Patent 10984969 was granted and assigned to Apple (company) on April, 2021 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Systems and methods for providing illumination to illuminable portions of keys associated with a keyboard are described. A key disposed on a flexible substrate includes a light guide positioned below a keycap. The light guide includes one or more light extraction features to produce a substantially uniform light distribution of light from a light emitting element at an illuminable portion of the key. In one embodiment, a light emitting element is positioned on the flexible substrate and is optically coupled to the light guide. In another embodiment, a light emitting element is positioned below the flexible substrate and is optically coupled to the light guide via an optical interface.