GB2440920A

GB2440920A - Wireless input device having touch sensitive tracking device

Info

Publication number: GB2440920A
Application number: GB0615192A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Charlie Cox
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-07-28
Filing date: 2006-07-28
Publication date: 2008-02-20
Also published as: GB0615192D0

Abstract

A wireless input device 1 for relaying commands to a computer, the input device comprising a wireless transmitter, at least one array of keys 4 and a touch-sensitive tracking device 7 for inputting of commands by a user. The keys 4 may be in the form of a QWERTY keyboard, or a reduced set of keys may be provided wherein each key corresponds to a plurality of characters and predictive text or sequential key presses may be employed. A second set of control keys 6 is preferably provided. At least one key may be user-defined. The touch sensitive tracking device may be a track ball or a touch pad. If a touch pad is employed then it may be divided into more than one area, each having a specific function such as scrolling. The device preferably includes a docking cradle (see figure 7) which can recharge the device when installed. The docking cradle may connect to a computer via a USB connector and contain memory for software storage.

Description

"A WIRELESS INPUT DEVICE" 2440920 The present invention relates to an

input device for computers and more particularly relates to a wireless compact input device.

With current trends for computer users to rely more heavily upon their computers to control their leisure activities in the home, many people now control their music, video and television experiences through their computers.

There are now many computers on the market referred to as media centres which are designed to replace conventional televisions, HlFl systems, DVD players and recorders as well as for surfing the internet and sending and receiving emails.

As computers have become more and more integrated into our lives it has become necessaty to control input to computers in a more innovative and convenient way. With advances in wireless and remote technology it is now possible to interact and control your computer wirelessly. Wireless keyboards and mice are now widely accepted as the most convenient methods of input but they have limitations in as far as generally it is necessaiy to use them in a desk type environment. A mouse is only truly effective when used on flat, planar surface and a keyboard is often bulky and requires both hands to operate quickly.

Therefore objectives of the present invention are to provide a device that is both handheld and wireless in its control. It will fully operate a computer remotely both efficiently and conveniently

I

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a wireless input device for relaying commands to a computer, the input device comprising: at least one array of keys for inputting of commands by a user; a touch-sensitive tracking device for inputting of commands by a user; and a wireless transmitter for transmitting said commands to a receiver associated with the computer.

Advantageously the at least one array of keys comprises an array of control keys.

Preferably the at least one array of keys comprises an array of alphanumeric keys.

Alternatively the array of alphanumeric keys has the configuration of a QWERTY keyboard.

Conveniently one or more keys in the array of alphanumeric keys each correspond to more than one alphanumeric character.

Preferably the more than one alphanumeric characters are selectable by one or more sequential keystrokes performed on each key.

Advantageously the more than one alphanumeric characters are selectable by predictive text software.

Conveniently the touch-sensitive tracking device comprises a pad responsive to the touch of a user.

Preferably the pad is divided into more than one region of touch sensitivity, each region being correlative with an input command.

Alternatively the touch-sensitive tracking device is a trackball.

Advantageously the wireless transmitter comprises a radiofrequency, microwave or IR transmitter.

Preferably the wireless transmitter comprises a radiofrequency transmitter.

Conveniently at least one key in the at least one array of keys is user-definable.

Preferably the device of the invention further comprises a co-operating base unit.

Advantageously the base unit comprises means for charging or re-charging a battery, said battery being located in the device.

Conveniently the base unit is connectable to the computer by means of a USB or serial connection.

Preferably the base unit comprises a memory module which holds software.

Conveniently the receiver is housed in a module connectable to the computer.

Alternatively the receiver is housed in the computer.

In a further alternative the receiver is housed by the base unit.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood, and so that further features thereof may be appreciated, the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the front side of a wireless input device in accordance with the present invention; FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the left side of the device of Figure 1; FIGURE 31s a plan view of the reverse side of the device of Figure 1; FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the touch-sensitive tracking device indicated at 7 in the device of Figure 1; FIGURE 5 is a plan view of the bottom side of the device of Figure 1; FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of the device of Figure 1; and FIGURE 7 is a perspective view of a base unit for co-operating with the device of Figure 1.

Refemng initially to Figures 1 to 6, a wireless input device I according to the present invention comprises a housing shell 2 which can be manufactured from any suitable material as commonly used in the field of personal electronics and personal computer peripherals, for example plastic or metal.

