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:
Mar. 31, 2015
Filed:
Jun. 29, 2012
Apoorv Srivastava, Franklin Park, NJ (US);
Apoorv Srivastava, Franklin Park, NJ (US);
Google Technology Holdings LLC, Mountain View, CA (US);
Abstract
A user interface device () includes a capacitive trackball assembly () having a conductive trackball () and one or more conductive plates () proximate to a surface of the conductive trackball (), thereby enabling the conductive trackball assembly () to operate as a capacitive touch sensor. Each user contact point with the conductive trackball () modifies the effective capacitance of the conductive trackball assembly (). The user interface device () senses the effective capacitance of the conductive trackball assembly () to discern the number of user contact points on the conductive trackball () and uses this information, along with other parameters, such as a concurrent sensed rotation vector of the conductive trackball (), to identify a user command intended by the user. The identified user command may be transmitted to a controlled system () to effectuate or modify an operation at the controlled system ().