Did You Know...
...that one person who claimed to be the inventor of the television is Russian emigre Vladimir Zworykin? In 1929 David Sarnoff, founder of RCA, asked Zworykin what it would take to develop TV for commercial use. He said: a year and a half and $100,000. In reality, it took 20 years and $50 million! Before his death in 1982 at the age of 92, Zworykin said of his invention: "The technique is wonderful. It is beyond my expectations. But the programs! I would never let my children even come close to this thing."
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 6606244 | Pointing device having computer host The present invention discloses a pointing device having a computer host. The present invention comprises a cursor move device for moving the cursor and a command input device for inputting commands to the computer host. Among these, the computer host fur... | 08/12/2003 |
| 6603459 | Two-direction input device and operating device using combination of two-direction input device and coordinate input member An operating device which enables various input operations. A two-direction input device is provided in front of a flat input member. When an operation button is moved in a Y1 or Y2 direction, a switch device is turned ON. In a case where one of the switc... | 08/05/2003 |
| 6600477 | Method for inputting data via the foot One embodiment of the present invention comprises a method for inputting information into an electronic device comprising the acts of orienting a sensing pad relative to an electronic device operator, sensing the relative location of a foot motion indicat... | 07/29/2003 |
| 6597343 | Keyboard device having terminal connectable to peripheral device A USB-compliant keyboard device is provided that is capable of preventing malfunctions, operation failure and the like due to static noise by a simple method. The keyboard device has a keyboard main body with a large number of key tops on its upper surfac... | 07/22/2003 |
| 6593912 | Electro-mechanical transducer for six degrees of freedom input and output An electro-mechanical transducer for 6 degrees-of-freedom input and output includes a control member coupled to a reference member by pairs of linear transducers. One end of each pair is connected to 3 spaced apart points of the control member, while the ... | 07/15/2003 |
| 6590564 | Ergonomic computer input device A computer input device that comfortably supports the hand of the user while the thumb and fingers are associated with buttons, a trackball, and a scrolling wheel carried on the device. The overall configuration of the device and the arrangement of these ... | 07/08/2003 |
| 6586720 | Trackball device with target ball having uniformly embedded particles A trackball for controlling the position of a cursor on a display of a personal computer. The trackball includes one or more buttons and a circular opening on the upper housing, a ball formed of transparent or semitransparent material having uniformly emb... | 07/01/2003 |
| 6587091 | Stabilized tactile output mechanism for computer interface devices A force feedback mechanism designed for use with a mouse, trackball, keyboard, or other interface device manipulated by a user. The mechanism consists of a non-planar surface 11 that is substantially balanced with respect to a rotational axis "A." An actu... | 07/01/2003 |
| 6583784 | Pointing device based upon the hall effect and method for operating the same In various embodiments of the invention, an improved track ball suitably includes one or more field-producing elements that produce or respond to electromagnetic fields in accordance with the Hall Effect. Hall Effect sensors in proximity to the track ball... | 06/24/2003 |
| 6580420 | Convertible computer input device A computer input device has function buttons which can be moved relative to a position sensor. The device can be used as a mouse. In specific embodiments of the device the position sensor includes a rotatable ball and the device can be operated either as ... | 06/17/2003 |
| 6580419 | Drop resistant cordless mouse A computer mouse which has a number of features protecting it from damage when dropped. Additionally, the mouse of the invention is designed with features that make it more easily graspable and less likely to drop out of a user's hand in the first place. ... | 06/17/2003 |
| 6580415 | Input device of detecting acceleration The present invention relates to an input device capable of detecting an acceleration, in which a detecting section constituted by a combination of a weight, a coiled spring, and detecting means is supported by a support. The support is fixed to a tip end... | 06/17/2003 |
| 6552713 | Optical pointing device An electronic device has a case and a screen attached to the case. The screen indicates a cursor position. The electronic device further has an input device mounted to the case. The input device includes a curved surface for detecting an object disposed o... | 04/22/2003 |
| 6552714 | Portable pointing device A finger mountable device for controlling a computer using a compact and highly portable control that does not need to be rested on a surface. The finger mountable device for controlling a computer includes a housing for mounting on a finger of a user. Th... | 04/22/2003 |
| 6549189 | Method for operating a computer input device and keyboard A method for operating an input device and keyboard for a computer. The input device has controls including an ergonomically shaped input button that receives commands from a user and transmits the commands to the computer via a communication link. Users ... | 04/15/2003 |
| 6536298 | Modular joystick Apparatuses and methods for configuring an input device. The input device includes a first housing, and a moveable member disposed within the first housing and extending a predetermined distance from the housing. A shaft is disposed in part within the fir... | 03/25/2003 |
| 6538640 | Skipped-state method for mouse encoding A process for encoding the movement of a computer pointing device to better control a cursor or other object on a display. The process makes use of two assumptions relating to illegal transitions (skipped states) that enables information relating to such ... | 03/25/2003 |
| 6529184 | Ball pattern architecture A methodology is provided for build-up of a variety of aesthetically pleasing highly ordered patterns which may, by known print processes, be applied to cover the entire spherical surface of a ball used in a computer input device, to thereby render the ba... | 03/04/2003 |
| 6525714 | Pointing device with an annular rotating ring The present invention pertains to a computer pointing device having an annular rotating ring that is rotatable by a user to control the movement of a cursor on a computer screen. The annular rotating ring is preferably implemented around a trackball to fa... | 02/25/2003 |
