Apple submits patent for OLED-based keyboards
Never to be left behind on the rumor or future fronts regarding Apple technology, I give you one of Apple’s latest patent applications; this new application describes an OLED-based keyboard that accurately displays what will happen when users strike specific keys.
The patent, which can be read in all its monotonous legalese glory here, suggests a way in which the keys will display specific functions (crazy notion) based on what correlating keys are depressed. Here’s a snippet of the patent application:In other applications, users may “design” their own keyboards, for example, by showing an empty keyboard and a set of icons on the screen, and allowing a user to “drag and drop” icons to the respective keys, using his computer mouse. Various types of teaching applications are also possible, for example, software may teach a user to type by providing on-screen instructions for what fingers to use for particular keys and then flashing or illuminating the corresponding keys on the keyboard, while keeping the remaining keys dark, and so on. Of course, various types of gaming applications are also possible, for example, in which the user quickly needs to depress a key that is being illuminated, or chase a moving key around the keyboard, to accomplish some goal set by the game developers. Thus, there is an almost endless set of areas in which various embodiments of the invention enhance the users’ experience when using a keyboard or other type of peripheral that employ the principles of the invention.
So beyond the base applications suggested by having OLED-lit keys on a keyboard, Apple suggests possibilities of moving keys around to users’ desires, or even playing games in which the keys become a more dynamic interface for taking gaming to a new level.
Though this sounds interesting, it also sounds like something already in production and distribution called the Optimus Maximus keyboard (which, by the way, isn’t selling well and is distastefully expensive). Whether Apple could land a patent or not seems a little far-fetched.
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