WO2005078928A1 - A form factor for a novel keyboard - Google Patents

Abstract

A fully functional one-hand keyboard (200) for entering data into a computer device, the one-hand keyboard (200) including a housing with a plurality of actuable keys. The actuable keys including primary (202-230) and secondary keys (204, 242, 246, 248 and 250), wherein the primary (202-230) and secondary keys (204, 242, 246, 248 and 250) are capable of generating inputs of a standard keyboard for transmission to a general-purpose computer. The horizontal keys spacing (270) of the primary (202-230) and secondary keys (204, 242, 246, 248 and 250) lies within the range of 87%-106% of the range of 18mm-21mm, centerline-to-centerline, the vertical key spacing (260) of primary (202-230) and second keys (204, 242, 246, 248 and 250) within range of 87%-106% of 18mm-21mm, centerline-to-centerline, resulting in a keyboard footprint that is not greater than 80mm x 53.5mm.

Description

Related Applications

This application is related to United States Patent No. 5,793,312, entitled 'Data Entry System,' which issued on August 11, 1998 and United States Patent No. 6,348,878, entitled 'Data Entry Keyboard,' which issued on February 19, 2002, which are both hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of Invention This invention relates to a key spacing of an input keyboard for entering alphanumeric data, and more specifically to a key spacing for a fully functionally one- hand keyboard and a resultant keyboard footprint. Description of Prior Art

As computers and like devices get smaller and more portable, it is desirable to have smaller than standard-sized keyboards. While the size of the electronics can be reduced to microscopic levels, and the display can be miniaturized and compensated by various methods including scrolling, the keyboard input remains a physical size limitation for the new generation of portable computers. Currently, this need is typically met by the 'miniaturized keyboard', in which the size of standard layout keys is reduced to achieve the smaller sizes desired. This miniaturization is typically of a standard QWERTY keyboard, so named for the first six keys on the top row. This approach has limited efficiency and a minimum level of miniaturization, since the size of users' hands and fingers remains constant. Thus, multiple keys are inadvertently stuck, or the user resorts to typing each key with the forefingers in a 'hunt and peck' style. An alternate approach to the problem is one-hand keyboards. These keyboards are smaller, since they require fewer keys than the minimum 72-key computer keyboard. By requiring fewer keys, one-hand keyboards can use full-sized keys. Besides the benefit of miniaturizing portable computers, one-hand keyboards are also useful in any application where one-hand use is preferred. Examples of such uses include CAD/CAM operators, who prefer to keep one hand on a 'mouse' input device while the second hand remains on the keyboard; inventory recording devices which allow the user to handle items with one hand while inputting data with the other; and users with disabilities that allow the functional use of only one hand. Generic key spacing that is well known in the art and is standardized by the

American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/Human Factors Society (HFS) Standard No. 100-1988, Feb. 1989. ANSI/HFS 100 standardizes the centerline distance between horizontal keys as being between 18 mm and 19 mm and the centerline distance between vertical keys as being between 18 mm and 21 mm. What is needed is a fully functional keyboard with standard size keys with a reduced keyboard footprint and a form factor for the manufacture of a fully functional non-QWERTY keyboard and keyboard footprint.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention is to provide a form factor for and the miniaturization of an improved one-hand keyboard layout. The aspects of the present invention are met by the structure and layout of a one-hand (truncated) fully functional non-QWERTY keyboard.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate several embodiments of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. Fig. 1 illustrates the dimensions of a standard keyboard; Fig. 2 depicts a truncated fully functional one-handed keyboard; Fig. 3 depicts a second truncated fully functional one-handed keyboard; and Fig.4 depicts a one-handed keyboard of Frogpad™ Inc. design.

