Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Brian D Williams

Theron S Welch

Steven Nabil Bathiche

Nathan C Sherman

Brien Roell

Srinivasa M Sankaravadivelu

Automatically determining which one of a plurality of functions is to be associated with a movable member of an electronic device, depending on which one of a plurality of faceplates is coupled to the electronic device. A selected faceplate is coupled to a keyboard or other electronic device with movable members such as keys, buttons, knobs, etc. Protrusions or other configuration characteristics of the faceplate interface with one or more faceplate sensors, such as switches, that detect which faceplate is coupled to the electronic device. Based on the state of the faceplate sensors, the electronic device selects a predefined code, such as a scan code, that represents the coupled faceplate. The selected predefined code is communicated to a host computing device according to a keyboard protocol such as PS/2 or universal serial bus (USB). Consequently, an individual function is associated with each movable member based on the coupled faceplate.

Replaceable faceplates for peripheral devices

A designated byte of a PS/2 packet is used for data not recognized by a conventional PS/2 port driver. Each packet byte received by the conventional port driver is read by an Interrupt Service Routine (ISR) of a filter driver. If a received packet contains an unrecognized data type, that data is extracted. The filter driver converts the byte containing the data to 0000 0000. The port driver provides the all-zero byte to a higher level driver for processing into a subsequent data structure. A Service Callback Routine of the filter driver receives that data structure from the higher level driver. Depending upon the type of unrecognized data extracted by the ISR, that data is then either inserted into the data structure or passed independently of that data structure to a user level application.

Enhanced input using packet switching over a PS/2 or other interface

Reporting an attribute of a device via PS/2 protocols to a host executing an industry standard PS/2 port driver that does not include explicitly recognize the attribute. For example, a wireless mouse reports a battery state and a signal quality state through a standard PS/2 port driver that does not recognize any command or identifier for battery state or signal quality state. The attribute state is encoded in a standard PS/2 data packet. The standard PS/2 data packet is uniquely identified as an attribute packet by encoding data corresponding to highly unlikely mouse movement. A filter driver running on the host activates transmission of the attribute packets by commanding the port driver to issue a unique sequence of standard PS/2 commands, which the mouse system recognizes. The filter driver intercepts incoming PS/2 data packets, recognizes the unlikely data values that identify an attribute packet, and decodes the attribute state.

Attribute reporting over a PS/2 protocol

Reporting an attribute of a device via PS/2 protocols to a host executing an industry standard PS/2 port driver that does not include means to recognize the attribute. For example, a wireless mouse reports a battery state and a signal quality state through a standard PS/2 port driver that does not recognize any command or identifier for battery state or signal quality state. The attribute state is encoded in a standard PS/2 data packet. The standard PS/2 data packet is uniquely identified as an attribute packet by encoding data corresponding to highly unlikely mouse movement. A filter driver running on the host activates transmission of the attribute packets by commanding the port driver to issue a unique sequence of standard PS/2 commands, which the mouse system recognizes. The filter driver intercepts incoming PS/2 data packets, recognizes the unlikely data values that identify an attribute packet, and decodes the attribute state.

System for conveying an attribute of a device not explicitly recognized by a PS/2 communication protocol and without requiring modification of the protocol

A method and system that monitors movement of a wheel or slider included on a keyboard, and conveys information indicative of the movement and its direction to a host computing device to which the keyboard is coupled, using predefined scan codes or Universal Serial Bus (USB) data signal. State changes and the direction of rotation are detected as the wheel is rotated. Preferably, an elapsed time between state changes is compared to a set of threshold times, and the scan code representing the closest threshold time is selected. Alternatively, a scan code is transmitted that is indicative of the sign and magnitude of a threshold number corresponding to an accumulated number of state changes. The host computing device decodes the scan code or USB data for use in controlling a scroll distance, zoom, etc. as a function of the movement indicated by the scan code or USB data.

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Redmond, WA, United States of America

Brian D Williams