14 DAY TRIAL // The US Patent & Trademark Office has published a patent application by Apple Inc. that proposes a new iPad Smart Cover with a built-in keyboard that doubles as a multi-touch trackpad.
Unlike the Microsoft Surface tablet cover, Apple’s keyboard cover is a multi-touch gesture keyboard that essentially puts a touchpad and a keyboard in the same input device.
“A user may provide input to iPad by striking the smooth surface overlay above a particular key and provide input to the iPad by sliding gestures,” Patently Apple relays.
“In order for the keyboard to receive touch input, the keyboard may be configured to detect the location of one or more touches or near touches at the surface of the keys based on measurements of physical phenomena that occur near the surface when those touches or near touches occur.”
The invention may be a long way from fruition, but there is also reason to believe it could be deployed with the next major iPad refresh, perhaps with the rumored iPad Pro.
In 2005 Apple acquired FingerWorks, a gesture recognition company based in the United States that developed and sold the TouchStream multi-touch keyboard.
Founded by John Elias and Wayne Westerman, the firm made several multi-touch products, including the iGesture Pad, which was marketed as a solution for suffering from RSI. The company’s assets were handed over to Apple as part of the acquisition.