Orientation-operated cursor control device
First Claim
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1. A gravity operated device for delivering input information to a remote computer, comprising:
- a hand-held housing;
an gravity operated member rotatably carried by said housing, said gravity operated member having a spherical external surface and a depending counterweight whereby the center of rotation of the member is offset from its center of gravity;
a ball having a spherical surface portion engageable with the spherical external surface of the member;
encoder means operatively engaged with the ball for generating said input information responsive to relative rotation of said housing and said gravity operated member produced by an absolute rotation of said housing in space; and
means for coupling the encoder means to the computer to deliver said input information to the computer.
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Abstract
An orientation-operated cursor control device having a housing which is hand-holdable by a user. The housing rotatably carries a orientation maintaining member having a center of rotation which is offset from a center of gravity. An encoder generates input information for the computer in response to relative rotation of the housing and orientation maintaining member.
343 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A gravity operated device for delivering input information to a remote computer, comprising:
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a hand-held housing; an gravity operated member rotatably carried by said housing, said gravity operated member having a spherical external surface and a depending counterweight whereby the center of rotation of the member is offset from its center of gravity; a ball having a spherical surface portion engageable with the spherical external surface of the member; encoder means operatively engaged with the ball for generating said input information responsive to relative rotation of said housing and said gravity operated member produced by an absolute rotation of said housing in space; and means for coupling the encoder means to the computer to deliver said input information to the computer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A fixture for enhancing the operation of a conventional computer mouse having a rotatable member for producing cursor control information to be transmitted to a computer comprising:
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a housing adopted to be attached to the computer mouse; a gravity operated member rotatably mounted in said housing, said gravity operated member having a center of gravity offset from its center of rotation, the housing being attached to the mouse such that the rotatable member is in surface contact with the gravity operated member whereby side to side rolling movements and pitch and yaw movements of the computer mouse in space produce relative rotation of the gravity operated member and the rotatable member to generate the cursor control information.
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14. A device for modifying a ball-type computer mouse for producing computer input information responsive to pitch and roll orientations of the mouse, comprising:
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a fixture securable to the mouse; and a gravity operated member rotatably carried by the fixture and having a center of rotation offset from the center of gravity of the member and having a surface portion engageable with the ball of said mouse for producing a rotation of said ball responsive to rotation of the mouse when said device and mouse is held in space and subjected to pitch and roll movement. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification