BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a hand-held communication device suitable for both one-way communication in the manner of a keyboard, or two-way communication where the user in addition receives communications via the sense of touch. Embodiments of the invention are particularly adapted for use by persons who are speechless, deaf and speechless, or even blind, deaf and speechless.

Keyboards are communication devices or, more correctly, human-to-machine interface devices, used in numerous situations. In addition to typewriters, keyboards are commonly employed to communicate to computers, word processors, and to remote locations. A keyboard is intended to be operated by touch alone; a skilled operator need not look at the keyboard to operate it.

While conventional keyboards serve their purpose quite well in many applications, they are not without drawbacks and limitations. Significant limitations of conventional keyboards are their size and the need to employ two hands for conventional touch typing at any reasonable speed. There are currently available portable, so-called "lap" computers whose size appears to be primarily limited by the minimum size required to support a standard keyboard and a display window, such as a liquid crystal display.

Thus, various alternatives have- previously been proposed. For example. Learn U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,238 discloses a hand-held data entry unit including a handle with four pushbutton switches respectively corresponding to four rows of an attached

matrix type display which is scanned during operation and visually observed by the user. Thumb switches are also included which act as "shift" keys.

In the particular context of devices for aiding handicapped persons, a variety of communication devices have been proposed and employed. Thus, an example of what is termed a matrix communicator is disclosed in Dufresne U.S. Pat. No. 4,241,521. Typical examples of hand-held devices for such purposes are disclosed in Salmon U.S. Pat. No.

4,075,621; Gerstenhaber U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,779, and Whittlestone et al U.K. Pat. No. 1,475,886.

A fundamental limitation of a keyboard, a limitation shared generally by the patented devices referred to above, is that it is a one-way communication device. The user must receive communications via another means, such as a computer screen or a printout. Thus, while keyboards and associated equipment have been employed for communication between persons who are deaf, such systems are not suitable for communications between persons who are also blind.

The present invention overcomes these limitations and makes possible one- or two-way communication between a person and a computer, or other device, without the use of sight, hearing, speech or any mode of communication other than tactile. The device of the invention, being small and hand-held, in addition facilitates communication with small computers and the like which are carried on the person, in some cases concealed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved keyboard device.

It is another object of the invention to provide a keyboard device which is extremely small and which can be held in and operated by one hand.

It is another object of the invention to provide such a device which facilitates two-way communication.

It is another object of the invention to provide such a device which is capable of communicating in conventional 8-bit or 16-bit binary codes, for example the ASCII code.

Briefly, and in accordance with one aspect of the invention, a hand-held communication device includes a handle-like body having a suitably- contoured portion around-which the proximal, middle and distal segments of the finger of a person's hand can curve, and a plurality of switch actuators carried by the body for selective manual activation singly or in predetermined combinations. In order to increase the number of switch actuators which can be activated by the fingers of one hand, at least one pair of the switch actuators is positioned on the body for respective selective activation by distal and proximal segments of a single finger.

In one embodiment, the predetermined combinations generate representations in a binary code, such as ASCII, which is directly understood by computers, various forms of terminal equipment, and printers. In one particular embodiment, there are eight switch actuators arranged as four pairs, with each of the pairs corresponding to a particular finger. With this arrangement, 256 different combinations or patterns (including the pattern of no switches) can be selected, providing a full eight binary bits. It is advantageous to also provide a ninth switch actuator positioned for activation by the thumb, with this ninth switch actuator serving to provide a "strobe" signal indicating to the equipment

to which the hand-held device is connected that a combination of switches has been selected and is at that moment valid.

Experience has shown that, with this particular arrangement of switches, binary coded messages (e.g. in ASCII) can be generated quite rapidly. Actual working embodiments of the invention have been employed to directly operate a standard parallel input printer otherwise intended to be driven by a computer.

As another significant aspect of the invention, the hand-held communication device additionally includes a plurality of selectively controlled tactile stimulation elements, such as vibrators or controlled "click" devices, corresponding to particular ones of the switch actuators and mechanically connected to the switch actuators to enable communication to the operator of the communication device. Thus, the same hand-held communication device is capable of two-way communication using the sense of touch, entirely avoiding using the ^' senses of sight and hearing.

