Patent ID: 6686904
Filing Date: 2004-02-03
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A method of conveying a signal indicative of movement of a movable element with respect to a single axis, said movable element being disposed on an input device that is operatively coupled to a host computing device through a keyboard interface that communicates using a keyboard communication protocol, which does not explicitly provide for communicating movement of the movable element, comprising the steps of:(a) detecting a state change caused by movement of the movable element with respect to the single axis, wherein the movable element is not limited to only motion between two end states relative to the single axis; (b) selecting a predefined code as a function of the state change to represent the movement of the movable element, wherein the predefined code conforms to the keyboard communication protocol and the predefined code is not explicitly provided in the keyboard communication protocol for communicating movement of the movable element; and (c) transmitting a signal that includes the predefined code to the host computing device and is in conformance with the keyboard communication protocol.