Joystick with uniform center return force
First Claim
1. A joystick, comprising:
- a housing;
a control stick having an upper end for grasping and moving by a user to position said control stick and a lower end movably mounted within said housing with movement thereof being responsive to user movement of said control stick upper end, said control stick having a resting position relative to said housing when not grasped by the user;
a position sensing circuit within said housing to detect the position of said control stick;
a spring retainer fixedly mounted within said housing; and
a coil spring having an upper spring end operatively engaging said control stick lower end and a lower spring end operatively engaging said spring retainer to compress said coil spring between said control stick lower end and said spring retainer to apply a centering force to said control stick to cause said control stick to return to the resting position.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A computer joystick capable of detecting the position of a control stick in the X and Y directions, as well as the rotational (R) position of the control stick to allow three positional measurements to be made. The joystick uses an optical position detection circuit with a pair of light sources mounted either on the control stick or a printed circuit board mounted beneath the control stick. A photodetector assemble is mounted opposite the pair of light sources to detect light from the light sources. The distribution of the light intensity is indicative of the position of the control stick in the X, Y, and R directions. A single coil spring is used to return the control stick to a resting position when released by the user. The single spring provides an even return force that is dependent on displacement from the resting position. The bottom portion of the control stick moves in a three dimensional arcuate path as the control stick is manipulated by the user. To simplify operation of the optical position detection circuit, the joystick uses a mechanical three dimensional to two dimensional mechanical converter assembly to convert the arcuate movement of the control stick to two dimensional movement of the light sources.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A joystick, comprising:
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a housing; a control stick having an upper end for grasping and moving by a user to position said control stick and a lower end movably mounted within said housing with movement thereof being responsive to user movement of said control stick upper end, said control stick having a resting position relative to said housing when not grasped by the user; a position sensing circuit within said housing to detect the position of said control stick; a spring retainer fixedly mounted within said housing; and a coil spring having an upper spring end operatively engaging said control stick lower end and a lower spring end operatively engaging said spring retainer to compress said coil spring between said control stick lower end and said spring retainer to apply a centering force to said control stick to cause said control stick to return to the resting position. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A joystick, comprising:
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a housing; a control stick coupled to said housing for grasping and moving by a user to position said control stick in first and second orthogonal directions, said control stick having a resting position in said first and second directions, a centering spring operatively engaging said control stick to exert a spring force on said control stick to urge said control stick to said resting position in said first and second directions; and a position detector coupled to said control stick to detect a position of said control stick in the first and second directions and a rotational position and to generate positional data related thereto. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A joystick, comprising:
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a housing; a control stick coupled to said housing and having first and second ends, said control stick first end for grasping and moving by a user to position said control stick, said control stick second end moving in an arcuate pathway in response to movement of said control stick first end by the user; a planar sliding surface within said housing in proximity with said control stick second end; a coupling member in mechanical contact with said control stick second end and slideably positioned between said control stick second end and said sliding surface to constrain movement of said coupling to a plane defined by said sliding surface and thereby translate movement of said control stick second end in the arcuate pathway into planar movement of said coupling member; and a position detection circuit positioned in proximity with said coupling member to detect user movement of said control stick first end based on the planar movement of said coupling member on said sliding surface. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification