Apple patents a Maximus-alike keyboard, iMac MacBook dock

Apple's always enjoyed patenting the near-absurd, just to get us speculating in the wrong direction or to give its thousands of patent lawyers something to do during a slow design cycle. We can't really imagine Apple has this pair of "products" prepped and waiting in the wings of Macworld, but it's still fun to look. First off we have a MacBook dock that conveniently looks just like an iMac. Not much explanation is needed, you just slide the laptop into the side of the iMac and start desktoping away on the big screen. The second patent deals with a quite familiar keyboard concept: OLED screens in every key. It's not the first time an Apple patent has overlapped with a Lebedev design, but who knows how it'll go down if Apple tries to build one of these Lebedev-ish ideas -- Apple patented this keyboard concept about a year after the Maximus concept was first shown off.

Read - iMac MacBook dock
Read - Apple Maximus

[BCre8v @ Jan 3rd 2008 9:00AM]

Apple should be very careful not to infringe on any Nigerian OLED Keyboard Patents...

[JEK @ Jan 3rd 2008 2:37PM]

ha...ha... *yawns*

[fontendet24 @ Jan 3rd 2008 4:00PM]

As i said earlier - Lebedev must sell his idea to Apple.
So he's sell it (in secret).
The better part of this all is that Apple-keyboard will be costs cheaper - $700 less than Lebedev's thing.

[Sander de Regt @ Jan 3rd 2008 4:34PM]

Well imagine if Art went to court for this and actually won? The money from the settlement could maybe be used to actually start MAKING those Maximus keyboards we've been hearing about.

[bigdoggie @ Jan 4th 2008 2:26PM]

SEW APPLE UP THEIR..oh.

*looks at the apple fanboiz*

[Halfmad @ Jan 3rd 2008 9:05AM]

Since when did Apple care about other companies patents and copyright?

Another Apple story.. ZZZzzz.

[Dextro @ Jan 3rd 2008 9:22AM]

This is getting ridiculous. So what if it's another Apple story. If it's a story, it's a story. If there's news, they'll publish it. If they would be holding back other stories in spite of Apple stuff, you'd have my full support.
For now let's just stop whining huh.

[kevjohn @ Jan 3rd 2008 9:34AM]

It's just soooo harrrrd to avoid these Apple stories right? I mean to NOT click on a link which is clearly labeled "Apple....", that's just impossible isn't it? Get an effing life you trolling w0rm.

[takes a deep breath]
Sorry, just venting a little early morning, hate-my-job, haven't-had-my-coffee-yet bile.

[Constable Odo @ Jan 3rd 2008 9:54AM]

I'm trying to decide whether I should vote you down or not. How's that for a threat for disliking Apple stories. I'll put you on my growing automatic vote down list. Done. Haha.

[fred @ Jan 3rd 2008 10:34AM]

Auto vote down list? Please. He is entitled to his view.

I am a huge critic of Engadget when they run a parade of stupid Apple fluff stories, this however is just one story in a sea of non Apple stuff today. Just look at all the HP and Dell articles.

The OP raised a valid issue, just not very accurate today.

[Dale @ Jan 3rd 2008 11:30AM]

Heaven forbid a technology blog report on technology news. Whatever next?

[SteveMB @ Jan 3rd 2008 5:08PM]

Why is he being low ranked? It's absolutely true that Apple gets way too much coverage.

[Taylor @ Jan 4th 2008 7:13PM]

The thing is, that all the people who come and say "OH NOEZ ANOTHER APPLE STORY" are actually adding views to the page, as well as adding comments. They'll make it higher and higher on the Most Discussed and Most Viewed lists.

Engadget isn't Apple-biased, its readership just likes Apple stories.
(and the people who don't like them are just adding views, so Engadget will post more apple stories - repeating cycle)

[BobTurbo @ Jan 3rd 2008 9:17AM]

How about just plugging the laptop into the monitor like everyone else...

