JP3174568B2 - Mouse device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Summary] The present invention relates to a mouse device for moving a mouse cursor to an arbitrary position on a display and interacting with a computer by a pick operation, and moves the mouse cursor on the display without moving the mouse on a plane. Move the mouse cursor to an arbitrary position on the display, and send a typmatically generated electric signal to the mouse device that interacts with the computer by picking operation. A button for controlling the movement of the cursor, a switching mechanism for switching an arbitrary displacement direction, a displacement direction sending circuit for sending data representing the displacement direction with respect to the displacement direction output from the switching mechanism, and the displacement direction The displacement data corresponding to the data indicating the displacement direction from the sending circuit is A displacement data transmission circuit for output in synchronization with Taipamachikku signal by button pressing, is configured to provide a.

[Industrial applications]

The present invention relates to a mouse device that moves a mouse cursor to an arbitrary position on a display and interacts with a computer by a pick operation.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the generalization of computers, there has been a demand for improved simple operation and operability of input devices. Among input devices, a mouse device which moves a mouse cursor to an arbitrary position on a display and interacts with a computer by a pick operation occupies an important position. Therefore, improvement of its easy operation and operability is particularly required. I have.

In the mouse device, the ball attached to the mouse rotates when the mouse contacts and moves on a plane,
Generates a data signal and moves the mouse cursor on the display.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In the conventional mouse device, since the mouse is connected to the keyboard device by an electric wire, a place where the mouse moves on a plane is limited. Therefore, a plane necessary for moving the mouse must be secured around the keyboard.

However, the operator often operates the computer by placing documents and the like necessary for the work around the keyboard device. For this reason, the plane reserved for moving the mouse is extremely narrowed. As a result, to move the mouse cursor to the target position on the display, it is necessary to return the mouse to the original position many times and to repeat the operation of rotating the ball, which makes the operation complicated. There was a problem that it was troublesome.

An object of the present invention is to provide a mouse device improved so that a mouse cursor can be moved to an arbitrary position on a display without moving a mouse on a plane.

[Means for solving the problem]

Means adopted by the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problem will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the principle of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 denotes a button, which turns on and off passage of a pulse generated at a predetermined interval (for example, approximately 20 ms) through a typmatic signal.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a switching mechanism, which switches and outputs an arbitrary displacement direction.

The displacement direction sending circuit 13 sends data representing the displacement direction in response to the displacement direction output switched by the switching mechanism 12.

Reference numeral 14 denotes a displacement data sending circuit, and a displacement direction sending circuit 13
The displacement data corresponding to the data indicating the displacement direction is transmitted.

(Operation)

First, an example of the switching mechanism 12 is shown in FIGS.
This will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a switching mechanism used in the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a mouse operation and a switch state by the switching mechanism of FIG.

FIG. 2 (a) is a top view, and FIG. 2 (b) is an oblique side sectional view. 1 is a cylinder made of an insulator, 2 is a cylinder, and the cylinder 2 is attached to the bottom surface 3 of the cylinder 1 so as to have the same central axis as the cylinder 1. Reference numeral 4 denotes a spherical ball which is in contact with the inner surface of the cylinder 1 and the outer surface of the cylinder 2.

The bottom surface 3 of the cylinder 1 is made of a flat plate made of a conductor, and is connected to the connection line 3R. The inner surface of the cylinder 1 has conductive electrodes 500 to 515 (in FIG. 2, the conductive electrodes are arranged such that conductive surfaces and insulating surfaces alternately appear at regular intervals along the circumference.
16 are illustrated). Conductive electrode 50
0 to 515 are insulated from the bottom surface 3, and are connected from the side opposite to the bottom surface 3 of the cylinder 1 to the connection lines 50 for each of the conductive electrodes 500 to 515.
0R to 515R.

The ball 4 is made of a conductor, and is in contact with the bottom surface 3 due to the gravity of the ball 4. Therefore, ball 4
It electrically acts as a connection conductor for connecting between the bottom surface 3 and one of the conductive electrodes 500 to 515 arranged on the inner surface of the cylinder 1.

