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. 01, 2010
Filed:
Sep. 21, 2005
Benjamin Lyon, San Jose, CA (US);
Stephanie Cinereski, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Chad Bronstein, San Francisco, CA (US);
Steven Hotelling, San Jose, CA (US);
Benjamin Lyon, San Jose, CA (US);
Stephanie Cinereski, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Chad Bronstein, San Francisco, CA (US);
Steven Hotelling, San Jose, CA (US);
Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US);
Abstract
An input device and system are described that acquires (measures) raw track pad sensor data and transmits this data to a host computer where it is analyzed by an application executing on one or more host computer central processing units. The resulting input processing architecture provides a track pad input device that is both lower in cost to manufacture and more flexible than prior art track pad input devices. Lower costs may be realized by eliminating the prior art's dedicated track pad hardware for processing sensor data (e.g., a processor and associated firmware memory). Increased flexibility may be realized by providing feature set functionality via software that executes on the host computer. In this architecture, track pad functionality may be modified, updated, and enhanced through software upgrade procedures.