Apple could be looking to fight keyboard chow/keyboard debris in its forthcoming keyboard designs.
A recently published patent from 2016 shows how Apple could make its Butterfly keyboard technology more resistant to various crumb and dust particles that make their way underneath the keyboard design. The company refers to this as “ingress prevention” and explains that things such as liquid can damage electronics, sugar can corrode electrical contacts, and solid contaminants can block key movements:
Per the patent application:
For example, keyboards typically involved a number of moving keys. Liquid ingress around the keys into the keyboard can damage electronics. Residues from such liquids, such as sugar, may corrode or block electrical contacts, prevent key movement by bonding moving particles, and so on.
Solid contaminants such as dust, dirt, food crumbs, and the like may lodge under keys, blocking electrical contacts, getting in the way of key movement, and so on.
The patent states that mechanisms such as membranes or gaskets can block ingress, along with brushes, wipers, or flaps around key caps.
Apple first introduced the Butterfly keyboard design with the 12-inch MacBook and later ported it to other models of the MacBook Pro line. Although the design has improved, the keyboards have proven very sensitive to dust, crumbs, and debris that can become lodged underneath the keys as time goes on.
Users have also complained about issues such as stuck keys. While Apple generally replaces keyboards while they’re under warranty, users who face issues after their warranty has run out are often required to shell pay for the replacement.
Details as to how this patent and its ideas might be used in future products are unclear at this point, and may never be implemented, but it’s neat to see some ideas that could lead to a better MacBook keyboard down the line.
Via 9to5Mac, the United States Patent and Trademark Office and The Verge