Character data input keyboard arrangement having central matrix of keys
First Claim
1. A two-handed, manually actuable, character data input keyboard arrangement having a plurality of letter and accessory keys,wherein each of said letter keys represents one letter of an alphabet, the complete set of said letter keys arranged to comprise two substantially regular arrays of complementary subsets of said set, said two arrays including all of the letters of said alphabet and other keys, said other keys comprising accessory keys,each of said arrays having three substantially straight substantially horizontal rows, said rows being substantially evenly spaced and substantially parallel,and each of said arrays having also five columns, said columns being substantially evenly spaced and substantially parallel;
- each of said arrays primarily augmented by at least one row of one or more accessory keys, said last-mentioned row substantially parallel to, and adjacently beneath, the bottommost row of the respective array,each of said primarily-augmented arrays secondarily augmented by one or more columns of keys, located lateral and adjacent to the lateralmost column of the respective primarily augmented array,each of said secondarily-augmented arrays thirdly augmented by at least one row of accessory keys, said last-mentioned row substantially parallel to, and adjacently above, the topmost row of the respective secondarily-augmented array,and each of said thirdly augmented arrays, defining clusters, spaced horizontally apart from each other and separated by a matrix of keys comprising at least one column of keys including at least four keys therein,wherein the bottommost row of said matrix is readily accessible by the thumbs from their home positions on the bottommost row of said primarily-augmented arrays,and such that the remaining rows of keys in said matrix are readily accessible by the index fingers from their home positions in the middle rows of said arrays.
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Abstract
A manual data entry keyboard, having left hand and right hand clusters of keys, is separated medially by an interposed, auxilliary matrix of keys comprising an [m×n] array of keys, where m and n are integers--m at least 4, n at least 1. In one embodiment the matrix includes a [5×2] array of keys which serve as a numeric keypad, accessed by the index fingers and thumbs, obsoleting the [1×10] array of number keys commonly included with the QWERTY cluster in existing English language keyboard arrangements. Top row accessory characters may be entered without the shift and are grouped in clusters in the top row and positioned to reflect the order of entry of elements of these groups in the usual flow of data. Punctuation keys are clustered in the right hand area of the keyboard, and except for the period and comma, are readily accessed by the little finger. Columns of keys, additional to the [5×2] keypad may be included in the keyboard, either or both medially and/or laterally to the two columns of the [5×2] array. Such added columns may serve as cursor control and editing keys, arithmetic operator keys, numeric punctuation keys, etc. Numeric entry is facilitated in arrangements that provide the [0] and [1] keys in the bottom row to be served by the thumbs while all fingers maintain home position on the keyboard.
64 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A two-handed, manually actuable, character data input keyboard arrangement having a plurality of letter and accessory keys,
wherein each of said letter keys represents one letter of an alphabet, the complete set of said letter keys arranged to comprise two substantially regular arrays of complementary subsets of said set, said two arrays including all of the letters of said alphabet and other keys, said other keys comprising accessory keys, each of said arrays having three substantially straight substantially horizontal rows, said rows being substantially evenly spaced and substantially parallel, and each of said arrays having also five columns, said columns being substantially evenly spaced and substantially parallel; -
each of said arrays primarily augmented by at least one row of one or more accessory keys, said last-mentioned row substantially parallel to, and adjacently beneath, the bottommost row of the respective array, each of said primarily-augmented arrays secondarily augmented by one or more columns of keys, located lateral and adjacent to the lateralmost column of the respective primarily augmented array, each of said secondarily-augmented arrays thirdly augmented by at least one row of accessory keys, said last-mentioned row substantially parallel to, and adjacently above, the topmost row of the respective secondarily-augmented array, and each of said thirdly augmented arrays, defining clusters, spaced horizontally apart from each other and separated by a matrix of keys comprising at least one column of keys including at least four keys therein, wherein the bottommost row of said matrix is readily accessible by the thumbs from their home positions on the bottommost row of said primarily-augmented arrays, and such that the remaining rows of keys in said matrix are readily accessible by the index fingers from their home positions in the middle rows of said arrays. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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Specification