The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 22, 1999
Filed:
Mar. 04, 1996
Michael D Derocher, Corvallis, OR (US);
Roger Brian Gimson, Redland, GB;
Julie Jane Parker, Redland, GB;
Robert Paul Bliven, Corvallis, OR (US);
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A pointing device includes ergonomic buttons which wrap around the device's cursor control mechanism. Each button extends along at least two sides of the cursor control mechanism. Corner junctions make the buttons easy to recognize by touch. One button is C-shaped, another backward-C-shaped. The cursor control mechanism includes a touchpad or a post and a 'wobble' plate. The post serves as a pivot point for the plate and responds to directional pressure. A user adjusts the planar orientation of the plate to define a directional pressure applied to the post. A user is able to apply multi-fingered leveraged guidance. A second cursor control mechanism is defined by an erasure-head device. The erasure-head provides convenient, effective coarse control of the cursor's movement, while the wobble plate or touchpad cursor control mechanism provides convenient, effective fine control of the cursor's movement. The wrap-around buttons are active regardless of which of the two cursor control mechanisms currently are being manipulated.