Though tablets and smartphones have touch screen facility, but the screens of most of the notebooks and PC monitors are not made specifically for touch interfaces. But, that problem might go away in near future. There’s a new report that some researchers of Microsoft are engaged in developing a new prototype stylus which would work on any screen surface, including that of laptops, monitors, tablets, and phones.

According to MIT Technology Review, some researchers at Microsoft’s Silicon Valley office have developed a technology that puts a small camera (or sensor) inside a Stylus. That camera can read the pixels when placed on a display. A wireless connection on the stylus then transmits the information to the computer or mobile phone just like the way a wireless mouse works. In other words, by using the camera to capture images from the screen, the stylus could actually count the number of pixels being tracked to determine its position.

But obviously creating a stylus that can work on any device would be both tough and boon for Microsoft. The biggest obstacle to the project is developing the sensor needed for the stylus. The sensor need to have a 512 x 512 resolution in order to work. By contrast, the image sensor for a wireless mouse works with a 30 x 30 resolution.

The development team has already built a prototype of the stylus. But, it only works with displays installed with special hardware. To have a universal stylus prototype we have to wait a bit more.

Source : Technology Review
Thanks To : Slashgear