Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display peripheral interface input device
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-24
2004-01-20
Shankar, Vijay (Department: 2673)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display peripheral interface input device
C345S157000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06680728
ABSTRACT:
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not Applicable.
REFERENCE TO MICROFICHE APPENDIX
Not Applicable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Generally speaking, there are two kinds of data input tools used with computers, a keyboard and a cursor control device. The present invention is a cursor control device which can be conveniently and ergonomically operated while being held in the user's hand or while resting on a work surface.
There are various types of cursor control devices used today; most popular are the mouse, the trackball, the touchpad, and, of more recent development, the isometric post and the navigation dome. A mouse is a substantially immobile device which includes a ball that depends from its underside and rests upon a flat work surface. The ball is rotated while in contact with the work surface by movement of the mouse by the user across the work surface. A trackball, which is somewhat analogous to an upside down mouse, houses a ball which protrudes through the top of the trackball body and is manipulated by the user's fingers, hand or thumb. With both the mouse and trackball, rotation of the ball causes the transmission of data to the computer which causes a corresponding movement of the cursor on the computer screen. Touchpads are substantially immobile bases having a touch-sensitive membranous sensor pad located on a top-surface thereof. When a user touches a portion of the pad, the portion either mechanically depresses or registers a change in temperature effected by heat from the user's finger, to sense the location on the pad with which the user made contact. Circuitry within the touchpad translates the sensed location into a command to the computer to control the location of the cursor on the computer screen. Some touchpads are pressure sensitive. That is, they are capable of providing a signal representative of the force that the user is bringing to bear on a portion of the touchpad.
A fourth type of popular cursor control device is the isometric post: a small force-sensing stick. An isometric post is also commonly referred to as an erasure-head pointing device, such as IBM's TRACKPOINT, and is typically situated among the keys of the keyboard. The isometric post is operated by the user applying directional pressure with a single finger on the top of the post. The force applied to the post by the user causes the transmission of data to the computer to control the cursor on the computer screen. An additional means of controlling a cursor is a “navigation dome” located on the top of the device which uses a sensing mechanism incorporating non-contacting magnetic technology.
In addition to a means for controlling the cursor, cursor control devices also consist of buttons or keys to transmit additional data to the computer. Depending upon the location the user has placed the cursor, the keys can be used to achieve such tasks as activation of menus, selection of menu choices, movement of screens and windows, blocking and moving text and data, drawing and reshaping lines and objects and the “pointing” and “clicking” technique used to work with programs based in graphical user interfaces.
In addition to a means for controlling the cursor and buttons, some cursor control devices contain scroll wheels. Scroll wheels permit the up and down scrolling of windows on the computer screen without requiring the “pointing and clicking” technique otherwise required in a graphical environment. Scroll wheels are typically located on the top of the device, near the buttons so that the same finger or fingers used to activate the buttons can manipulate the scroll wheel. The scroll wheel consists of a spring-loaded supplementary control in the body of the device for generating additional transmissions to the computer which specifically control the window scrolling rate and direction. Again, because the electrical and computer interface functions of the device of the present invention are not claimed, they are described only briefly herein, merely for the purpose of making a full disclosure.
Originally, because computer programs were primarily operated by the user entering text, the most used computer data input tool was the keyboard. The cursor control device was mainly used to control the location the text was entered. While today the keyboard remains an integral instrument in operating computers, the growing popularity of certain operating systems (such as MICROSOFT WINDOWS and MAC OS) and certain types of applications (such as design tools, computer games, voice-driven software and GUIs, such as the Internet) has placed an increasingly heavy demand for the functions performed by cursor control devices. While the primary function of the keyboard is to enter text into the computer, almost all computer programs now provide a graphical environment which necessitates almost constant movement of the cursor. Consequently, the importance of the cursor controller and the amount of time the user spends using it has greatly increased to become at least equivalent to that of the keyboard. In fact, research directed by Peter W. Johnson of University of California Berkeley/San Francisco Ergonomics Lab, indicates that for the average user the cursor control device consumes one-third to two-thirds of the working time on a computer.
However, as originally conceived, cursor control devices were not designed for the protracted and extensive use which is now required of them. Instead, these devices were intended to have a secondary role complimentary to the primary data input tool, the keyboard. Because of their mere secondary role, cursor control devices were meant to rest substantially immobile on the work surface, to the side of the keyboard. This position allowed the user's hand to be quickly and conveniently moved from the keyboard to the cursor controller and then back to the keyboard which occupied most of the user's time. The efficacy of this design of the cursor control device as merely secondary to the keyboard has been made obsolete by the new and extensive importance of using the cursor control device.
The increased importance cursor control devices play in the operation of computers has revealed several design deficiencies of those devices, mainly being inferior ergonomics. The genesis of these problems is the fact that to be operated, the cursor control devices must be kept on a flat work surface, typically the desk top. Consequently, the cursor control device effectively acts as an “anchor” which forces the user to stay in a position from which he or she can reach and operate the device. The result is that the position of the user's entire body is dictated by the location of the cursor control device on the work surface. To reach and operate the device, then, the user must lean forward from his or her seated position and must bend his or her arm at the elbow, forwardly extend his or her forearm, wrist, and hand and keep this unsupported position the entire time the device is being used. Maintaining this position is uncomfortable and tires the user's back and muscles of the shoulder, elbow, forearm, wrist and hand.
Prior art cursor control devices suffer other deficiencies, such as forcing the user's hand into an unnatural position with his or her palm facing downward. This position is significantly inferior to the ergonomically preferred neutral (or sideways) position. Furthermore, actuating the buttons on these devices causes the hand fatigue since the buttons typically require the unnatural movement of the user's fingers in a downward, instead of inward, direction. This is particularly troublesome when a button on the cursor controller must be held down for an extended period of time, such as to “drag” an item across the computer screen.
As the cursor control device occupies even greater amounts of the computer user's time these ergonomic deficiencies become more pronounced and problematic. The prolonged and repetitive use of cursor control devices cause the user discomfort, fatigue, and pain. After a prot
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