FORCE SENSING FOR FINE TRACKING CONTROL OF MOUSE CURSOR

• US 20100066670A1
• Filed: 09/18/2008
• Published: 03/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: AMM, David T., Leung, Omar S.
• Granted Patent: US 9,851,813 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/157
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03543 Mice or pucks G06F3/03541 takes precedence

Abstract

Systems and methods for controlling a navigational object (e.g., a cursor) using an input device are disclosed herein. A system in accordance with one embodiment includes a motion-based input device adapted to move relative to a surface. The input device has one or more force sensors capable of detecting forces acting upon the input device. The system may then move a navigational object displayed on a receiving device in relatively small increments or relatively large increments, depending upon the detected forces acting upon the input device.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a motion-based input device having a force detection module operable to detect a lateral force applied to the input device; and

a processor coupled to the force detection module, the processor operable to generate navigational object movement information based on the detected lateral force.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the input device further comprises a motion detection module operable to detect a motion of the input device relative to a surface, and wherein the processor is further operable to generate navigational object movement information based on the detected motion.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the motion detection module is configured to estimate a speed of the input device based upon one or more sensed inputs.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a receiving device coupled to the processor, the receiving device operable to receive a signal indicative of the navigational object movement information from the processor.

5. The system of claim 4, further comprising a display device coupled to the receiving device for displaying a positional change of a navigational object displayed thereon in accordance with the navigational object movement information.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is incorporated in the input device.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is incorporated in a receiving device.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the navigational movement information comprises a value representative of an increase in the measured force by a gain factor.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein generating the navigation movement information comprises a predetermined value corresponding to a number of pixels a navigational object is to be moved on a display device.

10. A method for controlling movement of a navigational object displayed on a user graphical interface, comprising:

measuring a lateral force applied to an input device;

estimating a change in magnitude of the applied lateral force; and

generating a control signal based on the estimated change in magnitude of the applied lateral force, the control signal being indicative of a change in position of a navigational object on a graphical display.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

detecting a movement of the input device relative to a surface, wherein the control signal is additional based on the detected movement.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein detecting the motion is performed by a one or more of an accelerometer, an optical sensor, a vibration sensor or an electro-mechanical sensor.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving the control signal;

displaying a navigational object at a first location on a user graphical interface; and

moving the navigational object to a second location based on the control signal.

14. A method for controlling movement of a navigational object displayed on a user graphical interface, comprising:

measuring a lateral force applied to an input device;

measuring a motion of the input device relative to a surface;

determining a positional change of the navigational object based on the measured lateral force and the measured motion.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising moving the navigational object on the user graphical interface in accordance with the positional change.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the positional change comprises a predetermined number of pixels.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising determining whether a magnitude of the applied lateral force is increasing, wherein the measured lateral force provides a contribution to the positional change when the lateral force is increasing.

18. A computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions which, when executed by a computer, comprises code for:

detecting a lateral force applied to the input device;

detecting a motion of the input device relative to a surface; and

calculating a change in position of the navigational object based on a detected lateral force contribution and a detected motion contribution.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, further comprising:

determining if a magnitude of the lateral force is increasing,

wherein the detected lateral force contribution is zero if the magnitude of the lateral force is not increasing and the lateral force contribution is non-zero if the magnitude of the lateral force is increasing.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, further comprising:

determining if the input device is in motion relative to the surface,

wherein the detected motion contribution is non-zero if the input device is determined to be moving relative to the surface.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein calculating the change in position comprises adding together the detected lateral force contribution and the detected motion contribution.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 18, further comprising:

calculating an estimated change in lateral force based on the detected lateral force and a previously detected lateral force; and

calculating an estimated movement of the input device based on the detected motion,

wherein calculating the change in position comprises adding together a detected lateral force contribution and a detected motion contribution, the detected lateral force contribution based on the estimated change in lateral force multiplied by a predetermined force gain factor, and the detected motion contribution based on the estimated change in position multiplied by a predetermined movement gain factor.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 22, wherein the predetermined force gain factor and the predetermined movement gain factor are selected so as to provide a smooth transition as the input device moves between a first motion state and a second motion state.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein the first motion state comprises a lateral force applied to the input device that is less than the frictional force exerted between the input device and the surface.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein the second motion state comprises the input device moving relative to the surface.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 18, further comprising code for positioning a navigational object on a graphical display based on the navigational object movement amount.

27. A motion-based input device comprising:

a lateral force detection module adapted to measure a lateral force applied to the input device;

a processor coupled to the force detection module, the processor operable to estimate a change in the measured lateral force and provide navigational object movement information based on the change in the measured lateral force; and

an interface module adapted to provide a signal comprising the movement information to a receiving device.

28. The device of claim 27, further comprising a motion detection module capable of generating a motion value, wherein the navigational object movement information is additionally based on the motion value.

29. The device of claim 27, wherein the receiving device comprises a display adapted to display a navigational object that moves on the display in accordance with the movement information.

30. The device of claim 27, wherein the processor is additionally operable to determine whether the measured lateral force is increasing in magnitude, and wherein the movement information comprises a change in position information based on the increase in measured lateral force if the processor determines that the measured lateral force is increasing in magnitude.