Keyboard Enhancements in Windows 8

Over the last decade, there has been a trend in the industry toward adding consumer control buttons (CCB) to the standard keyboard. These additional consumer control buttons generally represent multimedia, web browsing, application launch, and power management capabilities, and are reported via the Human Interface Device (HID) device class. A limited subset of these buttons will continue to be supported over legacy PS/2 keyboards (Set 1) primarily for legacy laptops. Laptops based on System-on-Chip (SoC) design must migrate to HID (leveraging transports like USB or I2C).

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This paper is primarily intended for input device independent hardware developers (IHVs) and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and suggests solutions for implementing keyboards (external and internal) on Windows 8. It outlines the opportunities, challenges and benefits along with references to additional information. It assumes that the reader is familiar with details on the HID stack for Windows as a building block for additional enhancements in Windows 8.

Included in this white paper:

• Support for Consumer Control Buttons
• HID over I2C
• Windows Hardware Certification Requirements for Input
• Call to Action for Enhanced Keyboard Features
• Appendix 1: Report Descriptors for Enhanced HID Keyboard
• Appendix 2: AppCommands Remapping
• Appendix 3: Implementing Airplane Mode Radio Management Switch/Button/LED

 

 

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