1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the several embodiments of the invention and examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts (elements). Prior art FIG. 1 depicts a standard QWERTY keyboard 100 (a full keyboard with numeric keypad and arrow keys are not shown) with a centerline horizontal distance of the keys 110 of 19 mm as per the ANSI/HFS 100 standard. A centerline vertical distance 140 is 19 mm. Individual alphanumeric keys 130 are 18 mm x 18 mm in this prior art figure. Based on the above dimensions, a typical keyboard 100 measures 308 mm across its top 120 and 108 mm along its side 150. The reader should note that the key size 130 can be chosen to be whatever standard the manufacture desires and still fall within the scope of the present invention. Key travel range can be from approximately 1.5 mm to approximately 6.0 mm for keyboard 100. Based upon the above standards, the inclusion of a numeric keypad along with an arrow key area and function keys F1 - F12 would increase the footprint of the standard QWERTY keyboard to over 400 mm across the top 120 of keyboard 100 and to over 130 mm across the side 150. Fig. 2 depicts a schematic layout of a 15 key fully functional non-QWERTY keyboard 200 with primary and secondary keys (as described in United States Patent No. 5,793,312 which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein) 202, 204, 206, 208, 210, 212, 214, 216, 218, 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, 230, 242, 244, 246, 248 and 250. Keys 202 - 230 are primary keys containing all alphanumeric, punctuation, arrows, function keys and symbols of a standard keyboard and keys 242, 244, 246, 248 and 250 are secondary keys when struck in various combinations with the primary keys produce a fully functional keyboard (See United States Patent No. 6,348,878, which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein). Based on the ANSI/HFS 100 standard, keyboard 200 would have a horizontal centerline spacing 270 of 18 mm - 19 mm, a vertical line spacing 260 of 18 mm - 21 mm and a key-to-key spacing 290 sufficient to allow easy operation of each key. In this embodiment key-to-key spacing is 0.5 mm. Keys 202 - 250 travel range in this embodiment would be 1.5 mm - 6.0 mm. Based upon the above criteria, keyboard 200 with 4 rows of 5 primary and secondary keys, with the row including keys 242, 244, 246, 248 and 250 measuring the equivalent of 7 primary keys, with each measuring 18 mm x 18 mm and a 0.5 mm separation between keys yields across the top 295 (at a minimum) of keyboard 200 a measurement of 128 mm and across the side 280 of keyboard 200 a measurement of 73.5 mm. In an alternate embodiment of the present invention with the inclusion of a housing (larger than the primary and secondary keys footprint) for keyboard 200 and key-to-key spacing 290 of 1 mm would yield a keyboard footprint of 140 mm x 92 mm, as shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 3 depicts a schematic diagram of an alternate embodiment of the present invention. In Fig. 3 keyboard 300 includes 9 primary keys 302, 304, 306, 312, 314, 316. 322, 324 and 326 and secondary keys 332, 334, 336, 342, 344, 346 and 348. Each of the primary keys has a horizontal centerline spacing 370 of at least 18 mm and a vertical centerline spacing 360 of at least 18 mm and a key-to-key spacing (not shown) of 0.5 mm. It should be noted that secondary keys 342, 344 and 346 are depicted as being larger than the primary keys 302 - 326 in Fig. 3. The secondary keys typically are larger for easy of use, but may be of the same size as the primary keys. It should be noted that any combination of smaller or larger keys to accommodate the particular needs of a user may be employed and are contemplated by the present invention and fall within the scope of the present invention. Assuming that all keys are 18 mm x 18 mm, the foot print of keyboard 300 would measure at least 92 mm across the top 390 of keyboard 300 and 61.5 mm along the side 380 of keyboard 300. The reader should note that although the horizontal distances discussed throughout this disclosure focused at the lower end of the ANSI/HFS 100 standard, horizontal centerline distance could be selected at the 19 mm end of the range or even a larger centerline spacing and not depart from the teachings of the present invention. Likewise, the vertical centerline distance can be chosen throughout the 18 mm - 21 mm range of the standard (or larger depending on the application). By selecting a large centerline spacing distance in either or both of the horizontal and vertical centerline spacing would yield a large footprint area for the keyboard. In an alternate embodiment the horizontal and vertical centerline spacing are selected to be 87%, 94% and 106% of the distance spacing of the ANSI/HFS 100 standard. For example, referring back to Fig. 2, an 87% factor, while utilizing an 18 mm x 18 mm key dimension and a key-to-key spacing of 0.5 mm would yield a keyboard footprint of approximately 111.4 mm x 63.9 mm. A 94% factor would yield a footprint of 120.3 mm x 69.1 mm. A 106% factor would yield a footprint of approximately 135.7 mm x 77.9 mm. In an alternate embodiment, referring back to Fig. 2, the ANSI/HFS 100 standard horizontal and vertical centerline distances are selected at the 19 mm and 21 mm distances respectively. Therefore, the footprint for keyboard 200 utilizing a key-to-key spacing of 0.5 mm would yield for an 87% factor a footprint of approximately 115.7 mm x 74.39 mm. For a 94% factor a footprint of approximately 125 mm x 80.4 mm and for a 106% factor a footprint of approximately 141 mm x 91 mm. In a still further embodiment, referring back to Fig. 3, applying the 87%, 96% and 106% factor to keyboard 300 would yield a keyboard footprint of approximately 80 mm x 53.5 mm, 89.3 mm x 59 mm and 97.5 mm x 65.2 mm, respectively. The rationale behind applying the 87%, 94% and 106% factors to the ANSI standard is to provide the user with a fully functional keyboard with a reduced footprint, while providing the user a key placement that is more in line with the user's hand size. Thus, the 87% factor would be employed in the manufacture of keyboards for individuals with small hands. The 94% factor would be applicable to the average user hand size and the 106% factor would be utilized with a user that has large hands. It should be noted that the any factor between the 87% and 106% factors discussed above and applied to the ANSI/HFS 100 range of 18 mm - 19mm horizontal and 18 mm - 21 mm vertical centerline spacings, respectively, could be employed. If a further embodiment the upper and lower factors can be set at 80%, 100% or 120%(or greater) and applied to the SNSI/HFS 100 standard to accommodate individuals with extremely small or large hands. The factor employed may be influenced by whether the user is a male or female or may be culturally based. Regardless of the rationale a keyboard can be tailored, within a range to accommodate the various segments of the market. The present invention while depicting and English version keyboard is not limited to English only, but may be utilized for any known or unknown language for which a keyboard is generated. Such as, but not limited to by omission, French, German, Chinese, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Russian. The keyboards referred to in Figs. 1-4 may be produced by any technology known to a person of ordinary skill in the art such as United States Patent Nos. 5,067,834, 5,122,786, 4,669,903 and 4,661,005. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the A Form Factor for a Novel Keyboard of the present invention and in construction of this invention without departing from the scope or intent of the invention. Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A fully functional one-hand keyboard for entering data into a computer device, the one-hand keyboard comprising: a housing; a plurality of actuable keys; said actuable keys including primary and secondary keys, wherein the primary and secondary keys capable of generating inputs of a standard keyboard for transmission to at least a general purpose computer, wherein the horizontal key spacing of said primary and secondary keys is 87%-106% of the range of 18 mm - 19 mm, centerline-to-centerline, the vertical key spacing of said primary and secondary keys is 87%-106% of the range of 18 mm - 21 mm, centerline-to- centerline resulting in a keyboard footprint that is not greater than 80 mm x 53.5 mm.

2. The fully functional one-handed keyboard according to Claim 1 , wherein the footprint is not greater than 89.3 mm x 59 mm.

3. The fully functional one-handed keyboard according to Claim 1 , wherein the footprint is not greater than 97.5 mm x 65.2 mm.