Keyboard arrangement in four groups

• US 9,235,271 B2
• Filed: 04/16/2009
• Issued: 01/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Richard Steenfeldt Berg
• Original Assignee: Hypertec Mobile AS
• Inventors: Berg, Richard Steenfeldt
• Primary Examiner(s): Eisen, Alexander
• Assistant Examiner(s): LAM, NELSON C
• Application Number:
  US12/990,600
• Publication Number:
  US 20110050581A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,462 Days
• Field of Search: 345163-179
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0213 Arrangements providing an integrated pointing device in a keyboard, e.g. trackball, mini-joystick for pointing devices integrated in a laptop computer G06F1/169; joysticks G05G9/047; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033

Abstract

An input device includes a small footprint keyboard with touch pad functionality. By disposing the touchpad and the mouse keys in the lower part and surrounded by the first and the second groups, one achieves a substantial ergonomic advantage in that the frequently used QWERTY keys are accessible, while at the same time the touch pad is within reach of any finger.

Claims

1. An input device comprising a small footprint keyboard arranged in four distinct groups including:

an upper group comprising keys arranged in a QWERTY type keyboard without numerical keys;

a lower left group comprising function keys;

a lower right group comprising numerical keys and arrow keys; and

a lower middle group comprising a touchpad with additional mouse keys,

wherein the touchpad is disposed between the lower left group and the lower right group in a lower part of the small footprint keyboard,

wherein the upper group extends over the lower left, lower middle and lower right groups and defines a width of the small footprint keyboard, and the upper group and the lower groups define a height of the small footprint keyboard, and

wherein said function keys, numerical keys and arrow keys are not duplicated in different groups.

2. The input device according to claim 1, wherein each of the function keys in the lower left group has a narrower touchable area than the keys in the upper group.

3. The input device according to claim 1, wherein the lower left group comprises regular F1-F12 keys and device specific functionality keys.

4. The input device according to claim 1, wherein a numerical key provides a different input symbol when shifted from what it provides when unshifted.

5. The input device according to claim 1, wherein a distance between adjacent groups is substantially equal to a distance between adjacent keys in a group.

6. The input device according to claim 1, wherein a bottom line of the touchpad is flush with bottom lines of the keys in the lower left and lower right groups.

7. The input device according to claim 1, wherein a distance between every two immediately adjacent keys in the four distinct groups and a distance between the touchpad and each immediately adjacent key are both substantially smaller than a width of any key.