Did You Know...
...that power steering was invented by independent inventor Francis W. Davis? As chief engineer in the 1920s of the truck division of the Pierce Arrow Motor Car Company, he saw how hard it was to steer heavy vehicles. So that he would be able to keep the profits from his future invention, Davis left his job, rented a small engineering shop in Waltham, Mass., and developed a hydraulic power steering system that led to power steering.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8115736 | Ball mouse A ball mouse includes a ball, two metallic encoder disks each defining a plurality of through holes, two drive rollers engaged with the ball and transferring motion of the ball to respective encoder disks, two electromagnetic signal generators for generating two ele... | 02/14/2012 |
| 7872638 | Motion determining apparatus and storage medium having motion determining program stored thereon Acceleration data representing accelerations in at least two axial directions which is output from an acceleration sensor included in an input device is obtained. Based on a shift of the acceleration data, a motion direction of the input device with respect to the d... | 01/18/2011 |
| 7554527 | Sensing apparatus and method There is described an apparatus which monitors the orientation of or the rotational movement of a substantially spherical body. The apparatus comprises a substantially spherical body with at least one resonant circuit fixed thereto. A transmit aerial generates an al... | 06/30/2009 |
| 7429975 | Magnetic oscillation metric controller A magnetic oscillation metric controller with return design comprised of a scrolling wheel mechanism, a dancer, a permanent magnet, a Hall sensor and a return structure to drive the permanent magnet by oscillation of the scrolling wheel mechanism to generate signals... | 09/30/2008 |
| 7429980 | Oscillation and rotation metric controller An oscillation and rotation metric controller comprised of a scrolling wheel mechanism to oscillate for driving magnetic poles of a permanent magnet to displace thus to generate signals of changed magnetic field, signals being retrieved to achieve lateral oscillatio... | 09/30/2008 |
| 7423631 | Low-cost haptic mouse implementations Low-cost haptic interface device implementations for interfacing a user with a host computer. A haptic feedback device, such as a mouse or other device, includes a housing physically contacted by a user, and an actuator for providing motion that causes haptic sensat... | 09/09/2008 |
| 7414615 | System and method for inputting characters using a directional pad A system and method for enabling a user to input characters using a directional pad of a computing device. The directional pad is configured to generate directional inputs. The invention creates mappings for the directional inputs where each of the mappings associat... | 08/19/2008 |
| 7389454 | Error detection in user input device using general purpose input-output A method and apparatus are disclosed for using a general purpose input-output (GPIO) interface to test a user input device such as a wireless keyboard or mouse. Operation of key-scan logic can be tested by the GPIO interface by temporarily disconnecting the outputs ... | 06/17/2008 |
| 7388575 | Mechanical wheel instruction apparatus A mechanical wheel instruction apparatus to replace the conventional wheel structure that uses a grating switch to output signal. The invention has a mechanical conductive terminal set to output instruction signals when become conductive. The apparatus of the invent... | 06/17/2008 |
| 7385587 | Asymmetrical computer mouse design with extended thumb button An ergonomic computer mouse has an arcuate top surface, a front end, a rear end, and left and right sidewalls. The top surface has a circular side view profile that extends from the front end to the rear end and is contiguous with finger buttons on the mouse. The su... | 06/10/2008 |
| 7378990 | Laser locus ball apparatus for a wireless keyboard A laser locus ball apparatus for a wireless keyboard includes a base, a laser source generator, a locus ball, a light sensing element and a key cover. The base provides a lateral plate with a locating hole to locate the laser source generator and has another two opp... | 05/27/2008 |
| 7369120 | Input pointer and input device An input pointer includes two top-surface switches and a rotary switch on the top surface of the main body, a protrusion on an imaginary center line on the bottom surface of the main body, and two bottom-surface switches at the sides of the protrusion. The two top-s... | 05/06/2008 |
| 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 |
| 7362309 | Pointing device with flexible shape A pointing device includes a housing, a main body and an input section. The housing contains an upper cover and two extending arms, which extended from the upper cover. The main body is housed under the upper cover and located between the two extending arms of the h... | 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 |
| 7358958 | Method for locating a light source relative to optics in an optical mouse An optical tracking assembly for an optical mouse includes a light source, an optical sensor chip, and an integral optics assembly. The integral optics assembly includes lenses and alignment features receiving the light source. The alignment features center the ligh... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7355588 | Light control module and method thereof A light control module appropriate for an optical pointing device. The light control module comprises a processing unit outputting a first signal and a second signal, a photo sensor unit executing a capture operation according to an impulse of the first signal, and ... | 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 |
| 7339575 | Optical pointing device with variable focus A method and apparatus for focusing an image of a work surface on an optical sensor array in an optical pointing device. Light from a region of the work surface is captured by an imaging system incorporating an optical coupling system and the optical sensor array. T... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7330923 | Input devices and methods of operating same Input devices and methods of operating the same are described. In one aspect, an apparatus includes a housing, a display screen, a main input device, a wireless receiver, a carrier bay, and an auxiliary input device. The main input device translates user manipulatio... | 02/12/2008 |
| 7327348 | Haptic feedback effects for control knobs and other interface devices The present invention provides haptic sensations for a haptic feedback device and especially for a rotational device such as a knob. Force effects such as a hill force effect and barrier force effect allow easier selection of menu items, menus, values, or other opti... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7324090 | Modular scroll wheel with integral detent-engaging sprint 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... | 01/29/2008 |
