Did You Know...
...Chester Carlson was a patent agent who tired of having to make multiple copies of patent applications using the only duplication method available at the time: carbon paper. In 1959 he came up with a new copying system and took it to IBM for evaluation. The "experts" at IBM determined potential sales to be only 5,000 units because people wouldn't want to use a bulky machine when they had carbon paper. Carlson's invention was the xerography process, the company founded on the system is Xerox.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7379048 | Human-computer interface including efficient three-dimensional controls The present invention provides a method of human-computer interfacing that provides efficient implementation of intuitive controls in a three-dimensional space. The method comprises providing a three-dimensional space, characterized by x and y dimensions, together d... | 05/27/2008 |
| 7379049 | Apparatus for controlling the position of a screen pointer based on projection data A device such as an optical mouse includes a light source for illuminating an imaging surface, thereby generating reflected images. The device also includes an optical motion sensor for generating one-dimensional projection data based on the reflected images, filter... | 05/27/2008 |
| RE40341 | Controller A mouse controller includes a platform mounted on a base for a range of movement in a plane relative to the base of at least ½ inch (12.5 mm) in each of two different directions (preferably mutually perpendicular directions). A pair of flat, elongated coils (Lorent... | 05/27/2008 |
| RE40324 | Thumb actuated X-Y input device Various x-y input devices are disclosed that are adapted to allow a user to hold and operate the input device with a stress-reducing, open grip posture with the thumb pointing forward and on top of the device. One preferred embodiment discloses an input device for a... | 05/20/2008 |
| RE40323 | Touch pad mounting device for electronic system A device for mounting a touch pad in an electronic system may be constructed using a touch pad supporting case that secures the touch pad to an inner surface of the housing that encloses the electronic system. The touch pad supporting case is made of a metallic mate... | 05/20/2008 |
| 7372452 | Portable terminal capable of displaying data in an upright direction regardless of rotation of screen and method therefore A portable terminal displays data received from the exterior or internally generated on its screen in an upright direction. The portable terminal includes a video processor, a display with the screen, a sensor, and a controller. The video processor converts data int... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7372453 | Foot operated computer mouse A computer cursor control system (10) including a foot operated cursor control device (16) connected to a Central Processing Unit (CPU) (12). The cursor (20) is positioned by the operator (18) by depressing a left pedal (24)... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7371163 | 3D portable game system A portable game system that contains an LCD touchscreen that displays 3D player-controlled characters moving in a simulated 3D game world and viewed from variable 3D viewpoints. The LCD touchscreen displays autostereoscopic images (without using glasses) so that a g... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7369130 | Method and apparatus for editing image data, and computer program product of editing image data A method for editing an image on a display unit, an apparatus for executing the method and a computer program product for the method, wherein a predetermined CG object is designated in an image on the display unit, and in order to edit the image, a first command lis... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7369116 | Foot-operated key pad A foot operated data entry pad has a plurality of foot buttons. The foot buttons are used to enter data values—e.g., numbers or symbols separately or in combination. Each button is capable of entering different data values, preferably depending on the length of ti... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7369118 | Magnetic oscillation metric controller A magnetic oscillation metric controller applied to computer peripheral or electronic communication system essentially operating on a scrolling wheel for lateral metric control to provide precise, consistent, reliable and programmable adjustment oscillation sensitiv... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7369128 | Method and computer program for constructing complex structure graphic A general complex structure graph constructing method and the associated computer program is described. The generators and initiators selected by the user are used as the geometrical graphing basis. Using the transformation information of the generators and the oper... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7369277 | Image processing apparatus, drawing processing method, and computer program A drawing instruction processor refers to a bit map line table that shows whether the bit arrays in the row unit are the same in the order of concentrations. The drawing instruction processor decides whether dither patterns to be used for the adjacent specified draw... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7366540 | Hand-held communication device as pointing device A hand-held communication device capable of being configured as a pointing device employs a camera assembly for sensing movement of the device with respect to a surface, or movement of a user's finger over the camera assembly, allowing the hand-held communication de... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7365690 | Antenna device An antenna device is disclosed. An antenna such as a dipole antenna and a parallel feeder each formed of a conductor pattern are disposed on a dielectric plate. The connector is connected to the antenna through the parallel feeder. The parallel feeder has a length o... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7365734 | Control of display content by movement on a fixed spherical space The present invention addresses the above described problems by simplifying the assumptions on possible motions made by a user. This simplification process can take place by making an assumption that the motion of the device will travel along a certain preferential ... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7365738 | Guides and indicators for eye movement monitoring systems A computer system aids user positioning of a pointing device by providing an animated post warp retro guide in conjunction with an eye tracking system, based on perceived user intent, to assist a user in maintaining continuity for pointer warps. An eye tracking appa... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7365737 | Non-uniform gesture precision A motion controlled handheld device includes a display having a viewable surface and operable to generate an image and a gesture database maintaining a plurality of gestures. Each gesture is defined by a motion of the device with respect to a first position of the d... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7365740 | Scroll wheel device with a thin film type command switch A scroll wheel device with a thin film type command switch mainly replaces conventional optical grating switch during rotation of a wheel for outputting a signal. The thin film type command switch is a flexible circuit board, and is provided with a circuit arrangeme... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7365735 | Translation controlled cursor A motion controlled handheld device includes a display having a viewable surface and operable to generate a current image. The device includes a motion detection module operable to detect motion of the device within three dimensions and to identify components of the... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7362312 | Mobile communication terminal and method A mobile communication apparatus comprising processor means and a user interface is disclosed. The user interface comprises a display and an input means. The input means comprises a rotating input means arranged to provide an angular movement signal in accordance wi... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7362912 | Method and system for immediately determining incorrect pixel values of a captured image A method for immediately determining incorrect pixel values of a captured image on an optical mouse, which determines a quality of an image in a video stream captured by the optical mouse and accordingly finds a motion distance for the optical mouse. The method firs... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7362308 | Modular scroll wheel with integral detent-engaging spring tab A single-piece component rotatably supports a scroll wheel and includes an integral follower arm extending into a well within which the scroll wheel rotates. Formed on a circumferential surface of the scroll wheel are regularly spaced detents or other structures for... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7360440 | Semiconductor force sensor A semiconductor force sensor capable of preventing a diaphragm part from being broken and accurately measuring a force applied thereto in a direction orthogonal to the diaphragm part, wherein a force transmitting device for applying a measured force to the diaphragm... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7362234 | Controller for remote vehicles and craft and for virtual subjects A control system which provides directional control over various real and virtual vehicles, craft and moveable subjects. The control system includes a housing, a controller in the housing having an electronic radio control PC board or an electronic video control PC ... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7362306 | Image displaying device An image displaying device includes a display unit which displays a cursor and at least one button; an input unit for moving the cursor and for selecting the button; and a controller for controlling the display unit and the input unit. The input unit is provided wit... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7358957 | Input device with adjustable cable arrangement The present invention relates to a wired input device with an adjustable cable arrangement. The wired input device may include, but is not limited to, a computer mouse, track ball, or game controller. To enable adjustment of cable position, the wired input device in... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7358963 | Mouse having an optically-based scrolling feature A peripheral input device for controlling movements on a display screen. The peripheral input device includes a housing and an optical touch pad carried by the housing. The optical touch pad is configured to translate finger motion into movements on the display scre... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7358964 | Electromagnetic inductive system with multi-induction loop layout and battery less pointer device and its method for locating the coordinate A multi-induction loop layout of an electromagnetic inductive system is disclosed. The multi-induction loop layout of the invention comprises a plurality of inductive loops, one terminal of each inductive loop connecting to a loop switch, and the other terminal conn... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7359041 | Method and system for optically tracking a target using a triangulation technique An optical position-tracking system comprises a first light beam steering device for sweeping a first light beam through a first angular range to cause a reflection of the first light beam by a target. Additionally, the optical position-tracking system further compr... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7358956 | Method for providing feedback responsive to sensing a physical presence proximate to a control of an electronic device In a computer system, a touch sensitive input device having touch sensitive auxiliary controls can be used to provide a user with information regarding the functionality of an auxiliary control. When a user's hand approaches a touch sensitive input device, feedback ... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7355594 | Optical touch screen arrangement An optical touch screen arrangement includes two optical cameras arranged so that their planar fields of view intersect each other in a touch area situated adjacent a display screen operative for displaying visual prompts to solicit action from a user. The user's fi... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7356769 | Method and apparatus for providing inputs to a communication or computing device A miniaturized user input device or input button (14) for a computing or communication device, such as a personal digital assistant device or a mobile phone. A user provides inputs to the computing or communication device by inserting an end (12) of a ... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7355587 | Method and apparatus for computer input using six degrees of freedom A computer input device includes a camera for capturing an image of a pattern on a surface. A processor in the computer input device determines equations for lines from the image of the pattern, applies the line equations to a transform to form transformed line equa... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7355593 | Pointer tracking across multiple overlapping coordinate input sub-regions defining a generally contiguous input region A touch system comprises overlapping coordinate input sub-regions defining a generally contiguous input surface. Each coordinate input sub-region generates pointer coordinate data in response to pointer contacts thereon. When a pointer contact is made on a region of... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7355585 | Input device and information processing apparatus with such input device and cursor display control method An input device may be used with the information processing apparatus and the like, and provides an improved ease of operation in moving the cursor on the display screen. The input device includes a set of cursor keys 1 that, when activated, cause the ... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7351152 | Hand-held game apparatus, game program storage medium and game control method for controlling display of an image based on detected angular velocity A game apparatus includes a hand-held housing, a display screen, and a gyro sensor for detecting an angular velocity of a rotation around an axis perpendicular to the display screen. When the player rotates the game apparatus around the axis, a rotation angle of the... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7352360 | Multi-trail spot click-event detection method A multi-trail spot click-event detection method is disclosed, which uses a camera to capture a plurality of consecutive images from a display screen. The camera is connected to a host and sends the consecutive images to the host for determining if a click-event occu... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7352364 | Method for toggling between touch control operation modes This invention relates to a method for toggling between operation modes of a touch control device, being applied in an electronic data processing device with a touch control device and providing an electronic data processing device capable of toggling its operation ... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7352355 | Transparent overlay input device A transparent overlay input device includes a transparent non-conductive substrate, a plurality of transparent conductive electrode pairs and a transparent non-conductive cover. The plurality of transparent conductive electrode pairs are formed on the substrate and ... | 04/01/2008 |
