JPH06250780A - Data input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the data input device which is reducible in size and cost by decreasing the number of constituent components. CONSTITUTION:An optical mouse detects a position by using an optical system consisting of a light emission part (light source), a light receiving element, and a lens, and an X-axial reader 3X and a Y-axial reader 3Y are composed of the same light emission parts 6 and the same lenses 8. Therefore, the number of constituent elements of the mouse is decreased to reduce the size, weight, and cost of the device.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure of a data input device used for driving a cursor displayed on a screen such as a CRT or for inputting coordinate data such as graphic information. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a data input device for freely moving a cursor displayed on a CRT or a liquid crystal display or for reading coordinate data from a drawing or the like, some devices such as a mouse, a joystick and a trackball are used. There is. As a mouse, the amount of rotation of the sphere,
Mechanical type that detects the moving direction and distance from the direction,
Further, there is known an optical type that detects a moving direction and a distance by sensing a transparent or opaque line pattern prepared on a mouse pad.

As an optical mouse, as shown in FIG. 4, vertical and horizontal lattice stripes are printed on the front surface side and the back surface side of the mouse pad 1, for example, in the X-axis direction prepared on the front surface of the mouse pad 1. Line pattern 2X indicating the position
And a line pattern 2Y, which is provided on the back surface of the mouse pad 1 and indicates a position in the Y-axis direction, is read by the line detecting means including the light-emitting element 6 and the light-receiving element 7, and the movement in the XY-axis directions is cursored To instruct.

Since it is possible to easily handle the information on the display by such a data input device, it has been adopted as a data input device for laptop computers, workstations, etc., which have been increasing in popularity in recent years. Often.

[0005]

In the conventional optical mouse described above, a reading device 3X for detecting the line pattern 2X in the X-axis direction shown in FIG.
The reading device 3Y for detecting the line pattern 2Y in the Y-axis direction shown in (b) is required. These reading devices 3X and 3Y include light emitting elements 6X and 6Y that illuminate the line patterns 2X and 2Y and line patterns 2X and 2Y.
Light receiving elements 7X and 7Y for detecting the light reflected by Y
And the line pattern 2 on the light receiving elements 7X and 7Y.
It is composed of lenses 8X and 8Y for forming real images of X and 2Y. For this reason, in the conventional optical mouse, the light emitting element, the light receiving element, and the lens are separately required, which makes it difficult to reduce the size and cost of the mouse.

In view of the above problems, the problem to be solved in the present invention is to improve the structure of the data input device, to provide a data input device which has a small number of constituent parts, and can be miniaturized and reduced in cost. It is to be realized.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the means taken in the present invention is connected to a personal computer or the like, and X-axis data capable of optically inputting at least position information in the X-axis direction. In a data input device having an input unit and a Y-axis data input unit capable of optically inputting position information in the Y-axis direction, the X-axis data input unit and the Y-axis data input unit have the same light emitting unit and the same light emitting unit. It features a lens.

In this data input device, the light emitting section is preferably a semiconductor laser device. Also, the lens is preferably a bifocal lens.

[0009]

In the data input device according to the present invention having such means, the X-axis data input means and the Y-axis data input means are constituted by at least the same light emitting portion and the same lens. There is. Therefore, in such a data input device, the components of the optical system for detecting the position information can be omitted, and the device can be downsized and the cost can be reduced. Further, by omitting the constituent parts, the structure of the reading device itself can be simplified, so that adjustment of the optical system and the like become easy. In this data input device, when the light emitting section is a semiconductor laser device, a highly reliable data input device with high reading accuracy can be constructed.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[Embodiment 1] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an outline of a mouse as a data input device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a configuration of an optical system of the mouse. is there. 1 and 2, parts common to the conventional mouse described above with reference to FIG. 4 are designated by the same reference numerals.

The mouse according to this embodiment is an optical mouse 10 which detects a position by using an optical system. The details of the mouse 10 including the optical system are described in Japanese Patent Publication No.
Further details are disclosed in US Pat. Mouse 1 of this example
0 indicates that the line pattern 2X indicating the position (coordinate data) in the X-axis direction and the line pattern 2Y indicating the position (coordinate data) in the Y-axis direction are set on the mouse pad 1 prepared on the front surface and the back surface, respectively. Is used. The mouse 10 has a built-in reading device of the optical system 22 that detects these line patterns 2X and 2Y. The case 11 forming the body of the mouse 10 has three rectangular parallelepiped switches 12a on the upper front side where the connection cable 13 to the computer is installed.
~ 12c are installed. Then, by clicking these switches 12a to 12c according to the input situation, the data to be input to the computer can be selected.

In this mouse 10, as shown in FIG. 2, the X-axis direction detection line pattern 2X is read.
The reading device 3X in the axial direction and the reading device 3Y in the Y-axis direction for reading the Y-axis direction detection line pattern 2Y are configured by the same light emitting unit 6 and the same lens 8. In the mouse 10 of this example, a semiconductor laser device is used for the light emitting section 6 and a collimating lens is used for the lens 8.

