JP2001222372A - Method and device for processing indicating direction signal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To exactly indicate many directions by an indicating direction signal processor. SOLUTION: In what azimuth range of respective azimuth ranges the inclined direction of a joystick enters is checked based on an inclined direction signal of the joystick, the direction is defined as a target direction θd, a cursor (identification display) is successively rotated and transferred from the present direction θc to the target direction θd and the direction where the cursor exists is defined as a new present direction. Rotation and transfer of the cursor is stopped when the stick is returned to a neutral position or when the cursor reaches the target position and the present direction at the point of time is held. Transfer rate of the cursor is lowered at a display position at least immediately before the cursor reaches the target direction θd (61) in the case of rotation and transfer of the cursor. The stick is returned to the neutral position at the point of time when the cursor reaches a target direction θd' (62) by a user when the target direction θd (61) recognized by a device is at one step further from the original target direction θd' (62).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for processing a signal obtained from a pointing operator such as a joystick.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a joystick unit has a stick that stands upright by a spring force at a neutral position, and this stick is tilted by a user in an arbitrary direction against the spring force. At this time, the sticking direction (and the tilting angle) of the stick is used as input information of various devices.

A so-called analog joystick unit has two potentiometers that output an analog signal of a magnitude corresponding to the tilt angle of the stick in two orthogonal (X and Y) directions. The tilt direction and tilt angle of the stick can be obtained based on the output values of both axes.

[0004] In such a joystick unit, an imbalance in spring force for returning the stick to the neutral point,
Due to variations in the resistance value of the potentiometer, the outputs of both axes of the joystick unit do not always become 0 at the mechanical neutral point of the stick.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 9-130918 discloses a so-called dead zone in which the output of a stick is set to 0 in a predetermined range near the neutral point of the stick and in a band-like range near each of the X and Y axes. A technology for providing the same is disclosed. This publication relates to an electric wheelchair and has a configuration in which a traveling speed is controlled by a tilt angle of a stick. More specifically, in order to prevent an operation delay due to a dead zone at the time of high-speed traveling, the larger the output value (absolute value) of one axis, the narrower the band-shaped dead zone of the other axis.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-281584 discloses a joystick unit for use in operating a three-dimensional measuring device. This device provides a dead zone where the output value to the outside is 0 when the absolute value of the signal obtained by sampling the analog output of the joystick and digitizing it is equal to or less than a predetermined value, and the amount of change in the digital signal per sampling period. Exceeds the threshold, the dead zone is ignored and the digital signal is output as it is to the outside.

[0007]

By the way, the joystick can be used not only for specifying four directions of front, rear, left and right but also for specifying more directions (for example, eight directions or 16 directions or more). However, as the number of the azimuths increases, the azimuth angle range per azimuth becomes narrower, so that it becomes more difficult for the user to instruct an accurate azimuth (stick positioning).

In order to solve such a problem, a plurality of display positions arranged in a ring on the display screen are associated with multiple directions, and a cursor is sequentially moved clockwise or counterclockwise to each display position in accordance with the operation of the stick. The cursor is rotated clockwise, and when the cursor reaches the target position, the stick is returned to the neutral position to stop the movement of the cursor. In this way, the cursor sequentially moves to the display position corresponding to each direction, so that the target direction can be selected relatively easily even if the number of directions is large.

However, the longer the number of directions, the longer it takes for the cursor to reach the target position. In order to shorten this time, it is necessary to increase the cursor movement speed, but as the number of azimuths increases, the angle range of each azimuth becomes narrower and the cursor movement speed increases, so that the target azimuth is accurately indicated, In addition, it is difficult to perform a stick operation for accurately stopping the cursor at the target position. That is, the cursor may pass the target position or may not reach the target position.

The present invention has been made in view of such a background, and provides a pointing direction signal processing device capable of relatively quickly and accurately giving a multidirectional command using a pointing operator. The purpose is to:

It is another object of the present invention to provide a pointing direction signal processing method and apparatus capable of improving the operability of a pointing operator for giving a multidirectional command.

