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US 8,525,794 B2Granted
Device and technique for assigning different inputs to keys on a keypad
AssigneePalm, Inc.
InventorPeter Skillman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Embodiments of the invention provide an effective keypad assembly and keypad layout for mobile computing devices. In particular, embodiments of the invention provide keyboard layouts and designs. Additionally, embodiments described herein provide for stack components to make keyboards operable on small-form factor devices.
Claims16
A mobile computing device comprising:
- a housing;
- one or more processors contained within the housing, wherein the one or more processors operates the mobile computing device in either a first mode or a second mode;
- a keypad coupled to the one or more processors and having a first set of keys and a second set of keys, the first set and the second set including at least some of the same keys, wherein the second set comprises a plurality of key pairs, each key pair including a first key and a second key, each key pair corresponding to a numeric character entry;
- wherein when the one or more processors operates the mobile computing device in the first mode, the one or more processors register actuation of each individual key of the first set as a non-numeric character entry corresponding to the individual key, the corresponding non-numeric character entry for each individual key being different from the corresponding non-numeric character entry for each of the other keys;
- wherein when the one or more processors operates the mobile computing device in the second mode, the one or more processors registers, for each key pair, (i) individual actuation of the first key of that key pair, (ii) individual actuation of the second key of that key pair, and (iii) concurrent actuation of the first and second key of that key pair, as the corresponding numeric character entry of that key pair, the corresponding numeric character entry being different for each of the other key pairs;
- and
- wherein the one or more processors ignore actuation of any keys that are not in the second set when the one or more processors operate in the second mode.
4 more elements
A keypad for a mobile computing device, coupled to one or more processors, and comprising:
- a plurality of key pairs, each key pair including:
- a first key, wherein user interaction with the first key registers a first input with the one or more processors when the mobile computing device is operated in a first mode, and user interaction with the first key registers a second input with the one or more processors when the mobile computing device is operated in a second mode,
- a second key, wherein user interaction with the second key registers the same second input as the first key with one or more processors when the mobile computing device is operated in the second mode, and user interaction with the second key registers a third input, different from the first input, with one or more processors when the mobile computing device is operated in the first mode, and
- wherein concurrent user interaction with the first and second key registers the same second input as each of the first and second keys with the one or more processors when one or more processors of the mobile computing device is operated in the second mode;
- wherein the first input and third input correspond to non-numeric entries, and the second input corresponds to a numeric entry.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.