At least, not in the traditional sense …
That’s if a new patent unveiled at the USPTO over the weekend features any true indication as to where Apple may be thinking of taking certain aspects of its computing platform, going forward.
U.S Patent Application No. 20160098107, entitled “Configurable Force-Sensitive Input Structure for Electronic Devices,” specifically refers to “a configurable, force-sensitive input structure for an electronic device.”
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Apple describes this input structure as being made put of “a metal contact layer,” plus “a sense layer” that is positioned just below this metal contact layer, as well as “a drive layer” capacitively coupled to the sense layer.
The input structure layer, it says, may also have a “compliant layer” positioned between and coupled to both the sense layer and the drive layer, a rigid base layer positioned below the drive layer, and a set of supports positioned between the metal contact layer and the rigid base layer.
In the non-limiting example shown in FIG. 11, select holes formed through contact portion in active input areas may be illuminated by light guide layer and/or light source to visually indicate to a user that these input areas are interactive. For example, where input structure formed below input area is configured as a QWERTY keyboard input device (hereafter, “QWERTY keyboard”), select holes of contact portion may be illuminated to form an input area boundary, and individual keycap boundaries to form individual input keys of the QWERTY keyboard. The input area boundary may indicate where input areas ends and keycap boundaries may indicate to a user where each input key of the QWERTY keyboard is located within input area.
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All in all, Apple says that this will make for a surface that does not feature any physical keys – but rather will be able to detect a user’s input through the use of Force Touch.
Currently, Apple’s Force Touch technology can be found most prominently on the Apple Watch, and perhaps most recently the iPhone 6S.
It’s a technology that aims to simplify a user interface by providing contextually-specific options and actions to the user, based on how much pressure they apply to the device’s display.
In the above-described embodiment this means that, one day, completely ridding the keyboard – an input method now used and recognised universally around the world as one of the best way to both input data and control computer systems – of its physical keys, might just be possible.
Read the full patent at the USPTO.
