The Surface Pro Type Cover has been a surprising success for Microsoft’s Surface line, with the quality and sturdiness of the thin input device only improving in each generation.
Now a patent application by Microsoft has shown what could be Microsoft’s next innovation to make the Type Cover even thinner.
The technology would integrate the trackpad directly into the circuit board inside the keyboard, with three edges left free to allow for a real clicking motion, as shown in the image above. It may also include a hardware switch to generate the clicking sensation.
Microsoft writes:
Techniques for a circuit board for an input device are described. In at least some embodiments, an input device is integrated with a circuit board of a device. For example, a touch interaction area of the input device is formed by cutting and/or etching a portion of the circuit board such that the touch interaction area is movable with respect to adjacent portions of the circuit board. In one or more embodiments, an input device includes a switch such that the movement of the touch interaction region actuates the switch to generate a click-enter event.
The drawings demonstrate the concept:
Combined with a more svelte Surface Pro in the future Microsoft’s next Surface may be even thinner and lighter than before.
source
