"For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of life, please press three."
Alice Kahn
Make the Most of Our Site
See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.
Stay on top of the latest innovations by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Registered users: Manage your profile.
| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 6933919 | Pointing device with storage A computer pointing device employs memory for the storage of data allowing information to be copied from one computer to another without the need for a network or removable media such as a floppy disk. In a first aspect, the pointing device may be linked to multiple... | 08/23/2005 |
| 6934037 | System and method for optical navigation using a projected fringe technique A method for determining relative movement between an optical navigation device and a navigation terrain includes generating two overlapping coherent optical beams, and generating a pattern of interference fringes between the two overlapping optical beams. The metho... | 08/23/2005 |
| 6927759 | Optical mouse with uniform light projection An optical mouse includes a bottom casing, a top cover mounted to the bottom casing to define an interior space. A circuit board and a lens set are located in the interior space. The bottom casing has an opening. A detecting device is mounted to the circuit board. A... | 08/09/2005 |
| 6927758 | Optical detection system, device, and method utilizing optical matching An optical detection system and method detects movement of an optical pointing device in a data processing environment. The system works with any surface than can diffusely scatter a collimated beam from a coherent light source. Specifically, the system comprises a ... | 08/09/2005 |
| 6915103 | System for enhancing books with special paper A system for enhancement of books or other reading material includes an item of reading material, printed on a substrate having a substantially invisible, machine-readable coordinate grid. A pointing device is configured to detect the coordinate grid on the substrat... | 07/05/2005 |
| 6906700 | 3D controller with vibration A hand operated controller or converter structured for allowing hand inputs to be converted or translated into electrical outputs, the controller structured with a plate or platform moveable relative to a base or housing about two mutually perpendicular axes general... | 06/14/2005 |
| 6906699 | Input unit, method for using the same and input system An input unit has a mouse function and at least one inputting function. The input unit comprises image-recording means (8) which record images. These images are used for providing both the mouse function and the inputting function. The images are processed in... | 06/14/2005 |
| 6903721 | Method and apparatus for compensating for position slip in interface devices Method and apparatus for compensating for position slip in interface devices that may occur between a manipulandum and a sensor of the device due to a mechanical transmission. A device position delta is determined from a sensed position of a manipulandum of an inter... | 06/07/2005 |
| 6903726 | Method and system for determining positions on a document The invention comprises an information carrier on which the position of a measuring point (37, 41) may be determined using a mobile readout device, as well as an attendant method of determining a position wherein the information carrier features a surface ont... | 06/07/2005 |
| 6900793 | High resolution input detection A method and system for determining the position of a movable member in an electronic input device within a predefined resolution. Two offset signals indicate the position of the movable member. The time required for each signal to cross a threshold level is measure... | 05/31/2005 |
| 6894662 | Photoelectric switch A multifunctional photoelectric switch comprises a display section for displaying a first display information and a second display information. The first display information includes a plurality of items concerning a threshold value and the second display informatio... | 05/17/2005 |
| 6879316 | Pointing device with pressure sensitive resistor An input device with a pressure-sensitive element using a pressure sensing resistor. A solid elastomeric material is mounted over the pressure sensing resistor to transfer a force from the user's finger to the pressure sensitive resistor without visible deformation ... | 04/12/2005 |
| 6864880 | Device and method for communication A product for electronic transmission of handwritten information, a user unit for recording and sending the information, and a computer program for controlling a user unit are disclosed. The product may include at least one writing area for the handwritten informati... | 03/08/2005 |
| 6859199 | Method and apparatus for determining relative movement in an optical mouse using feature extraction A method of determining a movement vector between two images is disclosed. The method comprises capturing a first image using a sensor array. Next, a first feature set is extracted from the first image. A second image subsequent in time from the first image is captu... | 02/22/2005 |
| 6853366 | Articulator and optical detection cursor positioning device A cursor positioning device that can be sealed if the environment requires sealing, that can withstand harsh use, and can position the cursor easily and quickly. In operation the where the operator places their fingers on the positioning articulator and rocks or sli... | 02/08/2005 |
| 6847353 | Multiple sensor device and method A system, method, and method of manufacturing directed to an optical device with increased accuracy in tracking ability. The increased accuracy can be achieved by using a multiple sensor system. A second sensor is added to the optical device. The second sensor incre... | 01/25/2005 |
| 6847356 | Coordinate input device and its control method, and computer readable memory A device has a projection type image display unit which has a projection lens and generates a coordinate input screen, and linear sensors for sensing an image of a beam spot, and computes a coordinate value corresponding to the beam spot on the basis of information ... | 01/25/2005 |
| 6844873 | Reverse cantilever assembly for input devices A computer pointing device, such as a mouse or trackball, includes a reverse cantilever button assembly to match strength-related variations in user hand size. In one embodiment a button assembly is built with two cantilever beams, the fulcrums for each beam being a... | 01/18/2005 |
| 6833825 | Apparatus for remotely controlling a digital processing system According to one aspect of the invention an apparatus is provided for remotely controlling a digital processing system, comprising a housing, a scrolling detector, a cursor positioning detector, and a transmitter. The housing has a wall having an outer scrolling sur... | 12/21/2004 |
