Apple files a patent for a custom keyboard that allows users to change keys for different alphabets or game controls
- A digital display at each key would provide ‘visual feedback’ on the current action
- Depending on the strain, they could be made of glass, ceramic, polymer or even sapphire
- The tech can also be used to redesign keys to address accessibility issues
- Last month Apple won a patent for bringing Force Touch to the MacBook Touch Bar
Apple was patented a custom keyboard that would allow users to change English letters for a new alphabet.
The patent, with the official title ‘Electronic devices with keys with sensible fiber bags,’ also explains how the keyboard could be adapted for a game, where each key would correspond to specific functions in the game. ‘
It could also redesign keys to address specific accessibility issues or work practices.
The tech giant installed the theoretical accessory in just under the wire: The keyboard received the green light on December 29, the last day of 2020 to receive approval from the U.S. Office of Trade and Signals.
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Apple has been patented for a ‘redesigned’ keyboard, with a digital reader at each key showing you its custom functionality. The technology could be used to translate English letters into another alphabet – Cyrillic or Hebrew, for example.
The filing, originally reported by Patently Apple, includes a description of how the ‘associated key display’ keyboard keys could be linked to ‘rotation control in the keyboard’. through a sensible fiber bundle. ‘
According to the patent, each key ‘would be created from a fiber optic plate’ with ‘going against the first and second surfaces. ‘
Each key would act as an adjustable digital display, and could be made from materials such as glass, ceramic, metal, polymer, or even crystalline materials such as sapphire.
The technology could be used to translate English letters into another alphabet – Cyrillic or Hebrew, for example.
Each key would act as an adjustable digital display, and could be made of glass, ceramic, metal, polymer, or even crystalline materials such as sapphire
It would also be a resource for gamers, ‘temporarily turning[ing] a custom keyboard into a game keyboard in which keys correspond to specific tasks in the game. ‘
Since users need to know what the keys on their keyboard represent, Apple suggests that it might be useful to give a visual feedback to a user. usage shows the current status of each key (eg, whether the key corresponds to an alphanumeric character or to a game action, etc. ‘
‘This can be achieved by entering keys in a keyboard with dynamic labels,’ the filing explains. ‘The dynamic labels can be created using a dynamically redesigned label displaying components such as electronic light dual-fuel displays with arrays of pixels, electrophoretic displays with arrays of pixels, or other pixel arrays (for example). ‘
Images submitted with the application show that the redesigned keyboard could be integrated into a Macbook laptop or used as a standalone keyboard with a desktop computer.
Depending on the filter, the proposed technology could also turn a standard keyboard into a gaming keyboard, ‘in which keys respond to specific tasks in the game’
The technology is a natural fan of the Touch Bar, a touchscreen positioned above the number keys introduced on MacBook Pro keyboards in 2016.
The bar is intended to allow users to swipe instead of pressing traditional function keys but can be modified to perform many more tasks.
Apple files hundreds of patents each year, most of which are never upgraded to commercial products.
One file from May showed an experimental design for a folded laptop made from a single piece of material.
This theoretical MacBook would bend smoothly like a stack of papers rather than using the tight mechanical design of most existing laptops.
In November, Apple was patented to add Force Touch capability to the MacBook Touch Bar, allowing the keyboard to perform a variety of tasks depending on how hard a user pressed. the bar.
He also won a patent for an external keyboard that could be magnetically attached.