Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display peripheral interface input device – Cursor mark position control device
Reexamination Certificate
1995-11-13
2002-10-29
Lao, Lun-Yi (Department: 2673)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display peripheral interface input device
Cursor mark position control device
C345S173000, C341S027000, C341S034000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06473069
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to computer input and pointing devices used to control cursor movement on a display. More particularly, this invention pertains to touch-sensitive data input and pointing devices for data input to computers and other devices which benefit from interaction with a user.
2. Prior Art
Input devices for computers are well known in the art. There are several types of input devices including the familiar “mouse.” The mouse has become so popular because, when combined with a graphical user interface (GUI), it is so much easier to use than typed keyboard commands. Instead, a cursor is caused to move on a display screen, the cursor being controlled by movements of the mouse being translated into corresponding cursor movements. The mouse has been accepted as a “user friendly” input device for both experienced and novice computer users. The popularity which the mouse has achieved in the art can be given large credit for fostering the explosive growth of the personal computer industry since a mouse provides a simple means for users to input data to a computer.
While mice are currently the most popular non-keyboard input device, a mouse generally requires a free-rolling surface, i.e. a table top, on which it can operate. Disadvantageously, a mouse is not well suited for use in cramped spaces or with a portable computer, particularly laptop, notebook, sub-notebook, and palmtop computers. In answer to the long existing need for a more convenient input device suitable for both portable and desktop computers, various alternative input devices have been proposed. Such alternative input devices include devices commonly referred to as track balls, track pens, track point devices, as well as various devices which sense the position of a pointing object on a position sensing surface. The devices which sense the position of a pointing object on a sensing surface generally have the advantages of being simple to use, being easily integrated with current computers and other computing devices, reliability, ruggedness, compactness, and the ability to be transported and used in a variety of locations.
Numerous types of input devices utilize a position sensing surface. Examples are provided in the following patent references: U.S. Pat. No. 3,886,311, Rodgers et al. (Writing pen for detecting time varying electrostatic field produced by a writing tablet); U.S. Patent No. 4,672,154, to Rodgers et al. (Cordless stylus which emits a directional electric field from the tip of a conductive pen cartridge sensed by a digitizer tablet having an X-Y coordinate system); U.S. Pat. No. 4,680,430 to Yoshikawa et al. (A tablet-like coordinate detecting apparatus including a resistive film for determining the coordinate position data of a point on a plane indicated by the touch of a finger tip or other load); U.S. Pat. No. 4,103,252 to Bobick (A position sensing tablet with electrodes located on the boundaries of a sensing region which detects a human touch by the change in capacitive charge caused by the touch which varies the time constant of an RC network which is part of an oscillator); U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,191 to Matzke (A touch activated control device comprising individual conductive plates wherein a user's touch on the dielectric layer overlaying the plates is detected by individually charging and discharging each of the sectors in the plates in a sequential manner to determine the increased capacitance of the sector); U.S. Pat. No. 4,550,221 to Mabusth (A touch sensitive control device which translates touch location to output signals and which includes a substrate that supports first and second interleaved, closely spaced, non-overlapping conducting plates); U.S. Pat. No. 4,639,720 to Rympalski et al. (An electronic sketch pad which contains a graphics input pad having an array of transparent capacitive pixels, the capacitance characteristics of which are changed in response to the passing of a conductive tipped stylus over the surface of the pad); and, European Patent Publication No. 574,213 (A proximity sensor includes a sensor matrix array which senses changes in capacitance between horizontal and vertical conductors connected to the position sensing pad to determine x, y, & z position information).
A particularly useful and advantageous input device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,017 to Gerpheide. The Gerpheide patent discloses devices and methods which overcome the drawbacks inherent in other devices which utilize a sensing tablet or sensing surface. The devices and methods of the Gerpheide patent include a touch sensitive input pad upon which a user conveniently inputs position information with a finger. In operation, the user's finger tip is brought in close proximity to the top surface of the position sensing surface of the touch sensitive pad. The device of the Gerpheide patent detects the position of the finger tip in the x and y directions of the touch pad as well as the finger's proximity in the z direction in relation to the sensing surface. In addition to a finger, the pointing object can be any other conductive object.
The above mentioned input devices are easily distinguished from each other by focusing on a particular characteristic which each device does or does not possess. Specifically, each input device may either be used by moving a stylus across the touchsensitive surface, or a human finger, or both. The input devices of interest are only those which are usable by touching the touch-sensitive surface with a finger.
The different input devices allow for various sensing apparatus of the touch-sensitive devices to detect the finger and translate movement of the finger into corresponding movement of a cursor on a display screen. This patent has within its scope of interest those touchpad-type devices which readily provide tactile feedback to the user, and which control a cursor on a display device. Practically speaking, the greatest feedback occurs when using touchpads and tablets operated by a user's finger.
One of the advantages of using a touchpad or tablet as an input device is that space is conserved. This means that the touchpad or tablet are not moved around, as is a mouse, in order to manipulate a cursor on a display screen. Instead, a finger is moved across a touch-sensitive surface, while the touchpad or tablet advantageously remains stationary. This characteristic is very important when space constraints are premium, such as on an airplane or a crowded desk.
With the advent of these new touchpad and tablet devices have also come enhancements to make them easier to use and to provide additional benefits over mice and other input devices. In particular, the Gerpheide patent application, Ser. No. 08/413,199, teaches a SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EXTENDING THE DRAG FUNCTION OF A COMPUTER POINTING DEVICE. This patent application is particularly useful to touchpads and tablets because it makes optimum use of the available touchpad surface area. When a cursor is manipulated to drag an object across a display screen, typically the user cannot complete the operation in a single continuous stroke of a finger. The reason is that although it is common practice to make a small finger movement on a touchpad correspond to a larger cursor movement on a display by magnifying relative motion, available touchpad surface area is still finite. Therefore, in the middle of a drag operation during which the user is maintaining contact with a touchpad, the user is forced to lift the finger. In conventional computer input devices, lifting the finger terminates the drag operation. The user must reselect the object which was being dragged by the cursor, and then continue movement. Depending upon the distance to be moved, this operation might be repeated several times.
The Gerpheide patent advantageously provides new functionality to the touchpad by creating a delay in drag cancellation. Specifically, when dragging an object with a cursor, lifting the finger does not immediately result in termination of drag operatio
Cirque Corporation
Lao Lun-Yi
Morris, Bateman, O'Bryant & Compagni
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