscreen, recording touches and controlling the device to which it is attached either remotely or by connecting to a physical port. .
In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a body having a bend and a user interface area, a connector adapted to couple to a corresponding connector on an electronic device, and a plurality of conductive elements. The bend enables the user interface area to wrap around a portion of the electronic device when the connector is coupled to the corresponding connector on the electronic device. In another embodiment, a portable electronic system includes a removable user interface and an electronic computing device having a display surface, where the removable user interface is coupleable to the electronic computing device such that the removable user interface is disposed over at least a part of the display surface.
By connecting the clip-on to an iPod, with or without a wheel, the content displayed on the screen could shrink to be displayed below the accessory, or it could be displayed over the accessory to allow users to better interact with it. Basically, Apple describes a technology that would transform simple iPods into iPods capable of operating based on touches, this range of products being the only iDevices that cannot be controlled by touches.
