Patent Publication Number: US-2005116936-A1

Title: Touch pad for displaying information

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a touch pad for displaying information, and particularly to a touch pad for separately and individually searching data.  
      2. Description of Related Art  
      In today&#39;s computerization era, notebook PCs or tablet PCs have been very common so that almost everyone has a notebook PC. People use computers to work and store data. Thus, the computers have become an important part of everyone&#39;s daily life. Information such as a calendar, an address book and the like is usually stored in the PCs. However, it is necessary to power up the computer when doing searches. The power-up operation wastes the user&#39;s time in waiting, causing in inconvenience to the user. In particular, when the user just wants to search a bit of information such as the calendar or address book, the time spent in waiting for powering up the computer is frequently longer than the time for searching data. This wastes time in waiting for powering up the computer. In this light, the conventional method is unable to provide the user with an effective data search, and needs to be improved.  
      Therefore, it is desirable to provide an improved touch pad for displaying information to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a touch pad for displaying information to be adapted to a computer system so that the user searches an address book, a calendar and the like by means of the touch pad without powering up the computer. The user does not waste time in waiting for powering up the computer in searching data. Also, the touch pad has advantages of small size and portable convenience, and can be always ready for the user to search data.  
      To attain the forgoing object, a touch pad for displaying information according to the present invention comprises a calculating unit, a storage unit for storing data, a display unit connected to the calculating unit and the storage unit wherein the display unit has a display board and a sensitive board, and a connecting port for connecting to a computer system so that the touch pad is electrically connected to and detachable from the computer system and the data stored in the storage unit and data of the computer system synchronize.  
      Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a schematic view showing an aspect of implementing a touch pad and a computer system according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 2  is a schematic view showing an aspect of implementing a touch pad according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 3  is a schematic view showing an accommodation of a touch pad and a computer system according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 4  is a view showing a systematic configuration of a touch pad according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      A preferred embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings for illustrating the present invention.  
      Referring to  FIG. 1 , a schematic view showing an aspect of implementing the present invention is illustrated. A touch pad  10  and a computer system  17  are shown, having a connecting port  15  mounted on the touch pad  10  for connecting to the computer system  17 . The computer system  17  can be a notebook PC, a tablet PC or a desktop PC. The connecting port  15  is a USB device. Hence, the touch pad  10  can be easily connected to the computer system  17 . The touch pad  10  stores data such as an address book, a calendar, a perpetual calendar and the like being frequently added, modified or deleted when the user uses the computer, for example. As such, the data of the touch pad  10  and data of the computer system  17  are refreshed synchronously by the USB interface to maintain data consistency between the touch pad  10  and the computer system  17 .  
      Referring to  FIG. 2 , a schematic view showing an aspect of implementing the present invention is illustrated. After the touch pad  10  is detached from the computer system (when the computer system is in a power-down state) the user can employ the touch pad  10  alone to search time data. In addition, the touch pad  10  can be used to search various data such as a calendar, an address book and the like. Thus, the user does not spend time in waiting for powering up the computer when searching a datum.  
       FIG. 3  is a schematic view showing an aspect of implementing the present invention. When the touch pad  10  is in an unused state, it is accommodated in a receiving slot  172  indented into the computer system  17 . The touch pad  10  is placed in the receiving slot  172  when the touch pad  10  is not operated by the user so as to facilitate the user&#39;s storage or carry.  
      As for the configuration of a touch pad for displaying information according to the present invention, reference is made with  FIG. 4 . As shown, the touch pad comprises a calculating unit  231 , a storage unit  232 , a display unit  24  and a connecting port  25 . The calculating unit and the storage unit of the present invention can be of any conventional units, respectively. Preferably, the calculating unit and the storage unit are integrated into a system on a chip (SOC)  23 . In this embodiment, the calculating unit  231  and the storage unit  232  are integrated into a SOC  23  having an embedded system. The storage unit  232  stores data such as an address book, a calendar and the like. The display unit  24  comprises a display board  241  and a sensitive board  242 , being connected to the SOC  23 . The display board  241  displays the data stored in the storage unit  232 . The sensitive board  242  provides the user with a way for searching data selected directly from the touch pad  20  by manual touch. In this embodiment, the connecting port  25  is a USB device connected to the SOC  23 . In addition, the touch pad of the present invention further comprises a power means for separately and individually supplying power for operation. Preferably, the power means is connected to the connecting unit and the SOC. The computer system supplies power to the touch pad when the touch pad is connected to the computer system, while the power means supplies power to the touch pad when the touch pad is detached from the computer system. In this embodiment, the touch pad  20  further comprises a power means  26 . The power means  26  is connected to the connecting unit  15  and the SOC  23 . The computer system  17  supplies power to the touch pad  10  via the USB device when the touch pad  10  is connected to the computer system  17 , while the power means  26  supplies power to the touch pad  10  to be operated separately and individually when the touch pad  10  is detached from the computer system  17 . Furthermore, an infrared device  27  is disposed on the touch pad for mutual data communication. The touch pad further comprises a keystroke  28  to facilitate the user&#39;s selection of data.  
      It is apparent from the above description that the present invention is capable of providing the user with a convenient and easy way for searching data desired by means of a touch pad when the computer system is in a power-down state without wasting time in waiting for powering up the computer. Also, the touch pad is designed to provide the user with a manual data search by means of a small-sized panel convenient to be carried by the user.  
      Although the present invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.