| 6831628 | Input device off table switch According to one aspect of the invention, a movable cursor control device is provided for controlling a cursor on a display screen of a digital processing system. One exemplary cursor control device comprises a housing, an electromagnetic emitting device coupled to ... | 12/14/2004 |
| 6819314 | Intensity flattener for optical mouse sensors A method and apparatus for flattening the illumination intensity over an optical sensor is disclosed. The intensity of light off the axis from a lens is less than the light on axis by a factor of cos4θ, where θ is the angle from the lens exit pupil to t... | 11/16/2004 |
| 6816150 | Data input device power management including beacon state Power management is provided in a user operated data input device utilizing proximity sensing and switching between three or more power states. Switching between the power states occurs based upon the presence or absence of input activity, and an operation instrumen... | 11/09/2004 |
| 6816154 | Optical sensor based user interface for a portable electronic device An apparatus and method are described herein, which simultaneously promotes a positive computing experience for users of portable computer systems and increases overall durability and longevity thereof. In one embodiment, an optical apparatus enhances the user compu... | 11/09/2004 |
| 6809723 | Pushbutton optical screen pointing device An apparatus for controlling the position of a screen pointer for an electronic device having a display screen includes a pushbutton for selecting an item displayed on the display screen. The pushbutton includes an imaging surface against which a portion of the tip ... | 10/26/2004 |
| 6809661 | Keypad device A keypad device for telephones, mobile phones, remote control units, text and character transmitters, calculators, electronic planners or the like, wherein a control element, when actuated manually by an operator, is adapted to be able to carry out at least two func... | 10/26/2004 |
| 6803608 | Light emitting diode used as an illuminant of an image sensor An LED is used as an illuminant of an image sensor and includes a fabricated block, a first electrode and a second electrode contained in the fabricated block for transmitting an electric current to a PN surface of a semiconductor that is contained in the fabricated... | 10/12/2004 |
| 6795056 | System and method for reducing power consumption in an optical screen pointing device An apparatus for controlling the position of a screen pointer for an electronic device having a display screen includes a light source for illuminating an imaging surface, thereby generating reflected images. The apparatus includes a motion transducer. A lens receiv... | 09/21/2004 |
| 6781572 | Optical pointing device, control method thereof and computer program product recording the same To provide an optical pointing device capable of being provided as a device of short stature, being used integrally with an apparatus having a limited stature and a limited space, reducing cost and improving reliability. A pointing board has an X axis line pattern a... | 08/24/2004 |
| 6774351 | Low-power surface for an optical sensor A surface having specular regions shaped to reflect incident light toward an optical sensor provides an ideal surface to be scanned by an optical mouse. When light is shined upon the surface, the reflections off of the specular regions appear as white points in the ... | 08/10/2004 |
| 6770863 | Apparatus and method for three-dimensional relative movement sensing An apparatus for sensing three-dimensional relative movement includes a movable motion sensor including a first and a second two-dimensional array of photo detectors. At least one lens directs far-field images onto the first and the second arrays of photo detectors.... | 08/03/2004 |
| 6765555 | Passive optical mouse using image sensor with optional dual mode capability A passive optical mouse is provided. The mouse does not require an interrogating light source. Instead, the mouse includes a sensor array and lens assembly that captures ambient images from arbitrary sources. A comparison is made between successive images to determi... | 07/20/2004 |
| 6762751 | Optical pointing device An optical pointing device includes a base which can be a casing of a peripheral device of a computer system having a display using a cursor or a portion of a display system using a cursor. The base defines a cavity having an opening in a surface of the base. An opt... | 07/13/2004 |
| 6753851 | Optical mouse having dynamic range An optical mouse of a dynamic range has an analog/digital (A/D) converter having an input range adjusted based on an input range control signal, the A/D converter receiving an input signal over the adjusted input range and converting the received signal into digital... | 06/22/2004 |
| 6750846 | Sensing device for optical pointing devices such as an optical mouse There is described a sensing device for an optical pointing device comprising a plurality of pixels, each one of the pixels comprising a photosensitive element for generating a pixel output signal in response to radiation reflected from an illuminated portion of a s... | 06/15/2004 |
| 6741335 | Optical translation measurement A method for determining the relative motion of a surface with respect to a measurement device including placing a partially transmitting object, which is part of the measuring device, adjacent to the surface; illuminating the surface with incident illumination, whi... | 05/25/2004 |
| 6741234 | Optical mouse using a total reflection prism Disclosed is an optical mouse which can move a cursor on a display screen of a computer system by totally reflecting light, which is emitted from a light source and is reflected upon a surface after transmitting a glass, using a prism and varying a light path to con... | 05/25/2004 |
| 6715687 | Pen and system for writing encoded lines A writing pen that forms a line of ink from a sequence of small line segments of at least two lengths in a pattern that encodes information in the line. The information includes the location and time of writing, a pen identifier, and a pen usage counter. This allows... | 04/06/2004 |
| 6710767 | Coordinate input apparatus A first cylindrical lens and a first linear sensor are constructed on the X axis, a second cylindrical lens and a second linear sensor are constructed on the Y axis, the X and Y axes are orthogonal, and the image width of a beam spot formed by each of the first and ... | 03/23/2004 |
| 6710768 | Integrated multi-function computer input device An input device functions as both a pointing device and a scanning device. The input device can have a switch with a first position in which the input device functions as a pointing device and a second position in which the input device functions as a scanning devic... | 03/23/2004 |
| 6707027 | Method of measuring the movement of an input device An optical input device for an apparatus generates input signals by moving the device and an object (15) relative to each other and measures the movement by the effects of self-mixing in a diode laser (3, 5) and Doppler shift caused by the movement. Fo... | 03/16/2004 |