Pinpoint Precision Stylus how does it work?

Thread Starter

ajrenzetti

Joined Dec 20, 2010
40
I'm thinking of creating my own version of the stylus made by the joy factory. Here's a link to the stylus: http://www.thejoyfactory.com/product/bcu201

The description says the stylus generates an electromagnetic field around the tip, which fools the capacitive touch screen into thinking a finger of larger diameter is touching it, which allows for a smaller tip than usual.

Does anyone know how its doing this? Im guessing there's a winding further up the stylus thats connected to a small signal generator that generates the same frequency as a human finger. Im not completely sure if this is accurate though, since the em field seems like it might be coming from the tip itself and not the winding.

any info would be very helpful, thanks
 

joeyd999

Joined Jun 6, 2011
5,237
Even more amazing, in my book, is the Samsung S-Pen available on the Note tablets. It works nearly an inch off the surface, and is powered inductively by the tablet.

Here's a rundown of how it works.
 

Thread Starter

ajrenzetti

Joined Dec 20, 2010
40
its crazy, i know. ive never heard of a stylus that can work on any capacitive touchscreens with such a small tip. i was researching how it might work and stumbled upon this document: http://www.google.com/patents/US20100053113

not quite sure if this is how it works, but i hope its a little more simple than that.

also, when i checked the frequency of my fingertip, the meter read around 60hz
 

Thread Starter

ajrenzetti

Joined Dec 20, 2010
40
Even more amazing, in my book, is the Samsung S-Pen available on the Note tablets. It works nearly an inch off the surface, and is powered inductively by the tablet.

Here's a rundown of how it works.
this is how most active stylus's work. the stylus im referring to, however, does not require software to use, and can be used on any capacitive touch screen.
 

Alec_t

Joined Sep 17, 2013
14,280
Perhaps I'm missing something but I don't see the point (pardon the pun ;)). If the tablet is fooled into thinking a fat finger is on the screen then it will behave the same whether you use this magic stylus or a fat finger. What do you gain?
 

Thread Starter

ajrenzetti

Joined Dec 20, 2010
40
Perhaps I'm missing something but I don't see the point (pardon the pun ;)). If the tablet is fooled into thinking a fat finger is on the screen then it will behave the same whether you use this magic stylus or a fat finger. What do you gain?
you gain the ability to do things that require more precision, such as sketching. Have you ever tried to sketch a picture on a capacitive touch screen? even with a passive stylus it is incredibly difficult to do so. with this, you have a much smaller tip and have more accuracy with sketching.
 

Thread Starter

ajrenzetti

Joined Dec 20, 2010
40
so does anyone have any idea how this thing is working? i want to at least get general details on how it might work before i go on experimenting with different prototypes.
 
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