Apple has been granted another patent for a Mac with a virtual keyboard. One of several, this one (number US 12067177 B2) is dubbed “Portable Computer With Dynamic Display Interface.”
About the patent
The patent involves a laptop having a light-transmissive cover and a display adjacent or partially surrounding a keyboard of the device. As Apple points out in the patent, laptops may include a base with a keyboard and a trackpad, and a display that is hinged to the base.
Most traditional trackpads are also visually static in appearance and tactile feel. Apple is interested in systems and techniques for a laptop having a touch-sensitive cover and a display that produces a dynamic graphical output and may extend over the palm rest region of a keyboard.
The tech giant also thinks that traditional laptop keyboards may lack flexibility or adaptability and may permanently indicate the presence of the input device within the computing system. One possibility of overcoming such limitations is a virtual keyboard.
Summary of the patent
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “A laptop computer includes a display portion comprising a primary display and a base portion coupled to the display portion. The base portion includes a keyboard and a light-transmissive cover defining a first touch-sensitive input region along a first side of the keyboard and a second touch-sensitive input region along a second side of the keyboard. The base portion also includes a first display under the first touch-sensitive input region and a second display under the second touch-sensitive input region.”
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