Inertial mouse

• US 20060256085A1
• Filed: 07/27/2005
• Published: 11/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Inventors: Liou, Shun-Nan, Chang, Shyang-Jye, Hsieh, Chin-Lin, Yu, Ren-Yuan, Tsai, Ming-Jye, Huang, Hsiang-Yu
• Granted Patent: US 7,821,494 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/163
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03543 Mice or pucks G06F3/03541 takes precedence

Abstract

An inertial mouse is disclosed in the invention, comprising: a housing; a first inertial part, coupled to a circuit substrate received in the housing, for detecting a motion measured with respect to a second axis and a third axis of a space and also for detecting a motion measured along a first axis of a plane; a second inertial part, coupled to the circuit substrate, for detecting a motion measured with respect to a first axis of the space and also for optionally detecting a motion measured along a second axis of the plane; and a micro-controller, coupled to the circuit substrate, capable of converting electrical signals received from the first and the second inertial parts or cells into a displacement signal while transmitting the displacement signal to an electronic display device by a means of transmission.

Claims

1. An inertial mouse, comprising:

a housing;

a first inertial part, coupled to a circuit substrate received in the housing, for detecting a motion measured with respect to a second axis and a third axis of a space and also for detecting a motion measured along a first axis of a plane;

a second inertial part, coupled to the circuit substrate, for detecting a motion measured with respect to a first axis of the space and also for detecting a motion measured along a second axis of the plane; and

a micro-controller, coupled to the circuit substrate, capable of converting electrical signals received from the first and the second inertial parts or cells into a displacement signal while transmitting the displacement signal to an electronic display device by a means of transmission.

2. The inertial mouse of claim 1, wherein the first inertial part further comprises:

a first accelerometer, coupled to the micro-controller, for detecting the acceleration measured along the first axis of the plane and the acceleration measured along the first axis of the space; and

an auxiliary accelerometer, coupled to the micro-controller while being positioned apart from the first accelerometer by a distance, for detecting the acceleration measured along the first axis of the space.

3. The inertial mouse of claim 2, wherein the micro-controller receives and processes the accelerations from the first accelerometer and the auxiliary accelerometer by a differential operation so as to acquire an angular movement corresponding to the third axis of the space.

4. The inertial mouse of claim 3, wherein the second inertial part further comprises a second accelerometer, coupled to the micro-controller, for detecting the acceleration measured along the second axis of the plane and the rotation measured along the first axis of the space.

5. The inertial mouse of claim 3, wherein the first accelerometer is capable of detecting the rotation measured along the second axis of the space.

6. The inertial mouse of claim 1, wherein the means of transmission is a wired transmission.

7. The inertial mouse of claim 1, wherein the means of transmission is a wireless transmission.

8. The inertial mouse of claim 1, further comprising a mode switch, coupled to the circuit substrate, for controlling the micro-controller to perform an operation selected from the group consisting of a calculation of two-dimensional displacement and a calculation of three-dimensional displacement.

9. The inertial mouse of claim 8, wherein the first inertial part is used for detecting a motion measured along the first axis of the plane while the mode switch controls the micro-controller to perform the calculation of two-dimensional displacement.

10. The inertial mouse of claim 9, wherein the second inertial part is used for detecting a motion measured along the second axis of the plane while the mode switch controls the micro-controller to perform the calculation of two-dimensional displacement.

11. The inertial mouse of claim 8, wherein the first inertial part is used for detecting a rotation measured along the third axis of the space while the mode switch controls the micro-controller to perform the calculation of three-dimensional displacement.

12. The inertial mouse of claim 1, wherein the second inertial part is used for detecting a rotation measured along the first axis of the space while the mode switch controls the micro-controller to perform the calculation of three-dimensional displacement.

13. The inertial mouse of claim 8, wherein the first inertial part is used for detecting a rotation measured along the second axis of the space while the mode switch controls the micro-controller to perform the calculation of three-dimensional displacement.

14. The inertial mouse of claim 8, wherein the mode switch further comprising:

a switch control, coupled to the micro-controller; and

a control button, electrically connected to the switch control.

15. The inertial mouse of claim 8, further comprising a return switch, coupled to the circuit substrate, for controlling the micro-controller to proceed with a process selected from the group consisting of stopping the calculation of two-dimensional displacement and proceeding with the calculation of two-dimensional displacement, while the micro-controller is controlled to perform the calculation of two-dimensional displacement.

16. The inertial mouse of claim 15, wherein the return switch is arranged at the bottom of the housing while electrically connected to the circuit substrate.