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Apple Patent Filing Points To a Keyboard With No Keys (digitaltrends.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the force-touch dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Digital Trends: Apple's patent, titled "Configurable Force-Sensitive Input Structure for Electronic Devices," was filed in September 2015 and was recently made available to the public on April 7th. It states that this all-in-one input interface consists of a metal contact layer, and a sense layer combined with a drive layer mounted underneath. According to the patent, the sense and drive layers detect a force exerted on the metal contact layer. This is accomplished by using an array of pixels on the sense and drive layers that determine an input location when active pixels are aligned on both layers. The user then gets a response to his or her action thanks to a haptic feedback module and a light guide layer that lights up the "keys" through extremely tiny holes in the metal surface. The components of the force-input sensitive "structure" are enclosed within the device's chassis; thus the only exposed portion is the contact surface itself. In a provided drawing, the illustrated notebook shows four distinct input areas on the surface. However, the patent states that the device can have any number of input areas defined on the contact portion.

6 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. Buried the lede by Fwipp · · Score: 5, Funny

    Even more amazingly, the mockup shows that the new Macbooks will come with Windows keys! http://s3.amazonaws.com/digita...

    Finally, Apple has done away with the last advantage Microsoft had left.

    1. Re:Buried the lede by binarylarry · · Score: 1, Funny

      Oh man Windows keys on a mac?

      How genius! Only apple could have come up with such an innovative feature.

      Steve must be smiling down upon Cupertino right now.

      --
      Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
    2. Re:Buried the lede by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      with Windows keys!

      Nope. That's the Towel key. In X11 and other more powerful input APIs the towel key is referred to as "super". Towels are indeed super. Never leave home without your towel.

      P.S. Don't you find it strange that the biggest and most important key on the board is blank? It used to have a name which indicated its historic function, but we removed all such labeling when you humans were mind wiped after being quarantined here, so that you'd never escape and infest the galaxy again. Some vestigial memory must have remained because I can hear you muttering "space bar" all the way from the restaurant at the end of the universe. Let's just hope humans never figure out the Alternate way to Enter...

      So long, and thanks for all the phishing. Its Back to Space for me!

  2. remember when that was satire? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    There is prior art.

  3. How transparent! by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 3, Funny

    They are obviously trying to trick Steve Jobs (who openly loathed physical buttons) into coming back to life. The joke's on Apple because Steve already had himself reincarnated as a cow in India.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  4. Re:It has already been done... by mrbester · · Score: 4, Funny

    If it was good enough for the ZX81, it can certainly be upgraded and cost ten times as much.

    --
    "Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"