This could lead to something impressive.
A recently-released patent, entitled “Electronic devices having keys with coherent fiber bundles,” indicates that Apple is currently researching keyboards with small displays on the keys that are capable of dynamically changing the label on each key. The patent was granted to Apple by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on the final patent day of this year.
The patent describes how each key on a keyboard would feature “an associated key display” connected to “control circuitry in the keyboard” via a “coherent fiber bundle.” Apple’s technique proposes that each key would be “formed from a fiber optic plate” with “opposing first and second surfaces.”
Apple’s patent also describes how each key would feature a small display that would provide its label, as well as a compatible pixel array within the display. Apple offers OLED as the foremost technology to work with this, and suggests that the key may be made from materials such as glass, ceramic, metal, or polymer, or even crystalline materials such as sapphire.
Such a system would allow the entire keyboard to be “reconfigurable” and offer labels that would change as needed. The patent cites that keyboards could be configured “for different languages, to temporarily convert a standard keyboard into a gaming keyboard in which keys correspond to particular in-game actions, or to otherwise modify the behavior associated with pressing the keys in the keyboard.”
The patent also suggests that each key could offer “visual feedback” to indicate the status of the key, such as whether a letter might be uppercase or lowercase the next time it’s pressed, or if an ability was active when gaming.
It’s thought that this patent could apply to either a desktop’s or a notebook’s keyboard. While a published patent isn’t necessarily a guarantee of things to come, it offers some guidance as to what Apple’s working on and what can be expected in the future.
Via MacRumors, Patently Apple, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office