| 摘要 |
A portable electronic data input device includes a housing sized to be held in the palm of one hand. One housing side has four individual dual-position control buttons arranged in a row and positioned to be actuated by an individual finger of a user grasping the input device in the palm of the hand. A multi-position control mechanism in an adjacent housing side comprises a plurality of individual switch contacts arranged in a predetermined pattern that enables a user, while holding the input device in the palm of one hand and the user's other fingers each touching an individual one of the dual-position control buttons, to reach with the thumb of the hand the multi-position control mechanism. Using only the thumb, the user activates any individual switch contact or activates two or more switch contacts simultaneously. The arrangement of the control buttons and multi-position control mechanism provides a chordic-keyboard capable of generating a variety of different electronic signals as determined by the user manipulating the dual-position control buttons, the multi-position control mechanism, or both simultaneously. |
