JP2004062239A - Computer input device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an input device (pointing device) that can continuously be moved with ease and also indicate both an absolute position and movement (relative position), has a wide width of a variation in speed, and is easy and capable of easily inputting reciprocal movement. <P>SOLUTION: A plurality of root sides of individual detecting elements which can physically deform are bundled together or disposed side by side. Each detecting element is equipped with a sensor which detects a force for physical deformation when it is applied to the tip side and a wire from the sensor. Physical deformation of the individual detecting elements is detected to indicate a relative distance to a computer together with the absolute positions of one or more specified detecting elements detected among all the detecting elements. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a computer input device for a computer or a computer-mounted device.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As an input device (pointing device) to a computer such as a personal computer, a mouse, a jog dial, a shuttle loop, a joystick, and the like are used.
The mouse has a problem that the operation of the moving amount is easy, but the changing amount of the moving speed is not intuitive. It is inconvenient to perform continuous movement, such as scrolling over a long distance, because the user must repeatedly switch back and forth. Also, an absolute position cannot be entered.
It is difficult for the jog dial to increase the moving speed. The stroke of the arm is large. The shuttle loop moves a large amount when reciprocating. Joysticks (types that come with a keyboard) have less strokes on the arm than a mouse. However, there is a problem that it is very difficult to indicate the absolute position.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The present invention solves the problems of the conventional input device (pointing device) such that continuous movement can be easily performed. Instructing the position (absolute position and relative position), and moving (displacement and The purpose of the present invention is to make it possible to simultaneously instruct speed), to have a wide range of change in speed, and to make it easy to input reciprocating motion.
In addition, a clear feel is obtained by utilizing physical deformation, and thereby, it is intended to make intuitive operation easier.
[0004]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
A computer input device for a computer or a computer-mounted device according to the present invention is configured by bundling or juxtaposing a plurality of base sides of individually physically deformable sensing elements. Each of the sensing elements has a sensor that detects the deformation when a force that physically deforms it is applied to a part other than the tip side or the root side, and information transmission such as wiring or electromagnetic means from the sensor. It has a part. By detecting physical deformation of the individual sensing elements, information on the position or movement of one or more specific sensing elements detected among all the sensing elements, or information on physical quantities that can be converted to these, For example, an absolute position, a relative position, a moving amount (displacement), and a moving speed are instructed to the computer.
[0005]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on examples. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first example of an input device embodying the present invention. a) shows the basic configuration of the first example, and b) and c) show variations thereof. In the illustrated input device, each of the rectangular “pages” is used as an element (indicated as aA bA in FIGS. 1A and 1B), and 1 to 100 (or more) are collected.
One end in the longitudinal direction of a plurality of page portions is integrated. That is, the page portion indicates a turned-over portion. Here, although not shown, a wiring for transmitting a signal from the sensor and a connector are attached to the assembled end side.
[0006]
Each of the page portions is constituted by an elastic thin plate-shaped sheet. The material may be any elastic material such as synthetic resin, metal, paper, wood or a composite thereof. An element capable of detecting deformation, such as a strain gauge, is attached to this page portion. Necessary to detect turning. Alternatively, an element for detecting contact is attached to the leading end side of the page to detect that the page is turned.
Further, in order to bundle the page portions, it is not necessary to bundle the individual page portions in an aligned state as described above, and the pages can be bundled in a fan shape as shown in FIG. 1B. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 1c, it is possible to fold the continuous sheet into an accordion shape without cutting it. In short, any configuration can be used as long as the operation of each page portion described later is possible and the configuration detects the operation result.
[0007]
FIG. 2 illustrates a method of operating the bundle. By turning, flipping, or judging (continuously flipping) the bundle of page portions like a book page, movement and position information is generated and input to the computer. A finger can be sandwiched between the page sections as shown in FIG. 2a and flipped or flipped as shown in FIG. 2b.
The movement information includes two types of displacement (how many pages have been moved regardless of time) and the speed (displacement within a certain time). The position information includes a relative position (a ratio as a ratio in the entire bundle). Two types of information, that is, a position) and an absolute position (the number of the page from the origin) are generated. On the computer side, the position of the origin can be specified in addition to which information is requested.