Next, a method of electrically connecting the connection line 3R and any of the connection lines 500R to 515R will be described. In FIG. 3, (a) shows a case where the mouse is placed on a horizontal plane.
(B) shows a state in which the mouse is tilted to the right from the state of (a), (c) shows a state in which the mouse is tilted to the left, and (a),
In both (b) and (c), the left figure shows the state of the mouse, and the right figure shows the ball-type switching mechanism corresponding to the left figure.

FIG. 3A shows that the ball 4 is in contact with the conductive electrode 510. Therefore, connection line 3R and connection line 510R are electrically connected.

Now, when the mouse is tilted rightward from the state of FIG. 3 (a), as shown in FIG. 3 (b), the ball 4 rolls due to gravity and stops in contact with the conductive electrode 504. Therefore, in the state of FIG. 3B, the connection line 3R and the connection line 504R are electrically connected.

When the mouse is tilted to the left, the ball 4 rolls, and in FIG. 3C, the ball 4 comes to rest in contact with the conductive electrode 512. Therefore, connection line 3R and connection line 512R are electrically connected.

In order to bring the ball 4 into contact with the conductive electrodes other than those described above, the mouse may be tilted to roll the ball 4 so as to come in contact with the target conductive electrode and stop.

The switching mechanism 12 described above connects to an arbitrary displacement direction sending circuit 13.

Displacement direction sending circuit 13 connected to switching mechanism 12
Outputs data representing the individual displacement directions of the connected displacement direction sending circuit 13.

The displacement direction data output from the displacement direction sending circuit 13 is input to the displacement data sending circuit 14. Displacement data sending circuit
At 14, the displacement data corresponding to the input displacement direction data is output in synchronization with the typmatic signal supplied by pressing the button 11.

The processor (not shown) moves the mouse cursor on the display according to the displacement data sent from the displacement data sending circuit 14.

As explained above, without moving the mouse,
The mouse cursor on the display can be moved only by tilting the mouse. Thus, even if a plane for moving the mouse is narrow, the cursor can be moved to an arbitrary position on the display, and the operability of the mouse can be improved.

First Embodiment FIGS. 4, 6, and 7 show a first embodiment of the present invention.
This will be described with reference to FIG. 9 and FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration of the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration of a displacement direction transmitting circuit in each embodiment, and FIG. 7 is a displacement data transmission used in each embodiment. Explanatory diagram of displacement data of the circuit,
FIG. 9A is a flowchart of the first embodiment.

(A) Configuration of the First Embodiment In FIG. 4, the button 11, the switching mechanism 12, the displacement direction sending circuit 13, and the displacement data sending circuit 14 are as described in FIG.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a processor, which performs processing for displaying a mouse cursor on the display 19.

Reference numeral 17 denotes a typmatic signal generator, which generates pulses at intervals of about 20 ms.

Reference numeral 18 denotes a typatic pulse detector which detects a typatic pulse signal.

19 is a display for displaying a mouse cursor.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a memory for displaying a mouse cursor on the display 19
The coordinates to be displayed are recorded.

Reference numeral 21 denotes a cursor pattern memory, and the display 19
The mouse cursor pattern to be displayed is recorded.

3R, 500R to 515R are connection lines, which are as described with reference to FIG.

The displacement direction sending circuit 13 includes a plurality of displacement direction sending circuits 1300 to
1315, each displacement direction sending circuit 1300-13
15 is connected to the corresponding connection lines 500R to 515R.

Next, the configuration of the displacement direction sending circuit 13 will be described with reference to FIG. The output lines a, b, of the displacement direction sending circuit 13
c and d are grounded via resistors R1 to R4, respectively. For the output lines a, b, c and d, the displacement direction sending circuit 1300 is not connected to any of the output lines a, b, c and d.

 The displacement direction sending circuit 1301 is connected to the output line d.

