Cirque Corporation

Other

Dayna Communications, Inc.

Impulse Computer Systems, Inc.

George E Gerpheide

Daniel Joseph Lee

Brian Taylor

Richard D Woolley

Donald A Wilson

Jack S Kelliher

Michael D Layton

Rick L Johnson

Robert J Armantrout

Mike Layton

David C Olsen

George W LaGrange

Everett D Robinson

David B Meyer

Tom Donohue

Robert F Wilson, Deceased

Marty McDonald

Linda Hill

B Craig Anderson

Kerry D Sharp

Sidney L King

Anil Sabbavarapu

Mark E Kohagen

Arthur Griffin

The present disclosure includes a mining system which comprises ore, waste, and a reservoir which comprises a portion of said waste through which air can flow with low resistance for storing thermal energy from a tempered air source and supplying it to a tempered air consumer, and connections for tempered air flow between said tempered air source and said reservoir and between said tempered air consumer and said reservoir. Note: As used herein, 'tempered air' means air of a temperature sufficiently high to heat, or low to cool, an object to a desired temperature. For example, in a house, the furnace is a source of tempered air for heating in winter, the air conditioner a source of tempered air for cooling in summer, and the house is a consumer of tempered air.

Mining system with sustainable energy reservoir legacy

An improved touchpad and measurement circuitry for enabling input to a computer or other electronic device. The system includes an X electrode, a Y electrode, a common sensing electrode, and a 'water' electrode, wherein these four separate electrodes can be implemented in various physical configurations to obtain the desired effects, wherein moisture and water droplets can be identified and compensated for so as not to interfere with the input of data, wherein noise rejection is achieved by using a time aperture filtering method, wherein an improved scanning technique focuses scanning around an identified input object, wherein an adaptive motion filter responds to the speed and acceleration of an object being tracked, and wherein the measurement circuitry has an increased dynamic range enabling the touchpad to operate with greater tolerances to manufacturing variances.

Touchpad having increased noise rejection, decreased moisture sensitivity, and improved tracking

A zero-drift analog memory (ZDAM) cell that indefinitely maintains an output signal at a discrete voltage while the memory circuit is powered, wherein the memory circuit receives an input signal, passes the input signal to a storage element upon receiving an assertion signal, maintains an output signal at a level of the input signal when the assertion signal is removed, and utilizes a zero-drift transfer function feedback loop on the output signal to maintain the output signal. A memory array including a plurality of ZDAM cells and method of operation are also disclosed.

Zero drift analog memory cell, array and method of operation

An improved touchpad and measurement circuitry for enabling input to a computer or other electronic device. The system includes an X electrode, a Y electrode, a common sensing electrode, and a &ldquo;water&rdquo; electrode, wherein these four separate electrodes can be implemented in various physical configurations to obtain the desired effects, wherein moisture and water droplets can be identified and compensated for so as not to interfere with the input of data, wherein noise rejection is achieved by using a time aperture filtering method, wherein an improved scanning technique focuses scanning around an identified input object, wherein an adaptive motion filter responds to the speed and acceleration of an object being tracked, and wherein the measurement circuitry has an increased dynamic range enabling the touchpad to operate with greater tolerances to manufacturing variances.

A touchpad formed from the combination of a flexible and non-conductive material used for a touch-sensitive surface, and a PC board on which is mounted the touchpad circuitry, wherein touchpad sensing electrodes are disposed on the touch-sensitive surface by creating electrical traces formed from conductive ink, the touch-sensitive surface being capable of conforming to various arcuate surfaces, and being capable of sensing through a protective housing such that the touch-sensitive surface is protected, and does not come in direct contact with the pointing object.

Flexible touchpad sensor grid for conforming to arcuate surfaces

A system for entering characters from a large character set into a small and portable information appliance such as a mobile telephone, wherein the information appliance includes a touchpad having a touch-sensitive surface, wherein the touchpad is used to enter alphanumerical data into the information appliance, wherein the characters can come from small or large character sets, and wherein characters are entered by providing a plurality of character groups, each group having a head character assigned to a specific region, and selecting a head character enables the user to cycle forwards or backwards through each of the characters within the selected character group, and selecting the desired character by raising a finger from off the touchpad surface when the desired character is found.

Efficient entry of characters from a large character set into a portable information appliance

A method and apparatus for providing tactile feedback to a user moving his/her finger across the touch-sensitive surface of a touchpad or tablet. Different regions of the touch-sensitive surface are differentiated from each other by providing a different human perceptible textural surfaces within the regions. A different texture provides immediate tactile feedback to the user through the finger making contact with the touchpad. Increased functionality is important because it solves problems which are inherent to the small touchpad surfaces used as computer input devices. Particularly, it is a problem to drag an object from one side of a display to another without repeatedly raising a finger to repeat the dragging motion because of the limited surface area of the touchpad surface. Providing increased functionality such as a drag extend function solves the movement problem. The present invention then solves the problem of conveying to the user through touch, information about the location of the finger without having to look away from the display screen, thereby facilitating input and cursor manipulation for a computer. The apparatus of the present invention preferably includes an electronic touch-sensitive touchpad or tablet which can be actuated by a human finger, an associated processing device such as a computer, and a display screen whereon a cursor being manipulated by the touchpad is displayed.

