System for directly sensing the orientation of a track ball
First Claim
1. A track ball device, comprising:
- a ball having a pattern of first electrodes; and
socket into which the ball sits, the socket having a first group of electrodes intersecting a second group of electrodes;
wherein a relationship between the pattern of first electrodes and the first and second group of electrodes is such as to enable direction of ball rotation to be sensed by electrostatic transfer of signals between ones of the first and second group of electrodes via at least one of the pattern of first electrodes when the ball rotates in the socket.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A track ball device includes a ball having a pattern of first conductive features and a socket into which the ball rotatably sits, the socket having a pattern of second conductive features. Also disclosed is a sensing array system for determining relative motion including a first substrate having a plurality of interstitially arranged electrodes provided thereon. A second substrate has a plurality of transfer electrodes provided thereon. The first and second substrates are movable relative to each other, and the plurality of interstitially arranged electrodes selectively operate as driving electrodes for providing a plurality of signals to the sensing array and as collecting electrodes for collecting signals capacitively transferred from the driving electrodes by the transfer electrodes. The sensing array is useful in a battery operated track ball device, a mouse or other device that must be able to determine relative motion over two degrees of freedom.
51 Citations
60 Claims
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1. A track ball device, comprising:
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a ball having a pattern of first electrodes; and socket into which the ball sits, the socket having a first group of electrodes intersecting a second group of electrodes; wherein a relationship between the pattern of first electrodes and the first and second group of electrodes is such as to enable direction of ball rotation to be sensed by electrostatic transfer of signals between ones of the first and second group of electrodes via at least one of the pattern of first electrodes when the ball rotates in the socket. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A track ball device comprising:
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a ball having a pattern of first electrodes; a socket into which the ball rotatable sits, the socket having a pattern of second electrodes comprising a plurality of strings of electrodes including two interstitially arranged groups of electrodes; each group of electrodes being selectively operable alternatively as driving electrodes and as collecting electrodes; wherein at least two strings of electrodes of a group of electrodes operating as collecting electrodes are interconnected to form a sector, and wherein at least two sectors are provided; a signal generator for generating a plurality of different phase signals, each of the plurality of different phase signals being applied to a respective one of the strings of electrodes operating as driving electrodes, wherein the different phase signals generated by the signal generator comprise an even number of equally spaced phase signals, wherein a product of the number of equally spaced phase signals and a phase difference between the equally spaced phase signals is 360°
, to provide phase closure. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A sensing array system having two axes of sensitivity for determining relative motion in each of the two axes, the system comprising:
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a first substrate having a plurality of interstitially arranged electrodes provided thereon, including a first group of electrodes intersecting a second group of electrodes; and a second substrate having at least a first transfer electrode and a second transfer electrode provided thereon, wherein the first and second substrates are configured to move relative to each other for the first transfer electrode to engage at least one of the plurality of interstitially arranged electrodes and for the second transfer electrode to engage at least another of the plurality of interstitially arranged electrodes. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A sensing array system having two axes of sensitivity for determining relative motion, the system comprising:
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a first substrate having a plurality of interstitially arranged electrodes provided thereon; and a second substrate having at least one transfer electrode provided thereon, the first and second substrates being movable relative to each other; wherein; the plurality of interstitially arranged electrodes selectively operate alternatively as driving electrodes for providing a plurality of signals to the sensing array and as collecting electrodes for collecting signals capacitively transferred from the driving electrodes by the at least one transfer electrode; the system further comprising a signal generator for generating the plurality of signals that are provided by the driving electrodes to the sensing array, the signal generator generating a number of different phase signals of a same frequency; the phases of the different phase signals generated by the signal generator are equally spaced; the different phase signals generated by the signal generator comprise an even number of equally spaced phase signals; and a product of the number of equally spaced phase signals and a phase difference between the equally spaced phase signals is 360°
, to provide phase closure. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A sensing array system comprising:
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a first substrate having a plurality of electrodes; a second substrate having a plurality of transfer electrodes; a mixer for converting a frequency of a signal capacitively transferred between a first one of the plurality of electrodes of the first substrate to a second one of the plurality of electrodes of the first substrate by the transfer electrodes of the second substrate, the mixer multiplying the transferred signal using a pair of complimentary local oscillator signals for suppressing even harmonics in the transferred signal.
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46. A direction sensing mouse comprising:
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a mouse body having a planar surface including a plurality of excite and sense electrodes arranged in a grid-like pattern; a pad including a planar surface on which the mouse body is moved relative to, the planar surface of the pad including a plurality of transfer electrodes for transferring signals from the plurality of excite electrodes to the plurality of sense electrodes of the mouse body; wherein the plurality of excite and sense electrodes are arranged relative to the transfer electrodes so as to enable movement of said mouse body relative to the pad to be sensed in two generally orthogonal directions. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48)
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49. A track ball device, comprising:
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a ball having a pattern of transfer electrodes; and a socket into which the ball sits, the socket having a plurality of electrodes including strings of first electrodes intersecting strings of second electrodes. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53)
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54. A sensing array system having two axes of sensitivity for determining relative motion in each of the two axes, the system comprising:
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a first substrate having a plurality of interstitially arranged electrodes provided thereon, including a first group of electrodes intersecting a second group of electrodes; and a second substrate having at least one transfer electrode provided thereon, wherein the first and second substrates are movable relative to each other and the plurality of interstitially arranged electrodes selectively operate alternatively as driving electrodes for providing a plurality of signals to the sensing array and as collecting electrodes for collecting signals capacitively transferred from the driving electrodes by the at least one transfer electrode, the system further comprising; a signal generator for generating the plurality of signals that are provided by the driving electrodes to the sensing array, the signal generator generating a number of different phase signals of a same frequency. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56)
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57. A sensing array system having two axes of sensitivity for determining relative motion in each of the two axes, the system comprising:
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a first substrate including a hemispherical hollow portion having a plurality of interstitially arranged electrodes provided thereon, including a first group of electrodes intersecting a second group of electrodes; and a second substrate having at least one transfer electrode provided thereon, wherein the first and second substrates are movable relative to each other. - View Dependent Claims (58)
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59. A sensing array system having two axes of sensitivity for determining relative motion in each of the two axes, the system comprising:
a track ball device comprising; a first substrate comprising a socket having a plurality of interstitially arranged electrodes provided thereon, including a first group of electrodes intersecting a second group of electrodes; and a second substrate comprising a ball having at least one transfer electrode provided thereon, said ball being configured to rotatably sit within said socket, wherein the first and second substrates are movable relative to each other. - View Dependent Claims (60)
Specification