Apple files another patent – For a Joystick on its Home Button

Apple Inc. had recently acquired a patent for a wireless action camera. And now it has a new patent application bringing in joy for the gamers on smartphones. The U.S. Patent And Trademark Office published an Apple patent application revealing its interest to revolutionize the ‘Home button’. The new home button will transform into a small joystick protruding out of the surface of the phone. The patent publication by the USPTO describes it with the name of “multi-function input device”. The patent also reads the possibility of adding additional sensors to the mechanism with a force sensor, a contact sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, an accelerometer, a gyroscope and much more.

The functionality of the button is said to function as a ‘pop-up’ translating the regular home button into an elevated thumb joystick, when pressure is applied to it. And on a simple push again, the button would fixate into its original position. The image below shows two positions of the button. The left being the original position and the right being the button transformed into a joystick.The patent filing also reads Apple acknowledging that gamers are reluctant to play games with all sincere efforts due to lack of the physical controls. Also, the consoles showcased on the screens till now sacked the display space for the games.
However considering the size of smartphones getting slimmer and slimmer, such a feature will be very hard to integrate. Also the durability of the design is already put to test from time to time – check the Apple bendgate! Plus the home button of the Apple iPhones already houses one very exclusive feature of the Touch ID fingerprint sensor. So it would be nothing less than a strong challenge to equip the button with all these functionalities. But on the other hand, Apple has been quite successful in integrating creative and seemingly impossible features in its devices. While one cannot be sure if the concept will actually surface on one of Apple’s devices, it is good to know that it is working hard for enhancing the gaming experience.