Apple researching keyboards with adaptive monitors on each key

Apple is researching keyboards with small displays on the keys to dynamically change the label on each key, according to a newly granted patent application.

Archiving, spotted by Patently Apple, is entitled “Electronic devices with keys with coherent fiber bundles” and was granted to Apple by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on the last day of patents this year.

The patent explains how each key on a keyboard could have “an associated key screen” connected to “control circuits on the keyboard” via a “coherent fiber bundle”. Apple proposes that each key be “formed from a fiber optic board” with “opposing first and second surfaces”.

Although the patent stipulates that each key would need to contain a small display to provide the label, from which any compatible pixel array would work, the most advanced technology presented by Apple is OLED. The key can be made of materials such as glass, ceramic, metal or polymer, or even crystalline materials such as sapphire.

This system would allow the entire keyboard to be “reconfigurable” with labels that can be changed as needed. The patent highlights that keyboards can be reconfigured “for different languages, to temporarily convert a standard keyboard into a game keyboard in which the keys correspond to specific game actions, or otherwise modify the behavior associated with pressing keys on the keyboard . “

There is also a suggestion that each key may provide “visual feedback” to indicate the current status of each key, such as whether it corresponds to an uppercase or lowercase letter or to an active skill during the game.

The images included in the patent suggest that the adaptive keyboard can be used both in a laptop case and in a separate keyboard for desktop computers.

Crucially, this system does not interfere with dome or scissor keys on physical keyboards. Unlike other Apple keyboard patents, such as one for a static glass keyboard or a full-size touchscreen panel, this proposition explicitly describes a system to be used with movable keys, so that Apple could theoretically maintain the design of its magic keyboard.

Although patents do not necessarily prove what Apple intends to bring to the market, they can provide an interesting insight into what the company is researching and developing. Considering that Apple has shown an interest in adaptive screens on the keyboard through the Touch Bar on the MacBook Pro, it does not seem unlikely that Apple would expand a similar technology for each individual key at some point in the future.