[0012]

A pointing direction signal processing device according to the present invention is a pointing direction signal processing device for giving directions in at least eight directions based on the tilting direction of a pointing operation element, and is capable of tilting in at least eight directions. With simple instruction operators,
A means for outputting a tilt direction signal of the pointing operator, and checking whether the tilt direction of the pointing operator recognized based on the tilt direction signal falls within any of the predetermined azimuth ranges,
Target azimuth determining means for determining the azimuth as a target azimuth; and identifying one of a plurality of display positions annularly associated with the at least eight azimuths as a currently selected current azimuth on a display screen. Display means for displaying, and sequentially rotating and moving the identification display from the current azimuth to the target azimuth on the display screen, the azimuth displayed as the new current azimuth, and the tilt angle of the pointing operator is predetermined. Stop moving the identification display when returning to within the dead zone angle or when the identification display reaches the target direction,
Identification display movement control means for maintaining the current azimuth at that time, and the identification display movement control means, wherein at least the identification display reaches the target azimuth while the tilt angle of the pointing operator exceeds the dead zone angle The moving speed of the identification display is reduced at the immediately preceding display position.

According to this configuration, the identification display moves to each direction on the display screen by the operation of the instruction operator, and
Since the moving speed is reduced at the display position immediately before the target direction,
Even if the instruction of the target azimuth by the user erroneously indicates the azimuth one step ahead, the tilt angle of the instruction operator is set in the dead zone in the immediately preceding step (return the instruction operator to the neutral position). , Stop moving the identification,
The intended orientation can be selected. Since the moving speed of the identifier can be maintained at a relatively high speed immediately before the target azimuth, the azimuth selection time due to the speed reduction can be minimized. As a result, both ease of operation and certainty can be achieved.

[0014] The identification display movement control means may reduce the moving speed of the identification display in a direction one step before or two steps before the target direction when the identification display is moved. In this case, there is a case where the time is slightly increased until the selection of the target direction is completed, but the cursor can be stopped in the target direction with a margin.

[0015] The identification display movement control means, when the identification display is moved, when the identification display reaches the target azimuth while the tilt angle of the pointing operator exceeds the dead zone angle, the movement is lowered. The identification display may be moved to the azimuth one step ahead at a speed. In this case, it is possible to effectively cope with a case where the instruction of the target direction by the user erroneously indicates the direction one step before in the cursor rotation direction.

[0016] The identification display movement control means may directly move the identification display from the current direction to the target direction when a tilt angle of the pointing operator exceeds a predetermined threshold value. . This makes it possible to switch the movement mode of the identification display depending on the use or the user's preference by the magnitude of the tilt angle of the instruction operator. The direct movement mode enables a quicker selection of the target direction when the target direction is far away from the current direction.

The target azimuth determining means weights and adds the latest sample value obtained when the tilt direction signal is sampled at a predetermined cycle and at least one or two past sample values to determine the current tilt direction. A low-pass filter means for calculating may be provided. Thereby, the recognized instability of the tilting direction is eliminated.

Preferably, the identification display movement control means sets the tilt angle of the pointing operator to a predetermined second angle even when the target azimuth determining means cannot obtain a target azimuth different from the current azimuth. When the angle returns to the dead zone angle again after exceeding the threshold value, the identification display is moved by one step in a rotation direction determined according to the tilt direction of the pointing operator. Thus, the azimuth movement of only one step can be quickly executed by the intuitive rough operation of the pointing operator.

The present invention further provides an instruction direction signal processing method for instructing at least eight directions based on the tilt direction of the instruction operation element, and a recording medium readablely recording a computer program for performing the method. Also provide. The recording medium includes a portable recording medium such as a CD-ROM, an FD, a semiconductor ROM, and a flash memory, a fixed recording device such as a hard disk, and any other information carrying means.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, a joystick is taken as an example of the instruction operator, but the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to any operator capable of performing the same instruction. For example, the present invention is also applicable to an instruction operator such as a pad inclined in a plurality of directions.

