Ambidextrous single hand chordic data management device

A self contained, ambidextrous, manually-operable, chordic-keyboard data-input, data management device comprising in combination;

• (a) a pocket-sized, ergonomically-designed casing that is sized to be gripped and can be operated by either the left or right hand, with said casing capable of accommodating different hand sizes, said casing gripped by fingers of a hand in contact with a thin, top, finger-key-side of said casing and a part of a palm of said hand in contact with a thin, bottom side of said casing, and said casing gripped by a thumb of said hand in contact with a face side of said casing and the front part of said palm of said hand in contact with a back side of said casing;
• (b) a programmable microprocessor, semiconductor memory, a liquid crystal display contained within the housing, and a plurality of digital logic signal lines, said signal lines connected between said microprocessor, memory and display, said signal lines including means to communicate a signal between said microprocessor, said memory and said display;
• (c) means for introducing a multiplicity of digital logic signals into the programmable microprocessor, for displaying an alpha numeric representation of said digital logic signals on said liquid crystal display and for storing an electronic record of said logic signals in said semiconductor memory that is accomplished by pressing and then releasing, down close only, single-pole, momentary push button keys;
• four of said keys, a set of finger keys, mounted on said thin, top, finger-key side of said casing, at least one of said keys, a right hand thumb button, mounted on said face side of said casing, near the right side of said face side, inaccessible to the left hand holding said device, at least one of said keys, a left hand thumb button, mounted on said face side of said casing on the left side of said face side, inaccessible to the right hand holding said device, each of said keys being associated with only one key-down closing function, and said casing and keys configured so that all said keys can be pressed and released to the extend that all said keys are up and open while said ambidextrous device is being held only with a left or a right hand and said key press and release is accomplished without movement of said device in said hand, independent of the orientation of said hand and without dropping the device, wherein the improvement further comprises;
• means for providing downloading of software programs from a host computer into said semiconductor memory of the ambidextrous device and which allows the ambidextrous device to adopt a multiplicity of functions that is accomplished by connecting said ambidextrous device to a computer and loading a desired program into an executable space of the semiconductor memory;
• wherein the improvement further comprises;
• (a) means for providing as an option, a sequential and automated visual training program for learning the specific keys that need to be pressed to generate a desired letter or character, for learning chording;
• (b) said learning program to appear on said liquid-crystal-display when said learning program has been downloaded into the semiconductor memory from a computer and when the keys are pressed in a learning program initiation sequence,
• (c) said program to provide a suggested next character and a visual representation of the keys that have to be pressed, the chord, required to generate the suggested character, and, after the correct combination of keys, the correct chord, has been pressed, the program provides an additional suggested character with its appropriate key combination graphically displayed on the liquid crystal display;
• (d) said process of presenting seemingly random characters being repeated, with different characters so that eventually all of the characters within the desired learning routine are displayed.

A self contained, ambidextrous, manually-operable, chordic-keyboard data-input, data management device comprising in combination;

• (a) a pocket-sized, ergonomically-designed casing that is sized to be gripped and can be operated by either the left or right hand, with said casing capable of accommodating different hand sizes, said casing gripped by fingers of a hand in contact with a thin, top, finger-key-side of said casing and a part of a palm of said hand in contact with a thin, bottom side of said casing, and said casing gripped by a thumb of said hand in contact with a face side of said casing and the front part of said palm of said hand in contact with a back side of said casing;
• (b) a programmable microprocessor, semiconductor memory, a liquid crystal display contained within the housing, and a plurality of digital logic signal lines, said signal lines connected between said microprocessor, memory and display, said signal lines including means to communicate a signal between said microprocessor, said memory and said display;
• (c) means for introducing a multiplicity of digital logic signals into the programmable microprocessor, for displaying an alpha numeric representation of said digital logic signals on said liquid crystal display and for storing an electronic record of said logic signals in said semiconductor memory that is accomplished by pressing and then releasing, down close only, single-pole, momentary push button keys;
• four of said keys, a set of finger keys, mounted on said thin, top, finger-key side of said casing, at least one of said keys, a right hand thumb button, mounted near a first corner of said face side of said casing adjacent said thin bottom side of said casing, at least one of said keys, a left hand thumb button, mounted near a second corner of said face side of said casing adjacent said thin bottom site of said casing, each of said keys being associated with only one key-down closing function, and said casing configured so that all said keys can be released to the extent that all said keys are up and open while said ambidextrous device is being held only with a left or a right hand and said release is accomplished independent of the orientation of the hand without dropping said device, wherein the improvement further comprises;
• means for providing downloading of software programs from a host computer into said semiconductor memory of the ambidextrous device and which allows the ambidextrous device to adopt a multiplicity of functions that is accomplished by connecting said ambidextrous device to a computer and loading a desired program into an executable space of the semiconductor memory;
• wherein the improvement further comprises;
• (a) means for providing a completely mobile and convenient study and learning tool
• (b) said study and learning program provides means for a visual prompt of study material on said liquid crystal display of the device;
• (c) said study prompt first displays only a word or phrase without the corresponding meaning for the word or phrase from a list of words or phrases and meanings compiled on a computer, said list having been downloaded from said computer into said semiconductor memory of the device, or, said list having been manually compiled by chording in the information with said keys on said device;
• (d) means for cycling to the meaning of the word or phrase, said meaning intimately linked to the word or phrase, that is accomplished by effecting a specific combination of key closures, said meaning having been included on said list with the original download from the computer or said meaning could have been added to the list manually;
• (e) means for cycling through said list of words and phrases and their meanings rapidly and means to specifically eliminate words or phrases and their corresponding meanings from said list;
• (f) means to cycle through a modified list after items have been deleted and not show the deleted items;
• (g) means to scramble within the ambidextrous device the order of said modified list or to scramble the order of the original list and to review either of said scrambled lists without mixing up the one to one correspondence of the words or phrases and their meanings.

