Typewriting machines – Key-board or key lever-actuating mechanism
Utility Patent
1999-12-16
2001-01-02
Hilten, John S. (Department: 2854)
Typewriting machines
Key-board or key lever-actuating mechanism
C400S088000
Utility Patent
active
06168331
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
None.
BACKGROUND—FIELD OF INVENTION
This invention relates to keyboards, specifically to an improved version that substantially reduces size and weight while also functioning as a case for protection and transport of an electronic instrument.
BACKGROUND—DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART
Many types of electronic instruments require or benefit from human input devices such as a keyboard, for example, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular telephones, and palm-size computers. Advances in electronic miniaturization have allowed many of these electronic instruments to become much smaller in size for reasons of portability or space efficiency. However, keyboards have not kept pace with this size reduction because of the fixed size of the human finger.
For practical transport with a small electronic instrument, the keyboard should fit into a pocket or purse. Ideally, the keyboard would also function to protect and facilitate easy transport of the electronic instrument. Yet, a standard keyboard is many times larger than the portable electronic instruments. The standard keyboard usually has over 100 full-size keys, and dimensions on the order of 18″ long, 7″ wide×1 to 2″ thick. A standard key is about the size of a finger-tip.
Several approaches have been used to reduce the size of a standard keyboard. One way is to make the keys smaller which is easily done. However, smaller keys are more difficult to press without inadvertently designating adjacent keys, making it too impractical and frustrating to type at a reasonable rate. Small tools such as a pen or wand can aid in typing with small keys, but they also are awkward and slow. Likewise, writing simplified characters such as script or graffiti with a pen is tedious, slow, and requires training. There are many products available with small key keyboards and pen typing devices.
Another way of reducing the size of a keyboard is to reduce the number of keys. However, this approach is limited by practicality. For common word processing, many different characters are required. As a practical minimum, about 60 dedicated keys are needed: 26 for each letter in the alphabet, 12 for numbers, 6 for punctuation, and about 16 for functions such as shift, control and tab.
Keyboards designed specifically to work with palm-size electronic instruments usually have fewer keys, and their size is reduced accordingly. For example, the GoType keyboard (patent pending) has 67 keys to operate a 3Com Palm Pilot PDA (LandWare Inc., PO Box 25, Oradell, N.J. 07649). However, the 10×4 inch area and 1 to 2 inch thickness of this keyboard is still large compared to the size of a palm-size electronic instrument.
Other approaches to reduce a keyboard's size include segmenting a standard number of keys such that the segments can be stacked, folded, compressed, or disassembled into a more easily transported configuration (U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,940,758, 5,044,798, 4,739,451). In general, these approaches do not reduce the volume of standard keyboard, only reconfigure its profile to make it more transportable. Therefore, the problem remains that the keyboard is impractical to carry in a pocket or purse.
Thus, even the smallest keyboard with full-size keys dominates the size of miniature electronic instrument, causing the electronic instrument in its entirety to be too bulky.
SUMMARY
In accordance with the present invention, a keyboard is made compact and multifunctional by making it into a case that surrounds an electronic instrument when in the transport mode. In addition to being easy to use and quick to set-up, the keyboard serves as a protective cover and facilitating transport of the electronic instrument.
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patent: 5574481 (1996-11-01), Lee
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patent: 5653543 (1997-08-01), Abe
patent: 5818357 (1998-10-01), Motoyama et al.
patent: 5941648 (1999-08-01), Robinson et al.
patent: 5943041 (1999-08-01), Allison et al.
patent: 6088220 (2000-07-01), Katz
Hilten John S.
Nguyen Anthony H.
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