Wheel reporting method for a personal computer keyboard interface
US6686904B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 30, 2001 |
| Grant date | Feb 3, 2004 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 20, 2022 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F3/0213
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method and system that monitors movement of a wheel or slider included on a keyboard, and conveys information indicative of the movement and its direction to a host computing device to which the keyboard is coupled, using predefined scan codes or Universal Serial Bus (USB) data signal. State changes and the direction of rotation are detected as the wheel is rotated. Preferably, an elapsed time between state changes is compared to a set of threshold times, and the scan code representing the closest threshold time is selected. Alternatively, a scan code is transmitted that is indicative of the sign and magnitude of a threshold number corresponding to an accumulated number of state changes. The host computing device decodes the scan code or USB data for use in controlling a scroll distance, zoom, etc. as a function of the movement indicated by the scan code or USB data.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.