Freely rotating trackball providing additional control parameter modalities
First Claim
1. A user interface device comprising:
- a housing;
a freely-rotating trackball configured to be displaceable within said housing and responsive to pressure applied to said trackball;
a displacement sensor generating a sensor signal responsive to displacement of said trackball relative to said housing; and
signal circuitry producing an outgoing displacement signal responsive to said sensor signal.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A freely-rotating trackball for simultaneously detecting one, two, or three independent directions of its non-rotational displacement, and as many as three independent directions (roll, pitch, and yaw) of its rotation. In various implementations, non-rotational displacement of the trackball may be measured or interpreted as a widely-varying user interface parameter or as a discrete “click” event. Signal processing may be used to derive three independent rotation components (roll, pitch, and yaw) from more primitive sensor measurements of the trackball. The invention provides for trackball displacement and rotation to be sensed by a variety of sensing techniques including optical, magnetic, electromagnetic, capacitive, resistive, acoustic, resonance, and polarization sensor. The system may be used to provide an extended number of simultaneously interactive user interface parameters, and may itself be incorporated into larger user interface structures, such as a mouse body.
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Citations
33 Claims
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1. A user interface device comprising:
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a housing;
a freely-rotating trackball configured to be displaceable within said housing and responsive to pressure applied to said trackball;
a displacement sensor generating a sensor signal responsive to displacement of said trackball relative to said housing; and
signal circuitry producing an outgoing displacement signal responsive to said sensor signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A user interface device comprising:
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a housing;
a freely-rotating trackball configured to be displaceable within said housing and responsive to pressure applied to said trackball;
a rotation sensor generating a sensor signal responsive to one or more of said three independent directions of rotation of said trackball; and
signal circuitry producing an outgoing rotational signal responsive to said sensor signal, said outgoing rotational signal comprising three rotational component signals, each uniquely associated with one of said three independent directions of rotation of said trackball. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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Specification