These days Apple is giving us really big surprises in terms of innovations and patents. Apparently, now the Cupertino company is studying how pull out a key from the MacBook Pro keyboard and then use it as a precision mouse. The idea would be of Paul X. Wang, to which many inventions in the sector are owed, including the project – never realized – of a glass keyboard. The inventor would have recently filed a patent application with the name “Key Mouse Deployable”, ie an Apple keyboard with a removable key to be used as a mouse. Let’s find out more.
Wang’s Apple Keyboard Turns Into A Mouse: Patent Application Details
Paul X. Wang’s patent application is very special. It is incredible at the same time. The project proposes that a normal Apple keyboard, such as that of a MacBook Pro for example, have one special removable button. And this, once detached from the keyboard, can function as a mouse. Very small, yes, but still a mouse. “The removable button may have a position sensor, [quindi] it can be used as a computer pointing device. The detachable key structure can therefore allow convenient, portable and precise pointer input for a computer input, ”Wang’s patent application specifies.
The button / mouse could be used on a desktop, giving the user even more precise control of the cursor. And in presenting the project, in the patent application Wang traces the history of Apple, which popularized the mouse in the 1980s. Then he continues: “In the years since, the computer mouse has undergone a number of innovations, including the addition of a left and right button, a scroll wheel, an optical sensor, a trackball sensor, a laser sensor and communication. wireless to the computer host “.
For its part, Apple says: “In some cases, portable computing devices such as laptops and tablets benefit from using a peripheral input device. However, the user must then carry the separate mouse with the computer, and the separate device can be redundant when the computer already has built-in pointing devices ”. The intent of the company would not be to replace the trackpad therefore, but rather to add a optional mouse where more precise control is needed. And this could just be a key on the Apple keyboard, the operation of which is perfectly described in the patent.
Incidentally, making the button / mouse function possible is really complex. This must be able to function like any key, but also have all the characteristics of a pointer. Once removed, it must have the ability to location detection. And it must have its own battery and circuitry so it can function perfectly as a standalone device. A complex operation, it is clear. But it is impossible to deny that Wang’s idea is truly brilliant.