Famous Patents
3M employee and church chorister Art Fry needed something to temporarily mark pages in his hymnal. He was in luck because his colleague, Spencer Silver, accidentally developed a glue that was too weak for other purposes. After initially discouraging consumer response, Post-it Notes became a hit in 1979.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7483018 | Systems and methods for providing a combined pen and mouse input device in a computing system Currently, a user may need to carry or otherwise keep track of both a mouse and electronic pen for a computer, such as a portable computing device. Carrying or otherwise keeping track of both devices can be tedious. Accordingly, systems and methods for providing a d... | 01/27/2009 |
| 7479951 | Device for controlling touch panel Disclosed herein is a device including a differential amplification unit for supplying current to the touch panel; a signal amplification unit for amplifying the output voltage of the differential amplification unit; an analog-digital conversion unit for converting ... | 01/20/2009 |
| 7477242 | Capacitive touch screen with conductive polymer A capacitive touch screen is described with a touch area including a substantially transparent conductive polymer. The capacitive touch screen also includes circuitry connecting the conductive polymer of the touch area to a power source, where the circuitry is confi... | 01/13/2009 |
| 7474300 | Position detecting apparatus and position pointer In a position detecting apparatus, electric power of a position pointer is turned on only when the position pointer is put within a particular range from a tablet to minimize consumption of a battery disposed in the position pointer. When the position pointer is bro... | 01/06/2009 |
| 7463250 | System for determining the rotational orientation of a sensing device A system for generating orientation data when a sensing device is positioned or moved relative to a surface, the orientation data being indicative of an orientation of the sensing device relative to the surface, the surface having coded data disposed upon it, the co... | 12/09/2008 |
| 7460111 | Computer input device An input device is provided that has tactile features for assisting a user with locating an actuator and/or that has features for avoiding inadvertent actuation of an actuator. The input device may include a digital pen having an actuator disposed along a shaft of t... | 12/02/2008 |
| 7456826 | Touchscreen-sensitive and transponder reading stylus The invention relates to a touchscreen-sensitive and transponder reading stylus. The object of the invention is to provide a small touchscreen-sensitive stylus whose power requirements are low and which allows transponder communication. The inventive stylus is chara... | 11/25/2008 |
| 7453447 | Interactive apparatus with recording and playback capability usable with encoded writing medium An interactive apparatus is disclosed. The interactive apparatus has an audio recording mode and an audio playback mode. Further, the interactive apparatus includes a writing tool for manually writing on an encoded writing medium, an audio input device for recording... | 11/18/2008 |
| 7453446 | Buttons designed for versatile use A system and method for providing an electronic device with a plurality of buttons thereon that can be actuated by a user using either the user's fingers or a stylus, for example. The buttons include a first portion and a second portion with the first portion of the... | 11/18/2008 |
| 7450114 | User interface systems and methods for manipulating and viewing digital documents Systems, including handheld computing devices that include system code stored within the memory and adapted to be executed by the processor. The system code can process an input byte stream that is representative of contents to be displayed on the touch sensitive di... | 11/11/2008 |
| 7443384 | Coordinates input device A coordinates input device includes an operation unit that receives an operation input, a vibration generator that applies a vibration to the operation unit, and a vibration control unit that controls the vibration generator to apply the vibration to the operation u... | 10/28/2008 |
| 7443386 | Mobile phone and method A method for inputting characters to a mobile communication apparatus is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of: enabling input of strokes representing a first character in a first area of a touch sensitive display; determining said first character from said s... | 10/28/2008 |
| 7443531 | Multiple queues handling information A system and process for ensuring the smooth flow of electronic ink is described. Dynamic rendering is give priority over other event handlers. Priority may be the use of one or more queues to order when events occur and may be performing dynamic rendering prior to ... | 10/28/2008 |
| 7444159 | Data input device, systems using the device, and methods for operating such systems A data storage device 5 having a storage capacity of at least 8 Mbyte is surrounded by a housing including a stylus portion 23, having a tip 25 for indicating a position. The stylus permits the data storage device 5 to be used for data en... | 10/28/2008 |
| 7441183 | Method computer program product and device for arranging coordinate areas relative to each other The invention relates to a method, a computer program product and a device for arranging a first and a second coordinate area relative to each other, which first and second coordinate areas are coded on a first and a second surface by a position-coding pattern. The ... | 10/21/2008 |
| 7436393 | Touch panel for display device A touch panel for a display device integrates functionality provided by resistive-type and EM-type touch panels. The touch panel is integrated with the display device and includes a resisitve-type touch panel arranged above the display device and an EM-type touch pa... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7436397 | Touchpad stylus having isolated low-mass contact element A touchpad stylus includes a housing, a stylus member axially moveable in the housing, and an energy-absorbing cushion member interposed between a rear extremity of the stylus member and an internal cavity of the housing, the cushion member lightly forwardly biasing... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7431528 | Telescopic handwriting pen A telescopic handwriting pen for PDA or cellular phone. In one embodiment, the pen comprises tubelike inner, intermediate, and outer sections and first and second coupling assemblies fitted in front ends of the inner and intermediate sections. Either coupling assemb... | 10/07/2008 |
| 7433177 | Keyboard with recharge function A keyboard with a recharge function for a computer system having a rechargeable wireless peripheral is described. The keyboard includes a charger and a charging dock. The charger is disposed inside the keyboard and charges the rechargeable wireless peripheral with p... | 10/07/2008 |
