Apple has just filed the patent. It suggests a possible evolution of MacBook laptop keyboards toward virtual keys and with flexible, pressure-sensitive surfaces.
Over the past few years, Apple has had issues with MacBook Pro , particularly those with the butterfly mechanism. The latter are often vulnerable to the ingress of dust and debris which caused the keys to malfunction. The problem was only partially circumvented in 2018. But the fact remains that the keyboard design is still prone to dirt.
Apple is considering more radical solutions to resolve this problem, as evidenced by a patent issued to it yesterday by the US Patent Office. This patent called “Configurable Pressure Sensitive Input Structure for Electronic Devices”, describes a keyboard with the trackpad, consisting of a pressure sensitive surface, flexible and with some sort of underlying display capable of representing virtual keys.
A keyboard more than tactile
When reading the patent, it seems to be different from tactile keyboards for iPad. It would not be a simple touch screen but a more complex entry system which reacts to pressure (therefore to the force exerted and not to simple touch). He is therefore able to bend under the user's fingers. This would then be combined with a feedback system, so that the user can record the strike perceptively and thus have a convincing response to pressure.
The device would then offer all the versatility of a typical application of a virtual keyboard, with a provision and commands that could change according to the needs or the operating context. An adjustment of this type would not necessarily require the deletion of physical keyboards.
This is an interesting approach, which tries to exceed the limits of mechanical keyboards (breaking of keys etc.) and those of virtuals (not optimal response of use). However, it is good to remember that it is only a patent, not necessarily intended to become something real in the short term.
