Keyboard having touch sensor keys for conveying information electronically
AssigneeRowland Institute for Science
InventorsRobert L. Savoy, J. Winfield Hill
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A keyboard for an electronic device includes a first key having a touch surface which, in one mode, is responsive to pressing by a user's finger to indicate a selection associated with the first key, and an array of sensors exposed at the touch surface to detect, in another mode, the location where a finger is positioned on the touch surface as an indication of information to be conveyed by a user. The keyboard also includes a second key having an array of sensors which are exposed at a touch surface of the second key and which are sensitive to manipulations of a finger on the touch surface to provide signals used for switching the first key from the one mode to the other mode.
Claims26
A keyboard for a electronic device comprising
- a first key having
- a touch surface which, in one mode, is responsive to pressing by a user's finger to indicate a selection associated with the first key, and
- an array of sensors exposed at the touch surface to detect, in another mode, the location where a finger is positioned on the touch surface as an indication of information to be conveyed by a user, and
- a second key having an array of sensors which are exposed at a touch surface of the second key and are sensitive to manipulations of a finger on the touch surface to provide signals for switching the first key from the one mode to the other mode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.