Apparatus and method for tactile feedback from input device

A method and apparatus for providing accelerated X and Y axis position determination of a probe relative to a touchpad surface by enabling determination of the X and Y axis coordinates independent of each other. The apparatus of the present invention enables simplification of the electronics of the touchpad because fewer sense lines are required to achieve position resolution which is finer than the electrode pitch. Position determination is further accelerated because fewer position measurements are then required to compensate for such problems as probe symmetry duplication.

Method and apparatus for data input

A system comprising a conductive stylus used in conjunction with a capacitance sensitive touch pad, said system providing at least two different signals to an associated computer system. The stylus is a pen-like device having an actuable switch which when actuated substantially increases the capacitive disturbance caused by the conductive stylus on the touch pad. Before actuation, the stylus creates a capacitive disturbance sufficient for circuitry in the touch pad to measure as crossing a first predefined capacitive disturbance threshold when the foam covered conductive stylus tip is brought in contact with the surface of the touch pad. When the switch is actuated, the capacitive disturbance measured by the touch pad increases sufficient to cross a second predefined capacitive disturbance threshold. An associated computer program for drawing on a computer display places a cursor on the display when the first threshold is crossed. The computer program begins drawing on the display beginning at the cursor location when the switch is actuated causing the second threshold to be crossed. Placing a conductive foam cover over the conductive stylus tip results in the measured capacitive disturbance being amplified to thereby increase the magnitude of the capacitive disturbance of the stylus.

Computer input stylus method and apparatus

Methods and apparatus for data input. Devices are provided in accordance with this invention which utilize capacitive coupling of an object to the device to sense the object's position. The devices are comprised of a plurality of electrode strips which form virtual electrodes. The virtual electrodes are selectively connected to form virtual dipole electrodes which are responsive to the object's position.

Methods and apparatus for data input

A method and apparatus for developing an audible feedback in the form of a response signal to a tapping motion, a gesture or a series of taps or gestures on an electronic touch-sensitive computer input device which uses an electronic switch having no mechanical switch component. In particular, the present invention is beneficial for a touch-sensitive input device a touch-pad or stylus and tablet because it is difficult for the user to know whether a tapping motion is perceived by the device's sensing circuitry. The method is less than perfectly reliable because it is often difficult for the user to know whether sufficient pressure was applied to the touch-sensitive surface of the device, or whether contact was made for a sufficient amount of time. Consequently, the user must wait to see if the computer responds in the desired manner. If not, the user must repeat the motion. In order to overcome losing the benefit of an audible mechanical switch, the present invention provides an audible response signal which generates a sound for each individual tap or gesture only after the entire combination of taps or gestures is entered and a counter times out, after each individual tap or gesture, or a combination of the two methods. The apparatus of the present invention preferably includes a non-mechanical electronic touch- sensitive touch-pad or stylus and tablet, an associated processing device such as a computer, and a sound producing circuit coupled to the system.

Apparatus and method for audible feedback from input device

A method and system for extending the distance which a user can drag a cursor across a computer display device when using a touch sensitive pointing device as a relative cursor locating device. When such relative cursor locating devices are used the small perimeter size of the position sensing surface makes it inconvenient to carry out drag required functions. A border within the outer perimeter of the position sensing surface is defined and when a pointing object enters the border on the position sensing surface it is detected. It is then determined if the drag function is engaged for the cursor when the pointing object enters the border. If the drag function is engaged, the present invention holds the cursor at the location on the computer display while the user moves the pointing object to a new position on the position sensing surface from which position the user continues the dragging function to a desired end location on the computer display. Most preferably, a touch sensitive pointing device is utilized which allows a user to locate the cursor on the computer display using a single finger and emulate the click and drag functions of a mouse by tapping on the position sensing surface with a finger.

System and method for extending the drag function of a computer pointing

Apparatus and method for a capacitance-based proximity sensor with interference rejection. A pair of electrode arrays establish a capacitance on a touch detection pad, the capacitance varying with movement of a conductive object near the pad. The capacitance variations are measured synchronously with a reference frequency signal to thus provide a measure of the position of the object. Electrical interference is rejected by producing a reference frequency signal which is not coherent with the interference.

Capacitance-based proximity with interference rejection apparatus and

A charge transfer circuit includes an input terminal for receiving an input electrical charge, a transconductance amplifier having first and second inputs including an inverting input, and first and second differential current outputs, and a multiple output stage circuit responsive to the differential current outputs for producing two or more electrical current output signals whose values are related to the values of the differential current outputs and to each other. Also included is a feedback loop for delivering one of the electrical current output signals to the inverting input of the transconductance amplifier, and an integrator for integrating another of the electrical current output signals to produce an output electrical charge whose value is related to the value of the input electrical charge.

Electrical charge transfer apparatus

Apparatus for projecting selected images of a scene onto a screen, such as images of a golf course looking toward a green, and for projecting and moving a spot of light on the screen superimposed on the scene, such as to represent the travel of a hit golf ball toward the green in the scene, provides both a scene projector and a light spot projector secured in fixed relationship in the same housing and provides dedicated control circuitry for controlling the apparatus in response to instruction signals received from outside the apparatus. The spot projector includes two rotatable mirrors controlled by two stepper motors to control the movement of the spot on the screen. Special circuitry is provided to generate control signal pulses for the stepper motors using a combination of a count signal pulse and a synchronizing pulse. Compensation for nonlinearities in the stepper motors may be provided by reference to a correlation table stored in memory. The scene projector may be provided with automatic focus control using a modulated light beam and stepper motor position control.

Growing community of inventors

Salt Lake City, UT, United States of America

George E Gerpheide