As noted just above, an important aspect of the subject hand-held communication device as a transmission device is the arrangement of switches whereby at least one pair of switches can be individually selectively actuated by end and intermediate portions of the same finger, thereby permitting up to nine switch actuators to be conveniently activated in any combination using just one hand. However, those embodiments of the invention which also include selectively controlled tactile stimulation elements such that the hand-held device can be used as an information receiver are not limited to any particular arrangement of switch actuators. Thus, for the two-way communication of limited information, in accordance with the invention

simplier arrangements of the switch actuator elements may be employed.

While the hand-held communication devices of the invention are well adapted for use anywhere a conventional keyboard might be employed, e.g. for communication with a computer, the devices have particular utility when used by persons who are speechless, deaf and speechless, or even blind, deaf and speechless. For example, a hand-held device of the invention can be interfaced to a simple computer- driven display screen which merely presents messages as they are "typed" on the hand-held communication device employing the ASCII code. Thus, another person can simply read the display screen to understand the communication.

Two such persons, each having a hand-held device configured as a two-way communication device, can readily communicate simply by having their devices electrically interconnected. Thus, the switch actuators of each of the devices are connected to the corresponding tactile stimulation elements of the opposite device. The electrical communication can be either relatively direct, as where two such persons are in the same room. In addition, the electrical interconnection can be over much longer distances, for example over ordinary telephone lines, employing modem equipment intended for computer-to-computer or terminal-to-computer communications in general. These systems are entirely compatible since, in either case, it is essentially a binary code which is generated and received.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS While the novel features of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims, the' ^• invention, both as to organization and content, will be better understood and appreciated.

along with other objects and features thereof, from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an end view of a hand-held communication device in accordance with the invention depicting the manner in which it is grasped and retained in the palm of hand;

FIG. 2 is a perspective side view of the hand-held device of FIG. 1 showing the arrangement of switch actuators thereon;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but from a different orientation;

FIG. 4 is an electrical schematic circuit diagram of one embodiment depicting the electrical interconnection of the various elements; and

FIG. 5 is an electrical schematic circuit diagram depicting another embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring first to FIGS. 1-3, a hand-held communication device 8 in accordance with the invention comprises a handle-like body 10, having a length generally corresponding to the width of a palm, and somewhat resembling a pistol grip. For retaining the body 10 against the palm of the hand, a suitable strap 12 is provided. Thus, the device 8 is retained in proper position for operation while leaving the fingers essentially free. The body 10 is suitably contoured, and includes a thumbrest area 14. An electrical cable 15 connects circuitry within the body 8 to external devices. Shown in phantom in FIG. 1 is a representative finger of a person's hand curving around the contoured body 10, the finger having proximal, middle and distal segments.

In the embodiment illustrated, eight pushbutton-type switch actuators are carried by the body 10. These include fingertip switch actuators

16A, 16B, 16C and 16D positioned for selective activation by distal portions of the fingers as shown, and intermediate finger portion switch actuators 18A, 18B, 18C and 18D positioned for selective activation by proximal segments of the fingers as shown. Preferably a thumb switch actuator 20 is also provided. In order to enhance tactile response, particularly when the communication device 8 is employed for receiving signals, as may be seen in FIG. 3 the intermediate finger portion switch actuators 18A-18D are somewhat elongated, thus increasing the area of contact.

Accordingly, it will be appreciated that an important aspect of the invention is this arrangement of switch actuators whereby two actuators can be operated by a single finger, and eight switch actuators can be activated in any desired combination, providing a full 8-bit binary code, with just one hand. With reference now in addition to FIG. 4, the switch actuators 16A-16D and 18A-18D comprise elements of respective electrical switches connected to individual bit inputs B _Q through By of a suitable interface circuit 30, shown for purposes of example as a parallel-to-serial converter. As is known, such a device comprises a parallel-in serial-out shift register which, when triggered, clocks out data as a serial bit stream along a serial output line 32. In FIG. 4, the thumb actuator 20 comprises a part of a switch connected to a STROBE input which triggers the serial output process.

