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. 25, 2001
Filed:
May. 24, 1999
Dinesh Kashinath Anvekar, New Delhi, IN;
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
Pointer positioning device based on infrared light sources and detectors that is compact, rugged and ergonomically easy to use such as can be used in laptop computers and similar devices. The pointer positioning device fits in the same area as a conventional touch-pad device in a portable computing device. It detects movement in a movement area by scanning for shadow information with infrared (IR) light sources. To increase the resolution of scanning and to avoid non-uniform beam widths, the scanning of the touchpad area may be carried out by using low power IR laser beams produced by a single IR laser source each for x and y directions and a plurality of optical fibers to transmit the laser beams in the x and y directions. Optionally, this divergency is minimized by positioning IR light sources and light detectors in an alternating pattern around the periphery of a movement area. A mouse device with an opaque plunger depressed with a finger is used as an object to create a well defined shadow in the x and y directions of a movement area.