Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will aim to improve the functionality of its MacBooks, and the patent describes a fairly impressive mechanism at play. It is not yet confirmed if the company will allow pre-orders for the device in the USA but a few retailers in Europe have already started accepting orders for the new tablet model ahead of its release.
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The current MacBook and Mac accessories feature modified scissor switches or butterfly switches on the 12in Retina MacBook.
Apple’s keyboard patent is titled “Ultra low travel keyboard” and it shows keys each with their own force sensors underneath. The sensor will then produce haptic feedback. It remains unclear if Apple plans to release the Force Touch-enabled keyboard for the MacBook.
As far as the uses for a Force Touch keyboard and how users would use the thing, that’s still up in the air, but you can let your imagination run wild here. The keyboard’s hardware would utilize strain gauges and a number of sensors to measure and send the data to the CPU. The electronic device #10 may be a tablet computer, a somewhat smaller device such as a wrist-watch device, pendant device, or other wearable or miniature device, a cellular telephone, a media player, etc. Apple also suggests that different amounts of pressure on the same key could prompt different commands. It will be interesting to see if users adapt to the new keyboard functions easily; for people who exert a lot of force while typing, it can be a bit annoying if pressing a key each time brings up an unwanted function. The company has a history of filing many patents, although all of them do not make the grade.
Of course, we don’t know if Apple actually intends to use this design, as it did file the patent originally back in 2012, and we haven’t heard anything similar in the intervening years.
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The tech giant has announced the launch of their biggest and most powerful tablet to date, the iPad Pro, during their September launch for their other new gadgets like the iPad mini 4, the new Apple TV, iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, the PC Advisor reported. So did we, until Apple was recently granted a patent for a new keyboard design.
