Keyboard

Claim 2

An input product keyboard for the transfer of information to a machine by a human operator, comprising: keys to be struck by the fingers of the hands; at least two keys to be struck by the thumbs; wherein the set of characters and codes regenerated by all the keys struck by the fingers are determined by the combination of keys pressed by the thumbs.

Claim 3

A Minimum Proximal finger key pad for the transfer of information to a machine by a human operator, comprising: a plurality of keys to be struck by the fingers of one hand; wherein the positions of the keys are arrayed roughly in rows and columns, any of which may be curved or straight; wherein four keys are assigned to consecutive positions of one row and are designated to be the home positions of the fingers of the hand; wherein each position immediately adjacent to a home position key in either a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal direction is assigned a key; wherein the only positions assigned to keys are the four assigned to the home keys and positions immediately adjacent to them; and wherein the array consequently comprises three rows and six columns of keys.

Claim 4

A Minimum Proximal finger key pad for the transfer of information to a machine by a human operator, comprising: a plurality of keys to be struck by the fingers of one hand; wherein the positions of the keys are arrayed roughly in rows and columns, any of which may be curved or straight; wherein four keys are assigned to consecutive positions of one row and are designated to be the home positions of the fingers of the hand; wherein each position immediately adjacent to a home position key in either a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal direction is assigned a key; wherein the only positions assigned to keys are the four assigned to the home keys and positions immediately adjacent to them; and wherein the array consequently comprises three rows and six columns of keys.

Claim 5

The Minimum Proximal keyboard, a virtual input product keyboard for the transfer of information to a machine by a human operator, comprising: a finger key pad as in Claim 2 to be struck by the fingers of the left hand; a finger key pad as in Claim 2 to be struck by the fingers of the right hand; a linear array of at least two keys to be struck by the left thumb; and a linear array of at least two keys to be struck by the right thumb; wherein the combination of keys pressed by the thumbs determines the set of codes and characters generated by the keys struck by the fingers; and wherein the combination of keys pressed by the thumbs determines the assignments of the specific codes and characters to the specific finger keys which generate them when struck.

Claim 6

A Minimum Proximal keyboard, as in Claim 3, comprising: a set of assignments of characters and codes to keys, including the lower case alphabet; a set of assignments of characters and codes to keys, including the upper case alphabet; a set of assignments of numerals to keys; a set of assignments of deletion codes or characters to keys; and a set of assignments of cursor motion control codes or characters to keys: wherein the 'space' character is assigned to the home position for the left forefinger for both the assignment sets containing alphabetic characters; wherein the 'cursor right by column' assignment is made to the home key of the left forefinger for the assignment set containing the cursor motion control characters and codes; wherein the 'delete character right' assignment is made to the home key of the left forefinger for the assignment set containing the deletion characters and codes; wherein the 'newline' character assignment is made to the outer column key of the home row, struck by the right little finger, for both the assignment sets containing alphabetic characters; wherein the 'enter' assignment is made to the outer column key of the home row for the assignment set containing the numerals; and wherein the assignments of the remaining characters and codes to sets and to finger keys is determined according to other criteria.