Combination mouse and area imager

Claim 2

A hand-held device for inputting into a computer relative positional information during movement of the device over a generally planar surface and for inputting an optical image of an object located thereunder in a single step, said device comprising: a housing adapted to be grasped by a user and moved along the surface; a positional transducer mounted in said housing for generating first signals representative of an amount of movement of the device on the surface; and an area imager of a predetermined size located within said housing for recording an image of an object in a single scanning step when said housing is positioned above the surface and for generating second signals representative of said image said device outputting the second signals without correlating the amount of movement represented by the first signals to the image represented by the second signals.

Claim 3

The device of claim 1 wherein said positional transducer includes a track ball.

Claim 4

The device of claim 1 further comprising at least one finger-actuated input device that directs action on a computer screen.

Claim 5

The device of claim 1 further comprising a finger-actuated input device that actuates said area imager.

Claim 6

The device of claim 4 wherein said area imager is a charge coupled device.

Claim 7

The device of claim 4 wherein said area imager is CMOS imager.

Claim 8

The device of claim 1 further comprising an illuminator that illuminates the document for imaging.

Claim 9

The device of claim 7 wherein said illuminator is an LED located on an underside of said housing.

Claim 10

The device of claim 1 further comprising an optical alignment device that orients the document within an image field of said area imager.

Claim 11

The device of claim 9 wherein said optical alignment device projects illumination markers denoting said image field.

Claim 12

The device of claim 1, wherein said area imager is capable of recording a business-card size image in a single scanning step.

Claim 13

The device of claim 1, wherein said area imager is capable of recording a 8.5×11 inch document in a single scanning step.

Claim 14

A hand-held device for inputting into a computer relative positional information during movement of the device over a generally planar surface and for inputting an optical image of an object located thereunder in a single step said device comprising: a housing adapted to be grasped by a user and moved along the surface; a positional transducer mounted in said housing for generating first signals representative of an amount of movement of the device on the surface; an area imager of a predetermined size located within said housing for recording an image of an object in a single scanning step when said housing is positioned above the surface and for generating second signals representative of said image, said device outputting the second signals without correlating the amount of movement represented by the first signals to the image represented by the second signals; and an optical alignment device located on a bottom side of said housing that emits light to allow a user to manually position the hand-held device, including the area imager, relative to a desired image on the surface.

Claim 15

A hand-held device for inputting into a computer relative positional information during movement of the device over a generally planar surface and for inputting an optical image of an object located thereunder in a single step said device comprising: a housing adapted to be grasped by a user and moved along the surface; a positional transducer mounted in said housing for generating first signals representative of an amount of movement of the device on the surface; an area imager of a predetermined size located within said housing for recording an image of an object in a single scanning step when said housing is positioned above the surface and for generating second signals representative of said image, said device outputting the second signals without correlating the amount of movement represented by the first signals to the image represented by the second signals; and an optical alignment device located on a bottom side of said housing that emits light to allow a user to manually position the hand-held device, including the area imager, relative to a desired image on the surface.

Claim 16

The device of claim 13, wherein said optical alignment device projects illumination markers denoting said image field.

Claim 17

A hand-held device for inputting into a computer relative positional information during movement of the device over a generally planar surface and for inputting an optical image of an object located thereunder, said device comprising: a housing adapted to be grasped by a user and moved along the surface; a positional transducer mounted in said housing for generating first signals representative of an amount of movement of the device on the surface; an area imager of a predetermined size located within said housing for recording an image of an object in a single scanning step when said housing is positioned above the surface, and for generating second signals representative of said image, said device outputting the second signals without correlating the amount of movement represented by the first signals to the image represented by the second signals; and an optical alignment device for orienting the area imager relative to the image on the surface, said alignment device including a real-time transmitter that transmits a low resolution image to the computer in real-time so that the size and contents of the image to be recorded can be observed in real-time on a computer screen to aid in alignment of the area imager and image selection.

Claim 18

A hand-held device for inputting into a computer relative positional information during movement of the device over a generally planar surface and for inputting an optical image of an object located thereunder, said device comprising: a housing adapted to be grasped by a user and moved along the surface; a positional transducer mounted in said housing for generating first signals representative of an amount of movement of the device on the surface; an area imager of a predetermined size located within said housing for recording an image of an object in a single scanning step when said housing is positioned above the surface, and for generating second signals representative of said image, said device outputting the second signals without correlating the amount of movement represented by the first signals to the image represented by the second signals; and an optical alignment device for orienting the area imager relative to the image on the surface, said alignment device including a real-time transmitter that transmits a low resolution image to the computer in real-time so that the size and contents of the image to be recorded can be observed in real-time on a computer screen to aid in alignment of the area imager and image selection.

Claim 19

The hand-held device of claim 1 further comprising an optical alignment device including means for manual hand-held alignment of the area imager relative to the image of an object to be scanned.