Touchscreen Keyboard Overlay

• US 20100238119A1
• Filed: 11/18/2009
• Published: 09/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Clark William Martin, Leslie Earle Dellinger, Zivthan Dubrovsky
• Original Assignee: Clark William Martin, Leslie Earle Dellinger, Zivthan Dubrovsky
• Inventors: Dubrovsky, Zivthan, Martin, Clark William, Dellinger, Leslie Earle
• Application Number:
  US12/621,466
• Publication Number:
  US 20100238119A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/169
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1643 the display being associated to a digitizer, e.g. laptops that can be used as penpads details related to the relative motion of the display enclosure with respect to the body enclosure, e.g. to move between laptop and tablet PC configuration G06F1/1615
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1633 Protecting arrangement for the entire housing of the computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1634 Integrated protective display lid, e.g. for touch-sensitive display in handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04809 Textured surface identifying touch areas, e.g. overlay structure for a virtual keyboard
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0202 Constructional details or processes of manufacture of the input device
• 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 external cover for a tablet smartphone with a flat touchscreen includes a rear clamshell formed of deformable plastic material that receives and surrounds the tablet, and a rim that resiliently clips the rear clamshell to the tablet. A hinge blister and intervening web forms a two degree of freedom hinge with a form-fitting front clamshell that can be freely lifted and dropped on the touchscreen but indexes to it, can be locked in place with a clip that readily engages and disengages from a docking port at the bottom of the tablet, and that is strengthened by an arch shaped rim. A planar sheet, formed of dielectric plastic, that covers the entirety of the flat touchscreen, is slightly suspended above to create an air gap, and is formed in a shape and thickness that substantially transmits the shape of a capacitive finger contact patch through the planar sheet to the touchscreen when the sheet is pushed down to the touchscreen. A keyboard may be formed in, on, or with the planar sheet in a location corresponding to the location of a virtual keyboard appearing on the touchscreen.

Claims

1. An external cover for a monolithic tablet smartphone formed as a smoothed tablet with a flat touchscreen on a front surface thereof and a docking port at a bottom portion of a rounded peripheral side wall of the smoothed tablet, comprising:

a rear clamshell formed of deformable plastic material that receives and surrounds a rear surface and a portion of a peripheral side wall of the smoothed tablet, including;

a form-fitting rear surface that matches the shape of the rear of the rounded tablet,

a rim extending about the periphery of the form fitting rear surface to a height greater than ½

of the height of the peripheral side wall to deform and resiliently clip the rear clamshell to the smoothed tablet

a hinge blister located at the top of the rear surface, including a first hinge mechanism having a first degree of freedom;

a front clamshell that receives and surrounds the front surface of the smoothed tablet, including;

a form fitting front rim portion that matches the shape of a front portion of the peripheral side wall, to a height less than ½

of the height of the peripheral side wall, to be freely lifted and dropped on the front surface of the smoothed tablet

an arch shaped rim portion extending from the form fitting front rim portion, having an arch shaped cross section extending about substantially the periphery of the front clamshell;

a planar sheet, formed of dielectric plastic, that covers the entirety of the flat touchscreen and is joined to the arch shaped rim portion, and being formed in a shape and thickness that substantially transmits the shape of a capacitive finger contact patch through the planar sheet to the touchscreen,

a locking clip formed at a bottom portion of the second rim portion proximate the location of the docking port, that engages with a cavity in the docking port and is deformable to disengage the front clamshell from the smoothed tablet

a second hinge mechanism having a second degree of freedom; and

a substantially rigid linking member that forms a reversible wrapping linkage by connecting the first and second hinged mechanisms.

2. The external cover according to claim 1, wherein the planar sheet is transparent polycarbonate of substantially 20/1000 minimum thickness.

3. The external cover according to claim 1, wherein the planar sheet comprises, formed therein:

a landscape form keyboard shape formed in the polycarbonate planar sheet, including key target forms located in positions on the touchscreen indexed individually to corresponding keys of a virtual landscape keyboard displayed on the touchscreen underneath the polycarbonate planar sheet, such that letter and symbol indicia of the keyboard are displayed through the key target forms.

