Patent ID: 6995745

Claim:
A mechanical browsing module for controlling a display of a set of information to be browsed, comprising: a body having a sensor; a browsing control device coupled to the sensor and configured to generate a control signal with a first direction component when a force is applied to the sensor in a first direction and a second direction component when the force is applied to the sensor in a second direction; and an output port configured to output the control signal to a processor that controls which portion of said set of information is presented on a display, wherein said browsing control device comprising a plurality of springs, said plurality of springs configured to provide at least one of a force feedback and a frictional feedback as a reaction to said force, wherein, the browsing control device is configured to have at least two resistance regions, and the browsing control device includes a resistance mechanism configured to provide a first discrete amount of resistance when said force is at or below a first threshold and provide a second discrete amount of resistance to said force when said force is above said first threshold.