JPH0449718Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Application Field The present invention relates to a movable position pointing device (mouse) used together with a display unit, and in particular to a position pointing device with a fine adjustment mechanism. .

2. Description of the Related Art In order to convert data into figures using a computer, an input mechanism is required. The movable input position for indicating the position of a cursor on a display associated with the present invention is commonly referred to as a mouse, which has a small rectangular or oblong housing and is connected to a display device by an electrical cable.

Figure 3 shows a conventional position pointing device (mouse)
FIG.

In FIG. 3, when the housing 5 placed on a workbench (not shown) is slid by hand, a portion of the housing 5 protrudes from the lower surface of the housing 5 and is rotatably supported on the housing 5. Since the tracing ball 6 rolls and rotates in the opposite direction to the sliding direction, an X-axis encoder 7 and a Y-axis encoder 8 are used to extract rotation in the same direction as the sliding direction with respect to the spherical surface of the tracing ball 6. They are installed consecutively.
The X-axis encoder 7 and the Y-axis encoder 8 are mutually
The X-axis encoder 7 is connected to the tracing ball 6 at a 90-degree angle, and the X-axis encoder 7 is in close contact with the tracing ball 6 when moving in the horizontal direction of the drawing, that is, along the X-axis direction of the XY coordinates. The X-axis roller 7 rotates in the same direction as the moving direction of 5.
0, a transmission shaft 71 fixed in the axial direction of the X-axis roller 70, a rotary plate 72 directly connected to the transmission shaft 71, and a rotary plate 72 arranged side by side with a slight space above the drawing. The light shielding plate 73 includes a pair of light sources 74 and a photodetector 75, which are arranged to sandwich the rotary plate 72 and the light shielding plate 73 from above and below in the drawing. The Y-axis encoder 8 similarly includes a Y-axis roller 80, a transmission shaft 81, a rotating plate 82, a light shielding plate 83, and a pair of light sources 84 and a photodetector 85.

FIG. 3A is a diagram showing the rotating plates 72, 82, which have a large number of vertically elongated transparent holes 720, 820 (only some of which are shown) along their outer peripheries.

FIG. 3B is a diagram showing the light shielding plates 73, 83, and the light transmitting holes 720, 8 in the horizontal direction of the rectangular flat plate.
Two horizontally elongated transparent holes 730 and 820 are opened, which correspond to a radial spacing of 20 mm.

Therefore, in these rotary X-axis and Y-axis encoders 7 and 8 of known technology, when the housing 5 is moved in a plane and the tracing ball 6 is rolled and rotated, the X-axis roller 70 and the Y-axis roller 80 are rotated. Since each rotary plate 72, 82 is rotated, each pair of light sources 74, 84 and photodetectors 75, 8 are rotated.
Rotating plates 72, 82 and light shielding plates 73, 8 sandwiched between
The presence or absence of passing light or infrared rays is extracted as an electrical signal between IC (integrated circuit) 9
The rotation of the tracing ball 6 is converted into a digital signal that is displayed as a change in the X-axis and Y-axis coordinates, and transmitted to a display device (not shown) to indicate the cursor position on the display.

Of course, if the housing 5 is moved in the plane horizontally in the drawing, that is, in such a way that the tracing ball 6 rotates in the direction of the solid arrow X, the Y-axis roller 80 will not rotate, so only the change in the displayed on the cursor. Conversely, when the housing 5 is moved in the plane perpendicular to the drawing, that is, in the y direction of the broken line arrow, only the Y-axis coordinate of the cursor changes.

Problems to be solved by the invention However, the position pointing device (mouse) of the prior art converts the rolling and rotation of the spherical tracing ball 6 into electrical signals representing the XY coordinates using the X-axis and Y-axis encoders 7 and 8. This makes it difficult to accurately trace parts with zigzag lines or intricate shapes. Moreover, although it is possible to draw a diagram with some degree of precision if the housing 5 is moved in a plane with sufficient care, there is still a limit to the accuracy and requires a skilled technique and a long working time.

This invention is intended to solve the above-mentioned problems, and is a computer graphics device that can easily draw precise drawings by adding a fine adjustment mechanism to the conventional position pointing device (mouse) that has a tracing ball. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a position pointing device for

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The objects of the invention are: A movable pointing device (mouse) for computer graphics for use with a display device, comprising: a housing having at least one switch at its front end; A portion of the lower surface of the housing protrudes from the housing to pivotally support a tracing ball that rolls and rotates as the housing moves in the XY-axis direction, and is tracked by a pair of rotary X- and Y-axis encoders. A coarse adjustment mechanism generates basic coordinate electrical signals that display the rotating position of the racing ball as X-axis and Y-axis coordinates, and the basic coordinate electrical signals from this coarse adjustment mechanism are input and converted into digital signals. It consists of an integrated circuit that transmits data to a display device, and one fine adjustment ball is pivotally supported at an appropriate position on the upper surface of the housing, with the ball partially exposed to the outside. A position pointing device characterized by having a fine adjustment mechanism that is provided with X-axis and Y-axis encoders, and generates a coordinate fine adjustment signal by rotating the fine adjustment with a finger and inputs it to the integrated circuit. achieved.