Although not shown, the displacement direction sending circuit 1302 is connected to the output line c.
And the displacement direction sending circuit 1303 are connected to the output lines c and d, respectively.

Hereinafter, the output lines a, b, c and d are sequentially connected in correspondence with each digit of the binary number, and the last displacement direction sending circuit 1315 is connected to the output lines a, b, c and d.

Next, the displacement data stored in the displacement data sending circuit 14 will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 7, FIGS. 7 (a), (b), (c),
(D), (e), and (f) show displacement data corresponding to the displacement direction sending circuits 1300, 1301, 1304, 1308, 1312, and 1315, respectively, and have addresses 0000, 0, respectively.
Displacement data is stored in memory areas 001, 0100, 1000, 1100 and 1111.

The displacement data is composed of two data, X-direction displacement data for moving the mouse cursor currently displayed on the display 19 in the X-axis direction by the next movement, and Y-direction displacement data for moving the mouse cursor in the Y-axis direction.

As the displacement data, the coordinate values of the conductive electrodes 500 to 515 of the ball-type switching mechanism 12 to which the displacement direction sending circuits 1300 to 1315 corresponding to the addresses of the memories storing the displacement data are used as data values. That is, in FIG. 2, the center axis of the cylinder 1 is the origin of the XY coordinates,
The distance to the inner surface of the cylinder 1 where 500 to 515 are arranged is 1.
000, the coordinates of the conductive electrode 500 are X = 0.000, Y = 1.000, and if the conductive electrodes 500 to 515 are arranged at equal intervals, the displacement data corresponding to the conductive electrodes 500 to 515 is stored. When the address is 0000, displacement data for addresses 0000 to 1111 of the stored memory is X = 0.000, Y = 1.0
00, when the address is 0001, X = 0.383, Y = 0.924,
When the address is 0100, X = 1.000, Y = 0.000. When the address is 1000, X = 0.000, Y =-1.000. When the address is 1100, X =-1.000, Y = 0.000.
In the case of 1111, X = −0.383 and Y = 0.924, and the values of X and Y corresponding to the respective addresses are stored as X-direction displacement data and Y-direction displacement data.

(B) Operation of the First Embodiment The operation of the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the case where the mouse is tilted and the ball 4 of the ball-type switching mechanism 12 comes into contact with the conductive electrode 501 and stops. The operation will be described with reference to the operation flowchart of FIG.
FIG. 9A shows an operation flow of the first embodiment of the present invention.

Ball 4 of ball type switching mechanism 12 is a conductive electrode
When it comes to rest upon contact with 501, as shown in FIG. 2, the connection line 3R and the connection line 501R are electrically connected, and the displacement direction sending circuit 1301 connected to the connection line 501R is selectively connected (FIG. 4).

In the displacement direction sending circuit 1301, as shown in FIG. 6, the power supply E connected to only the output line d and connected to the connection line 3R of the ball type switching mechanism 12 receives a ground → power supply E → connection line 3R. An electrical closed circuit of → connection line 510R → output line d → resistance R1 → ground is formed, and current flows through resistance R1. Therefore, a voltage which becomes E is generated in the resistor R1, but no current flows through the other output lines a, b and c of the displacement direction sending circuit 13, so that the voltage is zero.

In the displacement data sending circuit 14, a signal is set so that the voltage E of the displacement direction sending circuit 13 is 1, and each output line a, b, c and d is 2
Regarding the signal as 0001 converted to decimal digits,
X-direction displacement data 0.383 and Y stored in 0001
The direction displacement data 0.924 is transmitted.

In this state, when the button 11 shown in FIG. 4 is depressed, the typematic pulse signal generated by the typematic signal generator 17 is transmitted to the typematic pulse detector 18.

 The processor 16 performs the operation shown in FIG. 9 (a).

First, in step S1, the typmatic pulse detector 18
Determines whether a typatic pulse has been detected, and if NO, waits until a pulse is detected. Also, YE
In the case of S, the process proceeds to step S2.

