Following up on last week's discovery of an Apple patent entitled "Force Imaging Input Device and System," the guys at AppleInsider have recently discovered documents pertaining to a similarly focused technology entitled Force and Location Sensitive Display."

The documents, submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office on May 9th of 2006, begin by describing current touchscreens and touchpads as limited by relatively simple input mechanisms, mainly the location of the finger or stylus on the surface.

The described method would include the strength of the user's input as an input factor. Such a device would be capable of providing both force and location detection and would include "a first transparent substrate (having first and second sets of conductive traces oriented in a first direction), a second transparent substrate (having a third set of conductive traces oriented in a second direction) and a plurality of deformable members (e.g., rubber beads) arranged between the first and second transparent substrates."

The application then moves on to explain that the first and second set of conductive traces would provide a capacitance signal representing where the user touches the display element. The second set of conductive traces, in combination with the conductive traces of the second transparent element, would provide a capacitance signal representing the amount of force applied to the display element.

"When used with a display element (e.g., a LCD or CRT), an input-output unit capable of both location sensing and force sensing operations is provided," the company wrote.

This technology, once put into use, could be applied to devices like a second generation iPod touch, iPhone or PDA-style device. The patent is credited to Apple engineer Steve Hotelling.

Let us know what you think over in the comments or forums.