Control post or joystick electromechanically engaging a keypad-centered pointer device for a laptop computer or the like
First Claim
1. A system comprising a display, a keyboard, and a processor coupling said display and said keyboard, said keyboard including a matrix of actuable touch sensitive keys and a manually operable pointing device sited among and within predetermined ones of said keys, said pointing device coupling to said processor for controlling the movement of a display cursor and the selection of function as depicted on the display, said system further comprising:
- a manually grippable lever including a post attached at one end;
a mechanism coupling said post end of said lever to the pointing device for forming a unitary control structure, said coupled lever and pointing device being concurrently movable in several degree of freedom; and
circuits responsive to kinematics of the coupled lever and pointing device for communicating indicia thereof to the processor;
wherein the pointing device comprises a pointing device post having a lower portion connected to said force transducer and an upper portion adapted for engagement with a removable-user end cap, the lever including, at its lower end, a post adapted to connect to the upper portion of the pointing device post when the cap is removed.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In a laptop computer having a display, a matrix of touch-sensitive keys, and a TrackPoint® device for generating cursor and function selection on display is embedded centrally among the keys. The TrackPoint® has a removable cap into which the joystick can be mechanically and electrically coupled. This permits stable platform joystick operation, especially where the computer executes programs involving a joystick as an element of a simulated control interface.
58 Citations
4 Claims
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1. A system comprising a display, a keyboard, and a processor coupling said display and said keyboard, said keyboard including a matrix of actuable touch sensitive keys and a manually operable pointing device sited among and within predetermined ones of said keys, said pointing device coupling to said processor for controlling the movement of a display cursor and the selection of function as depicted on the display, said system further comprising:
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a manually grippable lever including a post attached at one end;
a mechanism coupling said post end of said lever to the pointing device for forming a unitary control structure, said coupled lever and pointing device being concurrently movable in several degree of freedom; and
circuits responsive to kinematics of the coupled lever and pointing device for communicating indicia thereof to the processor;
wherein the pointing device comprises a pointing device post having a lower portion connected to said force transducer and an upper portion adapted for engagement with a removable-user end cap, the lever including, at its lower end, a post adapted to connect to the upper portion of the pointing device post when the cap is removed. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. In combination with a joystick and a laptop computer, said computer comprising a display, a keyboard, and a processor coupling said display and keyboard, said keyboard including a matrix of actuable touch-sensitive keys and a manually operable pointing device sited among and within predetermined ones of said keys, said pointing device coupling to said processor for controlling movement of a display cursor and a selection of function as depicted on the display, wherein:
the pointing device comprises a first post having a lower portion connected to a force transducer and an upper portion adapted for engagement with a removable user-engageable end cap; and
the joystick comprises, at its lower end, a second post adapted to connect to the upper portion of the first post of the pointing device upon removal of the end cap.- View Dependent Claims (4)
Specification