Apple is working on a major innovation for its future MacBooks. A newly granted patent to Apple suggests that the company is exploring the idea of a future MacBook with a removable key that doubles as a mouse. The patent, titled “Deployable Key Mouse,” describes a keyboard with a hidden single key that can be popped out and used as a pointing device.
The key would contain an “input transducer” that detects a user touch and movement on top. It would track its movement and control the cursor on the screen. It could also be used to click and drag, and to perform other mouse functions.
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Apple’s patent suggests that the removable key mouse would be a more portable and convenient way to interact with a MacBook than a traditional mouse. It describes the system as providing a “comfortable, portable, and precise pointer input for a computer input system.”
The deployable key can comprise of features and elements that enables it to operate it as a mouse or any remote input device such as an optical tracking sensor configured to face and sense the position or movement below the optical tracking sensor.
The patent describes this removable key as “separately-input device” that can be “used to provide input that is different in nature from the keyboard.” The patent contends that handheld mouse is more effective for specific tasks, like graphic design, computer-aided design, and handling extensive and intricate documents. However, Apple recognises that carrying an additional mouse alongside the computer can be inconvenient and might seem unnecessary when the computer already has built-in pointing devices.
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