Patent ID: 9697745
Date: 2017-07-04
CPC Classifications: G06F,G09B

Claim:
1. An apparatus comprising: a housing attachable to a computing device, the computing device having, on a first surface, both a first area implementing a touch-sensitive display and a second area that is not a touch-sensitive display, the first and second areas being present on a single flat surface of the computing device; a light-emitting element disposed at a first portion of a corner of the housing, the light-emitting element configured to transmit light along a path that is substantially parallel to, and in close proximity with, the first surface of the computing device and which crosses over the second area; a light-receiving element disposed at a second portion of the corner of the housing, the second portion being perpendicular to the first portion, the light-receiving element configured to detect whether the light transmitted from the light-emitting element has traversed the path, along the flat surface of the computing device; a detector system coupled to the light-receiving element, the detector system generating an output signal indicating whether or not light from the light-emitting element is detected as received by the light-receiving element, the output signal further being indicative of whether an object has been placed on the second area that does not include the touch-sensitive display, in the path of the light transmitted from the light-emitting element, wherein the light traverses the second area without traversing the first area; and a communication interface coupled to the computing device to communicate the output signal to the computing device.