The Universal Stylus Initiative (USI)

Have you heard of the Universal Stylus Initiative?

Many people don't use a stylus pen with their tablets, but I've been a long-time user of stylus pens. Some of my first Windows tablet PCs used Wacom stylus pens. Today, you can get the iPad Pro in 2 different sizes (10.5" and 12.9") and both are compatible with the Apple Pencil. Samsung has a host of Android and Windows tablets that support the S Pen. The Microsoft Surface Pro and Surface Book work with the Surface Pen. HP, Dell, Lenovo, and other PC manufacturers offer a variety of Windows tablets that are compatible with active digitizers (stylus pens).

While some stylus pens require a battery, others use a magnetic technology that requires no power.

The Universal Stylus Initiative (USI) is working on the advancement of an open active stylus standard. The other day, UDI announced that Google LLC, 3M Touch Systems, Inc., Lattice Semiconductor, Maxeye Smart Technologies Co., Ltd., MyScript and Tactual Labs Co. have all joined the world’s largest, open, active stylus solution, member-driven industry association.

The USI 1.0 Specification also enables new usages for active styluses, such as multiple styluses operating simultaneously on a single device. The USI specification can be implemented on a wide range of touch-enabled devices, including phones, tablets, computing and entertainment platforms.

Launched in 2015, Universal Stylus Initiative (USI) is an international not-for-profit technology trade association whose mission is to define industry-wide standards for interoperable communication between an active stylus and touch-enabled devices such as phones, tablets, and computing and entertainment platforms. The USI specification provides for a stylus capable of communicating with different touch sensors and touch controller integrated circuits, so that users can employ the same stylus across numerous touch-enabled devices, as long as each device’s touch controller is compliant with the USI specification.