United States Patent 9
Pranger et al.
INNO
ENON
US005428369A.
[11] Patent Number: 5,428,369
[45] Date of Patent: Jun, 27, 1995
[54] COMPUTER POINTING DEVICE
[75] Inventors: Maarten R. Pranger, Morgan Hill,
Cristian A. Fraenkel, San Mateo;
Richard Pekelney, San Francisco;
David C. Shafer, Menlo Park, all of
Calif.
[73] Assignee: Kensington Microware Limited, San
Mateo, Calif.
[21] Appl. No.: 255,320
[22] Fiied: Jun. 7, 1994
(51] Int. CLS G09G 5/08
(52] U.S. CL. 345/166; 345/163;
345/167
[58] Field of Search ..........-s::sssssscsssessscees 345/163-167,
345/172, 156-158, 161, 162
[56] References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
5,119,077 6/1992 Giorgio
Primary Examiner—Jefiery Brier
345/163
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Townsend and Townsend
Khourie and Crew
[57] ABSTRACT
The present invention provides for an improved com-
puter pointing device such as a trackball or mouse, for
example. The improved computer pointing device al-
lows a user to set a communications protocol for use
with a particular computer system by using a user-
friendly configuration program designed for operation
on a different platform and by using a different commu-
nications protocol. Additionally, the computer pointing
device includes an LED encoder illumination control
system to provide varying levels of LED intensities.
During normal operation, an LED operates at a particu-
lar intensity level. The intensity level is controllable in
discrete steps: LED power is off for power up, LED
power is reduced for testing to test for unacceptable
signal levels, and LED power may be increased beyond
normal levels to counteract diminution of light intensity
as the LED ages.
12 Claims, 3 Drawing Sheets
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5,428,369
1
COMPUTER POINTING DEVICE
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to computer
pointing devices, and more specifically, to computer
pointing devices that are capable of communicating
using several different types of protocols or to those
that use light-emitting diodes to generate positional
info…
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