Function The position pointing device according to the present invention includes a coarse adjustment mechanism that includes a tracing ball and takes out the XY coordinates of the trace position as a basic coordinate electric signal, and also includes a fine adjustment ball that allows the user to manually adjust the cursor position on the display device. Since it is equipped with a fine adjustment mechanism that allows fine adjustment by rotating the adjustment ball, it is possible to accurately specify the cursor position, and since it is fine adjustment by hand, it is easy to make fine adjustments.

Embodiment Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically showing the components included in this embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram thereof. In FIG. 1, the position pointing device of this embodiment includes a coarse adjustment mechanism 2 and a fine adjustment mechanism 3 inside a housing 1.
and an IC (integrated circuit) 4 to which a basic coordinate electric signal instructing the XY coordinates from the coarse adjustment mechanism 2 is input, and a coordinate fine adjustment electric signal for correcting this basic coordinate electric signal is input from the fine adjustment mechanism 3. However, since the rough adjustment mechanism 2 and the IC (integrated circuit) 4 are known technologies, only necessary explanations will be provided.

The coarse adjustment mechanism 2 includes a tracing ball 2 that is pivoted so that its lower part protrudes from the bottom surface of the housing 1.
0, an X-axis encoder 21 and a Y-axis encoder 22 are connected in series. Since this coarse adjustment mechanism 2 is completely the same as the known technique explained in FIG. 3, detailed explanation will be omitted.

The fine adjustment mechanism 3 is provided on the left side of the housing 1 in the figure, so that if the right hand is the dominant hand, the fine adjustment ball 30 is pivoted with the thumb of the right hand so that a portion thereof is exposed on the upper surface of the housing 1. It is designed so that it can be rotated minutely. The reason why the fine adjustment mechanism 3 is arranged around the thumb position is that when the thumb is at this position, it can make stable and subtle movements in the vertical (X-axis) and horizontal (Y-axis) directions. This is also because the index finger, middle finger, and ring finger are used for the three switches 10, 11, and 12 arranged in parallel at the front end of the housing 1 (upper end in the figure).

In this fine adjustment mechanism 3, a fine adjustment ball 30 is rotatably supported on the left side portion of the housing 1 in the figure. The diagonally upper half of the fine adjustment ball 30 on the left side in the figure is exposed to facilitate minute rotation, and the X-axis encoder 31 is fixedly attached to the upper right side in the figure, and the X-axis encoder 31 explained in FIG. 7, an X-axis roller 310, a transmission shaft 311, a rotating plate 312, a light shielding plate 313, a light source 314, a photodetector 3
15, and there is a Y below the right side of the figure.
The axis encoder 32 is fixedly attached, and the Y-axis roller 32 is connected in a similar manner to the Y-axis encoder 81 described in FIG.
0, transmission shaft 321 (not shown), rotating plate 322,
It consists of a light shielding plate 323, a light source 324, and a photodetector 325 (not shown).

FIG. 1A is a diagram showing the rotary plates 312, 322 in FIG. 1, and FIG. 1B is a diagram showing the light shielding plates 313, 322 in FIG.
3, both have the same structure as the rotary plates 72, 82 and the light shielding plates 73, 83 explained in FIG. 3, so a detailed explanation will be omitted.

Now, to explain the operation of this embodiment based on FIG. 1, first, if the right hand is the dominant hand, the fine adjustment ball 30 is rotated with the right thumb in the vertical direction, that is, in the direction of the solid line arrow x in the figure. and the X-axis roller 31
0 rotates in the same direction as the thumb moves, and the X-axis encoder 31 operates.

Next, when the fine adjustment ball 30 is rotated with the thumb in the front-rear direction, that is, in the direction of the broken line arrow y in the figure,
The Y-axis roller 320 rotates in the same direction as the thumb moves, and the Y-axis encoder 32 is activated.

Of course, when the fine adjustment ball 30 is rotated diagonally with the thumb, the X-axis encoder 31 and the Y-axis ender 32 are activated simultaneously, and a display (not shown) is displayed via the IC (integrated circuit) 4. You can fine-tune the cursor position in its XY axis coordinates.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of this embodiment.