[insertAlias @ Jan 3rd 2008 9:27AM]

Docks are very useful. I kick myself every day for not buying a laptop that supports one. I have to plug seven (mouse, keyboard, ext. hdd, network, monitor, power, and audio) cables into my laptop when I want to use it at my desktop with my monitor. And with a dock, all you do is open a cover and drop it on. In this case, the monitor *is* the dock, so if you like apple's design and aesthetics, you get an iMac and a MacBook all in one.

[BobTurbo @ Jan 3rd 2008 9:44AM]

Hmm good point.

[Homeboy @ Jan 3rd 2008 9:56AM]

I agree with you. The dock will be obsolete once you buy a new laptop, therefor I would prefer buying a stand alone monitor plus a USB hub which I would hook up a mouse, keyboard and external harddrive to. But if you are a hardcore Mac fan and value design and ease of use rather than performance and upgrade capabilities then this is one sweet solution.

[BobTurbo @ Jan 3rd 2008 10:17AM]

They also have monitors that are like docks now I think (plug kb/mouse into them). Sliding the laptop behind the iMac seems a little silly.

[Bullitt @ Jan 3rd 2008 10:57AM]

If you just got a macbook and plan on keeping it for a while then go for it.

[dagamer34 @ Jan 3rd 2008 11:47AM]

@Homeboy

In case you haven't realized, Apple has stuck with the same general design for a laptop for many years. I don't think they'd change it on a whim if such a product ever came to fruition.

[m @ Jan 3rd 2008 2:12PM]

Homeboy: What's so unlikely about Apple requiring you to buy a new dock for every new notebook? They won't even let you change the battery in an iPod. Planned obsolescence is a central part of their marketing strategy (and that of every other manufacturer, for that matter), which fanboys validate every day. This is a throw-away world.

[namtastic @ Jan 4th 2008 10:59AM]

Hmm yeah, I did kinda miss the Powerbook Duo.

[mensanmark @ Jan 3rd 2008 9:30AM]

Amen to Halfmad! Had it not been for Xerox, there would never have been a Mac!

I'm waiting for the ePaper keyboard....I suppose I should go ahead and start applying for my patent now before Steve J. reads this...!

[bob @ Jan 3rd 2008 9:37AM]

apple hired a lot of the xerox team and gave xerox shares of apple and turned a concept into a product, them microsft stole it. This why apple are patent mad

[Skeezle @ Jan 3rd 2008 10:17AM]

Xerox had no intention to mass produce the Alto, or offer it on a consumer level. It was a concept. Their primary focus was copiers, and only copiers - not personal computers. The Alto was developed with copiers in mind, not mass consumer personal computing. As it was, the version they had was pale in comparison to the first Lisa/Mac, and was tens of thousands of dollars for the Alto.
Apple went about it the right way, got the rights from Xerox & hired the engineers that developed it, and gave Xerox serious shares in Apple.
Yup, Apple doesn't invent a lot of this stuff, but they know how to successfully get it to market which is sometimes just as big a feat as inventing it. Especially when there are corporate interests in the way*
You can build a better mouse trap, but the originator of the first, less functional one will do everything they can to stop you & save their profits.
If anyone will make a keyboard like this standard fare, it will be Apple.


*just take a look at the electric car.

Totally sick of the anti Apple crowd that has never read a book on the history of personal computing.

[Dextro @ Jan 3rd 2008 10:30AM]

Had it not been for Apple giving Apple stock to Xerox for letting them snoop around for some days, there might have never been a Mac. Absolutely true. Don't, however, forget to mention that without a Mac there wouldn't have been a Windows. And let's not start about how familiar KDE or GNOME are compared to the Windows desktop interface. I'm not even going to talk about NextStep. They all took something from each other or from others. Let's just keep it at that.

Microsoft plays these games too, all companies in this business do. Stop claiming Apple is the only one. I'm not approving all that stuff, but stop acting as if Apple is the only culprit. These arguments are as old as the one-button mouse thing.

