Apple has been granted a patent for a “Laptop Computer With Dynamic Trackpad Region.”
About the patent
It involves a laptop having a light-transmissive cover and a display adjacent or partially surrounding a keyboard of the device. In the patent Apple notes that many electronic devices include one or more input devices that enable a user to interact with the device.
Example input devices include keyboards, trackpads, or mice. Laptop computers, for example, may include a base with a keyboard and a trackpad, and a display that is hinged to the base. The keyboard may accept typing inputs via a plurality of keys. The trackpad may accept touch inputs and may be used to move a cursor on the display and to select graphical or other user interface elements displayed on the display.
However, Apple says that some traditional trackpads are limited to a trackpad area that is generally located between the user’s hands when positioned in a typing position. Most traditional trackpads are also visually static in appearance and tactile feel. Apple’s patent involves 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.
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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