HANDHELD POINTING DEVICE, POINTING METHOD THEREOF AND METHOD FOR IMPROVING STATIC DRIFT

• US 20090195501A1
• Filed: 12/10/2008
• Published: 08/06/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: ASUSTek Computer, Inc.
• Original Assignee: ASUSTek Computer, Inc.
• Inventors: Ho, Yeuh-Sheng, Kuo, Chin-Chung
• Application Number:
  US12/332,120
• Publication Number:
  US 20090195501A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/157
• 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

Abstract

The invention discloses a handheld pointing device, a pointing method thereof and method for improving static drift. The handheld pointing device includes a first piezoelectric vibrating gyro element, a second piezoelectric vibrating gyro element and a processing unit. The processing unit is coupled to the first and second piezoelectric vibrating gyro element, respectively. The piezoelectric vibrating gyro elements are used to detect the rotation of the handheld pointing device and produce a first rotation output and a second rotation output. The processing unit is used to produce a pointing signal via the first rotation output and the second rotation output.

Claims

1. A handheld pointing device comprising:

a first piezoelectric vibrating gyro element for determining a rotation of the handheld pointing device in a first direction and producing a first rotation output;

a second piezoelectric vibrating gyro element for determining the rotation of the handheld pointing device in a second direction and producing a second rotation output; and

a processing unit, coupled to the first piezoelectric and second vibrating gyro element, for producing a pointing output via the first and second rotation output, wherein when the handheld pointing device is used, the processing unit updates a static reference voltage of the first piezoelectric vibrating gyro element via the first rotation output.

2. The handheld pointing device according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit updates a static reference voltage of the second piezoelectric vibrating gyro element via the second rotation output.

3. The handheld pointing device according to claim 1, wherein the first piezoelectric vibrating gyro element comprises:

a quartz;

a driving circuit, coupled to the quartz, for driving the quartz to vibrate; and

a detecting circuit, coupled to the quartz, for detecting the vibration of the quartz and producing the first rotation output.

4. The handheld direction indicator according to claim 1, wherein the first piezoelectric vibrating gyro element is coupled to a low pass filter, wherein the low pass filter is coupled to an amplifier which is coupled to the processing unit.

5. A pointing method of a handheld pointing device, the method comprising the steps:

determining the rotation of the handheld pointing device in a first direction and a second direction through a piezoelectric vibrating gyro element and producing a first rotation output and a second rotation output;

updating a static reference voltage of the piezoelectric vibrating gyro element in the first direction via the first rotation output; and

producing a pointing output via the first rotation output and the second rotation output.

6. The pointing method according to claim 5, further comprising:

updating a static reference voltage of the piezoelectric vibrating gyro element in the second direction via the second rotation output.

7. The pointing method according to claim 5, wherein the step of updating the static reference voltage further comprises the steps:

calculating a present rotation value of the first rotation output via the first rotation output;

determining whether to update a maximum rotation value and a minimum rotation value according to the present rotation value;

determining whether the handheld pointing device is in a static state; and

if the handheld direction indicator remains in the static state for more than a preset time, using the present rotation value to update the static reference voltage.

8. The pointing method according to claim 7, wherein the static reference voltage stored in a memory unit is updated via the first rotation output.

9. The pointing method according to claim 7, wherein if the present rotation value is greater than the maximum rotation value, the maximum rotation value is updated via the present rotation value.

10. The pointing method according to claim 7, wherein if the rotation value is less than the minimum rotation value, the minimum rotation value is updated via the present rotation value.

11. The pointing method according to claim 7, wherein whether the handheld pointing device is in the static state is determined according to whether the maximum rotation value minus the minimum rotation value leaves a value less than a preset peak to peak value.

12. A method for a handheld pointing device to improve the static drift comprising:

calculating a present rotation value via a rotation output provided by a piezoelectric vibrating gyro element;

determining whether to update a maximum rotation value and a minimum rotation value according to the present rotation value;

determining whether the handheld pointing device is in a static state; and

if the handheld pointing device is in the static state for more than a preset time, updating the static reference voltage of the piezoelectric vibrating gyro element via the present rotation value.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the static reference voltage in a memory unit of the handheld pointing device is updated via the first rotation output.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein if the present rotation value is greater than the maximum rotation value, the maximum rotation value is updated via the present rotation value.

15. The method according to claim 12, wherein if the present rotation value is less than the minimum rotation value, the minimum rotation value is updated via the present rotation value.

16. The method according to claim 12, wherein whether the handheld pointing device is in the static state is determined according to whether the maximum rotation value minus the minimum rotation value leaves a value less than a preset peak to peak value.

17. The method according to claim 12, wherein the static reference voltage of the piezoelectric vibrating gyro element is updated via the following equation:

Wstatic=Wsum/N+Wstatic_org,

wherein, Wstatic stands for a new static reference voltage, Wsum stands for a rotation accumulated value, N stands for a preset count value and Wstatic_org stands for the static reference voltage stored in a memory value of the handheld pointing device.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the preset count value stands for the preset time relatively, if the handheld pointing device remains in the static state for a time period counted to be greater than the preset count value, the static reference voltage of the piezoelectric vibrating gyro element is updated.