This invention relates to an apparatus for positioning a pointing device, such as a mouse or trackball, relative to a computer.
Considerable advances have been made in recent years in the design of portable computers. Laptop computers, or "notebooks," may weigh as little as six pounds, thereby making them very transportable.
Like the larger desktop computers, many laptop computers contain built-in ports which allow for the electrical connection of the pointing device to the computer. For a laptop computer, however, it is desirable to have a pointing device which may be clamped to the laptop, particularly when traveling, for example, on an airplane where work space area is limited. Presently, there are laptop computers on the market which provide a mouse or trackball attachment. MicroSpeed, Inc. of Freemont, Calif., and Suncom Technologies of Niles, Ill., for example, manufacture dual lock devices for attaching their particular trackball pointing devices to the laptop keyboard, as disclosed on page 187 of "Traveling Companions," PC World, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2/92, pp. 182-189. Similarly, Appoint of Pleasanton, Calif., and Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash., manufacture bracket attachments for affixing their respective laptop pointing devices, such as the "Thumbelina" (Appoint) and the "BallPoint" Mouse (Microsoft), to a keyboard.
In Microsoft's bracket attachment, the clamping mechanism operates by individually screwing a pair of clamp arms, each having a pair of thumb screws integral with the clamp arms, as opposed to actuating one or more spring-biased buttons. The clamp arms are individually moved between the home position and the extended position by turning their respective thumb screws. Once the bracket is attached to the computer, the pointing device is slid into the bracket. The bracket also has a hinge mechanism for pivotally moving the pointing device into a selected user position which operates by simultaneously depressing a pair of buttons. However, Microsoft's hinge assembly allows for only four positioning angles within a 0.degree.-90.degree. range of movement.
Logitech, Inc. of Freemont, Calif. also manufactures a bracket attachment for clamping its pointing device to the edge of a laptop keyboard. The bracket attachment comprises a housing having a clamping side and a clamp jaw, which moves relative to the housing. However, unlike the present invention, the Logitech attachment operates by depressing a single button located at the rear of the attachment housing. Also unlike the present invention, the Logitech button is actuated perpendicular to the clamping side of the housing. When depressed, the button pushes against a leaf spring contained within the housing to move the clamp Jaw from the home position to the extended position. The Logitech bracket attachment does not contain a hinge mechanism for adjusting the pointing device into different angle positions. Once the bracket attachment is mounted onto the computer, the pointing device is then attached to the bracket attachment.
Logitech manufactures two different models of its bracket, with the only difference between the two attachments being the location of the clamp Jaw in the home position, when the bracket attachment is not mounted on the computer keyboard. In one model, which is designed for keyboards having relatively thick edges, the clamp Jaw does not come into contact with the clamping side of the housing when the clamp Jaw in the home position. In the second model, the clamp jaw does contact the clamping side of the housing when the clamp Jaw is in the home position.