The housing shell 2 houses a first array of keys indicated generally at 3, for inputting of commands into the input device by a user of the device. In this embodiment the first array of keys 3 is an array of alphanumeric keys (each labelled as 4) for input of alphanumeric data. The first array 3 of keys 4 will be described in more detail further below.

The device I is further provided in this embodiment with a second array of keys indicated generally at 5. In this embodiment the second array of keys 5 comprises an array of control keys which are described in more detail below. An example of a control key is labelled in Figure 1 as 6.

The housing shell 2 also houses a touch-sensitive tracking device 7 which in this embodiment is a trackpad" as commonly known in the field of personal computers including laptop computers. In brief, a trackpad is a touch-sensitive panel which responds to the touch of a user, for example a tap or stroke by the user's finger. A tap or stroke is recognised differently by the trackpad as, for example, a URETURN or UENTER command or the movement of a cursor on a screen, respectively.

The device I in this embodiment is further provided with a third array of keys which is indicated generally at 8 in Figure 1. The array of keys 8 is an array of individual control keys 9 in this embodiment. The array 8 of keys 9 may more clearly be visualised in figures 2 and 3, from which it will be seen that the individual control keys 9 extend down the side of the housing 2 and onto the rear side thereof. Operation of the control keys 9 will be described in more detail below.

It can be seen from Figure 5 that in the base of the housing 2 there is provided a slot 10 which houses connectors II. The connectors 11 are for making a physical and electrical connection with correspondingly sized and shaped connectors 12 in a base unit 13 shown in Figure 7. The connection made in use between the connectors 11 in the device I and the connectors 12 in the base unit 13 allow for, for example the recharge of a battery in the device, as is known in the art from, for example, known cordless telephones.

As can be seen from Figure 7, the base unit 13 is dimensioned and shaped engagingly to receive the device I in order to cradle the device 1.

Thus the device I may conveniently be stored in base unit 13 on a desktop.

Furthermore, the electrical and physical connection made between the connectors 11 and 12 allow for the device I to be charged or re-charged whilst being stored. The base unit 13 is connectable to a computer, for example a personal computer, via a cable to a USB or serial port of the computer. The USB connection with the computer supplies the base unit 13 with power and may also be used to relay data to the computer, as set out further below.

Returning now to Figures 1 to 6, it can be seen that the embodiment provides a convenient and hand-held way of inputting a variety of data to a computer by wireless means. Data may be generated by user operation of any one or more of the arrays of keys 3, 5 and 8 and or of the trackpad 7.

Data thus generated is relayed wirelessly to a computer via a wireless transmitter in the device I to a wireless receiver associated with the computer. The wireless receiver may be physically located within the computer, as is known for example in present laptop computers for use in conjunction with wireless networks. Alternatively the wireless receiver can be located within the base unit 13. Data received in the base unit 13 may then be relayed to the computer for example via the USB connection arrangement outlined above.

The manner of wireless data transfer from the device I to the computer may be one or more selected from wireless data protocols known in the art, for example infra-red, Bluelooth or any other suitable radiofrequency technology. BlueTooth is a known specification of wireless link which uses low-power radio communications to wirelessly link telephones, computers and other network devices over short distances. An infra-red type of transfer requires line of sight to the receiver, whereas a radiofrequency variety uses radio waves that transmit in a wider pattern and does not require line of sight.

The first array of keys 3, which in this embodiment comprises a plurality of alphanumeric keys 4, may be used by a user to input aiphanumerical data. Whilst the first array of keys 3 could be a standard QWERTY keyboard, for reasons of compactness the embodiment described here has a first array of keys 3 which is similar in configuration to the set of keys which might be found on a standard mobile (cellular) telephone.

Thus each key 4 may be used to enter one or more of a multitude of alphanumerical characters depending upon how the key 4 is operated. By way of example, a single key 4 could represent 10 alternative characters.

Clicking the key 4 once would generate Ncharacter 1", whilst clicking the key 4 twice in rapid succession would generate scharacter 2, and so on.

Alternatively depressing and holding key 4 could generate a further character, for example a number. In this way a large number of characters may be generated by a relatively lower number of keys. This allows the device I to be relatively compact.

A further important function of this embodiment is the function of so-called "predictive text entry" which is well known from the field of mobile (cellular) telephony. In short, software is used to identify which keys 4 have been operated by a user and to predict from a software dictionary which word or string of characters in particular the user wishes to input. Thus, rather than being required to click each key 4 a number of times in rapid succession in order to generate a particular word or stnng of characters, the user is required merely to click each key 4 once. In the example given above, if each key 4 could represent 10 different characters, it would only be required to click each key 4 once, and the word or string to be typed would be predicted. This process reduces the number of keystrokes required to enter a particular word or string, typically by half. The piece of software which allows for predictive text entry, together with the software dictionary may be located in any or all of the device 2, the base unit 13 andlor the computer.

