Direct pointing apparatus for digital displays

• US 6,104,380 A
• Filed: 04/14/1997
• Issued: 08/15/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited, Ricoh Corporation (Ricoh Company Limited)
• Inventors: Wolff, Gregory J., Stork, David G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuchlinski, Jr., William A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Marc-Coleman, Marthe Y.
• Application Number:
  US08/840,552
• Time in Patent Office: 1,219 Days
• Field of Search: 345/158, 345/157, 345/302, 345/156, 345/163, 340/710, 364/514
• US Class Current: 345/158
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0384 Wireless input, i.e. hardware and software details of wireless interface arrangements for pointing devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0325 using a plurality of light emitters or reflectors or a plurality of detectors forming a reference frame from which to derive the orientation of the object, e.g. by triangulation or on the basis of reference deformation in the picked up image
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry

Abstract

An apparatus for presenting on-line documents is provided. The device is coupled to and for use with a network providing access to interconnected, on-line documents in response to document requests. The device comprises a cursor control device and at least one position sensor, wherein the position sensor determines a location of the cursor control device. The at least one position sensor is coupled to a display device. The display device displays a cursor that is responsive to the cursor control device. The display device displays on-line documents in response to document requests made via the cursor.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a display device;

a cursor control device having sensors to determine positioning of the cursor control device including at least one sensor to directly measure a distance between the cursor control device and the display device, the cursor control device further having a transmitter to transmit position data based output of the sensors;

control logic having a receiver to receive the position data, the control logic coupled to the display device to display a cursor on a portion of the display device in response to the position data received from the cursor control device.

2. The system defined in claim 1 wherein the control logic transforms sensor data into global coordinates representing the position of the cursor with respect to the display.

3. The system defined in claim 1 wherein the display device displays on-line documents in response to document requests made movement of the cursor by the cursor control device.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one sensor to directly measure the distance between the cursor control device and the display device comprises an optical sensor.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one sensor to directly measure the distance between the cursor control device and the display device comprises a focus adjustment.

6. A system for presenting on-line documents from a network providing access to intercinnected, on-line documents in response to document requests, the system comprising

a display device

a cursor control device having position sensors to determine positioning of the cursor control device including at least one sensor to directly measure a distance between the cursor control device and the display device, the cursor control device further having a transmitter to transmit position data based on output of the position sensors;

Wherein the display device has a receiver to receive the position data, the display device further displaying a cursor on a portion thereof, wherein the cursor is responsive to the cursor control device, the display device displaying on-line documents in response to document requests made via the cursor.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the network is the World Wide Web.

8. The system of claim 6 wherein the on-line documents comprise World Wide Web pages.

9. The system of claim 6 wherein the document requests comprise selection of hypertext links via the cursor control device.

10. The system of claim 6 wherein the position sensors comprise:

a plurality of gyroscopes to detect a pitch, a yaw, and a roll of the cursor control device; and

an optical sensor to detect a distance between the cursor control device and the display device.

11. The system of claim 6 wherein the position sensors comprise:

a plurality of gyroscopes to detect a pitch, a yaw, and a roll of the cursor control device; and

an focus adjustment sensor to detect a distance between the cursor control device and the display device.

12. A system for presenting on-line documents, the device coupled to and for use with a network providing access to interconnected, on-line documents in response to document requests, the device comprising:

cursor control means for controlling a cursor having position sensor means for determining a position of the cursor control means; and

display means for displaying a cursor responsive to the cursor control means and on-line documents in response to document requests made via the cursors

wherein the cursor control means include means for directly measuring a distance between the cursor control means and the display means.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the cursor control means comprises:

position monitoring means for monitoring a pitch, a yaw, and a roll of the cursor control means;

optical sensor means for determining a distance between the cursor control means and the display means; and

transmitter means for transmitting data from the position monitoring means and the optical sensor means.

14. A cursor control device comprising, at least one positioning sensor to determine positioning of the cursor control device;

a distance sensor to directly measure a distance between the cursor control device and a display device;

a transmitter coupled to the at least one positioning sensor and the distance sensor to transmit data describing positioning of the cursor control device and distance between the cursor control device and the display device, wherein the data transmitted is used to control a cursor displayed by the display device, and further wherein the cursor is responsive to the cursor control device.

15. The cursor control device of claim 14 wherein the at least one positioning sensor comprises gyroscopes to detect a pitch, a yaw, and a roll of the cursor control device.

16. The cursor control device of claim 14 wherein the distance sensor comprises an optical sensor to detect the distance between the cursor control device and the display device.

17. The cursor control device of claim 14 wherein the distance sensor comprises a focus adjustment to determine the distance between the cursor control device and the display device.

18. A cursor control sensor comprising:

a receiver to receive positioning data from a cursor control device, wherein the positioning data comprises positioning data and distance data, wherein the distance data describes the distance between the cursor control device and a display device based on a direct measurement made by the cursor control device;

a processor coupled to the receiver, the processor to convert the positioning data received from the cursor control device to cursor control information to control positioning of a cursor on the display device.

a display interface coupled to the control circuitry, the display interface to communicate the cursor control information to the display device.

19. The cursor control sensor of claim 18 wherein the positioning data comprises a pitch, a yaw, and a roll of the cursor control device.

20. The cursor control sensor of claim 18 wherein direct measurement is made with an optical sensor.

21. The cursor control sensor of claim 18 wherein the direct measurement is made with a focus adjustment.