Mouse driver arrangement for providing advanced scrolling capabilities to a conventional mouse
First Claim
1. A mouse driver arrangement for improving interactive operation of a computer by an operator using a mouse, the computer including display means for displaying visual information to the operator, processing means for generating and managing the visual information, memory means for storing temporary data and at least one program running in the computer, and real-time clock means for providing synchronizing signals to the programs, the mouse including means for generating x-y incremental movement information for driving a cursor to any of a plurality of cursor positions on the display means for pointing to information entities displayed thereon, binary control means having a plurality of possible combined states for generating binary control information, and communication means for transmitting the movement information and the binary control information to the computer, said mouse driver arrangement comprising:
- first processing means for capturing said x-y incremental movement information and said binary control information to generate cursor control signals for positioning said cursor on said display;
second processing means for storing said x-y incremental movement information as incremental coordinates of successive cursor positions measured at each of said synchronizing signals;
third processing means for analyzing said coordinates to detect a dominant direction amid a plurality of alternative direction options in movement of said cursor and setting a scrolling-direction status variable accordingly;
fourth processing means comprising a function generator for producing a time-varying output signal for scrolling-rate control, said output signal being dependent on said states of said binary control means according to a group of corresponding predefined variation laws; and
fifth processing means for generating incremental scrolling commands for scrolling said visual information at a rate according to the magnitude of said scrolling-rate control signal and in a direction according to said scrolling-direction status variable so that said entities can be moved over said display means at a plurality of velocities and in a plurality of directions under control of said operator by manipulation of said binary control means.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A mouse driver arrangement combining a first functional block, comprising a scrolling-rate function generator for generating a time-dependent scrolling-rate control signal of pre-defined shape, whose output cycle is a function of the activation status of one or more mouse push-buttons, plus a second functional block, comprising a cursor trail analyzer for detecting a dominant direction in a cursor trail and setting a scrolling direction option accordingly. The scrolling-rate function generator includes an integrator for producing ramp-like scrolling-rate control signal segments of adjustable slopes under control of the mouse push-buttons. The output of both first and second functional blocks are combined in a scrolling-vector status variable, whose magnitude is controlled by the scrolling-rate function generator and represents the scrolling rate, and whose direction is set by the cursor trail analyzer and represents the scrolling heading.
-
Citations
19 Claims
-
1. A mouse driver arrangement for improving interactive operation of a computer by an operator using a mouse, the computer including display means for displaying visual information to the operator, processing means for generating and managing the visual information, memory means for storing temporary data and at least one program running in the computer, and real-time clock means for providing synchronizing signals to the programs, the mouse including means for generating x-y incremental movement information for driving a cursor to any of a plurality of cursor positions on the display means for pointing to information entities displayed thereon, binary control means having a plurality of possible combined states for generating binary control information, and communication means for transmitting the movement information and the binary control information to the computer, said mouse driver arrangement comprising:
-
first processing means for capturing said x-y incremental movement information and said binary control information to generate cursor control signals for positioning said cursor on said display; second processing means for storing said x-y incremental movement information as incremental coordinates of successive cursor positions measured at each of said synchronizing signals; third processing means for analyzing said coordinates to detect a dominant direction amid a plurality of alternative direction options in movement of said cursor and setting a scrolling-direction status variable accordingly; fourth processing means comprising a function generator for producing a time-varying output signal for scrolling-rate control, said output signal being dependent on said states of said binary control means according to a group of corresponding predefined variation laws; and fifth processing means for generating incremental scrolling commands for scrolling said visual information at a rate according to the magnitude of said scrolling-rate control signal and in a direction according to said scrolling-direction status variable so that said entities can be moved over said display means at a plurality of velocities and in a plurality of directions under control of said operator by manipulation of said binary control means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A method of operating a computer in an interactive manner, the computer including a display means for displaying information entities to an operator and a mouse connected to the computer, the mouse comprising means for generating x-y movement information for positioning a cursor for pointing to the information entities, binary control means for generating binary control information for the computer, and communication means for transmitting the movement information and the binary control information to the computer, the computer further including programmable circuit means for generating the information entities displayed in the display means, said method generating incremental scrolling commands from the binary control commands for moving the information entities on the display means by operation of the binary control means in a plurality of directions and at a plurality of velocities by the operator, said method comprising the steps of:
-
(a) analyzing a trail of said cursor at periodic time intervals; (b) determining a dominant direction present in said cursor trail amid a plurality of direction options at each of said periodic time intervals; (c) dynamically setting a scrolling-direction status variable according to said dominant direction determined in step (b); (d) sensing a state of said binary control means at each of said periodic little intervals; (e) generating a scrolling-rate control signal according to a time-variation law, said time-variation law being selected from a group of predefined time-variation laws according to said state of said binary control information sensed in step (d); and (f) scrolling said information entities in a scrolling direction according to said scrolling direction status variable determined in step (c) and at a rate according to said scrolling-rate control signal determined in step (e). - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
Specification