Microsoft’s prototype stylus can work on any screen

Microsoft’s prototype stylus can work on any screen

Microsoft is proposing a stylus which forgoes trying to work with touch panels and instead uses the LCD display output itself to track movement. Using a camera that is mounted in the stylus at a slight angle, it captures images of the LCD display at a resolution of 512×512 pixels. Depending on which pixels are in and out of focus, software is able to determine the angle that the stylus is being held at. It also employs that same camera for motion tracking: By using the grid of pixels that make up the display itself, the stylus is able to to count the pixels as they move past the camera’s field of view in order to precisely track movement in any direction.