“While Apple’s most recent innovations have come from portables like the iPad Air and iPhone 5s, a document uncovered on Thursday reveals a feature-laden keyboard with multi-function ‘keystacks’ that integrate miniature displays, touch sensors and haptic feedback mechanisms,” Mikey Campbell reports for AppleInsider.
“Showing the company is still making advances in more traditional tech, an Apple patent filing for ‘Multi-functional keyboard assemblies’ describes a keyboard consisting of an array of so-called ‘keystacks,’ or individual keys layered with electronics, sensors and switches,” Campbell reports. “”
“Published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Apple’s application takes cues from third-party accessories like Art. Lebedev Studio’s Optimus Maximus keyboard, which sported clear keycaps overlaid atop small configurable OLED displays,” Campbell reports. “Apple’s invention builds on this display-within-key concept by adding multiple layers to the keystack. While the Optimus is limited to input via a physical switch and output through an OLED, Apple’s invention allows for multiple modes of input and output.”
Read more, and see Apple’s patent application illustrations, in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Okay, who else thought of “sleestaks” when you first read “keystacks?”