Keyboard with ntegrated touch surface

• US 9,459,700 B2
• Filed: 03/16/2015
• Issued: 10/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intellitact LLC
• Original Assignee: Intellitact LLC
• Inventors: Laubach, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Jr., Kenneth B
• Application Number:
  US14/659,039
• Publication Number:
  US 20150185865A1
• Time in Patent Office: 568 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a single integrated multi-functional input device (1) that provides the discrete input functionality of a keyboard to facilitate efficient text insertion operations and (2) that provides the functionality of a trackpad to facilitate efficient spatially dependent navigation in a graphical user interface (GUI) whereby each such functionality is accessible by the user'"'"'s hands positioned at the home position keys of the keyboard. More specifically, some embodiments provide an enhanced keyboard with at least one touch sensitive key and software for adapting touches applied over the touch sensitive key to emulate trackpad functionality without interfering with regular text insertion (typing).

Claims

1. A computer system comprising:

a touch sensitive key-based input device comprising at least a first key with a touch sensitive surface and a second key with a touch sensitive surface, each key of the first and second keys generating touch input when sensing touch over the key and generating down and up inputs when the key is physically depressed and released;

a processor coalescing input from the plurality of keys to perform different sets of output actions of a plurality of operational modes, wherein coalescing said input comprises entering a first operational mode of the plurality of operational modes in response to receiving first key down input indicating a press and hold of the first key for at least a defined interval, performing an output action from a first set of output actions of the first operational mode in response to receiving second key touch input while continuing to receiving the first key down input, and exiting the first operational mode in response to first key up input indicating a release of the first key, wherein exiting the first operational mode disables the second key touch input from further performing any output action of the first set of output actions.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein coalescing said input further comprises entering a second operational mode of the plurality of operational modes in response to receiving third key down input indicating a press and hold of a third key of the plurality of keys for at least the defined interval, wherein entering the first operational mode enables access to the first set of output actions and entering the second operational mode enables access to a different second set of output actions.

3. The computer system of claim 2, wherein the second key touch input determines which output action of the first set of output actions is performed when the first key is pressed and held for at least the defined interval and the second key touch input determines which output action of the second set of output actions is performed when the third key is pressed and held for at the defined interval.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the second key touch input comprises any of a user touch sliding in one of a plurality of directions over the second key, and wherein sliding the user touch in a first direction of the plurality of directions performs a first output action of the first set of output actions when in the first operational mode and sliding the user touch in a second direction of the plurality of directions performs a second output action of the first set of output actions.

5. The computer system of claim 4, wherein the second key touch input further comprises any of a user touch flicking in one of a plurality of directions over the second key, and wherein flicking the user touch in a first direction of the plurality of directions performs a third output action of the first set of output actions and flicking the user touch in a second direction of the plurality of directions performs a fourth output action of the first set of output actions.

6. The computer system of claim 5, wherein the user touch sliding comprises a touch applied at a first position of the second key and moved to a second position of the second key without immediate release of the touch, and wherein the user touch flicking comprises a touch applied at the first position of the second key and moved to the second position of the second key with immediate release of the touch.

7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein down input followed by up input from the first key within the defined interval results in insertion of a first character and down input followed by up input from the second key within the defined interval results in insertion of a second character having a different alphanumeric value than the first character.

8. The computer system of claim 1, wherein performing the output action from the first set of output actions of the first operational mode comprises performing a pointer operation involving any of a pointer movement, click action, drag operation, and scrolling operation.

9. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the first set of output actions comprises a first set of trackpad emulation functionality.

10. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the processor further performs a different second set of trackpad emulation functionality in response to receiving second key touch input without a press and hold of any key of the plurality of keys.

11. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the first set of trackpad emulated functionality includes mouse click messages and the second set of trackpad emulated functionality excludes mouse click messages.

12. A computer system comprising:

a touch sensitive key-based input device comprising a plurality of keys generating down and up inputs in response to a user physically depressing and releasing the plurality of keys, the touch sensitive key-based input device further comprising a first key of the plurality of keys with a touch sensitive surface and a second key of the plurality of keys with a touch sensitive surface located adjacent to the first key, the first key generating first touch input in response to at least a start or an end of a user touch over the first key, and the second key generating second touch input in response to at least a start or an end of a user touch over the second key; and

a processor coalescing input from the plurality of keys, where said coalescing the input comprises tracking movement of a continuous user touch from the first key to the second key in response to receiving the first touch input identifying the start of the user touch over the first key, receiving the second touch input identifying the start of the user touch over the second key while continuing to receive the first touch input identifying the user touch over the first key, and receiving the first touch input identifying the end of the user touch over the first key while continuing to receive the second touch input identifying the user touch over the second key.

13. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the processor performs a first output action in response to said tracking of the continuous user touch from the first key to the second key.

14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the processor performs a different second output action in response to tracking a continuous user touch from the second key to the first key.

15. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the first output action comprises highlighting said movement within a graphical user interface (GUI) of the computer system.

16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein highlighting said movement comprises graphically representing the coalescing of said touches in the GUI by placing a single user touch highlight over a representation of the first key in response to receiving first key touch input without second key touch input, placing a single user touch highlight between a representation of the first key and the second key in response to simultaneously receiving first key touch input and second key touch input, and placing a single user touch highlight over a representation of the second key in response to receiving second key touch input without first key touch input.

17. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the first output action comprises moving a pointer across a GUI of the computer system in relation to tracking the movement of the continuous user touch from the first key to the second key.

18. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the first output action comprises moving an indicator across a representation of the plurality of keys in the GUI of the computer system in relation to tracking the movement of the continuous user touch from the first key to the second key.

19. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the first output action comprises scrolling within a scroll area in relation to tracking the movement of the continuous user touch from the first key to the second key.