Patent Publication Number: US-6335726-B1

Title: Instruction and/or identification input unit

Description:
RELATIONTIONSHIP TO COPENDING APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a Division of application Ser. No. 08/878,741, filed Jun. 19, 1997, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to touchpad pointing devices generally and to their use as an instruction and/or identification input unit in particular. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Cursor pointing devices for computers are known in the art, the most common of which is a mouse. Typically, “mice” were peripheral devices kept on the side of the computer and often required a pad along which to slide. With the popularity of laptop computers and their continual reductions in size and weight, other types of mice have been produced. 
     FIG. 1, to which reference is now made, illustrates a laptop computer  10  with a further type of cursor pointing device  12 , known as a touchpad pointing device, and two selecting buttons  14 . Although not shown, touchpad pointing devices can also be implemented as external devices connectable to a laptop or desktop computer. 
     The touchpad pointing device  12  typically is a flat pad which identifies the location of a finger, labeled  16 , thereon relative to the edges of the pad (i.e. absolute) or to the previous position (i.e. relative) of finger  16 . The touchpad pointing device  12  also includes hardware (not shown) which translates the current position (absolute or relative) to a position on the screen. Thus, as the finger  16  sketches a curve  20  on touchpad pointing device  12 , a cursor  22  follows a similiar curve  24  on a screen  26  of laptop computer  10 . When the user has brought cursor  22  to a desired location, such as above the word “FILE” as shown, he executes the action by either pressing one of buttons  14  or tapping on touchpad pointing device  12 . 
     SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
     The present invention is an instruction and/or identification unit which utilizes a touchpad pointing device as the input unit for receiving instruction and/or identification patterns. This is accomplished without changing any aspect of the operation of the touchpad pointing devices themselves. 
     There is therefore provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an instruction input unit for supplying operating instructions to a machine. The unit includes a touchpad, an instruction library and a recognizer. The touchpad receives an input pattern from a user and the instruction library stores a multiplicity of operating instruction patterns. Each operating instruction pattern has an operating instruction associated therewith. The recognizer detects which of the multiplicity of operating instructions patterns the input pattern most closely matches and provides the operating instruction associated with the matched operating instruction pattern to the machine. 
     Moreover, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the machine is an appliance and can be one of a microwave oven, a washing machine and a remote control unit. 
     Further, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the recognizer also includes a handwriting recognizer for recognizing alphanumeric characters. 
     The present invention also incorporates all machines having instruction input units such as are described hereinabove. 
     There is also provided, in accordance with a second preferred embodiment of the present invention, a shortcut input unit for providing telephone numbers to be dialed to a telephone. The shortcut input unit includes the touchpad, a shortcut library and a trainable recognizer. The shortcut library is capable of receiving and storing a multiplicity of shortcut patterns wherein each shortcut pattern has a telephone number associated therewith. The trainable recognizer has a training mode and a recognition mode. In the training mode, the trainable recognizer associates telephone numbers received from the user with shortcut patterns received from the user via the touchpad. In the recognition mode, the trainable recognizer detects which of the multiplicity of shortcut patterns an input pattern received from the user most closely matches and provides the telephone number associated with the matched shortcut pattern to the telephone. The user can provide the telephone numbers via a keypad or by writing the numbers on the touchpad which the trainable recognizer recognizes. 
     Additionally, in accordance with this preferred embodiment of the present invention, the telephone can be a cellular telephone, a wireless telephone and a desktop telephone. 
     The present invention also incorporates telephones having dialers and shortcut input units. 
     There is further provided, in accordance with a third preferred embodiment of the present invention, an identification unit which includes the touchpad, an identifier library and the recognizer. The identifier library stores at least one identifier pattern and the recognizer detects if the input pattern matches one of the identifier patterns and provides an authorization signal only if a match is detected. The recognizer can be trainable, in which case, the identifier library is capable of receiving trained identifier patterns. The identifier pattern can be a signature. 
