Apple patent filed for tactile touchscreen - raised, indented keys

Posted by Will on Thursday, October 25th, 2007 at 1:45 pm under iPhone, Apple, Technologies, Announcements

Apple's been on a touchscreen kick recently. Following on their previous pressure-sensitive touchscreen patent application filings with the USPTO, Apple has again filed for another patent regarding a touchscreen interface.

The newest patent filing, titled “Keystroke tacility arrangement on a smooth touch surface," reveals Apple's interest in haptic touchscreen feedback - by which some physical feedback is used to confirm touchscreen inputs. LG and Samsung are using vibration-based haptic feedback systems in their newest handsets, but vibration-feedback is a compromise at best. Apple's system proposes physical alterations to the touchscreen itself - raised, Braille-like bumps emerging from beneath the screen; or having actual keyboard keys rise up through the flexible touchscreen; or even placing depressed regions under the screen to represent keys - allowing the user to feel the keyboard key indents without physically seeing them.

Apple files patent application for haptic feedback touchscreen technology

We'll have to wait and see where and if Apple implements such technologies - perhaps in conjunction with a pressure-sensitive touchscreen. It looks like Apple has not only spurred the touchscreen interface as the future, but is seriously looking to stay ahead of the competition with innovative new tech. Apple could turn haptic feedback on its head with any of these proposed ideas - and really pave the way for touchscreen tech to secure its position as the future of UI inputs. Keep 'em coming, Apple.

[Via: Unwired View]

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    • 2 Responses to “Apple patent filed for tactile touchscreen - raised, indented keys”

    • Andrew says:
      February 4th, 2008 at 10:29 am

      I've had this idea for about a year now. Should have patented it right away.

    • Blind Japanese man creates vibrating Braille handset says:
      April 8th, 2008 at 1:17 pm

      […] Raised Braille-bumps on handset keypads are good for dialing a phone number and other simple tasks, but it can be a little more demanding to tap out text messages or do anything more complex by feel alone. To help the blind get more out of their mobile phones, Nobuyuki Sasaki, a former Tsukuba University of Technology professor, and his team have developed a new technology that converts the keypad key-presses into vibrating pulses (presumably correlated to the Braille alphabet). […]

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