USER OPERABLE POINTING DEVICE SUCH AS MOUSE
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A user operable device for control of or communication with an electric appliance, in particular a user operable pointing device such as a mouse, including electrical components and circuits including sensor elements, processing elements and wireless communication elements for detecting movements including at least rotational movements of the device, producing data related to the movements and transmitting the data to the electric appliance, is characterised in that the device (1) is essentially a ball (2) including outer surface (2′) for free rolling and for receiving influences of physical effects on the surface and the device, and that the electrical components and circuits (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) are inside the ball (2) in integrated relationship with the ball. The invention concerns also a user interface including the user operable device of the invention.
37 Citations
24 Claims
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1-14. -14. (canceled)
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15. A user operable device for control of or communication with an electric appliance, in particular a user operable pointing device such as a mouse, comprising electrical components and circuits including sensor means, processing means and wireless communication means for detecting movements including at least rotational movements of the device, producing data related to said movements and transmitting said data to the electric appliance, and
the device (1) is essentially a ball (2) including outer surface (2′ - ) for free rolling and for receiving influences of physical effects on the surface and the device; and
said electrical components and circuits (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) are inside the ball (2) in integrated relationship with the ball, the device includes at least one magnetic field sensor (4;
4a, 4b, 4c) for detecting the orientation of the device and utilising the orientation data in the operation of the device,the device includes at least one pressure sensor (5) for detecting pressure, e.g. pushes, directed on said outer surface (2′
),said sensor means include at least one accelerometer (3), the said device comprises a CPU (7), characterised in that the CPU (7) establishes reference direction of the movement of the ball device via a user input by shortly rotating the apparatus to a pre-determined direction or by placing the apparatus on a certain “
start orientation”
where some visible clues of the orientation of the ball are viewed by the user. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
- ) for free rolling and for receiving influences of physical effects on the surface and the device; and
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21. A user interface for control of or communication with an electric appliance comprising a user operable device including electrical components and circuits including sensor means, processing means and wireless communication means for detecting movements including at least rotational movements of the device, producing data related to said movements and transmitting said data to the electric appliance, and the device (1) is essentially a ball (2) including said electrical components and circuits (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) inside the ball (2) in integrated relationship with the ball and having outer surface (2′
- ) for free rolling and for receiving influences of physical effects on the surface and the device,
the device includes at least one magnetic field sensor (4;
4a, 4b, 4c) for detecting the orientation of the device and utilising the orientation data in the operation of the device,the device includes at least one pressure sensor (5) for detecting pressure, e.g. pushes, directed on said outer surface (2′
).said sensor means include at least one accelerometer (3), the electric appliance includes a display and corresponding cursor functions, said electrical components and circuits (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) are arranged so that in response to rolling the device (19) data is transmitted to the electric appliance for moving the cursor in a direction corresponding to the rolling direction, the electric appliance includes functions similar to functions for controlling the appliance by a computer mouse or similar device, said electrical components and circuits (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) are arranged so that in response to pushes (P1, P2) on the surface (2′
) data (S1, S2) meaning corresponding mouse button operations is transmitted to the electric appliance, and the said device is arranged to comprise a CPU (7), characterised in thatthe CPU (7) is arranged to establish a reference direction of the movement of the hall device via a user input by shortly rotating the apparatus to a pre-determined direction or by placing the apparatus on a certain “
start orientation”
where some visible clues of the orientation of the ball are viewed by the user. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
- ) for free rolling and for receiving influences of physical effects on the surface and the device,
Specification