According to the list recently announced by the United States Trademark and Patent Office (USPTO), Apple has obtained a technical patent for the “hover” function of the iPad Pro and said that it will be extended to the iPhone and Mac platforms in the future.
Attached hereto is the sketch provided in Apple’s patent, which considers touchscreen #200 to include a mobile phone (iPhone), personal computer (touchscreen Mac), tablet computing device, wearable device (Apple Watch) or any Mobile or non-mobile computing device including touch screens.
Touch Screen #200 integrates Touch Screen #220 which can display images and detect objects from or close to the touch screen surface (such as fingers at #203 and stylus like Apple Pencil at #205).
Apple’s official introduction to the hovering function of Apple Pencil is as follows:
With Apple Pencil hover, you can quickly preview and switch between different tools and controls in supported apps. Before you draw a stroke on the canvas with the drawing tool, you can preview it. You can also sketch, write and adjust with greater precision.
Hold the Apple Pencil up to 12 mm above the iPad display. Here are some examples of what you can do:
Explore the Tool Palette: Hold your Apple Pencil over the Tools Palette, then move it over tools like Pencil, Brush, Eraser, and Color. Tap the tool, color, and option you want to use.
Preview before drawing: Hold the Apple Pencil over the drawing area. You can even tilt your Apple Pencil and change the azimuth (outside angle) to achieve different effects when using some drawing tools. For example, in the Notes app, you can preview the highlighter color, line thickness, and opacity. (Preview tilt and azimuth requires iPadOS 16.4 or later.)
Erase with precision: Select the Eraser tool, then select options such as Pixel Eraser Size or Eraser. Hold the Apple Pencil over the drawing area to preview the effect of the eraser.