US 11,989,358 B2
Touch-based input for stylus
Blake R. Marshall, San Jose, CA (US); Reza Nasiri Mahalati, Belmont, CA (US); Wing Kong Low, Sunnyvale, CA (US); Izhar Bentov, Palo Alto, CA (US); Ashwin Kumar Asoka Kumar Shenoi, Santa Clara, CA (US); Henry N. Tsao, Mountain View, CA (US); Supratik Datta, Sunnyvale, CA (US); Wesley W. Zuber, Mountain View, CA (US); Nandita Venugopal, San Francisco, CA (US); and Karan S. Jain, Cupertino, CA (US)
Assigned to Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed by Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed on Apr. 26, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/729,908.
Application 17/729,908 is a continuation of application No. 16/029,489, filed on Jul. 6, 2018, granted, now 11,340,716.
Prior Publication US 2022/0253162 A1, Aug. 11, 2022
Int. Cl. G06F 3/0354 (2013.01); G06F 3/038 (2013.01); G06F 3/044 (2006.01)
CPC G06F 3/03545 (2013.01) [G06F 3/0383 (2013.01); G06F 3/044 (2013.01); G06F 2203/04102 (2013.01); G06F 2203/04105 (2013.01); G06F 2203/04107 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A stylus comprising:
a housing defining a grip region of the stylus;
a capacitive touch sensor comprising multiple sensing elements distributed circumferentially and longitudinally along an inner surface of the housing at the grip region; and
a controller configured to operate the stylus in:
a grip mode, when the controller detects at least a movement of the stylus, in which the controller, in response to at least the movement of the stylus, sets a first baseline and the multiple sensing elements are configured to detect when one of multiple fingers is not applied to the grip region based on a first deviation from the first baseline;
a liftoff mode, when the controller determines with the capacitive touch sensor that a user is holding the grip region and in response to the first deviation from the first baseline, in which the controller sets a second baseline and the multiple sensing elements can detect when the one of the multiple fingers is returned to the grip region based on a second deviation from the second baseline, wherein the controller is further configured to return the stylus from the liftoff mode to the grip mode in response to at least the movement of the stylus;
a touchdown mode, when the controller determines with the capacitive touch sensor that the user is holding the grip region and in response to the second deviation from the second baseline, in which the controller transmits an output to another device in response to a determination that a duration of time in which a sequence is detected is within a duration threshold, the sequence comprising the user holding the grip region with the multiple fingers, the first deviation from the first baseline, and the second deviation from the second baseline; and
an idle mode, when the controller determines with the capacitive touch sensor that the stylus is not gripped by the user.