US 8,300,013 B2Granted

Mouse with a finger triggered sensor

OwnerDuc Phu Truonginventor

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A computer input device (e.g. a mouse) with a finger-triggered sensor is described. The sensor generates input signals in addition to the conventional mouse signals generated by click buttons, tracking device and scrolling wheel. The sensor may be an optical sensor, a touch-sensitive sensor or other types of sensors. The signals generated by the sensor, either alone or in combination with other signals generated by the buttons, tracking device or scrolling wheel, may be interpreted to generate various messages for the operating system and/or application programs. The interpretation may be performed by a circuit on the input device, by a driver program on the host computer, or both. The sensor may be provided on a mouse, a laptop keyboard that has a pointing device, an external keyboard equipped with a pointing device, or on a stand-alone device that can be electrically connected to a computer through its available ports.

Claims6

Dependent claims

A system comprising a computer input device and a host computer connected to the computer input device,

the computer input device comprising:
a device movement tracking mechanism for tracking movement of the computer input device or movements relative to the computer input device;
one or more buttons capable of being triggered by being depressed by a finger;
a sensor capable of being triggered by movements of one or more fingers of a user's hand relative to other fingers of the hand while using the input device with the hand;
and
a control circuit coupled to the device movement tracking mechanism, the buttons and the sensor, wherein the control circuit generates movement signals based on movements tracked by the device movement tracking mechanism, generates button down and button up signals based on states of the buttons, and generates sensor-activated and sensor-deactivated signals based on states of the sensor;
wherein the device movement tracking mechanism, the one or more buttons, the sensor and the control circuit are contained within a single common housing, and
the host computer comprising a control section for receiving the movement signals, the button down and button up signals and the sensor-activated and sensor-deactivated signals from the control circuit of the computer input device, for generating sensor-activated and sensor-deactivated messages based exclusively on one or more of the movement signals, the button down signals, the button up signals, the sensor-activated signals and the sensor-deactivated signals received from the control circuit of the computer input device, and for forwarding the sensor-activated and sensor-deactivated messages to an application program or a hook program of the host computer via a message channel of the host computer,
wherein the control section of the host computer generates a sensor-activated message only upon receiving from the computer input device a sensor-activated signal followed by at least one movement signal.

6 more elements

A method implemented in a host computer, the host computer being connected to a computer input device, the computer input device comprising a device movement tracking mechanism for tracking movements of the computer input device or movements relative to the computer input device, one or more buttons capable of being triggered by being depressed by a finger, a sensor capable of being triggered by movements of one or more fingers of a user's hand relative to other fingers of the hand while using the input device with the hand, and a control circuit coupled to the device movement tracking mechanism, the buttons and the sensor, wherein the control circuit generate movement signals based on movements tracked by the device movement tracking mechanism, generates button down and button up signals based on states of the buttons, and generates sensor-activated and sensor-deactivated signals based on states of the sensor, the method comprising:

receiving the movement signals, the button down and button up signals and the sensor-activated and sensor-deactivated signals from the control circuit of the computer input device;
generating sensor-activated and sensor-deactivated messages based exclusively on one or more of the movement signals, the button down signals, the button up signals, the sensor-activated signals and the sensor-deactivated signals received from the control circuit of the computer input device, including generating a sensor-activated message only upon receiving from the computer input device a sensor-activated signal followed by at least one movement signal;
and
forwarding the sensor-activated and sensor-deactivated messages to an application program or a hook program of the host computer via a message channel of the host computer.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 11/953,045Filed 8 Dec 2007
Published: US 2009/0146955 A111 Jun 2009
Granted: 30 Oct 2012
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification3 codes

G06F 3/0354
Pointing devices displaced or positioned by the user , e.g. mice, trackballs, pens or joysticks; Accessories therefor: with detection of…
G06F 3/0383
Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry: signal control means within the pointing device
G06F
Computing and data processing