[0008]
The information first senses the location of the deformation. After the device has extracted up to the position of the opened page, the computer can process and extract information. As a method of detecting the deformation, a method using a contact sensor can be considered. FIG. 3 illustrates a detection mechanism. It is determined by the contact sensor whether the adjacent two pages are closed or opened by a finger or the like. The contact sensor senses contact or pressure when the page is closed, as shown in FIG. 3a), but not when it is open, as shown in b). The electric signal generated by the sensor is sent to a buffer in the device via a wiring attached to the page (FIG. 4).
[0009]
In this way, by sequentially investigating at a fixed time interval, an open place is output as a coordinate value. (Even if multiple locations are open, output all coordinate values and process them later.) At this time, the time interval is made accurate by using a timer function for scanning (to increase accuracy by calculating the speed). Alternatively, time information is added. In this way, the opened part is extracted and stored in the buffer. This corresponds to the portion from “extraction of open portion” to “buffer of open portion” in FIG.
It may be determined that multiple locations have been opened, but this is allowed and all open page locations are stored in the buffer. The buffer also holds time information so that it can be used for calculating speed information.
[0010]
FIG. 4 shows a system configuration including a host computer that stores open page location information in the above buffer and further processes this information. On the host computer side, the device driver reads information from the buffer of the device via the interface. The requested information is calculated and processed based on the information on the time and the opened position, and the information is transmitted to the application software according to an OS command. It is also conceivable that this device is built into the computer from the beginning, but even in this case, the structure inside the computer is not different from this.
[0011]
Next, information processed based on the information of the opened page and transmitted to the application software will be further described. Hereinafter, the operations a to d are processed by the device driver in accordance with an instruction from the OS on the computer.
a: Position Information The position is detected using the value of “opened page” sent from the device. You can also specify the origin to get relative coordinates. If a plurality of points are open, the application specifies whether to request a plurality of points.
b: The time change of the position obtained on the displacement information is calculated and obtained. The time interval for sampling the displacement is an integer multiple of the read time interval in the device. This can be specified from the application side. Note that the read time interval can be specified also from a device driver. When necessary (for example, when a time interval shorter than the standard value is required), specify it from the application side. If there are a plurality of open places, the positions of the past points are compared to find the set with the least displacement. Whether to request a plurality of displacements is specified by the application.
c: Speed information The above-mentioned displacement is divided by the sampling time interval to obtain the speed.
d: The relative position information position is obtained by dividing the relative position information position by the total number of pages as a ratio in the whole. Also in this case, the position of the origin can be specified.
[0012]
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a second example of the input device embodying the present invention. a) shows the external appearance of the entire device, b) shows a case where they are arranged concentrically (dotted lines are auxiliary lines for indicating the shape, not an actual device), and c) is arranged radially, and The case where the cross part is single is shown, and the case d) is radially arranged, and the case where the center cross part is double is shown.
The illustrated input device has a brush shape in which a large number of protrusions are integrally formed on one surface of a plate-like portion such as a disk with a predetermined interval therebetween. The protruding part can be configured by bundling thin linear objects such as brushes two-dimensionally. In this case, the “tip” can be tactilely sensed, and the deformation or contact of the tip can be electrically sensed. The length and thickness (diameter) of the protrusion can be arbitrarily selected as long as the protrusion can be detected.
The arrangement of the projections on the plate-like portion can be a concentric shape as shown in FIG. 5b, or a cross-shaped line (and a radial shape for each reference angle) as shown in FIG. 5c plus a concentric portion.
[0013]
Furthermore, when finger sliding is considered, as shown in FIG. 5D, it is more stable to arrange the two rows of projections on the crosshair (and radially for each reference angle). By raising the protrusion near the origin (one center, the innermost circumference of a concentric circle, or one round near the intersection of radiation parts), it is possible to respond to movement input that reciprocates in a specific area Can be. In addition, the circumference (appropriately distant from the origin) is raised by one turn to input an angle (rotation angle), thereby making it possible to handle a shuttle loop.
