Apple patent application: keyboard with built-in computer

Apple wants to protect a “computer in an input device”. Miniaturization allows more powerful components to be placed in smaller packages, making more specialized forms of computers desirable, the company explains in a patent application published by the US Patent Office Thursday. and brands.

Magic Keyboard with Mac built in

According to the document, the input device with an integrated processor and memory could be a keyboard or a combination of keyboard and trackpad, as the touch surface is mentioned in Apple’s patent claims. Other input devices, such as a mouse and trackpad, can of course be connected wirelessly to the keyboard and computer.

The request also talks about a single interface such as USB-C or Thunderbolt. The illustration shows an example of a keyboard — similar to Apple’s Magic Keyboard — operating on the screen. Cooling elements such as a fan and vents are also provided. But it could also be another input device into which the computer is integrated, Apple notes.

Apple: A laptop is not a perfect replacement for a desktop computer

Many users “regularly, if not exclusively” use their fixed computers in a fixed location, and the patent application continues to justify the new form factor. Apple writes that moving a traditional desktop computer is very complicated. But a laptop will also be suboptimal in many situations, requiring an external monitor and additional input devices to be attached. But in this case, the laptop screen is usually unnecessary and will make the laptop bigger and more expensive than necessary.

US Patent Application 20220057845 for a “computer in an input device” is relatively recent: first filed in the summer of 2020 and then revised again in 2021. Whether Apple is actually working on implementing this form factor remains entirely open – the company usually offers Over a thousand patent applications are filed annually, and almost none of them reveal a future product.