     Additionally, in accordance with this preferred embodiment of the present invention, the identification unit can be implemented in a lock which includes a locking mechanism which unlocks upon receipt of the authorization signal from the identification unit. 
     Moreover, in accordance with this preferred embodiment of the present invention, the locking mechanism locks a door to a door frame. The door can be part of a car, a room or any other lockable unit. The room can be a hotel guest room. 
     There is also provided, in accordance with a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, a credit card authorizer for authorizing the use of a credit card. The credit card has a memory strip which stores at least one identifier pattern. The authorizer includes the touchpad and a recognizer. The recognizer detects if the input pattern matches one of the identifier patterns and provides an authorization signal only if a match is detected. 
     Moreover, in accordance with this preferred embodiment of the present invention, the credit card authorizer can be implemented in an automatic teller machine. 
     Finally, in accordance with a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a credit card writer for writing information into a memory strip of a credit card. The credit card writer includes the touchpad and a credit card imprinter which imprints the input pattern into the memory strip of the credit card. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The present invention will be understood and appreciated more fully from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a prior art touchpad pointing device forming part of a laptop computer; 
     FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustration of an instruction unit, constructed and operative in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIGS. 3A,  3 B and  3 C are schematic illustrations of the instruction unit of FIG. 2 implemented in a microwave oven, a washing machine and a remote control unit, respectively; 
     FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustration of a shortcut input unit, constructed and operative in accordance with a second preferred embodiment of the present invention, and operative with a dialer; 
     FIGS. 5A and 5B are schematic illustrations of the shortcut input unit of FIG. 4 implemented in a desktop telephone and a cellular telephone, respectively; 
     FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustration of an identification unit, constructed and operative in accordance with a third preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIGS. 7A and 7B are schematic illustrations of the identification unit of FIG. 6 implemented in a room door and a car door, respectively; 
     FIGS. 8A and 8B are block diagram and schematic illustrations, respectively, of a credit card trainer, constructed and operative in accordance with a fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustration of a credit card authenticator, constructed and operative in accordance with a fifth preferred embodiment of the present invention; and 
     FIGS. 10A and 10B are schematic illustrations of the credit card authenticator of FIG. 9 implemented in a credit card authorizer and an automatic teller machine, respectively. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Reference is now made to FIG. 2 which illustrates, in block diagram format, an instruction input unit  30  for supplying operating instructions to a machine, constructed and operative in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Reference is also made to FIGS. 3A,  3 B and  3 C which illustrate the instruction input unit  30  implemented in a microwave oven  40 , a washing machine  42  and a remote control unit  44 . It will be appreciated that instruction input unit  30  can be implemented in any other appliance or machine which receives instructions. 
     Instruction input unit  30  typically comprises a touchpad, labeled  50 , an optional display  52  and a recognition unit  54 , which, in turn, comprises a recognizer  56  and an instruction library  58 . Recognizer  56  can be any suitable recognizer, which receives the input pattern and matches it to a previously stored pattern. For example, recognizer  56  can be any of those described in U.S. patent applications Nos. 08/282,187, 07/978,578, 08/528,293 (now issued U.S. Pat. No. 6,023,529), Ser. No. 08/428,806 (now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,582) all assigned to the common assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference. 
     Instruction library  58  stores a multiplicity of preset instruction patterns associated with a multiplicity of machine instructions, the latter to be provided to a machine operating unit  59  thereby to cause a desired action to occur. Machine operating unit  59  is a part of the machine into which instruction unit  30  is incorporated and is typically the unit which, in the prior art, received instructions from the user interface. 
     FIGS. 3A,  3 B and  3 C show touchpad  50  and optional display  52  as user interface devices while recognition unit  54  is illustrated with hidden lines since it generally is found internal to the machine. Machine operating unit  59  is not shown in any of FIGS. 3A,  3 B and  3 C since it is a part of the relevant machine. 
