Touch Sensitive Mechanical Keyboard
First Claim
1. An input device comprising:
- multiple mechanical keys; and
multiple sensor nodes associated with each of the keys to form a touch sensitive area across the keys
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A touch sensitive mechanical keyboard configured to enable a standard look and feel mechanical keyboard to sense fine hand/finger motion over the surface of the keys. Command and cursor input (e.g., pointing and gestures) can be received from the user on the touch sensitive mechanical keyboard without requiring the user to move the user'"'"'s hand off the keyboard. Fine hand/finger motion detection can be enabled by embedding clusters of capacitive sensors near the surface of the keyboard'"'"'s keys. The touch sensitive mechanical keyboard can operate in two or more modes—e.g., a typing mode and a mouse mode—and operating the keyboard in mouse mode or switching between the modes can be facilitated by holding (depressing and holding) or tapping (depressing and releasing) arbitrary combinations of keys, or by detecting the number of fingers touching the touch sensitive mechanical keyboard.
215 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An input device comprising:
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multiple mechanical keys; and multiple sensor nodes associated with each of the keys to form a touch sensitive area across the keys - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method, comprising:
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forming clusters of capacitive sensor nodes on one or more membranes at a pitch greater than a pitch of mechanical keys associated with a keyboard; and embedding each cluster of the sensor nodes into a corresponding one of the keys. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A personal computer comprising:
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multiple mechanical keys; and multiple sensor nodes associated with each of the keys to form a touch sensitive area across the keys.
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Specification