FIG. 1 shows an external appearance of a main part of a joystick unit 10 according to the present embodiment. The joystick unit 10 includes a stick (instruction manipulator) 11 standing upright from the center of a concave portion 12 provided on the surface of the operation panel 13.
Having. In this example, the stick 11 is supported at its lower part so as to be tiltable in all directions of 360 degrees, and is held at its neutral position by spring means unless external force is applied. The user operates the stick 11 with a finger (for example, a force is applied to the stick head with the belly of the thumb).
Is tilted in the direction in which the stick 11 is operated by a tilt angle corresponding to the applied force. When the user relaxes (or releases) the finger, the stick 11 returns to the original neutral position by the spring force.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a hardware configuration of an apparatus using the joystick unit 10 as shown in FIG. This device will be described using a game device as an example,
The present invention is not limited to a game device, but can be applied to any device using an instruction operator for giving an instruction in multiple directions.

In FIG. 2, the joystick unit 10 has potentiometers 21 and 22 that output analog voltages according to the X-axis and Y-axis components of the amount of tilt when the stick 11 is tilted in an arbitrary direction. The outputs of both potentiometers 21 and 22 are converted into corresponding digital values by analog / digital (A / D) converters 23 and 24, respectively. The digital outputs of both A / D converters 23 and 24 are read periodically (for example, every 66 ms) by CPU 20 via interface unit 25. CPU 20
Is a control program stored in the ROM 27, and C
An intended operation is performed according to an application program stored in a D-ROM or a ROM cassette (not shown). The RAM 28 is used by the CPU 20 as a temporary data storage and work area. Various keys (KEY) 26
Is an operation unit for a user to input data to the device and to display an intention. Display 2
Reference numeral 9 denotes a display unit for displaying the contents of the game and displaying various information to be notified to the user.
The CD-ROM drive 30 is a device for reading a CD-ROM in which application programs of the device are stored. In addition, although not shown, a nonvolatile storage device such as a flash memory or a hard disk which can write and store data and programs in a nonvolatile manner may be provided. In addition, it is also possible to add / delete components according to the application.

In FIG. 2, the A / D converters 23, 24
Although (and the interface unit 25) are shown as elements external to the joystick unit 10, these elements may belong to the joystick unit 10.

FIG. 3 shows 16 orientations that can be selected by the joystick in the present embodiment. These 16 directions are obtained by dividing 360 degrees into 16 directions.
For convenience, each direction is represented using “east”, “west”, “south”, “north”, and the like. As can be seen from the figure, when 16 divisions are performed equally, the angular range of each direction is 22.5 degrees (that is, π / 8 radians).

FIG. 4 conceptually shows a display example on the display screen of display 29 (FIG. 2) relating to the selection of the azimuth in the present embodiment. For example, the display positions of the 16 azimuths arranged in a ring are displayed by figures, characters, and the like, and the display position of the azimuth (current azimuth) θc currently selected among them is identified and displayed. In this example, the display positions of the 16 directions are indicated by circles with the direction names inside for convenience, and the identification display is performed by a square cursor surrounding the positions. These display modes are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to these. The figures and characters in each direction are arbitrary. The identification display is not limited to the cursor, and any display mode in which the selected direction can be distinguished from other directions on the display screen can be adopted. For example, the display color of a figure, a character, or the like representing the direction may be changed, or the display may be inverted, blinking, or the like.

The display 29, and a CPU and a program for performing such display on the screen correspond to a display means in the present invention.

The example of FIG. 4 shows a state in which the azimuth of “north-northwest” is currently selected as the current azimuth θc. In the present embodiment, any one of the 16 directions is always selected as the current direction θc, and even if the tilt angle signal of the stick returns to r0 (see FIG. 13) corresponding to the dead zone, the current direction is returned. The current azimuth immediately before is maintained as θc. When turning on the device,
Initially, a predetermined default direction is selected. How to use the current direction θc depends on the application. For example, a plurality of options are assigned to each direction, a specific direction is selected as the current direction θc, and then a plurality of options assigned to the direction (for example, displayed in a separately opened window) It can be used for applications such as selecting one of them by key (button) operation.