| 7322011 | System and method of adjusting display characteristics of a displayable data file using an ergonomic computer input device An ergonomic pointing device, such as a mouse, is coupled to a computer having a visual display device. As a user rotates a roller associated with the mouse, the mouse generates computer signals that are interpreted by an operating system and software applications r... | 01/22/2008 |
| 7320112 | Information processing apparatus and method, and information processing program Executing a desired processing immediately by a simple operation using a jog dial for example. The display unit (3) has a jog dial (4) (a first operating means) and a back button (5) (second operating means) provided vertically at the right uppe... | 01/15/2008 |
| 7312789 | Input device with extendible body An input device having an extendible body or housing suitable for a hand-held operation. The input device includes a housing assembly including a palm-rest section and a base section opposite to the palm-rest section, a switch mechanism accommodated in the housing a... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7312590 | Model railroad velocity controller Control over velocity of a model train may be determined based upon the speed of rotation of a control knob. A processor receives electronic pulses indicating rotation of the knob beyond a predetermined increment of angular distance. The processor calculates the amo... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7302350 | Selection of software and hardware functions with a force/torque sensor A force-moment sensor (1) is used as a switch, with which, depending on the introduction of forces and moments onto an operating part (5) of the force-moment sensor (1), software or hardware functions of a device (2, 2′) to be controlle... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7302280 | Mobile phone operation based upon context sensing A mobile device is provided that includes at least one sensor that provides contextual information to the device. When the mobile device receives an incoming message, or notification, the device responds thereto based at least in part upon the contextual information... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7298362 | Pointing device with finger-contact control A pointing device includes a first convex lens on a housing of the pointing device and arranged such that when a user's finger slides over the lens, an image of the user's finger is sensed to generate a cursor-moving or scrolling signal for a computer. ... | 11/20/2007 |
| 7295182 | Detachable flywheel device A detachable flywheel device is placed on a display and is used for adjusting display parameters of the display. Since a user only needs to roll or press the detachable flywheel to adjust the display parameters of the display, which is a very simple and fast action,... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7295185 | Input device with multi-directional roller assembly A multi-directional roller assembly for an input device includes a housing and a carrier supported within the housing. The carrier has a roller that can be rotated so as to scroll an image vertically on a display. The carrier can also be tilted left and right so as ... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7295187 | Electronic apparatus An electronic apparatus disclosed facilitates the replacement of an input device. In the electronic apparatus equipped with the input device allowing various input operations, the input device including first signal generators is positioned by being placed in an ope... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7289104 | Optical projection system for computer input devices A computer input device, such as an electronic mouse, having an optical projection system. The optical projection system is configured to project an image onto a supporting surface upon which the device rests. In one arrangement the optical projection system include... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7289102 | Method and apparatus using multiple sensors in a device with a display In a device having a display, at least one sensor signal is generated from a sensor in the device. One or more context values are then generated from the sensor signal. The context values indicate how the device is situated relative to one or more objects. At least ... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7283121 | Input device with forward/backward control In a computer system having a display and a keyboard, a computer readable medium includes instructions for invoking a message hook procedure based on a mouse message indicative of a mouse event. Instructions also provide for identifying at least one focus applicatio... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7283123 | Textures and other spatial sensations for a relative haptic interface device A low-cost haptic feedback device that provides spatially-based sensations such as textures in correlation with a displayed graphical environment. The device includes a housing, a sensor device, and an actuator for applying a force to the user. A local processor rep... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7283122 | Input device including a scroll wheel assembly An input device including a scroll wheel assembly for moving an image in multiple directions on a display screen. The scroll wheel assembly may include a finger-engagable control member that may be endlessly rotated about a rotation axis and a tilt sensor containing... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7277084 | Accelerated data navigation A method and system uses an acceleration curve to enhance data navigation. In a preferred embodiment, the scrolling algorithm of an input device with a rotational member accelerates a resultant scroll amount in direct relation to a rotational speed of the rotational... | 10/02/2007 |
| 7271797 | Optical window for generating a waveforms An optical window is disclosed through which light can be shone to generate a waveform. Windows are hourglass-shaped, to better conform the shape of the windows to the distribution of light intensity. The optical window can be incorporated into a variety of optical ... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7268768 | Accelerated data navigation A method and system uses an acceleration curve to enhance data navigation. In a preferred embodiment, the scrolling algorithm of an input device with a rotational member accelerates a resultant scroll amount in direct relation to a rotational speed of the rotational... | 09/11/2007 |