4. The external cover according to claim 3, including at least one key target form located in a positions on the touchscreen indexed to more than one corresponding key of more than one virtual landscape keyboard displayable on the touchscreen underneath the polycarbonate planar sheet, such that a same key target form extends across different letter and symbol indicia of different keyboards displayable through the key target form.

5. The external cover according to claim 3, wherein the key target form is an elongated channel-shaped cavity, having a minimum thickness substantially in the center thereof substantially transmits the shape of a capacitive finger contact patch through the planar sheet to the touchscreen, and walls surrounding the minimum thickness that attenuate the edges of the shape of a capacitive contact patch through the planar sheet to the touch screen.

6. The external cover according to claim 3, wherein the key target form is a key shape having a minimum thickness substantially in the center thereof that substantially transmits the shape of a capacitive finger contact patch through the key shape, surrounded by a partial air gap that attenuate the edges of the shape of a capacitive contact patch through the planar sheet to the touch screen.

7. The external cover according to claim 6, wherein a snap dome mechanism intervenes between the key shape and substantially transmits the shape of a capacitive finger contact patch therethrough.

8. An external cover for a monolithic tablet smartphone formed as a smoothed tablet with a flat multitouch touchscreen on a front surface thereof and a docking port at a bottom portion of a rounded peripheral side wall of the smoothed tablet, comprising:

a flexible keyboard panel, with sufficient flexibility to flatten to and partially cover the multitouch capacitive touchscreen, that flattens to and partially covers the portion of the touchscreen in the portion where a keyboard appears when typing applications are in use, the panel integrates with the form of a sleeve used to house the phone and support the panel, wherein the panel does not obscure a typing area of the touchscreen where letters appear, the panel including;

button elements that cover each button and approximate the shape of each button in the on-screen virtual keyboard, the button elements being sufficiently raised from the surface to permit key travel in the manner of membrane keyboards, biased up by elastomer to return after travelling down when pressed, finger actuation of the buttons activating key presses of keys of a virtual keyboard of the capacitive touch panel when there is a tactile press and travel down to the touchscreen, activating coordinates on the touchscreen panel and thereby the virtual keyboard button, wherein

the cover covers the entire touchscreen excepting a window where type appears as it is typed, and after keyboard in place over the panel, typing is done in two hands with both thumbs on a dome-switch keyboard, preferably with enough detent bend in the upward bias to click over when pressed.

9. A keyboard overlay for a monolithic tablet smartphone formed as a smoothed tablet with a flat touchscreen on a front surface thereof, comprising:

a front clamshell that receives and surrounds the front surface of the smoothed tablet, including, including a form fitting front rim portion that matches the shape of a front portion of the peripheral side wall and is readily lifted and placed on the front surface of the smoothed tablet,

a planar sheet, formed of dielectric plastic, that covers the entirety of the flat touchscreen and is joined to the form fitting front rim portion, and formed in a shape and thickness that substantially transmits the shape of a capacitive finger contact patch through the planar sheet to the touchscreen,

a landscape form keyboard shape formed in the planar sheet, including key target forms located in positions on the touchscreen indexed individually to corresponding keys of a virtual landscape keyboard displayed on the touchscreen underneath the polycarbonate planar sheet, such that letter and symbol indicia of the keyboard are displayed through the key target forms, each key target form being an elongated channel-shaped cavity, having a minimum thickness substantially in the center thereof substantially transmits the shape of a capacitive finger contact patch through the planar sheet to the touchscreen, and walls surrounding the minimum thickness that attenuate the edges of the shape of a capacitive contact patch through the planar sheet to the touch screen, and including at least one key target form located in a positions on the touchscreen indexed to more than one corresponding key of more than one virtual landscape keyboard displayable on the touchscreen underneath the polycarbonate planar sheet, such that a same key target form extends across different letter and symbol indicia of different keyboards displayable through the key target form.