10 Inventions on Key Guides and Keyboard Templates

Abstract

A keyboard has many function keys and each function key can have multiple functions when used with control, shift and alt keys, it is difficult for a user to remember the functionality of the function keys. We need a mechanism to indicate the operations assigned to each function key for different software programs. A keyboard guide or template is used for this purpose. This article illustrates 10 inventions on keyboard key guide and function key templates selected from US patent database. Various mechanisms of keyboard templates have been proposed, including static, dynamic, manual, mechanical, onscreen display and others.