MOBILE KEYBOARD WITH UNIQUE FUNCTION DETERMINATION BASED ON MEASUREMENT OF FINGER LOCATION
First Claim
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1. An apparatus comprising:
- a keyboard for touch typing having a home row of locations for each of 8 fingers to rest concurrently, and providing single stroke access to every letter of a full alphabet, the keyboard having a plurality of mechanical keys, each key having a surface area for actuation by a finger, and each key maps to at least three functions and each key can move at least 1.0 mm responsive to sufficient pressure by the finger, wherein the key surface remains substantially parallel to a rest plane while the key moves to access each letter associated with the key, and wherein the rest plane is a plane defined by the key surface in the absence of an actuation force;
wherein each function is associated with a zone occupying an area on the surface of the key; and
wherein a key function selection is made by interpreting the location of the finger relative to the zones during actuation; and
wherein a zone of actuation of the finger may overlap with multiple zones and a single function is selected by at least in part interpreting the pattern of finger overlap with the multiple zones.
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Abstract
A touch-type keyboard with multiple functions associated with each key which functions are uniquely selected based on finger position. Each of a plurality of mechanical keys are associated with at least three functions. Each key has a surface area for actuation by a user'"'"'s finger. The surface area is mapped to zones associated with each function. Function actuation is determined by detection of the finger position when the key is actuated. In the event of a finger overlapping multiple zones during actuation, unique function selection is determined at least in part from the pattern of finger overlap with the plural zones.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising:
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a keyboard for touch typing having a home row of locations for each of 8 fingers to rest concurrently, and providing single stroke access to every letter of a full alphabet, the keyboard having a plurality of mechanical keys, each key having a surface area for actuation by a finger, and each key maps to at least three functions and each key can move at least 1.0 mm responsive to sufficient pressure by the finger, wherein the key surface remains substantially parallel to a rest plane while the key moves to access each letter associated with the key, and wherein the rest plane is a plane defined by the key surface in the absence of an actuation force; wherein each function is associated with a zone occupying an area on the surface of the key; and wherein a key function selection is made by interpreting the location of the finger relative to the zones during actuation; and wherein a zone of actuation of the finger may overlap with multiple zones and a single function is selected by at least in part interpreting the pattern of finger overlap with the multiple zones. - View Dependent Claims (3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 17, 18, 20)
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2. (canceled)
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4. (canceled)
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10. (canceled)
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11. (canceled)
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13. An apparatus comprising:
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a keyboard for touch typing having a home row of locations for each of 8 fingers to rest concurrently, and providing single stroke access to every letter of a full alphabet, the keyboard having a plurality of mechanical keys, each having a surface area for actuation by a finger which keys can move at least 1.0 mm responsive to sufficient pressure by the finger; a sensor to detect contact with a portion of a surface area of an individual one of the mechanical keys; and a processor to interpret a pattern of contact detected by the sensor on the individual key, the pattern relative to time and location on the surface of the key independent of fully depressing the key; wherein the processor associates the pattern with at least one entry in a data structure to generate a defined output resulting from the finger contact. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 19)
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Specification