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:
Dec. 04, 2001
Filed:
Mar. 02, 1999
Stephen P. Capps, Redmond, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
A character entry device in accordance with the invention has a character entry surface. The character entry surface has raised character segment guides upon which characters can be traced by a human user. Sensors are associated with the segment guides to indicate when particular segment guides are traced. Decoding logic is responsive to the sensors to detect actually traced segment sequences and to determine characters that correspond to the actually traced segment sequences. In one embodiment, the character entry surface and segment guides are part of a remote control. An additional key face pivots to either cover or expose the segment guides. When the key face is covering the segment guides, keys in the key face rest against the segment guides and can be depressed to depress the segment guides. Decoding logic in the remote control interprets segment guide depressions as individual keystrokes when the key face is in this position.