A new patent filing from Apple shows the company may be working on a multipurpose touch interface:
In layman's terms, a "mechanical overlay" can be an audio equalizer, musical keyboard, or video game controller, with the "mechanical actuators" representing individual components of the overlay, such as buttons, keys, sliders, dials, wheels, switches, or joysticks.
Apple said in the filing that the underlying touch sensing device could be a touch pad that is built into a computing device such as a laptop computer or one affixed to a handheld PDA or digital media player. Similarly, the touch sensing device could also be a touch-screen built into a tablet PC or a standalone device such as a tablet-sized touch pad.
More details at
Apple Insider.