Next, detection of deformation of the protrusion having such a configuration will be described. At the base of the projection, an element for sensing deformation such as a strain gauge is attached. A pair in which the difference in the amount of deformation between the front and rear pages is maximized can be detected as an open page.
Alternatively, an element, such as a capacitance, which senses that a part of the human body has touched is attached. (In this case, the sense of the deformed direction cannot be detected, but the direction can be calculated in the post-processing).
[0014]
6A and 6B are diagrams showing a detection method. FIG. 6A is a front view of an example of detection by an internal electrical contact, and FIG. The projections are hollowed out and the electrical contacts are placed inside. As shown on the right side, due to the deformation of the projection, it comes into contact with one of the contact x located at the center and the four contacts y located at the four corners (in the front, rear, left and right directions as shown in the cross-sectional view of b). Then, the deformation can be detected by the current flowing.
FIG. 6c shows another example of a deformation detection method. Deformation can be detected by attaching a strain gauge to the base.
[0015]
FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining still another sensing method. Another example of the input device of the present invention can be configured by combining a plurality of such strip-shaped sheets as one page portion and bundling a plurality of page portions. FIG. 7 shows only one page portion. Is shown in the drawing. In each of the page portions, two strip-shaped sheets are overlapped in a pine needle shape and joined at the tip, and only one of the joined two strip-shaped sheets (indicated as “outer sheet” in the figure) is bound. (For convenience, the one to be bound is referred to as an outer sheet, and the one not to be bound is referred to as an inner sheet.) The unbundled side (inner sheet) is notched, but not shown, so as not to interfere with the bound portion. Thereby, if the page portion is folded, the end point of the inner sheet (the end point opposite to the joined end is indicated as the end point) is shifted from the bundled portion of the outer sheet in accordance with the bending direction due to the difference in the radius of curvature. Is further protruded to the root side (indicated as inside in the figure) or, conversely, can be moved to the tip side (indicated as outside in the figure) (see FIG. 7b).
A contact sensor is inserted into the root of the two sheets (refers to the bound portion) to detect the movement (change in length) of the end point of the inner sheet at the root. That is, the sheet (outer sheet) on the bundled side is provided with a zero contact at a fixed portion at the end of the sheet, while the unbundled inner sheet is provided with a zero contact when the sheet is not deformed. The first contact is attached at a position where the first contact is made, and the second contact is attached at a position slightly away from the sheet end in the front end direction. As described above, since the mounting positions of the first and second contacts are different in the sheet length direction (the direction from the root side to the leading end side of the strip-shaped sheet), the 0th contact point is not applied in a state where no deformation is applied. Contacts the first contact. From this state, when the tip of the strip-shaped sheet is deformed in the direction indicated as “downward” in the figure, the second contact point attached to the inner sheet moves in the sheet root side direction. , Comes into contact with the 0th contact point of the adjacent strip-shaped sheet. Detection of which of contacts 1 and 2 has contacted contact 0 is described below. Conversely, when the deformation is applied in the direction indicated as “upward” in the figure, the second contact point on the inner sheet moves in a direction away from the first contact point on the adjacent strip-shaped sheet. Contact does not occur.
That is, it is possible to detect the bent direction using the correspondence relationship of “no deformation = contacts 0 and 1 contact”, “downward = contacts 0 and 2”, and “upward = no contact”. The location where the bending direction has changed can be detected as an open location.
[0016]
FIG. 7c illustrates a method for installing the contacts. As shown, contact 0 can be located on a business trip and contact 1 or contact 2 can be located in a recessed position. With this configuration, it is possible to configure so that these contacts do not detect the contact unless the contact 0 comes to the opposite side of the contact 1 (or the contact 2). Note that, at the contact 0, a method of knowing which of the contacts 1 and 2 is in contact is as follows: 1) The contact 0 protrudes, and the contacts 1 and 2 are installed at a recessed position. 2) Contacts 1 and 2 do not detect contact unless contact 0 is on the opposite side. Whether or not a contact is detected is reflected in information held in the buffer. 3) Since the contacts 1 and 2 do not detect contact at the same time, it is possible to determine which is in contact when sequentially examining the buffer.
The opened portion is a pair of pages (for example, between pages 3 and 4), but the information is represented by the smaller number of pages. Each pair of pages is scanned sequentially at a rate of 10 to 100 times or more per second. That is, the inspection is performed sequentially at regular time intervals. Thus, the open location is output as a coordinate value. (Even if multiple locations are open, output all coordinate values and process them later.)
[0017]
The input device of the present invention as described above is particularly useful when used in the following fields.
One use of the video editing calculator is to edit video using video editing software. However, the dedicated machine is also equipped with a computer, so it is conceivable to use this device additionally.
Coarse movement (corresponding to the role of the shuttle loop) can be realized by turning quickly, and fine movement (corresponding to the role of the jog dial) can be realized by turning one by one. A single device can serve both roles. Further, with respect to the coarse movement, it is possible to freely move reciprocally or at high speed by taking advantage of the large amount of change in speed.
Just like an e-book, you can browse it with the same operation as turning a page. The dedicated device for browsing electronic books is also a computer with limited use, and it is conceivable to add or use this device. Hereinafter, the same can be said for a web browser and an information appliance.
Web browsers will be able to browse long pages as freely as e-books.
Information appliances, such as recent portable music players, can store a large number of songs, but are more convenient than the jog dial for selecting a desired station. The input device of the present invention is useful in a menu for selecting from many lists such as a telephone directory on a mobile phone interface.
[0018]
【The invention's effect】
ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, continuous movement can be easily performed, indicating both an absolute position and a movement (relative distance) can be achieved at the same time. There is an effect that the input of the exercise is easy.
In addition, a clear feel is obtained because physical deformation is used. This is expected to make the intuitive operation easier.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first example of an input device embodying the present invention.
FIG. 2 illustrates a method of operating a bundle.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a detection mechanism.
FIG. 4 is a diagram exemplifying a system configuration including a host computer that processes information.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a second example of the input device embodying the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a detection method.
FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining still another sensing method.

Claims (7)

A computer input device for a computer or a computer-mounted device,
The root side of each physically deformable sensing element is configured by bundling or juxtaposed,
Each of the detection elements includes a sensor for detecting a deformation caused by a physically deforming force when applied, and an information transmission unit from the sensor,
By detecting the physical deformation of the individual sensing elements, the computer can send information regarding the position, movement, or physical quantity that can be converted to these specific one or more sensing elements among all the sensing elements to a computer. Instruct,
Computer input device comprising: 2. The computer input according to claim 1, wherein the detection element is a page portion formed of a thin elastic sheet-like sheet, and a sensor capable of detecting deformation and a wiring from the sensor are attached to the page portion. apparatus. 3. The computer input device according to claim 2, wherein the sensor uses a contact sensor that detects physical deformation by contact / separation between the distal ends of the detection elements, or a strain gauge that detects deformation on a page root side. 3. The page section according to claim 2, wherein the page sections are configured by bundling or bunching in a state where the individual page sections are aligned, or by folding an accordion shape without separating one continuous sheet. Computer input device. The detection element includes a plurality of protrusions formed on one surface of a plate-like portion, with a predetermined interval therebetween, and integrally formed in a brush shape, and a sensor capable of detecting deformation at the protrusions and the sensor. The computer input device according to claim 1, wherein the computer input device is configured by attaching wiring from the computer. 6. The computer input according to claim 5, wherein the sensor is configured by a sensor that detects that a part of a human body has touched, a strain gauge that detects deformation of a base of the protrusion, or an electric contact provided inside. apparatus. The detection element is composed of a pine needle-shaped page portion in which two strip-shaped sheets are overlapped and joined at the tip, and a contact sensor is inserted at the base side of each of the two sheets, and one of the sheets is positioned at the base side. 2. The computer input device according to claim 1, wherein the computer input device is configured to detect a change in lengthwise movement at the root side of the other sheet when the sheets are bundled and folded.

Images