10/25/2007, 10:45am, EDT
Thursday, October 25th
Apple patents multitouch keyboard
Apple has developed a multitouch keyboard technology, an application published by the US Patent and Trademark Office reveals. A completed keyboard would be an extension of concepts used in the iPhone and the iPod touch, melding typing, gesture and pointing (mouse) functions into a single computer accessory. Apple notes on its application that this should have numerous advantages, "such as eliminating need for mouse as a separate pointing device, eliminating wasteful reaches between keyboard and pointing device, and general workflow streamlining."
"However," Apple cautions, "pointing and typing have opposite tactile feedback needs." Pointing and gestures require the smoothest surface possible to function, but typing on a keyboard is usually accomplished with tactile feedback, which helps users to find keys and distinguish them. Adding ridges to a touch surface is said to solve this problem, but at the expense of creating a rough pointing surface.
Apple has proposed four alternative answers to the issue: the first is a different kind of feedback, in the form of dots, bars or other shapes on most or all keys. Sections of a keyboard might alternately be given varying feedback, while another suggestion is an articulating frame, which would extend when typing but retract for other uses. The third solution involves a frame set to cause depressions when typing, while a fourth would involve a completely rigid frame, simply creating more resistance when moving away from key centers.
The proposed patent is attributed to Wayne Carl Westerman of San Francisco, and makes reference to a similar keyboard concept called TouchStream, manufactured by a now-defunct company called FingerWorks. The multitouch keyboard is the latest in a stream of patents from Apple, which have included dynamic device input, design trademarks for the iPhone, and distinctive file sharing and updating systems.
Filed under: Apple
, 
, 16
, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
Top
subscribe to comments
for this article
maybe you should have patented the rant first before you give away all your secrets...
But I do believe they have something in the pipeline. I hope. I hate the mouse.
Second, Apple has never sued anyone for violating a patent that Apple received but never developed. You're barking up the wrong tree (and you're not only barking, but seem to have rabies as well). Apple has been the victim of many dubious patent suits, not the perpetrator of such suits.
As for the political rant, it's more a product of doing nothing, as the laws have always been what they are. People have found new ways to abuse the system, which needs a major overhaul.
Still, patent law is a minor piece of the "selling off our childrens' future" problem, compared with revolving-door lobbying, defense contracting bribery, selling off our natural resources to high-placed friends, etc.
Think ultra-thin notebook. Nay-sayers will change their mind once the product is released or demonstrated. I remember the same nay-sayers when Apple bought NeXT, when the iPod was released, and when OSX was announced.
I have a touchstream, and I have seen people pay as much as $1000 to get replacements because they are so game-changing once you learn them. If anyone can move that to the mainstream it's apple.