| 7428711 | Glow highlighting as an ink attribute Methods for rendering electronic ink with highlighting attributes include: (a) receiving data representing at least one electronic ink stroke including a highlighting attribute; (b) rendering a first highlighting stroke in a first dimension and in a first highlighti... | 09/23/2008 |
| 7428708 | Image processing apparatus and storage medium storing image processing program An image processing apparatus includes a CPU core, and displays a related image according to selection of a main menu icon. For example, in a case that a timer counting for each frame holds a predetermined value, it is determined whether or not the display of the re... | 09/23/2008 |
| 7427984 | Point erasing A system and method for erasing ink is described. Using an erasing contour, the system determines closest points which come close to or contacts the erasing contour when it encounters an ink stroke. Portions of an ink stroke may then be erased when the erasing conto... | 09/23/2008 |
| 7425948 | Portable apparatus and stylus usable as support prop A stylus for a portable apparatus is disclosed. The stylus is usable as a prop to support the portable apparatus to stand on a platform and comprises a main portion and a rotating portion. The main portion comprises a tip end and a pivot end, and at least one protru... | 09/16/2008 |
| 7423637 | Wireless file transmission A computer system which includes one or more wireless interface devices that are adapted to communicate with a remote host over a radio link. Each of the wireless interface devices is a pen-based device which includes an ink field in which pen events are translated ... | 09/09/2008 |
| 7423227 | Apparatus for optical navigation An apparatus for optical navigation. The apparatus has a surface comprising an aperture, wherein the surface is configured to be moveable against an illuminated surface having a detectable texture. An optical motion detection circuit is integral to the apparatus and... | 09/09/2008 |
| 7416128 | Methods and systems for determining the position of a hand-held object from the acceleration of the hand-held object Embodiments of the invention relate to determining the position of a hand-held object from the acceleration of the hand-held object. In an embodiment, a measure of the displacement of the hand-held object is derived in part from a measure of an acceleration of the h... | 08/26/2008 |
| 7414617 | Coordinate input device working with at least display screen and desk-top surface as the pointing areas thereof A coordinate input device includes a pair of cameras positioned in an upper left position and an upper right position of a display screen of a monitor lying close to a plane extending from the display screen of the monitor and views both a side face of an object in ... | 08/19/2008 |
| 7411582 | Soft input panel system and method A method and system for receiving user input data into a computer system having a graphical windowing environment. A touch-sensitive display screen for displaying images and detecting user activity is provided. A management component connects to the graphical window... | 08/12/2008 |
| 7411576 | Force reflecting haptic interface A multi-function force reflecting haptic interface including various sub-assemblies is disclosed. The sub-assemblies include multiple function user interfaces, a user interface docking station for setting the interface to a home position, temperature monitoring and ... | 08/12/2008 |
| 7406666 | User-interface features for computers with contact-sensitive displays Embodiments described herein provide for a portable computer with a contact-sensitive display having a user-interface that is configurable through user-contact with the display. An active input area may be provided that is configurable in appearance and functionalit... | 07/29/2008 |
| 7403658 | Direct homography computation by local linearization A method and apparatus for determining a homography between an image and an expected image is described. The homography accounts for differences in perspective of a camera viewing an objective plane of the image, in some examples, a paper with information on it.... | 07/22/2008 |
| 7400769 | Position-code bearing notepad employing activation icons An interactive product is provided. The product comprises a surface having a writing position-code region. The writing position-code region has a first subset of a position-code provided thereon which codes a plurality of positions on the writing position-code regio... | 07/15/2008 |
| 7401227 | System and method for providing a form for registering a sensing device with a relay device A system for registering a sensing device with a relay device using a form. The system includes a computer system for determining information relating to at least one interactive element associated with the registration and generating an identity indicative of the a... | 07/15/2008 |
| 7397468 | Method and system for creating a document having metadata The present application describes systems and methods for creating a document having metadata using a pointing device such as a digital pen. In one configuration, a digital pen captures pen stroke data and processes that data to determine metadata that the pen then ... | 07/08/2008 |
| 7397469 | Electronic module for sensing pen motion An electronic module that inserts into or is otherwise associated with a pen or other writing instrument. The electronic module includes a mechanism, such as an accelerometer, for detecting pen motion. The electronic module is preferably mounted in a substitute ink ... | 07/08/2008 |
| 7397465 | Coordinate input control method A coordinate input control method is used in a display-integrated coordinate input apparatus which includes a display having thereon a first area and a second area, and a single coordinate-input unit, and in which the coordinate input means inputs coordinates on the... | 07/08/2008 |
| 7397949 | Serial storage of ink and its properties The present invention relates to storing electronic ink. Ink is stored in a data structure that permits later retrieval by applications. The ink includes stroke information and property information. Properties may be associated globally with the ink strokes and/or w... | 07/08/2008 |
| 7396178 | Universal pen with optical, position and/or motion sensors A pen for marking a visible path on a surface. The pen has a marking device adapted to change one or more attributes of the visible path, and a sensing device having at least one of a position sensor for determining the position of the pen relative to the surface, a... | 07/08/2008 |
| 7396177 | Universal pen with position or motion sensing A pen that includes a marking device for marking a visible path onto a first surface. The marking device is electronically controllable to change a value of an attribute of the path such as color, line width, texture, or line spacing. A position sensing device or mo... | 07/08/2008 |
| 7394460 | Apparatus and method for hand motion tracking and handwriting recognition Apparatus and method for handwriting recognition including a hand-held device including at least one accelerometer providing an acceleration indicating output, computation circuitry receiving the acceleration indicating output and providing a velocity indicating out... | 07/01/2008 |