     Once a user draws a pattern on touchpad  50 , which he optionally views on display  52 , touchpad  50  provides the input pattern to recognizer  56  which attempts to match the input pattern to one of the instruction patterns stored in instruction library  58 . Recognizer  56  then provides the instruction associated with the matched instruction pattern to machine operating unit  59 , thereby to command an operation of the machine or to provide the machine with operation information. 
     For example, FIG. 3A shows a user writing the letter “C” on touchpad  50  (which is displayed in optional display  52 ) as an instruction for microwave oven  40 . The instruction pattern “C” might be associated with the instruction “Cook”. Another instruction pattern might be the letter “T” associated with the command is “Time”. For the latter, a second instruction pattern might be the length of time “1:00” for which the food must cook. Recognizer  56  recognizes the numbers in the second input pattern and provides them to microwave oven  40  as operation information, rather than as a command. In all cases, recognizer  56  provides tile instruction associated with the recognized pattern to operating unit  59  (FIG. 2) which operates microwave oven  40  accordingly. 
     The instruction patterns can also be alphanumeric characters, each of which can be separately recognized. Thus, the user can input the following letters: “C”, “O”, “O” and “K” and recognizer  56  will recognize the letters individually, producing the string “cook”. Recognizer  56  will then provide the string “cook” to the machine operating unit  50  of microwave oven  40  as the instruction. 
     Washing machine  42  (FIG. 3B) operates similarly, where the user provides input patterns to touchpad  50  based on a preset list of instructions. When the input pattern is recognized, the associated instruction is provided to the washing machine operating unit to operate washing machine  42  accordingly. 
     Remote control unit  44  (FIG. 3C) can be any type of remote control unit such as one controlling a television, a video cassette recorder (VCR), a stereo system, etc. Unit  44  utilizes instruction input unit  30  (shown as the separate touchpad  50 , optional display  52  and recognition unit  54 ) to replace most, if not, all, of the many buttons on prior art remote control units. FIG. 3C shows an example of a remote control unit having some numerical buttons  57  and touchpad  50 , optional display  52  and recognition unit  54  of instruction input unit  30  for providing all other types of instructions, such as alphabetical instructions. 
     It will be appreciated that the present invention is a single user interface unit for a machine. Instruction input unit  30  replaces the multiple buttons of a machine with a single input unit capable of receiving many different types of input patterns. 
     As is known in the art of pattern recognition, recognition systems can also be trained with personal patterns. For example, and as shown in FIGS. 4,  5 A and  5 B to which reference is now made, the combination touchpad—recognition unit can be utilized as a dial shortcut input unit for desktop (FIG. 5A) and cellular (FIG. 5B) telephones. FIG. 4 illustrates the shortcut input unit  60  in block diagram format, FIG. 5A shows unit  60  in a desktop telephone  62  and FIG. 5B shows unit  60  in a cellular telephone  64 . Similar reference numerals of previous figures refer to similar elements. 
     Shortcut input unit  60  comprises touchpad  50 , optional display  52 , and a trainable recognition unit  70  and operates in conjunction with dialer  73  of either telephone  62  or  64 . Dialer  73  forms part of telephone  62  or  64  and is the element which receives the telephone number from the user interface and instructs telephone  62  or  64  to dial the received telephone number. Shortcut input unit  60  can also operate with a keypad  72  which forms part of telephone  62  or  64 . 
     Trainable recognition unit  70  comprises a mode switch  80 , a trainable recognizer  82 , and a trained library  84  in which are stored the patterns trained by the specific user of the telephone  62  or  64  and the telephone numbers associated with the patterns. Trainable recognizer  82  can be any suitable trainable recognizer, such as any of the recognizers cited hereinabove, which include a training ability, i.e. the ability to add patterns to library  84  in addition or instead of any previously entered pattern or patterns. 
     When mode switch  80  is set to a “train” mode, trainable recognizer  82  receives a pattern provided by touchpad  50  as a shortcut pattern to be stored, rather than a pattern to be recognized. In addition, trainable recognizer  82  accepts the telephone number to be associated with the input shortcut pattern. 
