Tactile computer interface
First Claim
1. A computer system, comprising:
- a computer processor, an operating system operative in connection with the computer processor, a display responsive to the operating system, a pointing device including;
a position sensor having an output line, and a tactile actuator having an input line, a pointing device driver responsive to the output line of the position sensor and wherein the input line of the tactile actuator is responsive to the pointing device driver, a general-purpose application responsive to the pointing device driver and to the operating system and in communication with the display, and wherein the pointing device driver is responsive to the general purpose application, and a profile that maps region changes associated with material displayed on the screen to tactile signals to be sent to the tactile actuator.
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Abstract
A computer system includes a computer processor, an operating system operative in connection with the computer processor, and a display responsive to the operating system. The system also has a pointing device that includes a position sensor and a tactile actuator. A pointing device driver is responsive to the position sensor, and the tactile actuator is responsive to the pointing device driver. A general-purpose application is responsive to the pointing device driver and to the operating system and in communication with the display, and the pointing device driver is also responsive to the general purpose application. The system further includes a profile that maps region changes associated with material displayed on the screen to tactile signals to be sent to the tactile actuator.
464 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A computer system, comprising:
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a computer processor, an operating system operative in connection with the computer processor, a display responsive to the operating system, a pointing device including;
a position sensor having an output line, and a tactile actuator having an input line, a pointing device driver responsive to the output line of the position sensor and wherein the input line of the tactile actuator is responsive to the pointing device driver, a general-purpose application responsive to the pointing device driver and to the operating system and in communication with the display, and wherein the pointing device driver is responsive to the general purpose application, and a profile that maps region changes associated with material displayed on the screen to tactile signals to be sent to the tactile actuator. - 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)
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24. A method of operating a computer, comprising:
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maintaining a map of a plurality of regions corresponding to regions displayed on a display screen, responding to signals from a pointing device to define a cursor position relative to the regions expressed in the map, displaying a cursor in a first of the regions displayed on the display screen, detecting a signal from a pointing device that indicates user actuation of the pointing device corresponding to a movement of the cursor from a first of the regions expressed in the map to a second of the regions expressed in the map, sending an actuation command request signal to an actuator in the pointing device in response to the detection of user actuation in the step of detecting, and generating a tactile signal in the pointing device in response to the actuation command. - View Dependent Claims (25)
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26. A computer memory for use with a computer system with a tactile user interface and a window-based operating system, comprising:
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a boundary descriptor stored in the memory and operative to instruct the system whether a boundary between portions of a display layout within a first of a plurality of different general-purpose application windows is to be associated with tactile attributes to be presented to the user, a heuristic flag stored in the memory and operative to instruct the system whether to use heuristics to determine how to associate the display layout within the first window with tactile attributes, and at least one further mapping element stored in the memory and which defines a predefined relationship between the display layout within the first window and tactile attributes. - View Dependent Claims (27)
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Specification