Skip to main content

New Apple Patent: Flat Keyless Keyboard for Desktops & More

keyboard patent 1 via patently appleApple has already led an assault on optical drives, now the company is trying to take away the keys on your computer’s keyboard. A new patent filed by the Cupertino based tech giant shows off the company’s latest plans for a virtual keyboard.

Apple has put out a slew of patents concerning keyboards since 2009. This latest application for patent entitled “Flat Keyless Keyboard for Desktops & More” was filed in 2010 and signed late last week. The application for a Keyless Keyboard intends to create a product that will address the unreliability of touch-sensitive surfaces or related input devices. The Apple inventors want to do away with command detection problems or devices that cannot distinguish when accidental commands arise.

Related Videos

The solution? The leading idea in the application is a flat surface keyboard which may be constructed from metal, glass, plastic or any solid material. No more mechanical buttons or switches; the input will have few to no moving pieces. The flat surface input device will have a keyboard interface and utilize acoustic pulse recognition to realize when you’re typing.

In the case of metal or plastic material, the keys will be stamped or micro-perforated on the surface. If glass is the decision, the keys can be painted onto the surface or as graphics displayed underneath the glass. The flat surface will provide a haptic or tactile feedback when the user taps on the keyboard.

The acoustic pulse will be how input is received. Figure 3 shows three piezo-electric sensors included in the flat keyboard which will detect acoustic pulses generated as the user types away. The acoustic pulse recognition has the potential to be used in devices beyond an iMac such as in-vehicle systems and iOS devices or industry specific devices.

In order to detect deliberate touch or functions such as letter capitalization, the patent also describes a combination of piezo and capacitive sensors. Further, the flat keyboard may have LED lights creating a grid on the flat keyboard to help when searching for a key. With the amount of research Apple has been doing unveiled in just 2011 alone, it shows that the company is serious about making our mechanical keyboards look like clumsy chimp-tools very soon.

Via Patently Apple

via patently apple

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Apple Magic Mouse, Keyboard and Trackpad are discounted
Presentation window in Keynote on an iMac.

If you just bought a new iMac or MacBook from our list of the best Apple deals, then you're probably ready to load up on new accessories. Thankfully, this will cost you a lot less than your main purchase, thanks in part to discounts on the most important ones. Right now Amazon is cutting the price on the Magic Mouse, Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad. Check them out below.
Apple Magic Mouse -- $64, was $79

The Apple Magic Mouse, as you'd expect, is one of the best mice for Mac. It features a multi-touch surface that will let you swipe and scroll as if it were a trackpad, allowing it to work with MacOS' native gestures, but it's also compatible with an iPad. The Apple Magic Mouse comes with superb build quality with aluminum for its bottom shell and glass for its top surface, and it's very quick to pair with your Apple device through Bluetooth. It's powered by an internal battery that can last for about a month before it needs recharging, which you can do so through its included USB-C to Lightning cable.

Read more
Searching for a cheap laptop? Look no further than this $250 HP
HP 14 laptop with intel Celeron on desk.

If you're looking for super cheap laptop deals, HP has a great one right now. Today, you can buy an HP 14-inch laptop for $250 instead of $450 so you save $200 off the regular price. It's a basic laptop but if you simply need something to be able to browse online, write a few documents, and check email, it'll do the job. Likely to be only on sale for a brief time, here's what you need to know.

Why you should buy the HP 14t
HP is one of the best laptop brands at the moment so even at this price, you're still getting a reasonable laptop. The system offers an Intel Celeron processor along with 8GB of memory and 128GB of SSD storage. The processor is far from speedy but it's reassuring to see 8GB of memory when some systems at this price still stick to the painfully low 4GB. The 14-inch display is a standard HD one but you get micro-edge bezels so it takes up less room than you'd expect plus it offers HP's BrightView technology for a brighter picture. Other useful additions include an HP True Vision 720p HD webcam along with an SD media card reader.

Read more
Some of Lenovo’s best laptops are heavily discounted right now
Lenovo Slim 9i front angled view showing display and keyboard deck.

Lenovo has a huge sale on at the moment so if you're looking for sweet laptop deals, this is where to go right now. The sale includes discounts on 2-in-1 laptops, gaming laptops, and reliable systems for those needing to work on the move in a professional capacity. Whatever your plans, take a look at what's on sale below to see what could be the perfect fit for you.
Lenovo Yoga 7i -- $710, was $1,150

Lenovo is a fairly reliable brand in the best 2-in-1 laptops world so you're onto a good thing with the Lenovo Yoga 7i. It has a 12th-generation Intel Core i5 processor as well as 8GB of memory and 512GB of SSD storage. That's all you need to be able to get work done on the move but the Lenovo Yoga 7i makes sure that you do so in style. That's thanks to it having a 14-inch 2.2K screen with a 2240 x 1400. Besides offering 100% sRGB color gamut and 300 nits of brightness, it's also a touchscreen which means you can use it in a more tactile way than relying on the clickpad. Thanks to a 360-degree hinge, you can move it around too so it works in presentation or tablet mode as desired. Alongside that, there's a 1080p webcam with a privacy shutter. You also get a fingerprint reader so you can log in with your finger rather than enter passwords manually.

Read more