Apple looks into self-mixing 2D/2D user input detection, scanning laser system — Apple World Today

Current put devices include buttons, keyboards, touch screens, and the like which often involve the user making physical contact with the input device, such as with a finger, stylus, or other user input object. Apple says that such input devices are often integrated components of the electronic devices, and so add weight, size, and power consumption to the electronic devices. 

The tech giant adds that, furthermore,, such input devices typically only allow for detecting a press, or motion of a touch, in two dimensions on the device. They typically don’t allow for detecting distance or gestures of the finger, stylus, or other input object toward or away from the device. Apple wants said devices to not only offer gesture control (something for which it has filed multiple patent applications), but even to tell how far away a user is from a device and respond accordingly.