| 6522321 | Roller retainer for a third axis of a mouse A roller retainer for the third axis of a mouse comprises a seat, an upper cover and a roller seat. The seat has a housing, a circuit board and other components. The circuit board is installed with a microswitch and an IR module seat. A via hole is formed... | 02/18/2003 |
| 6515651 | Reversible wireless pointing device A reversible, wireless pointing device for a data processing system may be operated as either a handheld remote or in conjunction with a surface in the manner of a conventional mouse. A force sensor projects from one surface of the wireless point device b... | 02/04/2003 |
| 6512508 | Joystick interfaces and methods of providing position information of a joystick This invention provides joystick interfaces and methods of providing position information of a joystick. According to one aspect, the invention provides a joystick interface for use with a joystick, the joystick interface being configured to selectively o... | 01/28/2003 |
| 6509891 | Ergonomic mouse device A pointing device provides increased comfort by supporting the user's hand to avoid extreme positions of posture ranges of the various fingers and joints of the hand and wrist. The device includes an upper surface having a crown on which to rest a palmar ... | 01/21/2003 |
| 6509890 | Mini-TrackPoint IV pointing device An auxiliary isometric computer pointing device for attachment to a P/S-2 mouse port connector along the right-hand side of the IBM ThinkPad laptop computer includes a TrackPoint IV pointing assembly, a mating electrical connector, a manually operated mom... | 01/21/2003 |
| 6507335 | Pointing device with adjustable palm rest An apparatus which consists of a pointing device and a pad for supporting a portion of the hand. A connector is provided for connecting the pad to the pointing device such that the pad can be oriented at different angles to the pointing device.... | 01/14/2003 |
| 6501458 | Magnetically coupled input device An apparatus for transmitting a signal corresponding to a rotation of a spherical body. The apparatus includes a housing having an aperture, and a substantially spherical body having a first portion disposed within the housing so as to have a portion of t... | 12/31/2002 |
| 6496181 | Scroll select-activate button for wireless terminals A side-mounted cursor pointing device (108) for a wireless terminal (100) including a sliding cover (110). The sliding cover (110) slides over the cursor pointing device (108) in an off position. When the cover (110) is slid off the cursor pointing device... | 12/17/2002 |
| 6487396 | Electronic device and a control means An electronic device which comprises a first housing part (2, 3), provided with a first inner surface (2a, 3a) and a first outer surface (2b, 3b), a second housing part (2, 3), provided with a second inner surface (2a, 3a) and a second outer surface (2b, ... | 11/26/2002 |
| 6486868 | Two-handed input control apparatus and method An apparatus and method for inputting data including controls to a computer, or other equipment, such as for CAD, three-dimensional (3D) modeling and animation systems and for motion control. Included are a two-handed, hand-held apparatus and a method for... | 11/26/2002 |
| 6486869 | Cursor control method, recording medium and information processing apparatus A cursor control method, and an apparatus and a memory medium which stores a program related thereto controls a position of a cursor displayed on a screen based on an input from a pointing device. The cursor control method includes the steps of detecting ... | 11/26/2002 |
| 6487424 | Data entry by string of possible candidate information in a communication terminal A communication terminal is provided with display means, navigation means for navigating through information candidates, selection means for selecting one of the candidates, and a processor controlling the display means in accordance with the operation of... | 11/26/2002 |
| 6480185 | Electronic device with trackball user input A portable radio telephone comprising a housing, a transceiver located in the housing, a controller connected to the transceiver, a display connected to the controller, and a user input device connected to the controller. The user input device comprises a... | 11/12/2002 |
| 6476795 | Mouse recharging module A portable computer system has a screen attached to a base housing having an accessory bay and a first wireless transceiver. The screen has a cursor positioned by a mouse having a second wireless transceiver in contact the first wireless transceiver of th... | 11/05/2002 |
| 6469693 | Computer mouse with single-piece top and single-piece bottom A computer mouse includes a mouse housing for supporting a ball therein. The housing includes a top coupled with a bottom. The bottom includes a single-piece body without a belly door, and the top includes a single-piece body having at least one button fo... | 10/22/2002 |
| 6452587 | Cursor controller using speed position An input device for controlling cursor movement on a display screen includes a first controller configured to control cursor direction and a cursor speed. A second controller mounted on the first controller is configured to control cursor x-y position. Th... | 09/17/2002 |
| 6445379 | Structure of cordless mouse device An improved structure wireless mouse device comprised of a base board connected to a host computer and a mouse device, wherein no physical signal cable is present between the mouse device and the base board. The mouse device and the base board are equippe... | 09/03/2002 |
| 6433781 | Orientation-detecting apparatus, orientation-detecting method, orientation-detecting sensor device and orientation-designating device An orientation-detecting apparatus has an orientation-designating device which is provided with a plurality of orientation-designating coils whose coil planes face in different directions. Each of the orientation-designating coils forms a resonance circui... | 08/13/2002 |
| 6433773 | Tablet input device with switch The invention provides a tablet input device with a switch in which no pressing force for operating a pushbutton switch is changed in accordance with a pressing position of an operating button. When an operating portion 61 of an operating button 6 stored ... | 08/13/2002 |
| 6429852 | Ergonomic input device The device comfortably supports the hand of the user while the thumb and fingers are associated with keys, a trackball, and a scrolling wheel carried on the device. The overall configuration of the device and the arrangement of these actuators permits the... | 08/06/2002 |
| 6426742 | Method for controlling switch of input mode of keyboard instructions A method for controlling switch of input mode of keyboard instructions is to provide and load a program to intellectualize an auxiliary keypad without forcing any of or both the keypad and a main keyboard to retain at a specified state. In other words, th... | 07/30/2002 |