The serial output line 32 may be connected to any one of a variety of devices, as is represented by the boxed rectangle 38. Thus, typical examples are a computer, a printer, a communications modem, another hand-held device, or other interface circuitry. Similarly, it will be appreciated that the parallel-

to-serial converter 30 is representative only, and that other forms of interfaces may be employed, such as direct parallel interfaces.

Corresponding on a one-for-one basis to the switch actuators 16A-16D and 18A-18D are a plurality of tactile stimulation elements, shown as vibrators 40A-40D and 42A-42D, mechanically connected to the respective switch actuators. The tactile stimulation elements typically comprise buzzers or mechanical "click" devices. Suitable tactile stimulation devices are currently employed in electronic devices for communication with the blind, such as the "Opticon" which employs vibrating pins for enabling the blind to read typewritten pages. The vibrators 40A-40D and 42A-42D are selectively driven individually by a serial-to- parallel converter 44 which generally performs the converse operation of the parallel-to-serial converter 30. Thus, the serial-to-parallel converter 44 receives signals in the form of a serial bit stream along a line 46, and outputs parallel signals from its individual bit outputs B _Q to B^.

The actual physical configuration is subject to wide variations, depending upon the particular application. For example, the FIG. 4 converters 30 and 44 may be included within the housing 8, in which event the conductors 32 and 46 are part of the cable 15. As another example, the converters 30 and 44, or other circuitry may be entirely external to the body 8.

It is bel ieved that the operation of the present invention will be better appreciated in view of the following TABLE I which depicts a portion of the seven-bit ASCII code commonly employed for data communications :

TABLE I

Bits B. B. B. B. B- B. B . B.

Characters

SPACE 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0

1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1

II 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0

# 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1

* *

* . *

* *

0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0

1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1

2 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0

3 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1

* *

* *

* *

7 0 . 0 1 1 0 1 1 1

8 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0

9 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1

* *

* *

* *

A 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1

B 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0

C 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1

D 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0

* *

* *

* *

L 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0

M 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1

N 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0

* *

* *

* *

W 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1

X 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0

Y 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 z 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0

As depicted in the foregoing TABLE I, in accordance with the standard ASCII code, each character is encoded as a particular pattern of seven binary bits, B« being the low-order bit and Bg being the high-order bit. The eight bit Bη, is not defined in the standard ASCII code, but is available for special control purposes to suit particular applications. Thus, the standard ASCII code has a total of 128 characters defined {including control characters) .

Those skilled in the art of data communications will appreciate that the foregoing TABLE I, for purposes of illustration, is an excerpt only of the standard ASCII code. While the switch actuators 16A-16D and 18A-

18D may be assigned to particular binary bits B _Q through B7 in any arbitrary manner desired, the following TABLE II depicts, for purposes of example, one such assignment which has been found to be suitable.

TABLE II Switch Assignments

Finger-Tip Switches: 16D 16C 16B 16A Least Significant Bits: B3 Ε>2 ^B 1 ^B _Q

Intermediate Switches: 18D 18C 18B 18A Most Significant Bits: &η Bg Be B,

The operation of the invention will now be considered in view of the foregoing TABLES. For purposes of example, it will be assumed that the user intends to transmit the upper case letter L which, from TABLE I, has an ASCII bit pattern of 0100 1100. Thus, using the set of finger-tip switches 16A-16D to select the least significant bits, the user operates

finger-tip switches 16C and 16D. At the same time, using the set of intermediate finger portion switches 18A-18D, the user operates intermediate switch 18C. When the proper pattern is selected, the user actuates the thumb switch 20 to send the strobe signal.

While the illustrated embodiment employs a manual strobe button 20, for faster operation automatic strobing at regular intervals may be employed, for example one, two or more times per second. Thus a skilled user can develop a rhythm synchronized to the automatic strobe interval. In such cases, user-adjustment of the strobe interval is provided. Depending upon the particular application, an automatic strobe signed is repetitively generated by circuitry (not shown) within the housing 8, or by external circuitry to which the device is connected.

