Energy efficient interactive display with energy regenerative keyboard

• US 8,665,228 B2
• Filed: 04/13/2010
• Issued: 03/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tactile Displays, LLC
• Original Assignee: Tactile Displays, LLC
• Inventors: Gray, R. O'Neal
• Primary Examiner(s): Beck, Alexander S
• Assistant Examiner(s): HERMANN, KIRK W
• Application Number:
  US12/759,410
• Publication Number:
  US 20110242009A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,421 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1635 Details related to the integration of battery packs and other power supplies such as fuel cells or integrated AC adapter
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1643 the display being associated to a digitizer, e.g. laptops that can be used as penpads details related to the relative motion of the display enclosure with respect to the body enclosure, e.g. to move between laptop and tablet PC configuration G06F1/1615
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0202 Constructional details or processes of manufacture of the input device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0219 Special purpose keyboards
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

An electronic device including an interactive display having an interactive mode and a non-interactive mode. The interactive display includes an image display device that displays a user-interactive imaged keypad in at least a portion of the image display device when the interactive display is in the interactive mode and that displays other image data in the at least a portion of the image display device when the interactive display is in the non-interactive mode, a substantially transparent physical keypad that provides tactile feedback to a user indicating location of keys within the imaged keypad, one or more permanent magnets disposed within the physical keypad, and one or more charged electrical circuit elements oriented so that movement of the one or more permanent magnets relative to the one or more charged electrical circuit elements results in generation of electricity.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

an interactive display having an interactive mode and a non-interactive mode, the interactive display comprising;

a touchscreen image display device that displays a user-interactive imaged keypad in at least a portion of the image display device when the interactive display is in the interactive mode and that displays other image data in the at least a portion of the image display device when the interactive display is in the non-interactive mode;

a substantially transparent physical keypad that is moveable relative to the touchscreen image display device so as to provide tactile feedback to a user indicating location of keys within the imaged keypad;

one or more permanent magnets disposed within the physical keypad; and

one or more charged electrical circuit elements disposed within the touchscreen image display device and oriented so that movement of the one or more permanent magnets relative to the one or more charged electrical circuit elements resulting from movement of the substantially transparent physical keypad results in generation of electricity that is fed back to the interactive display as a power source.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the physical keypad provides tactile feedback only when the interactive display is in the interactive mode.

3. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the physical keypad comprises piezoelectric material.

4. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the piezoelectric material is quartz.

5. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the physical keypad is made of a magnetostrictive material.

6. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the physical keypad is permanently modified to provide tactile feedback.

7. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the image display device is selected from one of the following types of image display devices:

liquid crystal displays, digital light processor displays, plasma displays and light emitting diode displays.

8. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising a touchscreen panel disposed over the image display device.

9. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the physical keypad is integral to the touchscreen panel.

10. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the physical keypad is separate from the touchscreen panel.

11. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the physical keypad comprises physical keys that extend through corresponding openings in the touchscreen panel.

12. The electronic device of claim 11, further comprising one or more actuators that move at least one of the physical keypad and the touchscreen panel relative to one another so that the physical keys protrude through the openings in the touchscreen panel when the interactive display is in the interactive mode.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein each of the one or more permanent magnets is disposed within a respective one of the physical keys.

14. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the one or more charged electrical circuit elements are disposed within the touchscreen panel.

15. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the one or more charged electrical circuit elements are electromagnetic coils.

16. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is selected from one of the following types of electronic devices:

cell phones, personal digital assistants, automatic teller machines, data input devices, portable devices, hand-held devices, non-portable devices, and computers.

17. An electronic device comprising:

a housing comprising a back surface and a front surface, the front and back surfaces being angled relative to one another; and

an interactive display having an interactive mode and a non-interactive mode, the interactive display comprising;

an image display device disposed at one of the back or front surfaces of the housing that displays a user-interactive imaged keypad in at least a portion of the image display device when the interactive display is in the interactive mode and that displays other image data in the at least a portion of the image display device when the interactive display is in the non-interactive mode; and

a substantially transparent physical keypad disposed at the other of the back or front surfaces of the housing that provides tactile feedback to a user indicating location of keys within the imaged keypad.

18. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the physical keypad provides tactile feedback only when the interactive display is in the interactive mode.

19. The electronic device of claim 18, wherein the physical keypad comprises piezoelectric material.

20. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein the piezoelectric material is quartz.

21. The electronic device of claim 18, wherein the physical keypad is made of a magnetostrictive material.

22. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the physical keypad is permanently modified to provide tactile feedback.

23. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the image display device is selected from one of the following types of image display devices:

liquid crystal displays, digital light processor displays, plasma displays and light emitting diode displays.

24. The electronic device of claim 17, further comprising a touchscreen panel disposed over the image display device.

25. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the physical keypad comprises physical keys that extend through corresponding openings in the second surface.

26. The electronic device of claim 24, further comprising one or more actuators that move at least one of the physical keypad and the second surface relative to one another so that the physical keys protrude through the openings in the second surface when the interactive display is in the interactive mode.

27. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the electronic device is selected from one of the following types of electronic devices:

cell phones, personal digital assistants, automatic teller machines and data input devices.