Patent ID: 8666444

Claim:
A communication device, comprising: an input keypad having physical input keys arranged in a matrix of rows and columns, each displaying alphanumeric characters for text and phone communication; a mode input mechanism enabled to select at least a first mode, second mode and a third mode from a plurality of available modes; and software or firmware responsive to the first mode selected through the mode input mechanism, comprising a specific mapping wherein individual keys represent specific individual dots in a Braille matrix, the key positions matching the dot positions in a Braille cell, and one further key is mapped to provide signaling of a next character, selection of the second mode functions according to the alphanumeric characters, and selection of the third mode the software or firmware maps input keys and processes according to flag signals of a semaphore code; wherein, in the first mode, a character is input by pressing, in any order, the keys on the keyboard that represent the dots in the Braille cell for that character, and then pressing the key mapped to provide signaling of a next character, in the third mode individual keys are each mapped to one of a left, right, up or down hand flag position in the semaphore code associated with a key position in the keypad, and two keys pressed in sequence are mapped to a single output character according to the semaphore code.