For receiving information, the tactile stimulation elements, such as the vibrators 40A-40D and 42A-42D are selectively activated based on an external signal, for example by buzzing or "clicking" such that they can be tactially sensed.

While the illustrated form of a one-hand unit 8 with eight coding switches plus a ninth (strobe) is quite adequate for most applications, it will be appreciated that more complicated arrangements may be employed. For example, two such units 8 may be employed by a single individual, one in each hand. Thus, patterns of sixteen bits can be generated, for a total of 65,536 different combinations.

As another alternative, even more switches can be included on a single hand-held unit. One possible arrangement is to employ a trigger-guard like structure with switches positioned such that lifting a finger actuates a switch. This arrangement would, of course, result in fewer possible combinations than ^• would be indicated based merely on the number of

switches provided, since it would generally not be possible to simultaneously activate two switches on opposite sides of the same portion of a finger.

Referring now to FIG. 5, depicted is another circuit suitable for use in the practice of the invention. In FIG. 5, a plurality of normally- closed finger tip pushbutton switches 116A-116D and intermediate finger portion switches 118A-118D are carried by a handle-like body such as the body 10 depicted in FIGS. 1-3. A normally-closed thumb switch 120 is also provided. All of these switches are electrically connected through a set 120 of isolation diodes and a suitable connector 124 to circuitry included within a separate housing 126. As an output device, a standard parallel interface printer 128 is provided connected via a suitable cable 130 through another connector 132.

In essence, the circuitry within the housing 126 comprises an eight-bit parallel D-type latch which makes parallel data ready for the printer 128 when the strobe thumb switch 120 is actuated. Thus, there are provided a pair of four-bit D-type registers 134 and 136, which are standard integrated circuit devices, such as Motorola Type No. MC14076 low-power CMOS devices.

More particularly, the finger tip switches 116A-116D and the intermediate finger portion switches 118A-118D are connected through the isolation diodes 122 to the data inputs D _Q through D 3 of the latch circuits 134 and 136 as indicated. Input pull-up resistors 138 are provided, which may comprise any suitable value such as 100 K ohm. While normally- closed switches are employed in FIG. 5, it will be appreciated that normally-open switches may equally well be employed, with appropriate logic inversion.

The Q ₀ through Q ₃ outputs of the integrated circuit latches 134 and 136 are connected directly to appropriate pins of the output connector 132.

A strobe conditioning circuit, generally designated 140, comprises six integrated circuit inverters 141-146 connected generally in series. To enable selective reversal of the logic sense, a switch 150 is provided to selectively by-pass the first inverter 141. In order to produce a strobe pulse of predetermined duration regardless of how long the thumb strobe switch 120 is actuated, a suitable RC timing network 152 is connected between the inverters 142 and 143.

The output 154 of the strobe conditioning circuit 140 is connected to the printer 128 via the connector 132, while an intermediate output 156 is connected to the clock (C) inputs of the D-type registers 134 and 136.

In the operation of the circuit of FIG. 5, the user selects an appropriate combination of the switches 116A-116D and 118A-118D. When the appropriate combination has been selected, the thumb switch 120 is operated, which causes a pulse to be generated on the output lines 154 and 156. The pulse on the line 156 connected to the clock (C) inputs of the latches 134 and 136 causes the data on the D inputs to be transferred to the Q outputs, where it remains stable until the next strobe pulse. At approximately the same time, the strobe output on the line 154 indicates to the printer 128 that valid, stable data is available.

With this circuit arrangement, it will be appreciated that various combinations of the switches 116A-116D and 118A-118D which may momentarily result while the proper combination is being selected have no effect on the output or operation, inasmuch as

the data is not considered valid until the strobe switch 120 is actuated.

In view of the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the present invention provides a highly advantageous and versatile communication device suitable for a wide variety of communications, using the sense of touch alone.

While specific embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, it is realized that numerous modifications and changes will occur to those skilled in the art. It is therefore to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes which fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.