About the possibility of launching a new generation of notebooks / laptops with a futuristic design in which physical keyboard to be replaced with one touch, it was also discussed a few years ago. At that time, however, this option could not really be put into practice because both the lower part Laptop keyboard as well as the edges are constantly touched while typing.
With the introduction of technologies Force Touch / 3D Touch, this problem can be overcome. Tactile surfaces can identify downforce and thus the system knows whether or not it is necessary to execute an operation. In addition, vibration system gives the user the feeling of having a physical button under his fingers. The best examples are the button “Home” of the iPhone 7 / iPhone 7 Plus, Trackpad- envy of the new models of MacBook Pro 2016 / 2017 and Magic Trackpad 2. All these devices benefit from Force Touch, technology developed by Apple Inc. and launched for the first time in September 2014.
The other day, the US "Patent and Trademark Office" (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) published a report containing a list cu 26 patents recently awarded to Apple Inc.
What attracts the most attention in this report is a patent for "Dual display equipment with improved visibility and suppressed reflections." - "Dual display equipment with enhanced visibility and suppressed reflections". The device presented in this patent shows us a notebook cu dual display in which the physical keyboard and trackpad are eliminated. There are practically two displays, one for the keyboard, touch controls, game controllers and one main.
In the figure above we can see the main surfaces: 12A for display and 12B a second display dedicated to the keyboard, trackpad and command and control options. Both surfaces are attached to the axis "22" which is provided with a rotation system "24" for closing and opening the two surfaces.
The patent also covers the possibility of the two surfaces being removable and the wearing of sunglasses while operating on this device.
The patent was filed in the 3rd quarter of 2015 and has the number: 9,904,502. It was officially published at the end of February 2018.
Nothing is known, however, if Apple intends to use this invention in the near future, nor if the device in the image of the patent is a MacBook Pro or a future generation of iPad Pro. It is certain that both devices can be developed on this scheme.
