Electronic apparatus with pointing device

• US 20040257345A1
• Filed: 02/09/2004
• Published: 12/23/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Makanae, Hitomi, Imamura, Shigeharu, Hosoya, Nobuyuki
• Application Number:
  US10/773,259
• Publication Number:
  US 20040257345A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1616 with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

An electronic apparatus includes a housing having an outer wall, a pointing device having a flat input surface, and an operation-area indicating sheet. The pointing device is contained in the housing such that the input surface is placed on the inner surface of the outer wall of the housing. The operation-area indicating sheet is removably provided on the outer surface of the outer wall of the housing at a position corresponding to at least part of the input surface of the pointing device.

Claims

1. An electronic apparatus comprising:

a housing having an outer wall;

a pointing device having a flat input surface and contained in the housing such that the input surface is placed on an inner surface of the outer wall of the housing; and

an operation-area indicating sheet removably provided on an outer surface of the outer wall of the housing at a position corresponding to at least part of the input surface of the pointing device.

2. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the outer surface of the outer wall has a sheet-containment depressed portion at a position corresponding to at least part of the input surface of the pointing device,

the sheet-containment depressed portion has a base and a peripheral surface rising from a perimeter of the base, and

the operation-area indicating sheet is removably stuck to the base of the sheet-containment depressed portion.

3. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an exposed surface of the operation-area indicating sheet is different in color from the outer surface of the outer wall.

4. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an exposed surface of the operation-area indicating sheet is decorated with a pattern.

5. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the outer surface of the outer wall has a palm rest, and

the operation-area indicating sheet is provided on the palm rest.

6. The electronic apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the housing has an overhang edge portion at an opening end of the sheet-containment depressed portion, and

the overhang edge portion overhangs to cover at least part of a perimeter portion of the operation-area indicating sheet.

7. The electronic apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the outer surface of the outer wall has a finger recess, at a position corresponding to the sheet-containment depressed portion, for putting a finger on an edge of the operation-area indicating sheet when the operation-area indicating sheet is peeled off.

8. The electronic apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the housing has a frame that fits into the sheet-containment depressed portion along the peripheral surface of the sheet-containment depressed portion, and

the overhang edge portion is provided to the frame.

9. The electronic apparatus according to claim 6, wherein

the base of the sheet-containment depressed portion has four corner portions, and

four overhang edge portions identical to the overhang edge portion are provided at positions corresponding to the four corner portions, respectively.

10. The electronic apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the operation-area indicating sheet is flexible.

11. The electronic apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the base of the sheet-containment depression portion has a side, and the finger recess is provided at a position corresponding to the side.

12. The electronic apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the finger recess has a base situated at a lower level than an exposed surface of the operation-area indicating sheet.

13. The electronic apparatus according to claim 8, wherein

the base of the sheet-containment depressed portion has four corner portions, and

four overhang edge portions identical to the overhang edge portion are provided at positions corresponding to the four corner portions, respectively.

14. The electronic apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the finger recess has a base situated at a lower level than an exposed surface of the operation-area indicating sheet.