Patent ID: 7337400

Claim:
A computer system, comprising: a computer processor, an operating system operative in connection with the computer processor, a display responsive to the operating system, a mouse that is movable with respect to a work surface and includes: a position sensor operative to interact with the work surface to derive a position signal and having an output line for the position signal, and a tactile actuator having an input line, a mouse driver responsive to the output line of the position sensor and wherein the input line of the tactile actuator is responsive to the mouse driver, a plurality of applications responsive to the mouse driver and to the operating system and in communication with the display, and wherein the mouse driver is responsive to the general purpose applications, a plurality of application-specific profile elements for the plurality of applications that define tactile signals to be sent to the tactile actuator when interacting with the corresponding application, wherein the profile elements include at least one textual profile element that is based on cells each containing a single alphanumeric character in a textual area, and wherein the profile elements include at least one graphical profile element that is based on graphical elements in a graphical area.