Microsoft Files A Patent For Multitouch Keyboard, Senses Where Your Hands Are

Innovation at Microsoft isn’t halting with its recent Courier booklet prototype. Microsoft filed a patent for a multitouch keyboard that senses where your fingers are on top of the touchscreen. Apparently, typists are ticked off that with touchscreens, they have to keep on looking at the keyboard.

I’m not sure how well that would work. The idea is that typists will now “know” where there fingers are the entire time. But as you can see from the picture, the technology might only be able to detect the location of your fingers when they are adjacent and pointing forward. What I’m getting at is, how about if your index finger is at the H button, and you want to press the Y button? If you inadvertently miss and place your index a little too far left, does the device detect that too?

Was this intended for the Courier? Probably not since typing on one of the 7″ screens would not be ideal and neither is typing on both the screens since you won’t be able to see any content then. But considering Microsoft envisions places with many horizontal and vertical touchscreens, this might be a strategic research initiative on their part.

This is not the only proposed solution for touchscreen typing. Last June, a British inventor decided to design a virtual keyboard named Crocodile Keyboard (below) with keys that are shaped into a triangle rather than a square or circle. The triangles would decrease the surface area of the key, which would reduce errors by preventing you from accidentally typing the key next to it, while still being able to view what letter the key is for. Inventor David Baker was planning to file a patent for this and was trying to work with Apple to use this technology, a process he admits is “very difficult.”

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