ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,578,768, issued on March 17, was assigned to Apple Inc. (Cupertino, Calif.).
"Parallel motion trackpad" was invented by Brett W. Degner (Menlo Park, Calif.), Thomas R. Matzinger (Los Osos, Calif.), Bradley J. Hamel (San Carlos, Calif.), Ryan P. Brooks (Menlo Park, Calif.), Scott J. Krahn (Los Gatos, Calif.) and Arka P. Roy (Campbell, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An input device includes a touch plate having a central axis and a top surface with three outer points evenly spaced away from the central axis. A touch sensor is used to detect a user touch on the top surface at the first outer point, and a support mechanism supports t...