Coordinate input device

• US 5,673,066 A
• Filed: 10/05/1994
• Issued: 09/30/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: ALPS Electric Company Limited (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: ALPS Electric Company Limited (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Suzuki, Hideki, Toda, Yasushi
• Primary Examiner(s): Hjerpe, Richard
• Assistant Examiner(s): LAO, LUNYI
• Application Number:
  US08/317,688
• Time in Patent Office: 1,091 Days
• Field of Search: 345/156, 345/157, 345/160, 345/173, 345/179, 345/180, 345/182, 345/174, 345/104, 345/145, 178/18, 178/19, 463/37, 273/178 B, D14/114, D14/100, D14/107, 341/34
• US Class Current: 345/157
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1616 with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04142 the force sensing means being located peripherally, e.g. disposed at the corners or at the side of a touch sensing plate
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04166 Details of scanning methods, e.g. sampling time, grouping of sub areas or time sharing with display driving Synchronisation with the driving of the display or the backlighting unit to avoid interferences generated internally G06F3/04184
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

A cursor control device is provided which has good operability and can reflect clearly an operator'"'"'s natural motion in accordance with a qualified value (conversion coefficient). The cursor control device is constituted of an operation plate (5) with an operation surface (7), an operation pressure detector with a pressure-sensitive sensor (3) arranged on the back surface of the operation plate (5) to detect a touch pressure by a control member, and an arithmetic circuit. The arithmetic circuit performs an arithmetic operation of both the coordinate position and the moving rate of the control member using a detection signal from the operation pressure detector, and the movement of a cursor based on a first qualified value and a second qualified value. The first qualified value is determined according to the movement and the moving rate of a coordinate position. The second qualified value is determined according to the touch pressure of the control member.

Claims

1. A coordinate input device wherein when a control member such as a finger is moved on an operation surface, signals corresponding to a direction and movement thereof are issued to a computer body to control a position of a cursor on a display, the coordinate input device comprising:

an operation plate having said operation surface and a back surface opposite said operation surface;

an operation pressure detecting means having a pressure-sensitive sensor for detecting a touch pressure of said control member; and

an arithmetic circuit for calculating a movement amount, a moving rate and a touch pressure of said control member in accordance with a detection signal of said operation pressure detection means, and for calculating the movement of said cursor in accordance with a product of a first qualified value, a second qualified value and the movement amount, said first qualified value being increased in accordance with an increase of the moving rate of said control member, said second qualified value being decreased in accordance with an increase in a total touch pressure exerted on said control member.

2. A coordinate input device according to claim 1, wherein said operation plate comprises a hard plate and has a plurality of piezo-electric sensors arranged on the back surface thereof, whereby a partial pressure is calculated based on an electrical signal from each of said plurality of piezo-electric sensors to detect the coordinate and the touch position of said control member.

3. A coordinate input device according to claim 1, wherein said operation plate comprises a tablet for detecting coordinate positions, said tablet having a plurality of piezo-electric sensors arranged on the back surface thereof.

4. A cursor control device comprising:

a coordinate input unit including;

an operation plate having an operation surface for receiving a control member such as a finger and a back surface opposite to the operating surface,

a substrate arranged on the back surface of said operation plate and having a plurality of pressure sensitive sensors for detecting a touch pressure of said control member, and

a CPU arranged on said substrate for calculating, based on detection signals from said plurality of pressure sensitive sensors, the product of the movement amount of said control member, a first qualified value which increases with an increase in the movement rate of said control member, and a second qualified value which decreases in accordance with an increase in a total touch pressure on the control

member, and for generating a cursor movement signal;

a keyboard input device having an input port portion for receiving the cursor movement signal from said coordinate input unit;

a computer body connected to said keyboard input device; and

a display connected to said computer body for displaying the movement of said cursor in accordance with an input signal from said input unit.