Apple's latest patent is licensed: It may enable keyless keyboards

[Tinydeal News]As a leader among technology companies, Apple has been committed to changing traditional product design and providing users with more convenient technology products. Recently, according to Tinydeal, Apple has a new patent that has been licensed, which may enable a keyless keyboard, thereby changing the conventional design of the keyboard product.

According to the Qichacha APP, on March 10, Apple applied for a “keyless keyboard with force sensing and tactile feedback” patent was authorized. The application date of this patent is September 12, 2017, the application publication date is November 23, 2018, and the authorization publication date is March 10, 2023. The inventors are A.J. Lehaman, C. Zhang, Qu Dayu, K.M. Shields, P.X. Wang, Xu Qiliang, Gao Zheng, S.J. McEwan, R.N. Maharati.

The patent summary shows that the invention provides an input device for an electronic device, the input device including a housing and a top member defining an input surface having a plurality of distinct input areas. The input device further comprises: a first force sensing system, the first force sensing system is associated with a first area of ​​the top member, and the first area includes a first set of the distinguishable input areas; and a second force sensing system, the second force sensing system is associated with a second area of ​​the top member, and the second area includes a second set of the distinguishable input areas. The input device further includes a touch sensing system configured to determine which input area from the first set of the distinguishable input areas corresponds to the first force input, and to determine which input area from the second set of the distinguishable input areas corresponds to the second force input.

Apple seems to have a special liking for full touch. The iPhone on mobile phones has ended the era of key presses, and laptops also provide more practical and convenient trackpad operation logic. Even if it launches mouse products, its operation logic is based on touch, not physical buttons. Perhaps when the patent is truly utilized on commercially available products, Apple's laptop series may have only one power supply physical key left.