Computer with separate left hand and right hand operated keyboard units

DETAILED DESCRIPTION According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a pocket computer comprising a housing having three rigid, generally flat, rectangular panel shaped housing parts of equal size having, respectively, pairs of opposite major and minor sides, a first and a second housing part carrying respectively, sets of keys arranged in conformity with a conventional left hand and right hand operated side of a conventional keyboard and the third panel carrying a display screen, the first and second housing parts being hingedly joined together transversely of the rows of keys along their adjacent first and second minor sides, respectively, and the third housing panel part being hingedly joined to one of the first and second housing parts along adjacent respective major sides thereof with electrical connection maintained between the display panel, the keys of the first and second housing parts and the computer processor whereby the computer is collapsible to pocket size by folding about the respective hinges to bring the respective housing parts overlying in face-to-face stacked relation thereby to provide a compact, pocket sized structure.
It will be appreciated that the individual housing parts may be formed as rigid, essentially self-contained structures incorporating the necessary elements for operation of the display panel and keyboards respectively while the necessary electrical connections between the respective housing parts may be effected by using a ribbon cable or flexible circuitry of known type.
It is preferred that an on/off switch be carried on the first keyboard panel and that the display screen panel is hingedly connected to the major side of the first housing part so that the second housing part and the display panel can be folded to overlie the first panel when the computer is folded to pocket condition.
In a preferred arrangement, the keys are arranged as four rows, the numerical keys being in the first row and calculator function keys: "plus", "minus", "divide" and "multiply" being arranged as the endmost keys adjacent the hinge of respective key rows of one hand with the "equal" sign arranged as the endmost key adjacent the hinge of one row of the other hand