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US 2013/0154938 A1Published application
Combined touchpad and keypad using force input
AssigneeSynaptics Incorporated
InventorsKevin Arthur, Jerry Shao
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods, systems and devices are described for determining positional information and force information for input objects using an input device. The various embodiments provide improved user interface functionality by detecting positional information and force information at a sensing surface having a configurable sub-region, and operating the input device in either a touchpad mode or a keypad mode based on whether the force information exceeds a threshold value.
Claims20
An input device comprising:
- a sensing surface configured to detect positional information and force information for an input object, wherein the sensing surface comprises at least one sub-region and wherein the position of the sub-region within the sensing surface is configurable;
- and
- a determination module configured to select one of a first a mode of operation comprising a touchpad mode and a second mode of operation comprising a keypad mode based on whether the force information exceeds a threshold value, wherein the input device is configured to be operated according to the selected mode of operation.
An input device comprising:
- a display;
- a sensing region configured to detect positional information and force information for an input object in the sensing region, wherein the sensing surface comprises a sub-region and wherein the position of the sub-region within the sensing surface is configurable;
- and
- a determination module configured to position a cursor on the display in accordance with the positional information when the force information is below a threshold value, and to select the sub-region when the force information is above the threshold.
1 more element
A program product comprising:
- A) an input device sensor program configured to:
- detect positional information and force information for an input object interacting with a sensing surface of the input device;
- select one of a first a mode of operation comprising a touchpad mode and a second mode of operation comprising a keypad mode based on whether the force information exceeds a threshold value;
- and
- operate the input device according to the selected mode of operation;
- and
- B) non-transitory computer-readable media on which the input module sensor program resides.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.