Ambidextrous Mouse

• US 20080297478A1
• Filed: 08/08/2008
• Published: 12/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brian Huppi, Steve Hotelling
• Original Assignee: Brian Huppi, Steve Hotelling
• Inventors: HOTELLING, Steve, Huppi, Brian
• Granted Patent: US 9,785,258 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/163
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0332 Ergonomic shaped mouse adjustable to suit one of both hands
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03544 having dual sensing arrangement, e.g. two balls or two coils used to track rotation of the pointing device

Abstract

An ambidextrous mouse is disclosed. The ambidextrous mouse is configured for both left and right handed use. The mouse may include right handed buttons on the front side of the mouse and left handed buttons on the back side of the mouse. The user may change the handedness of the mouse by rotating the mouse about a vertical axis of the mouse such that the left hand can use the left hand buttons and the right hand can use the right hand buttons. The mouse may include a handedness selection system for configuring the mouse for right handed or left handed use even though the mouse has the capability for both right and left hands.

Claims

1. A user configurable mouse, comprising:

a unibody housing having a touch sensitive surface divided into an array of independent and spatially distinct sensing points wherein at least some of the sensing points are positioned substantially around most of the periphery of the unibody housing, each sensing point being configured to generate a signal when the sensing point detects that a portion of a user'"'"'s hand is touching the sensing point, the signal including information identifying the particular location of the sensing point,

wherein signals from at least two sensing points of the array of sensing points are combined to form a hand signal that represents how the user is holding the mouse,

whereby a first hand signal corresponding to first positions of a user'"'"'s hand on the unibody housing is compared to a baseline hand signal to determine whether the user is holding the mouse with a left hand or a right hand, and wherein the operations of the mouse are configured for left handed use if the user is holding the mouse with a left hand or right handed use if the user is holding the mouse with a right hand.

2. The mouse as recited in claim 1, wherein the sensing points are capacitive sensing points.

3. The mouse as recited in claim 1, wherein configuring the operations of the mouse include adjusting the functionality of the buttons of the mouse in accordance with the handedness of the user grabbing the mouse.

4. The mouse as recited in claim 1, wherein the signal generated by each sensing point further includes information associated with how much pressure the portion of the user'"'"'s hand in contact with the associated sensing point is exerting on the sensing point.