International Business Machines Corporation

Samuel A Lucente

Richard F Sapper

John Peter Karidis

Gerard McVicker

Lawrence A Stone

Robert Paul Tennant

Michael L King

Thomas Eugene Pangburn

Nathan J Lee

Peruvemba S Balasubramanian

Marco Michael Rengan

John J Natoli

Arnold M Davis

Ronald I Conway

Martin T Tucker

Tomoyuki Takahashi

Kazuhiko Yamazaki

Seita Horikoshi

Michael Philip Goldowsky

Mikio Kurihara

David L Schaum

Collan B Kneale

Joseph A Gregory

Michael Basara

William H Barrett

Louis J Remsburger

Atsuhisa Naitoh

Kazuhide Yoshihara

Joseph W Braidt

John F Driscoll

Millard G Barr

Computer housing

Personal computer hinge cam

Portable personal computer

Personal computer with fractionated keyboard

A pen-based computer including a housing and a flat display integral therewith. The flat display can display an image corresponding to text, data and graphic information in several orientations. A plurality of switches enables the user to select an orientation for the image relative to the orientation of the flat display. In one embodiment the switches are mercury switches positioned to automatically align the orientation of the image relative to motion of the flat panel display relative to the force of gravity. An optional additional switch resets the orientation of the image to a predetermined orientation or prevents the reorientation of the image responsive to the mercury switches.

Rotatable pen-based computer with automatically reorienting display

Fractionated keyboard

Keyboard

Personal computer with extended keyboard

Docking station for portable personal computer

Interlocking computer system

Docking base for a portable computer

A pen-based computer includes a housing and a flat panel display integral therewith. The computer housing has a slanted parallelpiped configuration with polyhedron-shaped top and bottom surfaces and parallelogram-shaped side and end surfaces interconnecting the top and bottom surfaces. The side and end surfaces of the housing include one adjacent side and end surface having an upward exposure, and another adjacent side and end surface having a downward exposure, with each of the side and end surfaces extending at an angle of between about 10 and 45 degrees from the top surface to the bottom surface. The flat panel display for the computer is mounted proximate to the top surface of the housing proximate one corner, and the bottom surface of the housing is designed to be supported on a horizontal support surface. The computer housing has a configuration which enables a right-handed user to orient the housing in at least one orientation such that the upwardly facing side and end surfaces are located along the right side and upper or lower ends of the housing to enable the right-handed user to comfortably use the computer, and to enable a left-handed user to orient the housing in at least one other orientation such that the upwardly facing side and end surfaces are located along the left side and upper or lower ends of the housing to enable a left-handed user to easily grasp and utilize the computer. A switch enables the user to correctly align text, data and graphic information on the flat panel display with the particular orientation of the computer.

Rotatable pen-based computer

Growing community of inventors

Stamford, CT, United States of America

Samuel A Lucente