In steps S2 and S3, the X-direction displacement data 0.383 and the Y-direction displacement data 0.924 sent from the displacement data sending circuit 14 are stored in the memory 20 which stores the coordinates of the mouse cursor currently displayed on the display 19. The sum is added to the X-axis data value and the Y-axis data value, and the result of the addition is similarly recorded in the memory 20.

In step S4, a process is performed so that the mouse cursor is displayed on the X-axis data value and the Y-axis data value recorded in the memory 20, and the mouse cursor pattern data stored in the cursor pattern memory 21 is read out and displayed on the display 19. To be displayed.

The above processing is performed every time a typematic pulse is detected by the typematic pulse detector 18 and the display 19
Move the upper mouse cursor to 0.383 in the X axis direction and 0.924 in the Y axis direction.
Move.

If the ball 4 of the ball-type switching mechanism 12 does not move and the button 11 is pressed down, the next typmatic pulse signal is detected by the typmatic pulse detector 18 and the mouse cursor is further moved in the X-axis direction. 0.38
3. Move 0.924 in Y axis direction.

The X-direction displacement data 0.383 and the Y-axis direction displacement data 0.924 are represented by relative data values. If the unit of the coordinate value of the mouse cursor is cm, the mouse cursor is currently displayed. X from the point
In the Y direction and 0.924 cm in the Y axis direction.

In the above description, the ball-type switching mechanism
Although the case where the twelve balls 4 are in contact with the conductive electrode 501 has been described, when the ball 4 is in contact with the other conductive electrodes 500 to 515, the X-direction displacement data for the contacted conductive electrode, Y The direction displacement data is transmitted by the displacement data sending circuit 14.
Output from

Second Embodiment A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration of the second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration of the displacement direction transmitting circuit in each embodiment, and FIG. 7 is the displacement data transmission used in each embodiment. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of circuit displacement data, FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a cursor pattern of a cursor pattern sending circuit used in the second embodiment, and FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the same embodiment.

(A) Configuration of Second Embodiment In FIG. 5, a button 11, a ball-type switching mechanism 12, a displacement direction sending circuit 13, and a displacement data sending circuit are shown.
14 is as described in FIG.

In addition, processor 16, typmatic signal generator 17,
The typmatic pulse detector 18, the display 19, and the memory 20 are as described in FIG.

6 and 7 are as described in the configuration of the first embodiment.

Next, the cursor pattern sending circuit 15 will be described with reference to FIG.

The cursor pattern sending circuit 15 has a memory,
The cursor pattern shown in the figure is stored.

In FIG. 8, (a), (b), (c),
(D) and (e) show the displacement direction sending circuit 13 respectively.
The cursor patterns corresponding to 00,1301,1304,1308 and 1312 are shown, each of which has an address 0000,0001,010.
It is stored in memory areas 0, 1000 and 1100.

To store the cursor pattern in the memory, as in the case of storing the character of the word processor, "0" or "1" is recorded for each pixel on the display 19, and only "1" is painted out in black. ) To (f) are recorded as data so that the cursor patterns are displayed.

As shown in FIG. 8, the cursor pattern has a cursor pointer m and a pointer n indicating the direction in which the cursor pointer moves.

Therefore, the cursor pattern sending circuit 15 sends out the cursor pattern corresponding to the selected displacement direction sending circuit and records it in the cursor pattern memory 21.

(B) Operation of the Second Embodiment The operation of the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9A shows an operation flow common to the first and second embodiments of the present invention, and FIG. 9B shows an operation flow according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

Therefore, the operation flow of FIG. 9A is as described in the operation of the first embodiment.

The process shown in FIG. 9B is performed by the processor 16 by an interrupt process.

That is, in step S5, the cursor pattern transmitted by the transmitting circuit 15 is recorded in the cursor pattern memory 21 by the interruption process.

