Apple has been granted a new patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office. The company has been playing with the idea of a new kind of keyboard that can be used on its computers. The keyboard will have configurable keys which includes tiny displays to label its function.
Let’s imagine a keyboard with “dynamic labels” which could change depending on what the user is doing. This is the kind of what Apple’s Touch Bar does in its MacBook Pro models and the entire keyboard will be able to show a different keyboard layout for another language or perhaps it can show the actions of the keys while using editing software.
Keys might include OLED, electrophoretic or some other type of display which will be ideal for this use-case. The keys themselves can be made of ceramic, glass, sapphire or metal. The idea is interesting and will surely drive up the cost of Apple’s computers. It will also effectively eliminate Apple’s requirement to offer region-specific laptops when the laptop can potentially display any keyboard which the user wishes to.
Well, though Apple has filed the patent for this kind of technology, the truth is that we might never get to see such a unique and different concept make it to a consumer product.