INTERACTIVE, TOUCH-SENSITIVE USER INTERFACE DEVICE

• US 20080158166A1
• Filed: 12/28/2006
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: O'Farrell, William G., Ross, Alexander S., James, Dwayne R.
• Granted Patent: US 11,449,158 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03544 having dual sensing arrangement, e.g. two balls or two coils used to track rotation of the pointing device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0395 Mouse pads

Abstract

Some aspects of the invention provide an interactive, touch-sensitive user interface device. A user interface device for a data processing system is provided, which includes a sensor having a surface configured to contactingly receive a pointing device and further configured to detect physical contact by a living human and to differentiate between said physical contact and movement of the pointing device when the pointing device is engaged with the surface. The user interface device is operable to transmit information corresponding to said physical contact to the data processing system.

Claims

1. A user interface device for a data processing system, comprising a sensor having a surface configured to contactingly receive a pointing device and further configured to detect physical contact by a living human and to differentiate between said physical contact and movement of the pointing device when the pointing device is engaged with the surface, wherein the user interface device is operable to transmit information corresponding to said physical contact to the data processing system.

2. The user interface device of claim 1, wherein the pointing device is a mouse and the user interface device is a mouse pad.

3. The user interface device of claim 1, wherein information is transmitted to the data processing system by wireless means.

4. The user interface device of claim 1, wherein the surface comprises a plurality of surface regions and the information corresponding to said physical contact and transmitted to the data processing system comprises information to identify the specific surface region receiving the physical contact.

5. The user interface device of claim 4, wherein each of the plurality of surface regions corresponds to a command issued to a software application running on the data processing system.

6. The user interface device of claim 4, wherein each surface region in the plurality of surface regions is associated with a predefined permanent sensor region.

7. The user interface device of claim 4, wherein each surface region in the plurality of surface regions is associated with one of a plurality of sensor regions that have been dynamically defined based on a software application in association with which the user interface device is to be used.

8. A mouse pad for a data processing system, comprising a sensor having a surface configured to contactingly receive a mouse and further configured to detect physical contact by a living human and to differentiate between said physical contact movement of the mouse when the mouse is engaged with the surface, wherein the mouse pad is operable to transmit information corresponding to said physical contact to the data processing system.

9. The mouse pad of claim 8, wherein information is transmitted to the data processing system by wireless means.

10. The mouse pad of claim 8, wherein the surface comprises a plurality of surface regions and the information corresponding to said physical contact and transmitted to the data processing system comprises information to identify the specific surface region receiving the physical contact.

11. The mouse pad of claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of surface regions corresponds to a command issued to a software application running on the data processing system.

12. The mouse pad of claim 10, wherein each surface region in the plurality of surface regions is associated with a predefined permanent sensor region.

13. The mouse pad of claim 10, wherein each surface region in the plurality of surface regions is associated with one of a plurality of sensor regions that have been dynamically defined based on a software application in association with which the user interface device is to be used.