ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,578,802, issued on March 17, was assigned to Apple Inc. (Cupertino, Calif.).
"Electrical key support membrane" was invented by Paul X. Wang (Cupertino, Calif.), Dinesh C. Mathew (San Francisco), Keith J. Hendren (San Francisco), Shan Wu (Cupertino, Calif.) and Simon R. Lancaster-Larocque (San Jose, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Keyboards and other input devices are provided with membranes that extend under the keycaps or buttons. The membranes are flexible and can support conductive structures, traces, and electrical switch connections to enable effective key switches, lighting, and fluid-tightness for the keyboard. The flexible...