Head-mounted pointing and control device
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of controlling a computer, comprising the steps of:
- display a pointing device on a display screen;
positioning an AC magnetic transmitter-receiver pair on a user, with one of the receiver and transmitter being supported on the head of a user; and
tracking the relative position and/or orientation of the transmitter-receiver pair through head movements of a user; and
controlling the pointing device as a function of the tracked relative position and/or orientation.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A magnetic tracker system for use on an operator'"'"'s head makes “mouse”/cursor movements on a screen similar to that of the classic computer “mouse”/track ball/touchpad/joystick. Only head movements are used as opposed to lifting a hand from the keyboard for making such moves. The new “mouse” avoids interrupting the hands from their position on the keyboard and has no moving mechanical parts that become clogged and that need a special surface (mouse pad) or special surface measurements (optical mouse).
30 Citations
14 Claims
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1. A method of controlling a computer, comprising the steps of:
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display a pointing device on a display screen; positioning an AC magnetic transmitter-receiver pair on a user, with one of the receiver and transmitter being supported on the head of a user; and tracking the relative position and/or orientation of the transmitter-receiver pair through head movements of a user; and controlling the pointing device as a function of the tracked relative position and/or orientation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. Apparatus for controlling the position of a cursor or other pointing device on the display of a computer, comprising:
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a first magnetic coil supported on a head of a user; a second magnetic coil supported on a portion of the user'"'"'s body other than the user'"'"'s head; one of the first and second coils functioning as a magnetic field transmitter and the other functioning as a magnetic field receiver; a processor operative to determine the position or orientation of the magnetic field receiver relative to the field transmitter; an electronic interface in communication with a computer having a display device; and electronics operative to control the position of a cursor or other pointing device on the display through the electronic interface as a function of the position or orientation of the magnetic field receiver relative to the field transmitter as determined by the processor through user head movements. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification