Keyboard keys or mouse buttons with active rebound

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Some of the computer-related repetitive motion injuries can be minimized by the use of keyboard keys or mouse buttons that preclude the need for antagonistic muscle use.
These muscles involve repetitive opposite direction motions that require the muscles to contract simultaneously.
For example, the human hand is adapted for grasping.
Thus, the fingers are built for clutching objects.
The fingers, therefore, often exert substantially more force inward than outward.
FIGS.
1 and 2 illustrate the use of a computer keyboard involving movement of fingers.
The fingers, in FIG.
1, exert a relatively large amount of force pressing the keys downward.
This large force is due to natural adaptation of human fingers to exert more force inward.
However, the rebound of the keys is currently dependent on a passive spring or foam type material.
This passive rebound material returns a small fraction of the energy to the hand and finger that was expended to press the key downward.
Therefore, a substantial portion of the work expended in the use of keyboard involves lifting the fingers and hand, especially at high key press repetition rates.
This often leads to poor keyboard use habits through repetitive wrist flexing, which may lead to possible repetitive stress injuries.
The present disclosure describes an active rebound key.
This circuit assists users in lifting their fingers upward.
An active circuit in the rebound key can substantially reduce the work involved in moving the mass of a finger up and down repetitively.
This repetitive motion may generate more than 40 repetition cycles per minute per finger.
One embodiment of the active rebound circuit 300 is shown in FIG.
3.
When the user's finger 316 presses down on a key 306, a downward force 310 causes an attached plunger 312 to slide along a rod, such as an iron armature 314.
The armature 314 has a proximal end 320 and a distal end 318.
The distal end 318 is attached to a conductive support 322.
When the force 310 applied to the key 306 is sufficient, the proximal end 320 of the armature 314 makes contact with a conductive patch 324 on a key switch assembly 308