As you may remember in all the buzz leading to the launch of UMPC/Origami, Intel was one of the main promoters of the new PC form factor. It even announced the UMPC devices a day before the official Microsoft Origami launch. However it appears that in Intel’s view UMPC devices has one key difference from the Microsft design - keyboard.

Most of the Origami devices launched so far stress keyboardless touchscreen and Touchpack software as a user input interface. However if you look at the Intel’s concept design on they UMPC site, you can see that there is a keyboard present on it. During his presentation of UMPC during Intel Developer Forum, Sean Maloney, Intel’s Mobility VP also mentioned that in the next few years we will see different form factors of UMPC devices with “…keyboards that swivel out, keyboards that clamshell open…”, etc.

Well, now we can see that Intel is really serious about finding a way to put a keyboard on the UMPC. In the patent application submitted on April 06th it describes a “Portable computer system with rechargeable keyboard”. This application describes a possible computing device:

…having a display housing and detachable a base housing. The base housing may include a keyboard that can communicate with the display housing via a wired interface or a wireless interface. The keyboard may also include a rechargeable battery. When the keyboard communicates with the display housing using the wired interface, a controller within the keyboard may cause the battery to be charged using a power signal available via the wired interface.

Although Intel does not mention UMPCs in the patent application directly, the description of the display housing with “…processor, communication adapter, memory, bridges, storage devices (e.g., hard disk drive or HDD), bus, display controller, display, I/O controller (e.g. serial I/O controller), etc.,” sounds just like any current UMPC on the market. The drawing of the device also looks familiar:

It seems that the key features of this application are dual wired/wireless connectivity and power options. When in mobile mode, with keyboard stowed away, the device has all the benefits of UMPC. When the need to enter a lot of text arises, the keyboard can be used. In addition such the keyboard can serve as a backup battery option, so solving many of the power and user interface limitations that first UMPCs are facing right now.

So, who is going to be the first to incorporate this reference design into their UMPCs?