Appeal No. 2006-1831
Application No. 09/755,383
bearing 58 at axis D and extends down to contact the
tablet 161, and can be a plastic or metal nub, for
example. Pointer 162 can also be placed at other bearings
or positions of the linkage in other embodiments. The
planar sensor 161 can also be placed within opening 76 so
that pointer 162 acts as guide pin 78.
[0102] Planar sensor 161 is functional to detect the x
and y coordinates of the tip 163 of pointer 162 on the
tablet. Thus, as the mouse 12 is moved in its planar
workspace, pointer 162 is moved to different locations on
planar sensor 161. The x-y position of the local frame 30
on planar sensor 161 is transformed to the host frame 28
and the user controlled graphical object is displayed
accordingly.
[0103] In the preferred embodiment, planar sensor 161 can
also sense the pressure of tip 163 on the tablet, i.e.,
in the z-direction. For example, the Versapoint
Semiconductive Touch Pad from Interlink is a suitable
planar sensor that detects the x-y position as well as
pressure or force in the z-direction. The pressure
information can be useful in some embodiments for a
variety of purposes. A first use is for a safety switch.
The pressure information can be used to determine whether
the user is currently placing weight on the user object.
If the user is not placing weight, then the actuators can
be deactivated for safety reasons, as described below
with reference to FIG. 7b.
Thus, the claim does require a touchpad sensor for detecting
the position and motion of an object in an x-y plane, as well as
for detecting the degree of force applied to the touchpad sensor in
a z-direction to thereby output a signal based on the detected
position, motion and degree of force.
Now, the question before us is what Hannaford and Noll would
have taught to one of ordinary skill in the art? To answer this
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