With wet hands, Apple has been granted a patent for controlling iPhone screens underwater.

CTOnews.com, February 24 (Xinhua)-- according to the patent list published by the United States Trademark and Patent Office (USPTO), Apple has obtained a patent for a technology related to the normal operation of iPhone underwater. The iPhone has an optical touch sensor that is insensitive to water, which not only supports users' wet hand operation, but also can operate iPhone underwater.

CTOnews.com learned from Apple's patent that Apple will use a two-dimensional optical touch sensor, including the Total Internal reflection Touch Sensor (total internal reflection touch sensor), in the iPhone. Touch input can still be collected when the iPhone is immersed in water or in moist scenarios.

The pixel array in the screen can display the image normally, and the overlay layer can overlap with the pixel array. When the object touches the surface of the display cover layer, the light source can illuminate an external object such as the user's finger. This produces scattered light that can be detected by the light sensor array.

Apple illustrates this on the patent map. Figure 2 below shows the Focus Device; figure 8 in the iPhone screen showing the optical touch sensor layout based on total internal reflection in a cross section.

Figure 17 is a top view of an illustrative nanostructure for a hypersurface grating to couple light into the screen cover layer at a desired angle, and figure 18 is a top view of the nanostructure for a hypersurface grating to redirect the propagation path within the screen cover layer.