Coded data generation or conversion – Bodily actuated code generator – Including keyboard or keypad
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-17
2001-04-10
Horabik, Michael (Department: 2735)
Coded data generation or conversion
Bodily actuated code generator
Including keyboard or keypad
C345S168000, C200S302100, C200S302200, C200S302300, C341S020000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06215420
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to keyboards and, more particularly, to novel, improved keyboards so constructed that water and other foreign substances cannot penetrate to the keyboard interior.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Disclosed in copending U.S. patent application No. 09/046,947 are appliances with a mode of operation which allows the appliance user to log onto the Internet. Particularly in the composition of e-mail messages, a keyboard type input device is advantageous, if not essential, to make e-mail messaging practical.
Appliances of the character described in the preceding paragraph are designed so that they can be used in environments—such as a kitchen—where water and other foreign substances are present. For a keyboard to be usable in such environments, exclusion of water and other foreign substances from the keyboard interior is needed. Otherwise water and/or other foreign substances might penetrate to the interior of the device and damage, if not totally ruin, internal components of the device.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
There have now been invented and disclosed herein certain new and novel keyboards which have the requisite impermeability to foreign material desired for applications where exposure to water and/or other foreign matter can be expected.
These novel keyboards have a frame and a printed circuit board (PCB) mounted to the frame. An elastomeric keypad with character and function keys overlies the PCB. Pressing a key completes a corresponding electrical circuit on the PCB; the result is the transmission of an appropriate signal to the appliance or other unit serviced by the keyboard.
A base and a battery cover complete the configuration of the keyboard and isolate its internal components from the surrounding environment.
An integral peripheral portion of the elastomeric keypad seals the gap between the keypad and the base of the keyboard unit. Isolation of the keyboard interior from the ambient surroundings is completed by two seals or gaskets. One gasket seals the gap between the base and the battery cover. The second gasket keeps water and/or other foreign material from leaking through an opening in the battery cover. This opening accommodates a fastener which removably secures the battery cover in place.
The resistance of the keyboard to penetration by foreign substances is materially enhanced by virtue of there being no openings for keys through which foreign substances might reach the interior of the keyboard. This elimination of key-accommodating openings also contributes to cost effectiveness by eliminating the costs of sealing those openings.
In addition to their impenetrability, the novel keyboards disclosed herein have the advantage of being simple, rigid, lightweight, and manufacturable at low cost.
The modest cost of the keyboards disclosed herein is in part attributable to electronics which translate a keystroke into a coded signal that controls the operation of an appliance or other unit which the keyboard serves. This circuitry includes a column and row matrix of switches matched to the keyboard keys, an array of shift registers, and a microcontroller. When a key is activated, the corresponding switch is closed, and the microcontroller acquires the information that uniquely identifies a particular key (by column and row). From this information, the microcontroller and ancillary components generate a train of digital pulses uniquely identifying the key that was activated.
The encoded signals are preferably transmitted to the associated appliance at an infrared (IR) frequency. This eliminates the need for a connecting cable and the disadvantages appurtenant to the use of a connecting cable. Also, the use of a signal in the IR range makes the orientation of the keyboard relative to the unit it serves much less critical.
Infrared (IR) transmitters are preferably located at both ends and at the back side of the keyboard. This makes the keyboard omni-directional; that is, the combination of an IR signal and multiple transmitters means that the signal can be transmitted to the appliance (or other unit) the keyboard serves generally irrespective of the orientation of the keyboard relative to the appliance.
Another novel feature of the keyboards disclosed herein is a set of communicating channels formed in the reverse (inner) side of the elastomeric keypad. When a key is depressed, the pressure in the confined space between the key and the PCB may increase to the extent that the keypad shifts relative to the PCB, making the keyboard inoperable. The channels in the keypad eliminate this problem by increasing the volume of the space into which air can flow, thereby making the key activation-associated pressure build-up so small as to be inconsequential.
If deemed necessary, shifting of the elastomeric keypad relative to the PCB can be also (or instead) eliminated by positively anchoring the keypad to the PCB.
Another important advantage of the invention, especially from the practical point-of-view, is that the external configuration of keyboards embodying its principles are free from nooks and crannies and consequently easy to clean. In fact, to this end, the keyboard can be immersed in water (or any other liquid cleaning medium), if desired.
Yet another important advantage of keyboards as disclosed herein is the elastomeric keypad is so configured that: (a) the character and functional keys are dished and guide a user's fingers into the correct positions on the keys, and (b) the keys provide tactile evidence to the user of a key having been activated.
This keyboard has the advantage over input devices such as the remote controls disclosed in the above cited '947 application that e-mail messages can be easily composed. That is a much slower and cumbersome task when a remote control is employed as, when using that device, a cursor has to be moved to a character and the character then clicked on to select the character. Also, a remote control with a full complement of letter, number, and reference keys would be perhaps impracticably large and bulky.
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Bang Gary M.
Harrison Robert G.
Knodle Daniel W.
Coach Master Int'l Corp.
Horabik Michael
Miller Nash LLP
Wong Albert K.
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