In FIG. 2, the coarse adjustment mechanism 2 includes X-axis encoders 21, 7 and Y-axis encoders 22, 8.
(Note: The numbers in brackets indicate the numbers in Figure 3.
The fine adjustment mechanism 3 is also divided into an X-axis encoder 31 and a Y-axis encoder 32. Since these X-axis encoders 21, 7, 31 and Y-axis encoders 22, 8, 32 all have the same structure, the structure of the X-axis encoder 31 in the fine adjustment mechanism 3 will be explained as follows. When the rotary plate 312 rotates by the rotation of 30, a set of two light emitting diodes (only one is shown)
The light rays from the light source 314 using the light shielding plate 313
The light transmitting hole 312a (see FIG. 1A) of the rotary plate 312 is reached through the light transmitting hole 313a (see FIG. 1B) of the rotary plate 312, but only when the light transmitting hole 312a and the light transmitting hole 313a coincide, two pieces are made into a set. A photodetector 315 using a photo sensor (only one is shown) senses the light beam and converts it into an electrical signal. That is, the rotation of the rotary plate 312 is detected depending on the presence or absence of light, and the two photodetectors 315 extract electric signals corresponding to the presence or absence of light, and determine the X-axis coordinate of the fine adjustment mechanism 3. It will be input to the IC (integrated circuit) 4 as a fine adjustment signal.

For convenience of implementation, it is desirable for the IC (integrated circuit) 4 to adopt a single-chip microprocessor produced by LSI (large scale integrated circuit) technology.
For 8 bits, for example, Intel8080,
For 16 bits, for example, Intel8086, Motorola MC68000, Zilog Z8000, and for 32 bits, various types such as Intel and iAPX432 can be used.

The clock generator 41 synchronously controls the IC 4 by emitting clock pulses, and if the IC 4 has a built-in clock, there is no need to install it separately.

The three switches 10, 11, and 12 are selection switches, and in combination with the IC 4 or the display device 5, various functions such as "screen forwarding (backwards)" can be provided. To explain with an example, press the selection switch (for example, 11) to select the coarse adjustment mechanism 2, and select the X-axis encoder 21 and Y-axis encoder 2 that are linked with the tracing ball 20.
2 to the input side I/O port of IC40 and convert it into a digital signal, and use Seria.RS-232 from the output side I/O port. After inputting it to the transmitter 42 and converting it into a carrier signal,
The data is transmitted to the display device 5 and the cursor position on the display is displayed. Then select switch (e.g. 12)
Press to select the fine adjustment mechanism 3, turn the fine adjustment ball 30 slightly with your thumb to finely adjust the cursor position, and press the finger position indicator switch (for example 1
0) to indicate the cursor position.

Effects of the invention This invention uses a movable position pointing device (mouse) to draw rough lines with the tracing ball of the coarse adjustment mechanism, and draw fine, intricate lines with the fine adjustment mechanism. This makes computer graphics more efficient and allows accurate drawing to be accomplished easily and quickly. In particular, it is possible to eliminate the need for special skill in precise drawing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing the constituent elements of one embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 1A is a front view showing its rotating plate, Fig. 1B is a front view showing its light shielding plate, and Fig. 2 is its circuit diagram. , FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a known technique,
FIG. 3A is a front view of the rotating plate, and FIG. 3B is a front view of the light shielding plate. 1...Housing, 2...Rough adjustment mechanism, 3...
Fine adjustment mechanism, 4...IC (integrated circuit), 5...display device, 10, 11, 12...switch, 20...
Tracing ball, 21, 31...X-axis encoder, 22, 32...Y-axis encoder, 30...
Fine adjustment ball, 310...X-axis roller, 312,
322... rotating plate, 313, 323... light shielding plate,
320... Y-axis roller, 314, 324... Light source, 315, 325... Photodetector.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A movable position pointing device (mouse) for computer graphics used with a display device, comprising a housing having at least one switch at its front end, and a housing provided with a housing for plane movement in the X and Y axes. A coarse adjustment mechanism detects the amount of movement and uses a pair of X-axis and Y-axis encoders to generate basic coordinate electrical signals that display the position of the housing as X-axis and Y-axis coordinates, and a coarse adjustment mechanism that detects this movement amount by using a pair of X-axis and Y-axis encoders to generate basic coordinate electric signals that display the position of the housing as X-axis and Y-axis coordinates. A fine adjustment mechanism that pivots a ball to generate a fine coordinate signal (X, Y axis components) and a coordinate electric signal from the coarse adjustment mechanism and fine adjustment mechanism that is input by switching and converting it into a digital signal. 1. A position pointing device comprising an integrated circuit that converts and transmits the data to a display device.