Combination consisting of a computer keyboard and mouse control device
First Claim
1. Keyboard, in particular computer keyboard, including a keyboard housing (1,3) and a capacitive apparatus, comprising at least one electrode (35) shaped in such a manner that positional data can be entered by hand movement over the keyboard, characterized in that the at least one electrode (35) is located inside the keyboard housing (1,3).
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Abstract
The invention relates to a keyboard, particularly a computer keyboard, comprising a keyboard housing (1, 3) and a capacitive device, which comprises at least one electrode (35) and is provided for inputting position data for a mouse pointer. The inventive keyboard is characterized in that the at least one electrode (35) is situated inside the keyboard housing (1, 3). The invention makes it possible to combine the different functionalities of a keyboard and touch pad on the same'"'"'surface. The touchpad functionality constitutes a modular addition to common membrane keyboard technology.
103 Citations
51 Claims
- 1. Keyboard, in particular computer keyboard, including a keyboard housing (1,3) and a capacitive apparatus, comprising at least one electrode (35) shaped in such a manner that positional data can be entered by hand movement over the keyboard, characterized in that the at least one electrode (35) is located inside the keyboard housing (1,3).
- 13. Electrode arrangement, in particular for insertion into a keyboard housing, characterized in that it comprises at least two electrodes (Si,Sj), each of them being confined by a polygon line having at least two corners with angles of less than 45 degrees.
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20. Apparatus for steering a cursor by modulating capacitances with a hand, comprising
a number of electrodes (35,Si,Sj), being located and shaped such that they can form capacitances (Ci,Cj) which can be modulated by a hand (142,242) at least one AC voltage feed (104) for feeding an AC voltage (Δ - U)
at least one capture unit (120,220) for capturing at least one capacitance (Ci,Cj) being modulated by the hand, making use of the fed AC voltage (Δ
U)a computation unit (303) for generating control data for steering a cursor from the at least one capacitance (Ci,Cj) being captured by the capture unit (120,220) characterized in that the AC voltage (Δ
U) is a square wave. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27)
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26. Apparatus for steering a cursor by modulating capacitances with a hand, comprising
a number of electrodes (35,Si,Sj), being located and shaped such that they can form capacitances (Ci,Cj) which can be modulated by a hand (142,242) at least one AC voltage feed (104) for feeding an AC voltage (Δ - U)
at least one capture unit (120,220) for capturing at least one capacitance (Ci,Cj) being modulated by the hand, making use of the fed AC voltage (Δ
U)a computation unit (303) for generating control data from the at least one capacitance (Ci,Cj) being captured by the capture unit (120,220), and at least one grounded circuit, whereby the apparatus is coupled signalwise to the grounded circuit characterized in that a decoupling unit is provided for voltage-decoupling the circuit comprising the electrodes (35,Si,Sj) from the grounded circuit.
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31. A keyboard, in particular computer keyboard, comprising
(a) a plurality of keys, (b) two or more electrodes made of conducting material, (c) an electrode arrangement, being formed by said two or more electrodes, being located beneath said plurality of keys, (d) one or more electrode membranes, being located beneath said plurality of keys, (e) said one or more electrode membranes carrying said electrode arrangement, (f) a portion of said one or more membranes, extending over at least two of said two or more electrodes, (g) said electrode arrangement covering more than approximately a quarter of said portion, whereby said electrode arrangement forms part of a capacitive measurement apparatus for sensing hand movements over said keys, and whereby said hand movements are converted by a calculation means to movements of a mouse pointer.
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43. Apparatus for steering a cursor by modulating capacitances with a hand, comprising
(a) a predetermined number of electrodes, being located and shaped such that they can form capacitances with a hand, at least one of said capacitances being modulated by said hand, (b) at least one AC voltage feed for feeding an AC voltage to said capacitances, (c) at least one capture unit for measuring said capacitances by making use of said AC voltage, said capture unit being connected to said capacitances, (d) a computation unit for generating control data for steering a cursor, being connected to said at least one capture unit, characterized in that (e) said AC voltage has at least one fast voltage transition. whereby the capacitance modulation can be determined almost instantaneously, limiting the time susceptible to noise.
Specification