As described above, the pointer indicating the displacement direction of the cursor is displayed on the display 19, so that the operability of moving the cursor can be improved.

In the above description, 16 conductive electrodes 5 are used.
The present invention is not limited to this numerical value, and it can be easily understood that the present invention can be implemented if the number is generally four or more.

In the present invention, the switching mechanism is described as a ball-type switching mechanism. However, the switching mechanism may be any switching mechanism that can be connected to an arbitrary displacement direction sending circuit regardless of the ball-type switching mechanism.

Also, the ball-type switching mechanism of the present invention is provided above the conventional plane moving mouse, and the present invention is used when the mouse cursor is largely moved, and the conventional method is used when the mouse cursor is small. You may.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) In the present invention, the mouse cursor on the display can be moved by the operation of tilting the mouse, so that the plane on which the mouse is moved may be narrow, and the operability of the mouse can be improved.

(2) The operability of the mouse can be further improved by displaying the moving direction of the mouse cursor along with the mouse cursor on the display.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a switching mechanism used in the present invention, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a mouse operation and a switch situation by the switching mechanism of FIG. FIG. 5 and FIG. 5 are explanatory diagrams of the configuration of one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration of the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a configuration of the displacement direction sending circuit in each embodiment. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of displacement data of a displacement data transmitting circuit in each embodiment. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a cursor pattern of a cursor pattern transmitting circuit used in the second embodiment. 7 is an operation flowchart of each embodiment. 1 to 5, 11 ... button, 12 ... ball type switching mechanism, 13 ...
… Displacement direction sending circuit, 14 …… Displacement data sending circuit, 15…
… Cursor pattern sending circuit, 16 …… Processor, 17…
... Typical signal generator, 18 ... Typical pulse detector, 19 ... Display, 20 ... Memory, 21 ...
... Cursor pattern memory, 1 ... Cylinder, 2 ... Cylinder,
3 ... Bottom, 4 ... Ball, 500-515 ... Conductive electrode, 50
0R to 515R Connection line, 3R Connection line, 1300 to 1315 Displacement direction sending circuit.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-1-237714 (JP, A) JP-A-64-84328 (JP, A) JP-A-62-267794 (JP, A) JP-A-61-267 4916 (JP, A) JP-A 1-96039 (JP, U) JP-A 64-27732 (JP, U) JP-A 63-124609 (JP, U) (58) Fields surveyed (Int. Cl. ^7, DB name) G06F 3/033 G06F 3/00 G06K 11/18 G01C 9/10

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A mouse device for moving a mouse cursor to an arbitrary position on a display and interacting with a computer by a pick operation. (A) A button for sending an electric signal generated in a typmatic manner and controlling the movement of the mouse cursor (11) and (b) a cylinder (1) made of an insulator, and the bottom surface (3) of the conductor of the cylinder (1) so as to have the same central axis as the cylinder (1).
The conductive electrodes (500 to 500) are arranged on the inner surface of the cylinder (1) such that conductive surfaces and insulating surfaces alternately appear at regular intervals on the inner surface of the cylinder (1) without being in contact with the cylinder (2) fixed to the bottom surface (3). Five
15) and a conductive spherical ball (4) disposed between the inner surface of the cylinder (1) and the outer surface of the cylinder (2) and in contact with the bottom surface (3) and the inner surface of the cylinder (1). A switching mechanism (12) for switching and outputting an arbitrary displacement direction; and (c) a displacement direction sending circuit (13) for sending data representing a displacement direction with respect to the displacement direction output output from the switching mechanism. (D) a displacement data sending circuit (14) for outputting displacement data corresponding to the data indicating the displacement direction from the displacement direction sending circuit (13) in synchronization with a typmatic signal by pressing the button (11); A mouse device comprising: 2. A cursor pattern transmitting circuit (15) for transmitting a cursor pattern in which the displacement direction is added to a cursor pattern corresponding to a displacement direction from the displacement direction transmitting circuit (13). The mouse device according to claim 1, wherein