Now, it is assumed that the current direction θc is to be changed from the “north-northwest” direction to the “east” direction in FIG. In this case, the user tilts the stick toward the “east” direction. As a result, the apparatus recognizes “east” as the target direction θd, and rotates and moves the cursor 40 sequentially from the display position of the current direction θc to the display position of the target direction θd while following an intermediate direction position. This rotation direction (clockwise or counterclockwise) is from the current azimuth θc to the target azimuth θd,
Select the direction in which the number of intermediate azimuth positions that pass through is small. If the numbers are the same in both rotation directions, a predetermined rotation direction may be selected. The movement of the cursor 40 is performed when the cursor 40 reaches the display position of the target orientation θd, or when the user returns the stick to the neutral position before (ie, the r value has entered the dead zone r0) at that time. Stop at In the example of FIG. 4, the user tilts the stick in the direction of east, and when the cursor 40 rotates from the display position of “North-Northwest” to reach the display position of “East”, the stick is moved to the neutral position. Should be restored.

However, since the angular range of each direction may be narrow, the user may not always be able to perform operations accurately. In such a case, an error is included in the target direction θd itself. For example, as shown in FIG.
If the target azimuth θd is slightly inclined downward, the target azimuth θd may be recognized as the azimuth one step ahead of the original target azimuth (ie, “East Southeast”). As a result, the cursor passes by the display position of “East” and stops at the display position of “East South East”. There is no problem if the stick is returned to the neutral position when the cursor reaches "East", which is the display position of the target direction, but especially the movement speed is set high to shorten the cursor movement time. In some cases, the operation may not be in time. In this case, it is necessary to perform a stick operation for returning the cursor one step backward. This operation is not only complicated because it is an additional operation, but also requires fine adjustment of the tilting direction of the stick. Although not illustrated, similarly, when the user tilts the stick in a slightly different direction than intended, and tilts slightly upward from “east,” the cursor points to the direction “east-northeast” before “east,” which is the original target direction intended by the user. It stops at the display position of. In this case, a stick operation for moving the cursor one step forward is required.

In order to make it possible to select an accurate target azimuth relatively quickly and easily without requiring such re-operation, in the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. As shown, the cursor 4 from the azimuth display position 62 (“East” in the figure) immediately before the display position of the target azimuth θd (“East Southeast” in the figure) to the target azimuth display position 61
0 moving time interval Δt ′ is the moving time interval Δt
Make it longer. FIG. 7 is a graph showing the time change of the azimuth angle where the cursor 40 exists in this case. what if,
Even when the target azimuth θd exceeds the original target azimuth θd ′ by one step in the cursor rotation direction, the cursor 4
When 0 reaches the target orientation θd ′, the cursor remains at that position for a relatively long time Δt ′. This time is sufficient for the user to return the stick. By returning the stick to the neutral position, the cursor stops at the target orientation θd ′, and overrun to the next step (broken line in the graph of FIG. 7) is avoided. In addition,
The reduction of the cursor movement speed may be performed not two steps before the target direction θd but two steps before.

Assuming such control of the present embodiment, the user operates the instruction of the target azimuth θd with the stick slightly overrunning so that the target azimuth θd becomes one of the original target azimuth θd ′. It is possible to avoid that the cursor is erroneously recognized as the direction before the step and the cursor stops before the original target direction. That is, the azimuth as intended or the azimuth one step ahead is recognized, and the operation of the present embodiment becomes effective.

However, taking into account that the target azimuth θd may be located one step before the original target azimuth d ′, the following measures can be taken. This is referred to as a second embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIGS.
This will be described below.

