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:
Sep. 23, 2003
Filed:
Mar. 16, 2000
Gregg C. Vanderheiden, Madison, WI (US);
Christopher M. Law, Madison, WI (US);
David P. Kelso, Madison, WI (US);
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Madison, WI (US);
Abstract
A reduced button set control panel provides control of electronic devices in parallel with standard controls of the device. This permits improved access to the functions of the electronic devices for users who may be disabled. Functions invocable by conventional controls are mapped to one or more lists which may be navigated through by means of up and down arrows or enabled by means of an access control button of the reduced button set control panel. Thus as few as three buttons may allow a wide variety of control of different pieces of equipment. The access button may be further invoked to activate a second modality to the conventional controls in which their functions are not invoked when these controls are pressed but instead descriptions of the operations of the controls is provided. These descriptions may be layered so that as successive invocations occur, additional information is provided to the user but not to users who do not require it.