Pointing device for controlling cursor movement on display

• US 5,748,180 A
• Filed: 11/03/1994
• Issued: 05/05/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Original Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Inventors: Inukai, Atsuomi
• Primary Examiner(s): Hjerpe, Richard
• Assistant Examiner(s): TRAN, VUI
• Application Number:
  US08/333,838
• Time in Patent Office: 1,279 Days
• Field of Search: 345/157, 345/161, 345/158, 345/168
• US Class Current: 345/161
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0338 with detection of limited linear or angular displacement of an operating part of the device from a neutral position, e.g. isotonic or isometric joysticks
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0383 Signal control means within the pointing device

Abstract

Disclosed is a pointing device 1 including; a stick member 11 depressed by an operator; piezoelectric elements 13 each of which converts a stress exerted to the stick member 11 into a voltage; a voltage converting circuit 15 connected to the piezoelectric elements 13; a control part 19 to which a signal from the voltage converting circuit 15 is input and which transmits a signal for controlling cursor movement to a system board 17. The control part 19 detects the voltage produced in the piezoelectric elements 13 based on the signal from the voltage converting circuit 15 and stores such voltage as a hold value in a RAM 27. Further, the control part 19 transmits the signal for controlling cursor movement to the system board 17.

Claims

1. A pointing device having a stick member for controlling cursor movement on a display, the pointing device comprising:

piezoelectric means comprising piezoelectric elements arranged in the stick member, the piezoelectric means converting a stress exerted to the stick member into a voltage; and

control means for controlling cursor movement corresponding to an outputting state of the voltage converted by the piezoelectric means.

2. The pointing device according to claim 1, wherein the stick member has a square plate formed at a lower end of the stick member and a base plate and wherein the piezoelectric means is arranged between the square plate and the base plate.

3. The pointing device according to claim 2, wherein the square plate is formed of hard resin into one body with the stick member.

4. The pointing device according to claim 3, wherein the hard resin is polycarbonate resin.

5. The pointing device according to claim 2, wherein the piezoelectric means is constructed from four piezoelectric elements each of which is substantially positioned at a central position of each side of the square plate.

6. The pointing device according to claim 5, wherein the piezoelectric element is formed of piezoelectric ceramics mainly composed of compound of lead titanate and lead zirconate.

7. The pointing device according to claim 5, wherein the piezoelectric element is polarized in a direction parallel to the stick member.

8. The pointing device according to claim 1, wherein the voltage converted by the piezoelectric means has a characteristic to be classified in a peak detecting range which appears immediately after the stick member is depressed, a peak storing range which appears after the peak detecting range while the stick member is continued to be depressed and a zero level range which appears after the peak storing range when depression of the stick member is released.

9. The pointing device according to claim 8, wherein the control means comprises;

detection means for detecting the voltage produced in the piezoelectric means;

first judgement means for judging whether the voltage detected by the detection means lies in the peak detecting range;

memory means for storing the voltage as a hold value;

renewal means for judging whether the voltage detected by the detection means is larger than the hold value stored in the memory means if judged by the first judgement means that the voltage lies in the peak detecting range and renewing the hold value to the voltage as a new hold value when the voltage is larger than the hold value; and

cursor control means for controlling cursor movement based on a signal corresponding to the renewed hold value.

10. The pointing device according to claim 9, the control means further comprises;

second judgement means for judging whether the voltage detected by the detection means lies in the peak storing range or in the zero level range;

wherein the cursor is controlled to move on the display if judged by the second judgement means that the voltage lies in the peak storing range and the hold value in the memory means is cleared if judged by the second judgement means that the voltage lies in the zero level range.

11. The pointing device according to claim 2, wherein the piezoelectric means constructed from two piezoelectric elements each of which is substantially positioned at a central position of the square plate and the base plate.

12. The pointing device according to claim 11, wherein the piezoelectric elements are polarized in directions which are orthogonally crossed with each other.

13. The pointing device according to claim 12, wherein the control means controls cursor movement by detecting the stress exerted to the stick member in all directions in summing up vectors corresponding to the voltages from the piezoelectric elements.

14. The pointing device according to claim 1, further comprising;

curve formation means for continuously forming voltage curve based on the voltage from the piezoelectric means;

set means for setting plural threshold values in the voltage curve formed by the curve formation means;

wherein the control means controls cursor movement by stages based on the threshold values set by the set means.

15. A pointing device having a stick member for controlling cursor movement on a display, the pointing device comprising:

piezoelectric elements arranged in the stick member, each of the piezoelectric elements converting a stress exerted to the stick member into a voltage;

a voltage converting circuit for converting the voltage produced in the piezoelectric element into a digital signal corresponding to the voltage;

a control part having a memory for detecting the voltage based on the digital signal from the voltage converting circuit and storing the detected voltage in the memory; and

a system board for controlling cursor movement on the display based on an electric signal corresponding to the voltage stored in the memory.