Apple has been granted a new computer keyboard patent (number US 12079043 B2) for a Mac laptop with a semi-virtual keyboard.
Semi-virtual? Yep. There wouldn’t be a full-fledged physical keyboard. However, the virtual keyboard would be used with raised keys.
About the patent
The patent relates generally to electronic devices, and more particularly to an electronic device having a keyboard with a flexible input surface. Conventional keyboards include movable keys that are actuated by a user’s fingers. Some devices include touchscreens on which virtual keyboards may be displayed. When it comes to the latter, users may select individual keys of virtual keyboards by pressing on the part of the surface of the touchscreen that corresponds to a desired letter, character, or function. The surface of the touchscreen may be flat and featureless, and may thus occupy less space than a mechanical keyboard.
However, the problem with this is that it require users to identify the location of the keys by sight rather than by feel. Apple’s idea is a compromise: a touchscreen keyboard but with raised keys so users can type by feel.
Summary of the patent
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “A device may include a display portion that includes a display housing and a display at least partially within the display housing. The device may also include a base portion pivotally coupled to the display portion and including a bottom case, a top case coupled to the bottom case and defining an array of raised key regions, and a sensing system below the top case and configured to detect an input applied to a raised key region of the array of raised key regions.”
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