As shown in FIG. 8, the target direction θd (82) recognized by the device is the original target direction θd '(83).
Consider a case one step before. In this case, the cursor moving speed is reduced from the display position 81 one step before the target direction θd (time interval Δt ′). This is the same as in the first embodiment. In this embodiment, even after the cursor 40 reaches the display position 82 of the target orientation θd, the cursor 40 is moved to the next display position 83 at an additional time step Δt ′. actually,
The target orientation θd recognized by the device is the intended orientation (θ
If the cursor 40 reaches the display position 82 of the target azimuth θd one step before d ′) and waits for the time Δt ′ without returning the stick, the cursor 40 displays the true target azimuth θd ′. Position 83 is reached. If the stick is returned at this point, the target direction θd ′ can be selected as a new current direction θc. If the target direction θd recognized by the device is the same as the intended direction, the stick may be returned when the cursor 40 reaches the display position 82 of the target direction θd. FIG. 9 is a graph showing a time change of the azimuth where the cursor is present in the second embodiment.

According to the second embodiment, regardless of whether the error of the user's instruction is positive or negative, the operation of returning the stick after confirming that the cursor has reached the display position of the azimuth intended by the user is performed. Time interval Δt '
Provided by

Next, a specific processing flow for realizing the above-described first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 10 shows a process for determining the target orientation θd based on the output signal from the joystick unit. This process is a process executed by the CPU periodically (for example, every 66 ms). This processing or a CPU and a program for realizing this processing constitute "target azimuth determination means" in the present invention.

First, the CPU reads the current X and Y values (S1). Based on both values, a tilt angle signal r value and a tilt direction signal θ value are calculated by the following equation (S2).

R = √ (X * X + Y * Y) (1) θ = arctan (Y / X) (2)

Next, it is checked whether the r value belongs to the dead zone (whether it is equal to or less than a predetermined value r0) (S3). If it belongs to the dead zone, the execution of the following processing steps is omitted and the current processing ends. If it does not belong to the dead zone, the target direction θd is determined based on the θ value (S4). This target direction θ
d is only recognized by the device, and the cursor displayed on the display is at the display position of the current azimuth θc.

FIG. 11 shows a process for rotating the cursor from the current direction θc to the target direction θd determined in the processing of FIG. This process is executed substantially in parallel with the process of FIG.

First, the cursor rotation direction (clockwise or counterclockwise) based on the current direction θc and the target direction θd.
Is determined (S11). As described above, this selects the direction in which the intermediate azimuth position to be routed is small. next,
Cursor (that is, updated current direction θc described later)
It is checked whether or not has reached the target orientation θd (S12). If it has reached, this process is terminated. If not, the cursor is moved by one step in the determined rotation direction, and the current azimuth θc is updated so as to match the azimuth at the cursor position (S13). Here, when the stick is returned to the neutral position (that is, the r value is within the dead zone) (S14), the present process is terminated with the current azimuth θc at that time. Otherwise, the cursor (that is, the updated current direction θc) is positioned next to the target direction θd (1).
It is checked whether the position (before the step) has been reached (S15).
If not, a first value Δt1 is set for the cursor movement time interval Δt (S16). Δt
, A second value Δt2 larger than the first value Δt1 is set (S17). Step S1 until the time Δt elapses
Return to step 4 to check whether the stick has been returned to the neutral position during that time. In step S18, Δ
Steps S15, S16, and S17 during the waiting of the time t (No in S18) are ignored. After the elapse of the Δt time, the process returns to step S11. In the meantime, the target orientation θd may be updated by the processing in FIG. In that case, the processing in FIG.
The processing is restarted from 1.

By the processing of FIG. 11, control for reducing the cursor moving speed one step before the target direction θd as described with reference to the graph of FIG. 7 is realized. This processing or a CPU and a program for realizing this processing constitute “identification display movement control means” in the present invention.

Although the processing flow of the second embodiment is not particularly shown, in the flow of FIG. 11, in step S12, "is the cursor at the target direction θd?" Has been reached? ”, And when the cursor has reached the target orientation θd, Δ
After waiting for the time t2, the target azimuth θd may be moved to the next azimuth.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In the embodiment described above, the cursor is always rotated and moved. In this case, the cursor movement speed other than in the vicinity of the target azimuth can be improved to some extent. However, when the azimuth changes greatly, it is inevitable that the azimuth movement also requires a certain amount of time. Therefore, in the present embodiment, two cursor movement modes, that is, a rotation movement control of the cursor and a direct movement control to the target azimuth, are provided, and both modes are switched by the tilt angle of the stick. That is, as shown in FIG.
Rth is provided as a threshold value.