[steveJ @ Jan 3rd 2008 12:46PM]

>>I'm waiting for the ePaper keyboard....I suppose I should go ahead and start applying for my patent now before Steve J. reads this...!

Too late man. thanks for the tip

[mensanmark @ Jan 4th 2008 1:20AM]

I have read a book about the history of Apple...and even saw the PBS mini-series. When Jobs took that tour of Xerox, he saw an application for a technology they had developed that they hadn't envisioned because of the focus of their business. There's no doubt both Jobs and Gates are much better entrepeneurs/salesmen than they are engineers...those responsibilities fell to Wozniak and Allen, respectively. Also, need I mention that MS was very closely involved (for a time) in the early development of the initial Mac OS? I don't recall what happened there, but Mac OS does have MS's fingerprints on it (as does Office). I think the biggest thing we so-called "anti-Apple" types have against Apple is the proprietariness of their platform. Had Compaq not reverse-engineered the PC and opened up the floodgates to the technology explosion (and the free market) that ensued, the PC may well have died with a whimper. Apple struggled for years being the sole source of their HW/SW platforms. Had it not been for an arguably unrelated technology--the iPod--Apple might still be around, but not nearly as powerful as they are today. Jobs has cultivated a cult following as the hippy guru of the technological world that nobody can beat. Were it not for his charisma and salesmanship (from his ability to market that charisma), Apple probably wouldn't even exist today. You may call us "anti-Apple," but we're pretty sure we're just not suckers for Jobs's very effective (snake oil) sales pitches.

[L @ Jan 3rd 2008 9:30AM]

So the MacBook dock patent is so utterly important to Apple that they didn't even draw it properly? Can somebody send a ruler to the guy? Please?

Looks like a stupid sketch drawn by a 12 year-old nerd...

[quandmeme @ Jan 3rd 2008 10:50AM]

The funniest are when the patent illustrators draw all the people with three fingers. There is some argument that if they did a high detail 3D rendering the patent would be construed to include only ideas with that implementation, but only three fingers! I think the vaguer the drawing the broader the patent protection.

[Sameer @ Jan 3rd 2008 9:34AM]

would this dock add weight to the concept floating around, about a notebook that looks and works like a larger iphone - one that can be docked to become a desktop computer? if so, *drool!*

[DJWhiplash2001 @ Jan 3rd 2008 9:39AM]

All depends on if they can prove when they entered the "discovery phase" in regards to Lebedev. I hope something happens as a result of Apple patent-whoring.

[waiownsyou @ Jan 3rd 2008 9:42AM]

lol, that MacBook dock looks hilarious. It's obviously nothing more than an idea if they're planning to use regular MacBooks instead of the Pros. But maybe you're right... Apple loves to screw with Engadget bloggers

[Yasir @ Jan 3rd 2008 9:54AM]

i have always hoped apple made a maximus-type keyboard, if this is actually true, ill be on jobs' nuts! (moreso then i am now... ahem)

[yoshi @ Jan 3rd 2008 9:48AM]

The iMac thing would be more appropriate with a tablet than with a Macbook....

[poi-dog @ Jan 3rd 2008 10:59AM]

Nice catch Yoshi. I think you are right, this setup would only work with a tablet. Very cool!

[rockintom @ Jan 3rd 2008 12:02PM]

Unless the dock itself is a monitor, which I assume is the case, from the patent. Kindof stupid, really.

[sinerasis @ Jan 3rd 2008 10:00AM]

That Macbook would overheat more than they already do, at least speckle in some speed holes in your child’s finger painting before submitting to the patent office…

[Tom Boucher @ Jan 3rd 2008 10:08AM]

Having been a fan of the Duo line of Powerbooks in the 90s I'd like a design where a small notebook was slapped in a larger case with a better monitor when I wasn't traveling. Pretty interesting idea. I've always wanted some kinda of russian doll computing platform where I would have a mobile device like iPhone size that was installed in a laptop and could be popped in/out when you didn't want to carry a laptop.

