Apparatus for data entry

An apparatus for data entry comprising:

• an ergonomically designed housing substantially the same width as a person's thigh, having a single concave curved bottom allowing the ergonomically designed housing to be in substantial contact with a person's single thigh;
• an emergency release strap system coupled to the ergonomically designed housing for securing the ergonomically designed housing to the person's single thigh, the strap system including a quick release fastener for freeing the person, especially in an emergency, the quick release fastener is coupled to a quick release cable having a first quick release cable end coupled to the quick release fastener and a second quick release cable end coupled adjacent to a first end of a cable, with the second end of the cable coupled to an aircraft instrument:
• and
• a keyboard disposed in the ergonomically designed housing such that substantially all of an entire keyboard area is positioned over the person's single thigh;
• whereby, in an emergency the quick release fastener is released by a tug produced by a combination of the cable, and quick release cable that have exceeded their end of travel, such as when the person seeks to escape the aircraft without pausing to manually release the quick release fastener.

An apparatus for data entry comprising:

• an ergonomically designed housing, substantially the width of a person's thigh, having a single concave curved bottom allowing bottom of the ergonomically designed housing to be in substantial contact with a person's single thigh;
• an emergency release strap system coupled to the ergonomically designed housing, for securing the ergonomically designed housing to the person's single thigh, the strap system including a quick release fastener for freeing the person, the quick release fastener coupled to a quick release cable, having a first quick release cable end coupled to the quick release fastener and a second quick release cable end coupled near a first end of a cable, and with the second end of the cable coupled to a remote instrument;
• a membrane keyboard, substantially the width of the person's thigh, disposed within the ergonomically designed housing and having a standard QWERTY layout disposed at the bottom of the keyboard;
• a cover disposed above the membrane keyboard and coupled to the ergonomically designed housing, protecting the membrane keyboard, and providing a writing surface when closed and allowing access the membrane keyboard when opened;
• a clamping device coupled to the cover, for securing paper to the writing surface;
• a display disposed at the top of the membrane keyboard;
• a backlighting device disposed beneath the keyboard;
• a photosensitive device disposed in the ergonomically designed housing for adjusting the backlighting device to compensate for ambient light conditions;
• and
• a force stick disposed at the bottom middle section of the membrane keyboard.

An input device for controlling a mapping, and navigation computer system comprising:

• a housing having a width that conforms to that of a typical person's thigh;
• an emergency release strap system coupled to the housing for securing the housing to a crew member's single thigh, the strap system including a quick release fastener for freeing the crew member in an emergency, by a pull to the quick release fastener that is provided through a quick release cable having a first quick release cable end coupled to the quick release fastener, and a second quick release cable end coupled adjacent to a first end of a cable, and the second end of the cable coupled to the mapping and navigation computer system, as the crew member seeks to flee:
• a thigh width keyboard disposed in the housing easily accessible to the crew member for inputting data into the mapping and navigation computer system;
• and
• a hinged cover attached to the housing that provides a writing surface when covering the keyboard, and may be flipped out of the way when keyboard access is required;
• whereby, when the cable reaches its end of travel, a pulling force on the cable occurs that is transferred to the quick release cable, which in turn transfers the pulling force to the quick release fastener, causing the quick release fastener to release the strap system from the crew member's thigh, so that the crew member is no longer tethered to an aircraft in which the mapping and navigation computer system is mounted.

An apparatus for data entry comprising:

• an ergonomically designed housing having a single concave curved bottom allowing the ergonomically designed housing to be in substantial contact with a person's single thigh;
• an adjustable elastic strap system, coupled to the ergonomically designed housing, for securing the ergonomically designed housing to the person's single thigh, the adjustable elastic strap system including an emergency quick release fastener for freeing the person in an emergency
• a quick release nylon strap having a first end coupled to the emergency quick release fastener;
• a power cord having a first end coupled to an aircraft instrument, the aircraft instrument being disposed in an aircraft instrument panel, and a second end coupled to the ergonomically designed housing, and a second end of the quick release nylon strap coupled to the power cord near the second end of the power cord;
• and
• a keyboard disposed in the ergonomically designed housing, such substantially all of a keyboard layout of the keyboard is positioned over the person's single thigh;
• whereby, the quick release fastener is released by a force applied to the emergency quick release fastener when the person attempts to escape an aircraft;
• whereby the force is created when the person moves farther away from the aircraft instrument panel, than a length of the power cord, with the force being transmitted to the quick release fastener through the quick release nylon strap that is coupled to the power cord.