PocketTouch lets users control their phones through fabric

Don’t you just hate it when you’re in the middle of something important and your phone rings – especially when you forget to put it on silent? Taking the phone out of your pocket just makes everybody stare at you as you fumble to silence the call and turn the phone off. Well, all that can be a problem of the past if Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University’s latest creation turn into a commercial product.

The researchers from Microsoft Research and CMU have come up with a way to let users easily control their phones through the fabric of their clothes. Called the PocketTouch, this handy little sensor has the ability to detect multitouch gestures even through heavy fleece or a jacket pocket. This means that users won’t have to fumble with their phones to turn them off anymore – just a subtle gesture on the device inside their pockets can shut them up and forward the caller to voicemail.

Talk about convenient, and a whole lot less embarrassing in the middle of a meeting or a presentation. The PocketTouch can also be used to control your music as well replying messages directly from the pocket itself. Check out the demonstration video to see a prototype PocketTouch in action: