14 DAY TRIAL // Apple launched the new MacBook last month with a Touch Bar that provides users with a unique input method, but it appears that Microsoft itself was this close to bringing in production its very version of a keyboard with a secondary screen.
A patent spotted by MSPU shows that Microsoft designed a technology that allowed a keyboard to be fitted with a secondary screen which could have played several roles, including offering text suggestions to improve typing in a way that’s similar to smartphones.
Called “Keyboard with input-sensitive display device,” this patent was filed on July 25, 2016, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that Microsoft thought of it first. Apple only launched the Touch Bar-equipped MacBook Pro last month, but the company was most likely working on it since last year, as planning and development usually take quite a lot of time.
How text correction could work
In the summary section of the patent, Microsoft explains the way its keyboard equipped with a secondary screen could have worked:
“Other aspects of the invention involve a method for input correction. The method includes displaying, on a secondary display, a first text unit, such as a character or a word, which corresponds with a second text unit shown on a primary display screen of a computing device.
“The method further involves receiving user selection of the first text unit and replacing the second text unit with the first text unit. The secondary display may include a touch sensitive display screen and the step of receiving the user selection of the first text unit may include sensing the user touching the touch sensitive display screen.”
As you can see in the drawing, however, the keyboard wasn’t necessarily built to be used on laptops, but more on desktop computers, so there’s still a chance to see it in production at some point in the future.
Of course, there’s no doubt that if Redmond ever launches such a product, it’s probably just a matter of time until someone accuses Microsoft of copying Apple’s idea, and this doesn’t align with its strategy of “inventing new product categories.”