FIG. 12 shows a processing flow of cursor movement control in the third embodiment. Steps S21 and S22 and subsequent steps of this process, or a CPU and a program for implementing the steps constitute a "target azimuth determination unit" and an "identification display movement control unit" in the present invention, respectively.

First, as described above with reference to FIG.
d is determined (S21). Next, the r value is checked (S2
2). If the r value is within rth, the above cursor rotation movement control is performed as the first cursor movement mode (S2).
3). That is, the cursor is rotationally moved to the target direction θd. On the other hand, when the r value exceeds rth, the cursor is directly moved to the target direction θd by substituting the target direction θd directly into the current direction θc as a second cursor movement mode (S24).

According to the third embodiment, the user can move the cursor in the desired one of the first and second cursor movement modes by changing the tilt angle of the stick.

By the way, in the direction of the boundary between the adjacent azimuth ranges, the azimuth range to which the stick belongs may change due to the subtle movement of the stick. In such a case, the azimuth angle range to which the stick belongs is directly used as the target azimuth θ.
If it is recognized as d, it causes the target azimuth θd to change unstablely. In order to prevent this, a minute azimuth range δ between adjacent azimuth ranges may be set as a dead zone, and the target azimuth θd immediately before entering the dead zone may be maintained in this dead zone. Note that the above-mentioned JP-A-9-1309
The dead zone in the band-shaped area in the vicinity of each of the X-axis and the Y-axis in Japanese Patent Publication No. 18 is such that the output of the axis is set to 0. different.

The phenomenon that the target azimuth θd becomes unstable as described above can be reduced by providing the above-mentioned dead zone.
Hereinafter, another method of determining the target direction for preventing this phenomenon will be described. Causes of this phenomenon include mechanical factors such as unevenness of the spring force acting on the stick in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction, and the direction in which excess force is applied when the user's finger force is reduced. However, human factors such as unevenness in both axial directions can be considered.

To solve this problem, the target orientation θd
Is subjected to the following filtering operation.

Θp = a · θn + b · θn−1 + c · θn−2 (3) where θp is the calculated present pointing direction, θn is the latest sample value of θ, and θn−1 is 1. Sample value of previous θ,
θn−2 is the sample value of θ two before. Also, a,
b and c are predetermined weighting coefficient values, and a>b>
c and a + b + c = 1. For example, a = 5/9, b
= 3/9 and c = 1/9. The number of terms on the right side of Expression (3) is not limited to three, and the specific values of the coefficients are not limited to those illustrated.

The function of equation (3) is that the present pointing direction θp is determined not only by the latest sample value but also by taking into account past sample values.
From the target direction θd. Since the function of this filter acts in the direction of suppressing the change in the designated direction θp and, consequently, the change in the target direction θd, it can be said that the filter is a low-pass filter.

With this low-pass filter, even when a sample point temporarily enters an adjacent azimuth range from a certain azimuth range, its influence can be prevented from appearing in the target azimuth.

The above-described setting of the dead zone in the azimuth range and the filtering of the samples constitute a part of the target azimuth determining means of the present invention.

Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. Even if any of the above-described embodiments is adopted, there are cases where it is desired to select the target direction θd that is one step away from the current direction θc.
In that case, a delicate stick operation is still required. In particular, when a dead zone or a low-pass filter as described above is employed, this delicate operation may eventually be ignored by the apparatus. Therefore, the present embodiment provides a special stick operation method for moving the cursor by one step to an azimuth position adjacent to the current azimuth θc. In this embodiment, a second threshold rth2 is provided for the r value as shown in FIG. This embodiment can be adopted independently of the third embodiment that provides the two cursor movement modes described above, but can also be used in combination with the third embodiment. If used together, the second
Is smaller than the first threshold value rth1,
It is assumed that it is larger than r0 which is the r value of the dead zone.