A self contained, ambidextrous, manually-operable, chordic-keyboard data-input, data management device comprising in combination;

• (a) a pocket-sized, ergonomically-designed casing that is sized to be gripped and can be operated by either the left or right hand, with said casing capable of accommodating different hand sizes, said casing gripped by fingers of a hand in contact with a thin, top, finger-key-side of said casing and a part of a palm of said hand in contact with a thin, bottom side of said casing, and said casing gripped by a thumb of said hand in contact with a face side of said casing and the front part of said palm of said hand in contact with a back side of said casing;
• (b) a programmable microprocessor semiconductor memory, a liquid crystal display contained within the housing, and a plurality of digital logic signal lines, said signal lines connected between said microprocessor, memory and display, said signal lines including means to communicate a signal between said microprocessor, said memory and said display;
• (c) means for introducing a multiplicity of digital logic signals into the programmable microprocessor, for displaying an alpha numeric representation of said digital logic signals on said liquid crystal display and for storing an electronic record of said logic signals in said semiconductor memory that is accomplished by pressing and then releasing, down close only, single-pole, momentary push button keys;
• four of said keys, a set of finger keys, mounted on said thin, top, finger-key side of said casing, at least one of said keys, a right hand thumb button, mounted on said face side of said casing, near the right side of said face side, inaccessible to the left hand holding said device, at least one of said keys, a left hand thumb button, mounted on said face side of said casing on the left side of said face side, inaccessible to the right hand holding said device, each of said keys being associated with only one key-down closing function, and said casing and keys configured so that all said keys can be pressed and released to the extend that all said keys are up and open while said ambidextrous device is being held only with a left or a right hand and said key press and release is accomplished without movement of said device in said hand, independent of the orientation of said hand and without dropping the device,
• wherein the improvement further comprises;
• (a) means to connect two of the ambidextrous devices in tandem;
• (b) means for said tandem devices to produce a two handed chording scheme in which a single chord including keys from both devices produces a character in one of the devices is representative of a phonetic sound;
• (c) means for recording in one of the two devices the chords from both of said devices in the order that they are generated which would result in only one of the devices having the desired information;
• (d) means to alter the tandem function via a download to both units to convert them into a new system of input to produce a ten digit phonetically based input scheme similar to court recording.

A device for generating a signal representative of elements of a human language from human hand motions comprising in combination:

• a) a casing sized to be graspable by a hand of a user;
• b) said casing including a back side, a face side opposite said back side, and a top edge extending between said face side and said back side;
• c) a plurality of buttons extending from said casing and having an unpressed position and a pressed position closer to the casing than the unpressed position, said buttons coupled to a means to generate said signal;
• d) said plurality of buttons including a plurality of finger buttons extending from said top edge of said casing in a common, finger button plane between said face side and said back side;
• e) said plurality of buttons including at least one thumb button extending from said face side of said casing, said thumb button oriented to move along a line non-parallel with said finger button plane.

A device for creating an electronic signal representing a sequence of alphanumeric characters from digit motion of either a human left hand or a human right hand, comprising in combination:

• a) a casing including a back side, a face side opposite said back side, a top edge extending between said face side and said back side, and a plane of symmetry passing substantially perpendicularly through said face side, said back side and said top edge;
• b) a plurality of finger buttons extending from said top edge of said casing;
• c) at least one right thumb button extending from said right half of said face side of said casing;
• d) at least one left thumb button extending from said left half of said face side of said casing, said right thumb button and said left thumb button oriented symmetrically with each other about said plane of symmetry;
• e) said plane of symmetry oriented such that said casing exhibits a right half and a left half which substantially mirror each other in button orientation.

A method for entering alphanumeric information into a device with either a left human hand or a right human hand, the steps including:

• providing a casing for the device including a face side, a back side opposite the face side, a top edge extending between the face side and the back side, a bottom edge opposite the top edge extending between the face side and the back side, at least four finger keys extending from the top edge of the casing, a right thumb button extending from the face side of the casing and a left thumb button extending from the face side of the casing, the right thumb button located in an orientation with respect to the finger buttons allowing the right hand of the user to grasp the casing in a first orientation, the left thumb button oriented with respect to the finger buttons so that the left hand of the user can grasp the device in a second orientation, the first orientation and the second orientation being substantially mirror-images of each other, such that the device can be grasped with the right hand of the user in a similar manner as the device can be grasped with the left hand of the user except that the right hand of the user has the right thumb button adjacent the right thumb of the user and the left thumb button is oriented adjacent the left thumb of the user,
• entering at least one chord of data into the device by moving at least one of the buttons of the device including the right thumb button,
• switching the device from a right hand operation mode to a left hand operation mode by moving the left thumb button, and
• entering at least one chord of data into the device by moving at least one of the buttons including the left thumb button.