In the mouse 10 having such a structure, the light emitted from the light emitting portion 6 and converted into the parallel light flux by the collimating lens 8 is first reflected on the surface of the mouse pad 1 to form a real image of the line pattern 2X. An image is formed on the light receiving element 7X for identifying and detecting the axial position. On the other hand, the light transmitted through the mouse pad 1 is reflected by the line pattern 2Y on the back surface of the mouse pad 1 to form a real image on the light receiving element 7Y for identifying and detecting the position in the Y-axis direction. As described above, the mouse 10 of this example can detect both the X-axis direction detection line pattern 2X and the Y-axis direction detection line pattern 2Y by the pair of the light emitting unit 6 and the lens 8. Therefore, the reading device 3X in the X-axis direction and the reading device 3Y in the Y-axis direction described above with reference to FIG.
It is not necessary to provide two light emitting units 6 and two lenses 8 as in the conventional optical mouse 10 including the above. Therefore, by omitting the number of component parts of the mouse 10, the device can be simplified and the cost can be reduced. Further, if the positions of the light receiving elements 7X and 7Y are fixed, by adjusting the directions of the optical axes of the pair of the light emitting unit 6 and the lens 8, X
Since the adjustment in both the axial direction and the Y-axis direction can be performed at the same time, the adjustment is easy. Further, by adopting the semiconductor laser device as the light emitting unit 6, it is possible to realize the mouse 10 with high reading accuracy and high reliability.

In the mouse 10 of this example, the lens 8 is not limited to the collimator lens, and it is needless to say that a general focus lens may be used.

Second Embodiment Next, a mouse as a data input device according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The outline of the mouse according to the second embodiment (appearance)
Is substantially the same as the mouse 10 according to the first embodiment, and therefore its illustration is omitted.

In the mouse of the present embodiment, like the mouse 10 of the first embodiment, the X-axis direction reading device 3X and the Y-axis direction reading device 3Y are composed of the same light emitting part 6 and the same lens 8. Therefore, an LED is used as the light emitting unit 6 and a bifocal lens is used as the lens 8. further,
A mirror 9 for reflecting the reflected light from the line patterns 2X and 2Y toward the light receiving elements 7X and 7Y is installed above the mouse.

In this mouse, L which is the light emitting portion 6 is used.
The light emitted from the ED toward the mouse pad 1 is an X-axis direction detection line pattern 2X prepared on the front surface of the mouse pad 1 and a Y-axis direction detection line pattern 2Y prepared on the back surface of the mouse pad 1. Lens 8
Incident on. Since this lens 8 is a bifocal lens, the light ray reflected by the line pattern 2X and the light ray reflected by the line pattern 2Y are emitted to the mirror 9 as a different light flux. 2 emitted to the mirror 9
The two bundles of rays are reflected by the mirror 9 with a doubled angle, the distance between the optical axes is expanded, and the reflected light from the light receiving element 7X and the line pattern 2Y that identify and detect the reflected light from the line pattern 2X. The light is focused on each of the light receiving elements 7Y that identify and detect the light.

As described above, the mouse of the present embodiment is configured such that the pair of the light emitting section 6 and the lens 8, the light receiving element 7X in the X-axis direction and the light receiving element 7Y in the Y-axis direction are used for both the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction. Directional position information can be entered. Therefore,
It is possible to omit another set of the light emitting unit and the lens, which are required in the conventional mouse, and it is possible to obtain the same effect as that of the mouse 10 of the first embodiment. Also, in the mouse of this example,
By adopting a bifocal lens as the lens 8, the light receiving element 7X in the X-axis direction and the light receiving element 7Y in the Y-axis direction can be installed horizontally with respect to the substrate surface of the mouse.
The positions of the light receiving elements 7X and 7Y can be easily set, and the optical axis can be easily adjusted. Then, in this mouse, the light beam from the lens 8 is directly received by the light receiving element 7.
If the configuration is such that it is converged to X and 7Y, the mirror 9 can be omitted, so that the configuration of the device can be further simplified.

Although the first and second embodiments are described based on the mouse, it is needless to say that the invention can be applied to a data input device such as a ball or a joystick.

[0021]

As described above, in the data input device according to the present invention, since the X-axis data input means and the Y-axis data input means are composed of at least the same light emitting section and the same lens, the position information It is possible to omit the constituent parts of the optical system for detecting, and it is possible to reduce the size and cost of the device. Further, by omitting the constituent parts, the structure of the reading device itself can be simplified, so that adjustment of the optical system and the like become easy. In this data input device, when the light emitting section is a semiconductor laser device, a highly reliable data input device with high reading accuracy can be constructed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an outline of an optical mouse and a pad according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an optical system of the mouse.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an optical system of an optical mouse according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B are explanatory views showing the configuration of an optical system of a conventional optical mouse.

[Explanation of Codes] 1 ... Mouse pad 2X, 2Y ... Line pattern 3X, 3Y ... Reading device 6 ... Light emitting portion 6X, 6Y ... Light emitting element 7X, 7Y ... Light receiving element 8・ ・ ・ Lens 8X, 8Y ・ ・ ・ Lens 10 ・ ・ ・ Mouse 11 ・ ・ ・ Mouse case 12a, 12b, 12c ・ ・ ・ Switch 13 ・ ・ ・ Connection cable 22 ・ ・ ・ Optical system

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An X-axis data input device connected to a personal computer or the like and capable of optically inputting at least position information in the X-axis direction, and Y-axis data capable of optically inputting position information in the Y-axis direction. A data input device having an input means, wherein the X-axis data input means and the Y-axis data input means are composed of at least the same light emitting part and the same lens. 2. The data input device according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting unit is a semiconductor laser device. 3. The data input device according to claim 1, wherein the lens is a bifocal lens.