Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display peripheral interface input device – Including keyboard
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-12
2001-12-18
Shalwala, Bipin (Department: 2673)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display peripheral interface input device
Including keyboard
C400S472000, C400S473000, C400S490000, C400S491200, C400S492000, C341S022000, C361S689000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06331850
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to keyboard assemblies for information devices, and more particularly to collapsible/expandable keyboards for such devices.
2. Background Information
Small portable computers or “palmtops” can be conveniently carried in a purse or coat pocket. Recent advances in shrinking the size of electronic components will soon allow these devices to perform all the functions of today's desktop computers. Additionally, a whole new category of “information appliances” has begun. These include portable wireless telephone/computers which can be used to access the Internet to send and receive e-mail and to interact on the World Wide Web.
Powerful and versatile as these devices are becoming, their use is greatly limited by non-existent or inadequate keyboards. Palmtops which rely on handwriting recognition have proven to be awkward, slow and error prone. Miniature keyboards commensurate with the size of small appliances are likewise frustrating, especially if the user needs to write something consisting of a few sentences or more. Voice recognition suffers from frequent errors and creates a lack of privacy when other people are near the speaker whose voice is being recognized. Further, voice recognition may not be used in all circumstances (e.g. the process of taking notes of a lecturer's lecture in an otherwise quiet auditorium may not be possible with voice recognition input systems but it is usually possible with a keyboard).
Keyboards for desktop and high quality laptop computers allow the user to comfortably, privately, quietly, and quickly “touch-type.” They have a number of desirable features in common. Most keyboards have a standard “QWERTY” layout which requires no learning on the part of the user (once the user has become familiar with this layout). The keys, which usually number
84
for a laptop computer, have full-sized tops whose center-to-center spacing is about 19 mm for both the horizontal and vertical axes. The length of the keyboard (the distance from the left edge of the left-most key to the right edge of the right-most key) is about 11 inches. Any reduction in this spacing has proven to slow down and frustrate the touch-typist. Additionally, the keys of these keyboards have sufficient “travel,” the distance the key moves when it is pressed, and tactile feedback, an over-center buckling action, that signals the user that the key has been pressed sufficiently.
Efforts have been made to provide keyboards that contain these features, yet collapse to a reduced size. Some designs only slightly reduce the size of “notebook” computers when folded. These are much larger than palmtop computers. IBM's “ThinkPad 701C” notebook computer folds in a single operation to reduce the keyboard case length (measured from the edges of its case) from 11.5 inches to 9.7 inches. Also see U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,787 which describes a foldable keyboard. U.S. Pat. No. 5,519,569 describes a keyboard which folds in multiple steps from a length of 10-11 inches to 6.125 inches. U.S. Pat. No. 5,654,872 describes a keyboard with keys that collapse when the lid is closed to allow a thinner notebook computer.
Other designs of keyboards include those where the keyboard is hinged at the center of its length and folds about a vertical axis. U.S. Pat. No. 5,457,453 describes a keyboard that folds to greater than half its length. U.S. Pat. No. 5,574,481 describes a keyboard that folds in half and appears to have a non-standard layout of keys (the keys on the center fold axis have edges which lie in a straight line). U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,543 describes a keyboard that folds in half. U.S. Pat. No. 5,502,460 describes a keyboard with two vertical hinges that folds to greater than half its unfolded length.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,044,798 and 5,141,343 describe keyboards whose keys have user-selectable variable spacing. These designs have non-standard layouts (e.g., the “Enter” key is rotated ninety degrees) and no self-containing housing. Their frame is made of telescoping sections that create a good deal of friction and could easily bind.
Keyboards electrically communicate information to information appliances. Most keyboards have printed circuit boards or membranes located underneath their keys. When a key is pressed it shorts the circuits in a particular column or row. The matrix of columns and rows that make up a keyboard is continually scanned by a controller to determine which keys have been pressed. Such an arrangement is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,070,330. The electronic configuration of most keyboards thus necessitates a matrix of conductors that limits the collapsing of the keyboard to a certain size.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides, in one example of the invention, a collapsible keyboard which includes a support element and a plurality of keys. The support element can be extended to provide a structure having a first footprint and contracted to a structure having a second footprint, where the second footprint takes less surface area than the first footprint. The plurality of keys are coupled to the support element. Each of these keys includes a key top, which is designed to be pressed by a user, and a key base which is coupled to the key top. The key top and the key base rotate, in one example of the invention, on a pivot point which couples the key base to the support element when the support element is extended and contracted.
In one exemplary embodiment, the invention provides a keyboard assembly that is capable of collapsing into its own protective housing. The housing consists of two symmetrical hollow box-shaped members, opened on one side. When closed, it forms a dust-proof enclosure surrounding a keyboard mechanism. When the keyboard assembly is in its collapsed position or state, it measures about 4.0-4.7 inches vertically (depending on the inclusion and height of “function” keys), 3.25 inches horizontally, and 1.25 inches deep. In the collapsed state, the keyboard assembly can be carried in a purse or coat pocket along with a palmtop computer or other information appliance, such as a cellular phone. Its small size allows it to be conveniently stowed inside an appliance, such as a desktop telephone or television. When used with desktop computers or other information appliances, the collapsed state may be used to better utilize desk space when the computer is not in operation.
Expanding the keyboard from a collapsed state to a keyboard having conventionally spaced keys is done in a single step in one example of the invention. The user simply pulls the two halves of the protective housing apart. The housing remains attached, so it cannot be misplaced, and so the unit can be enclosed and protected in an instant. In one embodiment, when the housing is opened, a leveling device automatically raises the rear of the keyboard for a comfortable angle, similar to that of desktop keyboards. The housing may also include a cursor control device or a pointing device such as a touch-sensitive trackpad or joystick-like device such as IBM's TrackPoint (found on IBM's ThinkPad laptop computers). This cursor control device is, in one exemplary embodiment, selectively positionable on either the left or the right sides of the keyboard.
In one particular embodiment of the invention, the mechanical action of the keyboard mechanism of the keyboard assembly is designed to feel virtually the same as a desktop keyboard so the user can touch-type quickly and comfortably with no learning required. The keys of, for example, an 84-key keyboard are arranged in the standard “QWERTY” layout, with key tops being full sized. The center-to-center pitch of the keys is the standard 19 mm. The distance from the left edge of the left-most key to the right edge of the right-most key is about 11 inches. Key travel (the distance the key moves when pushed down) is approximately 3 mm, the same as high-quality laptop keyboards. When a key is pressed there is also an over-center “buckling” of an elastomeric s
Olodort Robert
Tang John
Blakely & Sokoloff, Taylor & Zafman
Kovalick Vincent E.
Shalwala Bipin
Think Outside, Inc.
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