Two-axis ball-based cursor control apparatus with tactile feedback
First Claim
1. A two-axis ball-based cursor control apparatus providing for discrete, uniform displacements in each direction of rotation in order to achieve a precise alignment of a cursor and target in electronic displays while simultaneously providing tactile feedback to the user corresponding to each incremental displacement, said cursor control apparatus comprising:
- a housing;
a spherical ball contained at least partially within said housing, said spherical ball capable of rotating about at least two axes, and said spherical ball further including a plurality of recesses distributed about the outer surface of said spherical ball;
a first pair of spring biased sensor mechanisms disposed within the housing, including a first sensor mechanism and a second sensor mechanism for measuring the displacement of said spherical ball about a first axis of rotation, and a second pair of spring biased sensor mechanisms disposed within the housing, including a third sensor mechanism and a fourth sensor mechanism for measuring the displacement of said spherical ball about a second axis of rotation; and
wherein each of said sensor mechanisms includes a probe configured to rest within said recesses on said spherical ball, a spring serving to bias said probe toward the surface of said spherical ball, whereby said spring compresses and decompresses as a result of the normal force exerted on said probe by the sides of said recesses as said spherical ball is rotated, and a transducer connecting with said spring for generating an electrical signal corresponding to the rate of compression and decompression of said spring; and
a means for processing the signals, corresponding to the rate of compression and decompression, received from said sensor mechanisms in order to determine the direction and rate of rotation of said spherical ball about each axis of rotation based on the waveform of the signals received from each of said transducers.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A two-axis ball-based cursor control apparatus with tactile feeling is provided, which includes a housing; a spherical ball contained partially within the housing and having a plurality of recesses distributed about its outer surface; two pairs of spring biased sensor mechanisms each including a probe, a spring, and a transducer; and a means for processing the signals received from the sensor mechanisms. Each of the four probes is positioned so that it rests within one of the recesses on the spherical ball when the ball is stationary. As the ball is rotated, the probes are pushed up and out of the recesses by the ball, causing the corresponding springs to alternately compress and decompress, before the probes come to rest in adjacent recesses. Each transducer generates an electrical signal corresponding to the rate of compression and decompression in the corresponding spring. The signal processing means then translates the signals from each of the transducers into movement of a cursor on an electronic display screen which corresponds to the rotation of the spherical ball about each of its axes.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A two-axis ball-based cursor control apparatus providing for discrete, uniform displacements in each direction of rotation in order to achieve a precise alignment of a cursor and target in electronic displays while simultaneously providing tactile feedback to the user corresponding to each incremental displacement, said cursor control apparatus comprising:
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a housing;
a spherical ball contained at least partially within said housing, said spherical ball capable of rotating about at least two axes, and said spherical ball further including a plurality of recesses distributed about the outer surface of said spherical ball;
a first pair of spring biased sensor mechanisms disposed within the housing, including a first sensor mechanism and a second sensor mechanism for measuring the displacement of said spherical ball about a first axis of rotation, and a second pair of spring biased sensor mechanisms disposed within the housing, including a third sensor mechanism and a fourth sensor mechanism for measuring the displacement of said spherical ball about a second axis of rotation; and
wherein each of said sensor mechanisms includes a probe configured to rest within said recesses on said spherical ball, a spring serving to bias said probe toward the surface of said spherical ball, whereby said spring compresses and decompresses as a result of the normal force exerted on said probe by the sides of said recesses as said spherical ball is rotated, and a transducer connecting with said spring for generating an electrical signal corresponding to the rate of compression and decompression of said spring; and
a means for processing the signals, corresponding to the rate of compression and decompression, received from said sensor mechanisms in order to determine the direction and rate of rotation of said spherical ball about each axis of rotation based on the waveform of the signals received from each of said transducers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A two-axis ball-based cursor control apparatus providing for displacements in each direction of rotation to achieve a precise alignment of a cursor and target in electronic displays while simultaneously providing tactile feedback to a user corresponding to each incremental displacement, the cursor control apparatus comprising:
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a housing;
a spherical ball contained at least partially within the housing, the spherical ball capable of rotating about at least two axes, and the spherical ball further including a plurality of recesses distributed about the outer surface of the spherical ball;
a first pair of spring biased sensor mechanisms disposed within the housing, including a first sensor mechanism and a second sensor mechanism for measuring displacement of the spherical ball about a first axis of rotation;
a second pair of spring biased sensor mechanisms disposed within the housing, including a third sensor mechanism and a fourth sensor mechanism for measuring displacement of the spherical ball about a second axis of rotation;
wherein each of the sensor mechanisms includes a probe configured to rest within the recesses on the spherical ball, a spring serving to bias the probe toward the surface of the spherical ball, whereby the spring compresses and decompresses as a result of a normal force exerted on the probe by sides of the recesses as the spherical ball is rotated, and a transducer connecting with the spring for generating an electrical signal corresponding to a rate of compression and decompression of the spring;
wherein the probes associated with the first and second sensor mechanisms are of substantially identical shape and orientation, and the probes associated with the third and fourth sensor mechanisms are of substantially identical shape and orientation, so that when the spherical ball is rotated about one of its axes, both of the springs corresponding to each pair of sensor mechanisms are compressed in a like fashion, such that waveforms generated by a pair of sensor mechanisms are identical in shape to one another, while having a shape different from waveforms generated by the other pair of sensor mechanisms; and
means for processing the electrical signal, corresponding to the rate of compression and decompression, received from the sensor mechanisms to determine direction and rate of rotation of the spherical ball about each axis of rotation based on a waveform of the electrical signal received from each of the transducers. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for detecting displacement of a ball-based cursor control apparatus, comprising:
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providing a plurality of recesses distributed about an outer surface of a spherical ball of the ball-based cursor control apparatus providing a probe and a spring in each sensor mechanism, wherein the spring is configured to bias the probe to rest within the recesses on the spherical ball;
using a transducer connecting the spring for generating electrical signals;
generating a first electrical signal corresponding to rate of compression and decompression of a first pair of sensor mechanisms that interacts with the recesses; and
processing the first electrical signal, corresponding to the rate of compression and decompression, received from the first pair of sensor mechanisms to determine direction and rate of rotation of the spherical ball about a first axis of rotation based on waveform of the first electrical signal. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification