iPhone is expected to provide real-time handwriting recognition technology to support Chinese character input

Apple seems to be actively developing a handwriting recognition system, which means that once this system is completed, users will be able to input text directly on the iPhone or iPad screen by handwriting in the future, instead of relying on the use of a virtual keyboard, and it may also natively support the input of Chinese characters.

Speaking of handwriting recognition, many people may know that Apple has tried similar products before, but the progress was not smooth. As early as the 1990s, Apple had launched a powerful handheld computer: Newton. One of the key highlights of the device was the handwriting recognition function, but this function was not ideal, which was one of the reasons why Newton performed poorly in the PDA market.

Although some issues with Newton's handwriting recognition were resolved in subsequent system software versions, Jobs still decided to kill the Newton device. In fact, Newton is already a very old device. Nowadays, technology has made great progress. A large number of devices support text input through handwriting touch screens, including Windows and Android devices. Apple seems to have come out of the failure of Newton and recently applied for a patent for managing "real-time handwriting recognition technology."

This patent was applied for on February 15 this year and was recently published by the US Patent and Trademark Office. Since there is a patent, it shows that Apple has done some research on the technology involved in the patent. According to the patent description, this is very much like "a technology that provides handwriting input function on a user device", and it also mentions that users "can use fingers, or a stylus like Apple Pencil" to input handwriting, supporting real-time conversion.

At present, most users input text on mobile devices through the virtual keyboard on the screen, which is basically the habit of everyone, especially smartphone users. But it is not ideal in some cases, such as when using a smartphone or tablet with a large screen. Many users said that it is awkward to input text with a 12.9-inch iPad Pro, and the efficiency of typing with both hands is extremely low without laying it flat on the table. Therefore, in this case, it is obviously more convenient to write text or sentences directly on the large screen with your fingers, without having to adjust the angle and posture of the device.

Therefore, if real-time handwriting recognition technology can appear on iOS devices, it will be very practical in situations where virtual keyboard input is inconvenient, such as when you need to take quick notes or get a sudden inspiration. And perhaps more friendly to Chinese people, Apple's patent description states that this handwriting recognition technology is not only applicable to English, Spanish or similar languages, but also explicitly mentions support for Chinese handwriting recognition input.

Apple's patent description for iPhone handwriting recognition is very clear: "For Chinese characters at the multi-character or sentence level, real-time handwriting recognition can also be provided, including real-time handwriting recognition of stroke order and stroke direction."

As we all know, when Chinese characters are input by handwriting, they are usually written one stroke at a time, which is obviously different from writing letters in English. After all, a word only occupies one character, not one letter, and sometimes a few strokes make up a word, while a sentence is usually composed of hundreds of strokes. The technology for real-time recognition is quite complicated. However, Apple's patent description indicates that it can also recognize strokes and strokes in real time, even mixed handwriting input of Chinese characters and English letters.

In any case, a patent is still a patent and does not mean it will be realized immediately. If real-time handwriting recognition technology can be added to the iOS system in the future, it will indeed help users of large-screen iOS devices to input Chinese faster in some cases.