Patent ID: 7262762

Claim:
An handheld device comprising: a main body; a pair of thumb controllers integral with the main body and positioned for engagement with a respective thumb of a user holding the handheld device; a pair of sensing means operatively connected to each of the pair of thumb controllers whereby each of the pair of sensing means generate electrical signals indicative of the direction of force applied to each thumb controller by the user; a processing module programmed with means for resolving a first set of electrical signals generated from a first one of the pair of sensing means and a second set of electrical signals generated from a second one of the pair of sensing means to determine an alphanumeric character to be generated in response to the direction of force applied to the thumb controllers; means for generating a first set of data signals indicative of the alphanumeric character; and means for transmitting the first set of data signals from the handheld device to a receiving device for display of the alphanumeric character.