     The input shortcut pattern and the telephone number are stored in library  84 , for later use in recognition. Thus, in the train mode, the user stores selected telephone numbers and associates therewith a shortcut pattern (which can be any pattern, such as the name of the person who has the telephone number). 
     The user can provide the telephone number either via keypad  72  or by riting the telephone number on touchpad  50 . In order to receive the handwritten number to be associated with the input shortcut pattern, trainable recognizer  82  switches to a “handwriting recognition” mode in which recognizer  82  separately recognizes each of the numbers of the telephone number by matching them to a preset library of numerical patterns. The recognized telephone number is then associated with the already received shortcut pattern and stored in library  84 . 
     When mode switch  80  is set to a “pattern recognition” mode, trainable recognizer  82  attempts to match the input pattern provided by touchpad  50  to one or more of the shortcut patterns stored in library  84 . 
     Alternatively, the shortcut pattern can be a string of letters, presumably indicating the name of the person being called. For this, trainable recognizer  82  enters the handwriting recognition mode and recognizes each letter separately (as a standard letter, e.g. an ASCII letter). Trainable recognizer  82  then tries to match the resultant letter string to a previously stored string of letters to which the phone number is associated. 
     Trainable recognizer  82  then provides the telephone number associated with the matched shortcut pattern or recognized word to the dialer  73  of the relevant telephone  62  or  64 . 
     It will be appreciated that shortcut input unit  60  of FIGS. 4,  5 A and  5 B enables a user to associate a telephone number with any desired shortcut pattern. It will further be appreciated that the present invention is operative with all types of telephones, including wall mounted and wireless telephones. 
     Reference is now made to FIGS. 6,  7 A and  7 B which illustrate a further embodiment of the present invention as an identification unit  90 . FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the elements and FIGS. 7A and 78 are schematic illustrations of the use of identification unit  90  in a house or room door  92  and a car door  94 , respectively. It will be appreciated that the present invention incorporates all doors, including safe doors, and all types of lock mechanisms. 
     Identification unit  90  comprises touchpad  50 , optional display  52  and a trainable, security recognition unit  96 . Unit  90  controls a lock mechanism  100 . An exemplary lock mechanism  100  is an electronic lock of the type commonly found on hotel doors. 
     Security recognition unit  96  comprises a mode switch  102 , a trainable recognizer  104 , and a personal key library  106  in which are stored at least one identification pattern associated with an owner of the car or room. Trainable recognizer  104  is similar to trainable recognizer  82  and will not be described in more detail. 
     In the train mode, the room or car owner produces an identification pattern, such as his signature, on touchpad  50  which, in turn, provides the identification pattern to trainable recognizer  104  for storage in personal key library  106 . One or more identification patterns can be stored in library  106 . 
     In the recognition mode, identification unit  90  determines whether or not the identification pattern produced on touchpad  50  matches one of the identification patterns stored in personal key library  106 . If the identification pattern does match, then trainable recognizer  104  provides an “open door” activation signal to lock mechanism  100 . If there is no match, the activation signal is not produced and the incorrect owner cannot enter the car or room. If lock mechanism  100  is connected also to an alarm system, lock mechanism  100  can activate the alarm system whenever trainable recognizer  104  provides a signal indicating that an identification pattern was received but it did not match the stored identification patterns. 
     It will be appreciated that identification unit  90  provides a non-key mechanism for securing doors. This is of particular relevance to hotels, where guests often lose their keys. A hotel can replace the key mechanisms of the guest room doors with identification unit  90  and can have a central personal key library  106 . In this embodiment, the training process typically occurs as the guest, registers at the hotel and the identification pattern is stored in the central personal key library along with the room number, or numbers, that the guest has rented. A date can also be associated with the identification pattern, after which the identification pattern is no longer valid. 
     In this embodiment, when a guest draws his identification pattern on the identification unit  90  associated with a room, the recognizer  104 , which can be a central recognizer or one forming part of the door, accesses the central library  106  to match the identification pattern with the identification pattern associated with that room, activating the lock mechanism only if there is a match. Many identification patterns can be associated with a room if many people are staying in the room. 
     In the car embodiment of FIG. 7B, identification unit  90  replaces the standard key mechanism and activates the lock mechanism  100  only if the identification pattern matches a previously stored identification pattern. Furthermore, identification unit  90  can also be utilized to secure the trunk and/or to secure the car ignition mechanism. In the latter case, the lock mechanism  100  will disconnect the ignition if the wrong identification pattern is provided. Lock mechanism  100  can also be connected to an alarm system and can provide an alarm when the wrong identification pattern is provided. 
     An alternative identification unit can be produced to provide additional security for credit cards. This is illustrated in FIGS. 8A,  8 B,  9 ,  10 A and  10 B to which reference is now made. FIG. 8A illustrates, in block diagram format, the elements of a credit card trainer  110  and FIG. 8B isometrically illustrates credit card trainer  110 . FIG. 9 illustrates the elements of an authenticator  120  and FIGS. 10A and 10B illustrate the elements of authenticator  120  within a credit card authorizer  122  and an automatic teller machine (ATM)  124 . 
     Credit card trainer  110  (FIGS. 8A,  8 B) imprints the identification pattern of the card owner within the memory strip  112  of a credit card  114  or within a “smart card”. To this end, trainer  110  comprises touchpad  50 , optional display  52 , a pattern trainer  116  and a pattern imprinter  115 . Pattern trainer  116  comprises the training elements of trainable recognition units  82  and  104  and is operative to train one or more identification patterns. Once training has ended, pattern trainer  116  provides the trained identification patterns to pattern imprinter  115  which writes the trained identification pattern to memory strip  112 . Pattern imprinter  115  can be any suitable credit card memory strip imprinter, such as are known in the art. 
     Typically, credit card trainer  110  is located wherever credit cards are provided to a user, such as at a bank or at an ATM. The credit card is placed within trainer  110 , as shown in FIG.  8 B and the credit card owner draws his identification pattern on touch pad  50  of trainer  110  in accordance with instructions provided by pattern trainer  116 . When the identification pattern has been sufficiently trained, pattern trainer  116  provides the identification pattern (or patterns) to pattern imprinter  115  which, in turn, writes the identification pattern on the memory strip  112 . As a result, credit card  114  becomes a transportable “library” of identification patterns for the credit card owner. 
     As shown in FIG. 9, authenticator  120  comprises touchpad  50 , optional display  52 , a credit card reader  126  and a recognizer  128 . Credit card reader  126  reads the identification pattern from memory strip  112  of the credit card to be authenticated and recognizer  128  compares the identification pattern with the identification pattern produced from touchpad  50 . If the two patterns match, recognizer  128  provides an authentication signal to either credit card authorizer  122  or ATM  124 . Otherwise, recognizer  128  provides a non-authorization signal. 
     When the credit card owner wishes to utilize his credit card, such as at a store or at an ATM, he passes the credit card through the strip  130  (FIGS. 10A and 10B) of credit card reader  126 . At the same time, the credit card owner writes his identification pattern onto touchpad  50  of authenticator  120 . Recognizer  128  compares the two patterns and provides an authentication signal if the two patterns match. Credit card authorizer  122  utilizes the authentication signal to enable crediting of the sale to the credit card. ATM  124  utilizes the authentication signal to enable the credit card owner to perform bank transactions. 
     Alternatively (not shown), credit card trainer  110  can store the identification pattern within a central database in which the identification pattern is associated with the number of credit card  114 . In this embodiment, credit card trainer  110  does not include pattern imprinter  115  and authenticator  120  retrieves the identification pattern from the central database rather than from credit card memory strip  112 . 
     It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to what has been particularly shown and described hereinabove. Rather the scope of the present invention is defined only by the claims which follow: