Housing as an I/O Device
First Claim
1. Apparatus comprising:
- a display;
a housing; and
a virtual keyboard comprising;
a plurality of sensors mounted within the housing, wherein the housing overlaps and hides the plurality of sensors from view, and wherein the plurality of sensors receive input through the housing; and
a plurality of output devices mounted within the housing, wherein the plurality of output devices generate output in response to the input received by the plurality of sensors through the housing.
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Abstract
There are provided systems, devices and methods for operating a housing for an electronic device as an input/output (I/O) device. In one embodiment, an electronic device includes a housing configured to function as an integrated housing and I/O device and one or more sensors obscured by a panel of the housing. The one or more sensors being configured to sense via the panel of the housing. The electronic device further includes a processing unit communicatively coupled to the one or more sensors and configured to interpret electrical signals generated by the one or more sensors. One or more output devices are communicatively coupled to the processing unit and configured to provide an output in response to the one or more sensors generating an electrical signal.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. Apparatus comprising:
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a display; a housing; and a virtual keyboard comprising; a plurality of sensors mounted within the housing, wherein the housing overlaps and hides the plurality of sensors from view, and wherein the plurality of sensors receive input through the housing; and a plurality of output devices mounted within the housing, wherein the plurality of output devices generate output in response to the input received by the plurality of sensors through the housing. - View Dependent Claims (2, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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3. The apparatus defined in 2, wherein the plurality of output devices comprises a plurality of haptic output components that generate haptic feedback in response to the user finger input.
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8. A keyboard comprising:
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a housing layer; an array of capacitive sensors extending across the housing layer, wherein the capacitive sensors are configured to receive user touch input supplied to the housing layer; and an array of haptic output components extending across the housing layer that are configured to provide haptic feedback through the housing layer in response to the user touch input received by the capacitive sensors. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An electronic device comprising:
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a housing that forms a reconfigurable input surface configured to receive user touch input in a plurality of different input modes; an array of sensors that extend beneath and are hidden from view by the reconfigurable input surface, wherein the array of sensors detect the user touch input through the reconfigurable input surface; and an array of light sources that extend beneath the reconfigurable input surface and illuminate the reconfigurable input surface with lighted symbols that change based on the input mode. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification