Apple Patent app describes "force detection" technology for iPhone touchscreens

A newly published Apple Patent application seems to describe how touchscreens in use in iPhones interpret touches from users into commands.

The Patent app is entitled, Force and Location Sensitive Display.

I have to be frank with you. Those of you who hold degrees in mechanical engineering or physics should really be able to understand this poorly explained Abstract. But @least to me, seems important enough to blog about it even before my first cup of morning coffee:

A unit to provide both force and location detection includes a first transparent substrate (having first and second sets of conductive traces oriented in a first direction), a second transparent substrate (having a third set of conductive traces oriented in a second direction) and a plurality of deformable members (e.g., rubber beads) arranged between the first and second transparent substrates.

The first set of conductive traces, in combination with the conductive traces of the second transparent element, provide a capacitance signal representing where a user touches the display element. The second set of conductive traces, in combination with the conductive traces of the second transparent element, provide a capacitance signal representing the amount of force applied to the display element. When used with a display element (e.g., a LCD or CRT), an input-output unit capable of both location sensing and force sensing operations is provided.

Uh-huh.