Chorded multilingual human interface controller ChordABC

Abstract

This invention is a chording keyboard, with air mouse and IR TV remote blindly operated by two hands. Leading hand is pressing buttons on the front of the device to enter General chord and another holding hand is pressing buttons on the side of the device to enter Modifier chord where one modifier button#6 is activating air mouse. Changing Modifier chord allows to switch General chord from input of characters to input of numbers, punctuation, brackets, edit and TV commands, etc. Device operating system allows to manage languages, shortcuts, data strings and etc. by pressing predefined Modifier and General chords pairs. Simplified chording sequence is introduced to associate it order with any alphabetic languages characters order, numbers order, punctuation, brackets, edit commands and etc. It allows to increase input speed, improves convenience and significantly helps to learn and remember associated chords pairs.

Claims

1. A chording input device comprising: a controller; at least one MEMS sensor; a first set of chord buttons for a first hand of a user; a second set of chord buttons for a second hand of a user; and at least one last chord button, wherein the at least one last chord button and a chord button of the second set of chord buttons are activated by the thumb of the second hand of the user, wherein an input event begins when any of the first set of chord buttons are activated, wherein the input event ends when all of the first of chord buttons are released or all of a second set of chord buttons are released, wherein, during the input event, all of the activated chord buttons, from the first set of chord buttons and the second set of chord buttons, are recorded and results in a chord pair, wherein an item is entered based on the chord pair, wherein the last second chord button activated by the thumb is for mouse activation, which causes mouse buttons to be associated to some of the first set of chord buttons and some of the second set of chord buttons, wherein the first set of chord buttons are general chords, wherein the second set of chord buttons are modifier chords, wherein, based on the activated second set of chord buttons, the item that is entered includes a character, number, symbol, and a command, and wherein the chording input device connects to a computer via a cable or wirelessly.

2. The chording input device of claim 1, wherein an operation is performed based on the chord pair, including: entering an ALT symbol, setting list of languages to be used, setting current language, setting and sending shortcut commands, setting and printing data string, changing the first set of chord buttons to be modifier chords and the second set of chord buttons to be general chords, reading and setting TV remote button codes, printing list of available languages, printing list of selected languages, printing preset shortcuts, printing preset data strings, printing system version, and printing battery level.

3. The chording input device of claim 1, wherein the character is a multilingual character, and wherein all characters, numbers, symbols, and commands are grouped into 15 items or less, where there are 15 groups and each group is associated with at least one modifier chord, wherein all items in a group are associated with list of chords with only 1 or 2 chord buttons that are general chords.

4. The chording input device of claim 1, further includes: a IR transmitter; a IR sensor; wherein the second set of chord buttons are located on the sides of the chording input device and are accessible when grasped by one of the user's hands, wherein, based on the activated second set of chord buttons, the item that is entered includes a TV command, wherein an operation is performed based on the chord pair, including: reading and setting TV remote button codes.

5. The chording input device of claim 1, further includes: a touch screen, wherein the first set of chord buttons are implemented as five touch target areas at the bottom of the touch screen, wherein the second set of chord buttons are physical buttons, with buttons arranged on the sides of the chording input device.

6. The chording input device of claim 1, wherein the character is a multilingual character, wherein all characters, numbers, symbols, and commands are grouped into 18 items or less, wherein all items in a group are associated with list of chords with up to three chord buttons that are general chords.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) Additional Having thus described the invention in general terms, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:

(2) FIG. 1 illustrates chorded stationary controller embodiment according to claim 1.

(3) FIG. 2 illustrates right handed chorded remote handheld controller embodiment according to claim 2.

(4) FIG. 3 illustrates chorded remote handheld controller incorporated into smart phone according to claim 4 and language menu on PC.

(5) FIG. 4 Simplified General chording sequence for different languages.

(6) FIG. 5 Simplified Modifier chording sequence for different chording groups

(7) FIG. 6 Controller hardware diagram

(8) FIG. 7 Front page view

(9) Elements numbers throughout all drawings:

(10) 1controller; 2General chord buttons set; 3Modifier chord buttons set; 4table; 5display; 6Last modifier chord button for mouse activation; 7chair; 8sofa; 9General chord buttons are implemented as 5 Touch Target Areas; 10screen; 11touch screen; 12Language menu on PC; 13IR transmitter for TV remote; 14IR sensor to read existing TV remote command; 15Gyroscope and accelerometer MEMS sensors for air mouse; 16Non volatile memory.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(11) The present inventions now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some examples of the embodiments of the inventions are shown. Indeed, these inventions may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

(12) First embodiment is presented on FIG. 1. It shows stationary controller placed on the same table as PC display in front of it and connected to Personal ComputerPC, wirelessly or by USB cable. General 2 and modifier 3 buttons sets are symmetrically located. Modifier chord set last button #6 for mouse activation 6 is located in the middle and can be activated by any hand. This allow switching right hand operations to left and back by predefined chords pair command. In this configuration TV remote is not implemented. Here for air mouse accelerometer MEMS sensor 15 is used inside of the device. Device movement forward, back, left or right cause corresponding cursor movement on display if button #6 is pressed. Mouse buttons are also associated with some general 2 and modifier 3 set buttons. This device can be used as educational toy before operating following, more complex remote handheld controller. Second embodiment is presented on FIG. 2. It shows right handed remote handheld controller in hands of person sitting on a sofa in front of large TV connected to PC. General chord 2 buttons are located on the device front and modifier chord 3 buttons are located on the sides. This device incorporates IR transmitter for TV remote 13 and IR sensor 14 to read and store existing TV remote commands. For air mouse gyroscope MEMS sensors 15 are used inside of the device. Device turning in 3 axis are producing corresponding cursor movement in different directions and scrolling on the display, if mouse is activated by button #6 6 with thumb. Mouse buttons are associated to some General 2 and Modifier 3 set buttons. Thumb should activate only button #5 or #6. In a future, when Smart TV will accept Bluetooth commands, IR TV remote may be not required.

(13) Third embodiment is presented on FIG. 3. It shows remote handheld controller incorporated into smart phone. It has the same General and Modifier chord set buttons as controller on FIG. 2 or General chords buttons 2 are implemented as five Touch Target Areas 7 on the bottom of the touch screen 11.

(14) Each item-characters, symbols or commands in any items group is associated with General and Modifier chords pair. Input event, monitored by controller Device Operated System (DOS), starts when any of the General chord set buttons is pressed and ends, when all General chord buttons are released. During this event all pressed General and Modifier chord sets buttons are recorded by DOS and resulted in chords pair. The input of the chain of events, like entering ALT symbol numbers, can be terminated by release of the Modifier chord set buttons for this operation.

(15) To simplify chords relation to the multilingual characters, symbols or commands Simplified chording sequence is introduced, see FIG. 4. It begins with 15 chords of the total 31 available for 5 keys combinations for General chords where at least one key should be pressed and 32for Modifier chords and consist of non, one or two key combinationsthis is Basic sequence that will be mostly used for General and Modifier chords. The rest of the sequenceExtended sequencewill be used for special cases.

(16) All keyboard characters, symbols or commands are grouped by 15 items or less into 15 groups, where each group is associated with one Modifier chord also from Basic sequence, see FIG. 5. For setup commands Extended sequence is mostly used.

(17) All languages having alphabet have been divided into 2 groupsone with capital letters and with alphabet of size 30 or lesslike English and another without capital letters and with alphabet of size of 60 or lesslike Hindi. This division allows to place all characters for any language in first 4 items groups. To accommodate special rules and symbols for some languages5. ACSENTs group was introduced. For languages with alphabet size larger then 30 or 60 chars-like Russian or Khmerpart of Extended sequence will be used for group with more then 15 items as exception.

(18) The follow additional operations are performed by controller DOS in response to activating predefined General and Modifier chord pair: 1. Entering ALT symbol, 2. Set list of the languages to be used, 3. Set current language, that include shortcut to change Language menu 12 on display on FIG. 3. 4. Set and send shortcuts command 5. Set and print data string-account number, passwords and etc. that include ALT symbols 6. Change the leading hand from right to left and back 7. Read and set TV remote button code 8. Print list of available languages 9. Print list of selected languages 10. Print preset shortcuts 11. Print preset data strings 12. Print DOS system version 13. Print battery level.

(19) The DOS is implemented based on Bluetooth module for HID USB connection to PC with onboard MEMS motion sensor for air mouse and non-volatile memory chip to store customized datasee FIG. 6.