Circular tactile keypad

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In order to meet the needs described above, the present keypad controller has been devised which permits ease of use by persons who are manually impaired, or who have eyesight deficiency.
It also offers the advantage of ease of use in conditions of low light by a person having normal vision.
In one embodiment, these advantages are provided by a keypad which is held in an elevated position by a stand.
The stand includes a planar base and a vertical handle having a trigger switch.
The handle and trigger switch are easily gripped.
When depressed, the trigger switch transmits signals to the electrical device.
In this configuration, the keypad of the present invention is particularly suited to aid the manually impaired as a TV remote controller for channel selection and other functions.
The keypad is also conveniently detachable from the stand so that the controller unit is smaller and more practical.
Other advantages of the stand include: allowing the unit to rest in an upright position when not in use; making it is less likely to become lost; allowing the operator to conveniently point the unit at the TV to transmit; and permitting two-handed operation by which the stand is grasped in one hand, while the keypad is operated by the other hand.
While the above description shows the keypad of the present invention applied to a remote-type controller, it may also be used as a keypad which is affixed directly to an appliance which it controls and in such applications would of course not be a separate unit detachable from a stand.
It should be further understood that the gist of the invention is the construction of the keypad, the controller and stand apparatus.
Other internal features, such as signal transmission means between the remote controller and the appliance like an infrared light beam and a light receptor on the appliance form no part of the present invention.
Details of these internal features are omitted from the present description as they will be readily understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to be easily employed with the features of the present invention described herein