The second array of keys 5, which is an array of control keys 6 in this embodiment are used to enter standard commands to the device 1. For example the commands "DELETE", "SPACE" and "ENTER" are envisaged, although any such control commands known from the field of computing could be used. In addition it is possible that the control keys 6 are user-programmable so that a user can define which commands he or she wishes the control keys to represent.

Similarty the third array 8 of control keys 9 is used to enter standard computing commands to the device 1. In this embodiment the two keys 9 as shown in Figure 2 represent the commands corresponding to left and right mouse buttons as found on a standard mouse, It can be seen from Figure 3 that keys 9 extend from the side to the base of housing 2, thereby allowing one-handed operation of the device 2 by a user grasping device 2 in his or her right hand. Of course, a similar arrangement is also possible for convenient use by a left-handed user.

The trackpad 7 is shown in more detail in Figure 4. The trackpad 7 is a stationary pointing device that provides a small, flat surface over which a user slides his or her finger using the same movements as he or she would a mouse. The trackpad 7 may also be tapped by a users finger to enter a command such as TMENTER" or a mouse click. The trackpad 7 may have areas of differential sensitivity or functionality; for example the side areas of trackpad 7 may specifically control the function of scrolling down a side bar of a window on the screen of the computer.

Any of the arrays of keys and/or the trackpad 7 may be back lit. For example, one possible scheme for backlighting is as follows: Red = charging; Green = charged; Dim white = waiting for input; Bnght white = in operation; and Slow dim pulse = Standby mode -power save after 5 mins inactMty.

The device I can additionally integrate a microphone and speech control key for voice activated commands, voice tag annotation and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). This technology is used to transmit voice conversations over a data network using the Internet Protocol.

In the present specification "comprises" means "includes or consists of" and "comprising" means "including or consisting of.

Claims

CLAIMS: 1. A wireless input device for relaying commands to a computer,

the input device comprising: at least one array of keys for inputting of commands by a user; a touch-sensitive tracking device for inputting of commands by a user; and a wireless transmitter for transmitting said commands to a receiver associated with the computer.

2. A device according to Claim 1, wherein the at least one array of keys comprises an array of control keys.

3. A device according to Claim I or Claim 2, wherein the at least one array of keys comprises an array of alphanumeric keys.

4. A device according to Claim 3, wherein the array of alphanumeric keys has the configuration of a QWERTY keyboard.

5. A device according to Claim 3, wherein one or more keys in the array of alphanumeric keys each correspond to more than one alphanumeric character.

6. A device according to Claim 5, wherein the more than one alphanumeric characters are selectable by one or more sequential keystrokes performed on each key.

7. A device according to Claim 5, wherein the more than one alphanumeric characters are selectable by predictive text software.

8. A device according to any preceding claim wherein the touch-sensitive tracking device comprises a pad responsive to the touch of a user.

9. A device according to Claim 8, wherein the pad is divided into more than one region of touch sensitivity, each region being correlative with an input command.

10. A device according to any one of Claims 1 to 7, wherein the touch-sensitive tracking device is a trackball.

11. A device according to any preceding Claim, wherein the wireless transmitter comprises a radiofrequency, microwave or IR transmitter.

12. A device according to Claim 11, wherein the wireless transmitter comprises a radiofrequency transmitter.

13. A device according to any preceding claim, wherein at least one key in the at least one array of keys is user-definable.

14. A device according to any preceding Claim which further comprises a co-operating base unit.

15. A device according to Claim 14, wherein the base unit comprises means for charging or re-charging a battery, said battery being located in the device.

16. A device according to any one of Claims 14 or 15, wherein the base unit is connectable to the computer by means of a USB or serial connection.

17. A device according to any one of Claims 14 to 16, wherein the base unit comprises a memory module which holds software.

18. A device according to any preceding Claim, wherein the receiver is housed in a module connectable to the computer. Iv

19. A device according to any one of Claims I to 17, wherein the receiver is housed in the computer.

20. A device according to any one of Claims 14 to 17, wherein the receiver is housed by the base unit.

21. A device substantially as herein described, in particular with reference to the accompanying drawings.

22. Any novel feature or combination of features disclosed herein.

II