This is just a larger idea.

Though not sure how feasible it is.

[rtdunham @ Jan 3rd 2008 12:17PM]

i think it's a great idea. if the new mac mini is a real ultra portable it could be as thin as an iPod, or at least, as thin as an iPhone. combine that with a 10 or 11" screen and you have a real baby. but it's impractical for many purposes, right? NOT if it slides into a dock like this and suddenly your laptop has a 20" or 23" screen when you use it at home. And added hard disk storage. And more ram. And and and. Suddenly an ultraportable becomes a real innovation, paradigm-shifting (did i actually say that?) product.

For those of you not familiar with the old duo dock that "swallowed" the (much bigger) Duo laptop, check this out:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook_duo/stats/mac_powerbook_duodock.html

[BobTurbo @ Jan 3rd 2008 10:21AM]

And maybe an attack robot comes out of the laptop as well, or little robot spiders.

[TheCount @ Jan 3rd 2008 10:35AM]

Are we sure that's an iMac and not the next generation of cinema displays? Makes more sense to me, as the illustrations seem to show the laptop/tablet as being the very heart of the system with ports still exposed (such as DVD drive) for use.

I think it's much more likely that is what they had in mind. That fixes the problem of upgradbility to, if you got a new macbook (or TABLET!) it would still come with that standard dock connector that would make everything just dandy.

[LegendZ28 @ Jan 3rd 2008 10:39AM]

Hate to reply to my own comment but just thought of something else. If it is indeed a cinema display, like I'm wildly guessing, that might also mean that if you have a Mac Pro or even a Mac Mini, you could use the display as a regular ole monitor when not docket. This would be a perfect combination of professionals, I'm a designer and I'd love to be able to just plug in a Mac tablet and sync stuff from a Mac Pro after a day at the office or at a freelance site.

[Adolph Trudeau @ Jan 3rd 2008 10:51AM]

There's probably more than one way to glyph a key.

Interesting quote: "Of course, various types of gaming applications are also possible, for example, in which the user quickly needs to depress a key that is being illuminated, or chase a moving key around the keyboard, to accomplish some goal set by the game developers."

(Is there a system for detecting/rating snowclone comments? I should patent that!)

[wickedpheonix @ Jan 3rd 2008 11:00AM]

Wow... this is almost guaranteed to be one of those Apple patents that never makes it into a product. For one, the dock would be horrendously expensive because unlike every other dock out there you would have to pay for a screen with the dock - making a $150 dock more like $500, which is prohibitively expensive for a dock.

It's a cool design, but just.... no.

[Wolfticket @ Jan 3rd 2008 11:06AM]

Everyone would be using a machine to go back in time an file patents for existing inventions had apple not held a patent for such a machine since 1837.

[Bullitt @ Jan 3rd 2008 11:20AM]

Looks like a new macbook. On the right side of my macbook there is just a disc drive, but on that macbook there appears to be ports or something.

[Bullitt @ Jan 3rd 2008 1:55PM]

oh yeah, the picture, showing the apple right side up, means the disc drive would be on the left side.

[ShyGuy91284 @ Jan 3rd 2008 12:03PM]

A bit out there for a dock design, but a step in the right direction. I would like a simple dock that lets me dock my notebook (iBook right now) vertically so it takes up very little desk space and I can use it as a "desktop" system easily. The traditional horizontal docks take up way too much space since they assume you will be using the laptop's screen.

[Saxon @ Jan 3rd 2008 12:15PM]

Dude, if you go rooting around through the patent documents you can find mention of how the "coupling port" is optional, and they've outlined wireless coupling. They also mention charging the battery through induction instead of through a connection. Sounds like the macbook would still be as pretty as ever, with no need for an ugly, flap-covered docking port.