Computer apparatus input device for three-dimensional information
DC CAFCFirst Claim
1. A movable input device for inputting information to a remote computer, comprisinga generally hexahydral housing;
- means for sensing position, attitude and motion of said movable input device with respect to a three-dimensional coordinate system and producing information describing said position, attitude and motion; and
wireless means for communicating said information to said remote computer, said wireless communicating means including a plurality of interface ports operating in parallel and provided on said housing, at least one of said interface ports being arranged on each external face of said housing so that at least one interface port will be directed generally at said computer regardless of the orientation of said movable input device with respect to said computer.
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Abstract
A mouse which senses six degrees of motion arising from movement of the mouse within three dimensions. A hand-held device includes three accelerometers for sensing linear translation along three axes of a Cartesian coordinate system and three angular rate sensors for sensing angular rotation about the three axes. Signals produced by the sensors are processed to permit the acceleration, velocity and relative position and attitude of the device to be conveyed to a computer. Thus, a person may interact with a computer with six degrees of motion in three-dimensional space. Computer interface ports and unique address identification ensure proper communication with the computer regardless of the orientation of the mouse.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A movable input device for inputting information to a remote computer, comprising
a generally hexahydral housing; -
means for sensing position, attitude and motion of said movable input device with respect to a three-dimensional coordinate system and producing information describing said position, attitude and motion; and wireless means for communicating said information to said remote computer, said wireless communicating means including a plurality of interface ports operating in parallel and provided on said housing, at least one of said interface ports being arranged on each external face of said housing so that at least one interface port will be directed generally at said computer regardless of the orientation of said movable input device with respect to said computer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18)
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4. An input device for providing information to a computing device, comprising:
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a housing; a first acceleration sensor provided in said housing for detecting acceleration along a first axis and producing analog electrical signals having values proportional to the detected acceleration; a second acceleration sensor provided in said housing an oriented perpendicular to said first acceleration sensor for detecting acceleration along a second axis perpendicular to said first axis and producing analog electrical signals having values proportional to the detected acceleration; a third acceleration sensor provided in said housing and oriented perpendicular to said first and second acceleration sensors for detecting acceleration along a third axis perpendicular to said first and second axes and producing analog electrical signals having values proportional to the detected acceleration; a first rotational rate sensor provided in said housing for detecting rotation about said first axis; a second rotational rate sensor provided in said housing for directly detecting rotation about said second axis; a third rotational rate sensor provided in said housing for directly detecting rotation about said third axis; an analog-to-digital converter associated with said input device which quantizes said analog acceleration sensor signals to produce digital acceleration sensor values; a first-in, first-out buffer memory which temporarily stores said digital acceleration sensor values from said analog-to-digital converter in sequential order for later processing; integrator means associated with said input device for integrating said acceleration signals over time to produce velocity signals for linear translation along each of said first, second and third axes; and communication means associated with said input device for communicating information between said input device and said computing device. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15)
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19. An input device for providing information to a computing device, comprising:
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a housing; a first acceleration sensor provided in said housing for detecting acceleration along a first axis and producing electrical signals having values proportional to the detected acceleration; a second acceleration sensor provided in said housing an oriented perpendicular to said first acceleration sensor for detecting acceleration along a second axis perpendicular to said first axis and producing electrical signals having values proportional to the detected acceleration; a third acceleration sensor provided in said housing and oriented perpendicular to said first and second acceleration sensors for detecting acceleration along a third axis perpendicular to said first and second axes and producing electrical signals having values proportional to the detected acceleration; a first rotational rate sensor provided in said housing for directly detecting rotation about said first axis and producing analog signals having values proportional to the detected rate of rotation; a second rotational rate sensor provided in said housing for directly detecting rotation about said second axis and producing analog signals having values proportional to the detected rate of rotation; a third rotational rate sensor provided in said housing for directly detecting rotation about said third axis and producing analog signals having values proportional to the detected rate of rotation; an analog-to-digital converter which quantizes said analog rotation signals to produce digital rotational rate sensor values; a first-in, first-out buffer memory which temporarily stores said digital acceleration sensor values from said analog-to-digital converter in sequential order for later processing; integrator means associated with said input device for integrating said acceleration signals over time to produce velocity signals for linear translation along each of said first, second and third axes, and for integrating said rotation signals and said linear translation velocity signals over time to produce position and attitude values; and communication means associated with said input device for communicating information between said input device and said computing device.
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20. An input device for providing information to a computing device, comprising:
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a housing; a first acceleration sensor provided in said housing for detecting acceleration along a first axis and producing analog electrical signals having values proportional to the detected acceleration; a second acceleration sensor provided in said housing an oriented perpendicular to said first acceleration sensor for detecting acceleration along a second axis perpendicular to said first axis and producing analog electrical signals having values proportional to the detected acceleration; a third acceleration sensor provided in said housing and oriented perpendicular to said first and second acceleration sensors for detecting acceleration along a third axis perpendicular to said first and second axes and producing analog electrical signals having values proportional to the detected acceleration; a first rotational rate sensor provided in said housing for detecting rotation about said first axis; a second rotational rate sensor provided in said housing for directly detecting rotation about said second axis; a third rotational rate sensor provided in said housing for directly detecting rotation about said third axis; integrator means associated with said input device for integrating said acceleration signals over time to produce velocity signals for linear translation along each of said first, second and third axes; motion vector computing means responsive to said velocity signals and said rotational rate signals to define a three-dimensional velocity vector; and wireless communication means associated with said input device for communicating information between said input device and said computing device, said input device including a plurality of parallel communication interface ports, at least one of said interface ports being arranged on each external face of said housing so that at least one interface port will be directed generally at said computing device regardless of the orientation of said input device with respect to said computing device. - View Dependent Claims (21)
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Specification