Microsoft has filed for a patent that allows a device to understand where your hands are located and then augment the display based on this information. The image, shown above, shows a tablet with skin sensors placed within the bezel of the device that would help the tablet know where your hands are located to display a touch based keyboard or other elements.
It’s not hard to imagine how Microsoft could use this technology with the Surface. As the image below shows, if the tablet knows where your hands are located, it could display a split-thumb keyboard where your thumbs are positioned, instead of a default position at the bottom of the screen.
The patent application is titled “Grip-Based Device Adaptations” and was originally filed on 5/20/2013 with a publication date of 11/14/2013.
If Microsoft could successfully implement this type of technology into the Surface, it could help to offer yet another defining feature not offered by competitors made by Apple, Google or Amazon. Of course, that also means that they can find a use for the feature that significantly improves the user experience too or else the implementation would likely not be used by consumers.
We will be curious to see what Microsoft does with this type of technology as it makes use of an area on a tablet that typically adds no value, the bezel. If they can find a way to make use of this dead space, it could help to build-upon Surface’s unique set of attributes.
Source: Freepatentsonline.com | Via @h0x0d