New Microsoft patent suggests connecting two Surfaces via the keyboard connector

Reading time icon 2 min. read


Readers help support MSPoweruser. When you make a purchase using links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Tooltip Icon

Read the affiliate disclosure page to find out how can you help MSPoweruser effortlessly and without spending any money. Read more

surface-patent

Microsoft has applied for a new patent where they suggest users who have so many Surfaces they do not know what to do with them connect them together to create a larger canvas using a double-headed keyboard connector.

In the patent Microsoft notes:

Even though users may have access to a wide range of computing devices, conventional techniques to interact with these devices were provided by the computing devices separately. Accordingly, techniques are described herein to support physical and communicative connections between computing devices. For example, mobile computing devices such as tablets and phones may employ a slate form factor. A connection device may be used to provide a physical (e.g., magnetic) and communicative coupling between the devices, thereby permitting the devices to be used in combination, such as to expand an available display area, share processing and memory resources, and so on..

Microsoft notes communication between the two tablets may be wireless or via the physical connector, and the tablet may be configured to automatically adjust to make the best of the shared resources.

Besides extending two surfaces, Microsoft also sees the technology applicable to connecting other devices also:

zune

Despite the Zune above, the patent was only applied for on the 23rd June 2016, so this may be an idea Microsoft is actively exploring. Certainly Microsoft would love to sell you more than one Surface, and given that the Surface keyboard connector is a two-way connection we could certainly see that this project would not be too difficult to make reality.

What do our readers think of this idea?

More about the topics: patent, Surface, surface connector

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *