Touch-type keyboard with character selection through finger location on multifunction keys

An apparatus comprising:

• a keyboard for touch typing having a home row of locations for each of 8 fingers to rest concurrently, and providing single stroke access to every letter of a full alphabet, the keyboard having a plurality of mechanical keys, each key having a surface area for actuation by a finger, and each key maps to at least three functions and each key can move at least 1.0 mm responsive to sufficient pressure by the finger, wherein the key surface remains substantially parallel to a rest plane while the key moves to access each letter associated with the key, and wherein the rest plane is a plane defined by the key surface in the absence of an actuation force;
• and
• wherein each function is associated with a sensing zone that is defined by a virtual boundary circumscribing a portion of the surface area of the physical key;
• and
• wherein a key function is selected based on the location of the finger relative to the sensing zones during actuation of the key;
• and
• wherein at least some adjacent sensing zones overlap one another such that an intersection of their virtual boundaries circumscribes a subportion of the surface of the key;
• and
• wherein when a single zone is completely covered by the finger during actuation, the input resolves to a single function associated with that zone.