Outwardly decreasing height keys for a handheld electronic device keyboard
View Patent ↗A handheld wireless communication device includes features that make it easier to differentiate among various keys and to correctly select a desired key. It also includes features that make the device more comfortable to use. In particular, corner keys have decreasing height profiles to make above-adjacent keys easier to reach and distinguish. Additionally, lowermost, outermost portions of the corner keys may be somewhat truncated. Flanking keys in a navigation row slant toward and are flush with peripheral edges of a navigation tool assembly and have outer edges that are higher than inner edges of adjacent outer keys. The outer edges of the flanking keys may be hump-shaped or crowned. The longitudinally central portion of the device is narrower than the ends of the device, and the corners of the device are contoured to enhance comfort in a user's hand. Soft-touch materials are employed in hand-contacting portions of the device.
1. A keyboard comprising:
a plurality of keys arranged linearly in a plurality of columns and a plurality of rows, the plurality of keys extending above a case body and comprising at least one bottom corner key located at a respective end of one of a last row of the plurality of rows or a last column of the plurality of columns,
wherein each respective at least one bottom corner key has a respective upper surface that decreases in height from a respective ridge at a laterally inner portion of the each respective at least one bottom corner key toward a laterally outer edge thereof, and
an adjacent key located above a respective bottom corner key has a bottom edge that is higher above the case body than the laterally outer edges of the respective bottom corner key.
2. The keyboard as recited in claim 1 , wherein the plurality of keys are mirror-symmetric about a vertically oriented axis of symmetry.
3. The keyboard as recited in claim 1 , wherein the at least one bottom corner key comprises two bottom corner keys.
4. The keyboard as recited in claim 1 , wherein each bottom corner key is at least approximately twice as wide as said above-adjacent key.
5. The keyboard as recited in claim 1 , wherein a respective bottom lateral outer corner of each respective bottom corner key has a greater radius of curvature than a respective radius of curvature of any other corner of the respective bottom corner key.
6. The keyboard as recited in claim 5 , wherein the greater radius of curvature is significantly larger than the respective radius of curvature, and wherein a bottom edge of each of the bottom corner keys transitions smoothly and continuously along said greater radius of curvature into said laterally outer edge of each of the bottom corner keys.
7. The keyboard as recited in claim 1 , wherein each bottom corner key is a function key.
8. The keyboard as recited in claim 1 , wherein each bottom corner key is a shift-function key.
9. An electronic device comprising:
a housing;
a display provided in the housing; and
a keyboard including a plurality of keys arranged linearly in a plurality of columns and a plurality of rows, the plurality of keys comprising at least one bottom corner key located at a respective end of one of a last row of the plurality of rows or a last column of the plurality of columns,
wherein each respective at least one bottom corner key has a respective upper surface that decreases in height from a respective ridge at a laterally inner portion of the each respective at least one bottom corner key toward a laterally outer edge thereof, and
a bottom edge of an adjacent key above a respective bottom corner key is higher than laterally outer edges of the respective bottom corner key.
10. The keyboard as recited in claim 1 , wherein a respective bottom edge of each of a plurality of adjacent keys in an adjacent row that is immediately-above the respective bottom corner key is higher than the laterally outer edge of the respective bottom corner key.
11. The keyboard as recited in claim 1 , wherein the plurality of keys are located on a front face of a body, and
at least a portion of a bottom edge of the upper surface of the at least one bottom corner key is substantially flush with the front face of the body.
12. The keyboard as recited in claim 1 ,
wherein the respective ridge is removed from a top edge of the respective at least one bottom corner key,
the upper surface decreasing in height between the ridge and a bottom edge of the respective at least one bottom key, and
the upper surface further being scalloped between the ridge and the top edge of the respective at least one bottom key.
13. The keyboard as recited in claim 1 ,
wherein the respective upper surface the each respective at least one bottom corner key decreases in height from the respective ridge toward the laterally outer edge with a crested wave portion.
14. The keyboard as recited in claim 1 , wherein the at least one bottom corner key is located at a respective end of a last row of the plurality of rows.
15. The keyboard as recited in claim 1 , wherein the at least one bottom corner key is located at a respective end of a last column of the plurality of columns.