FIG. 15 shows a flowchart of the main processing in this embodiment. This process is executed substantially in parallel with the process of FIG. This processing or a CPU and a program for realizing this processing also constitute "identification display movement control means" in the present invention.

First, it is checked whether or not a new target azimuth θd has been determined in the processing routine including the processing of FIG. 10 and the dead zone in the azimuth range and the effect of the filter as described above (S41). The case where the target orientation θd is not determined is, in short, the case where the user has not performed a new stick operation or the apparatus does not recognize the new stick operation even if the user has performed the new stick operation. When the new target direction θd is determined, the cursor is moved to the above-described target direction θd (S4).
2).

On the other hand, if it is determined that the new target orientation θd has not been determined, the following steps are performed to determine whether or not the user has performed a single short-time stick operation that was not detected in the above processing routine. To judge. That is, first, it is checked whether the r value is equal to or greater than rth2 (S4).
3). If Yes, the θ value (for example, the value calculated in S2 of FIG. 10) is substituted for the change orientation θm (S44). r
If the value is smaller (or smaller) than rth2 (S
43, No), it is checked whether the r value is equal to or less than r0 (S4).
5). If the r value is greater than r0 (S45, No), the process returns to step S41. If the r value is equal to or less than r0 (S4
5, Yes), it is checked whether the change orientation θm has been determined (ie, whether θm has been set in step S44) (S46). If θm has not been determined, step S
Return to 41. If θm has been determined, proceed to the next step. In the processing from steps S43 to S46, before the target azimuth θd is determined, the r value once returns to rth2 or more and then returns to the dead zone (that is, the stick returns to the neutral position after exceeding the predetermined tilt angle). ) Is detected. When such a stick operation is performed, the cursor is moved by one step in the rotation direction determined by the current direction θc and the changed direction θm (S47). Whether the rotation direction at this time is clockwise or counterclockwise depends on whether the tilt direction of the stick is clockwise or counterclockwise with respect to the current azimuth θc. For example, now, as in the example of FIG.
If c is the direction of “north-northwest”, suppose that the user wants to move the cursor one step clockwise to select the “north” direction. At this time, in the above embodiment, it is necessary to correctly tilt the stick in the true north direction, but in the present embodiment, the stick is turned in the direction in which the cursor is to be moved (for example, instantaneously in the east direction), and May be tilted so that the r value exceeds rth2, and immediately returned to the neutral position. The direction in which the stick is tilted at this time does not need to be “east”. In FIG. 3, when all directions are bisected by a straight line connecting “North-Southeast” opposite to “North-Northwest” which is the current direction θc, the side to which the adjacent direction (“North” in this example) to which the cursor should be moved belongs The stick may be tilted in any direction as long as it is the direction. The result is the same, the cursor moves one step to the adjacent azimuth on that side. Therefore, the user does not need to instruct the correct direction, but only needs to momentarily tilt the stick to the side to which the cursor is to be moved. This operation can intuitively and quickly realize one-step movement of the cursor.

Although the processing of steps S41 and S43 to S46 in FIG. 15 constitutes a loop, a new θd may be actually determined during execution of this loop. As a result, the processing shifts to "processing for moving the cursor up to the target orientation θd" in step S42. The feature of the one-step movement in FIG. 15 is not necessarily based on the assumption that the speed is reduced just before the target direction in the rotational movement of the cursor. Furthermore, it is not assumed that the cursor is even rotated, but may be combined with direct movement to the target direction.

While the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, various modifications and changes are possible. For example, while the joystick has been described as using a potentiometer, any other joystick or other joystick having any principle or structure can be used. Also, an example has been described in which the analog output of the joystick is converted into a digital signal to perform digital processing. However, it is also possible to perform processing using the analog signal processing circuit without changing the analog signal. The number of divisions of 360 degrees in all directions is 16, but is not limited to this, and the present invention is suitably applied to at least 8 or more cases.

[0062]

According to the pointing direction signal processing apparatus of the present invention, a multidirectional pointing can be performed accurately. In addition, it is possible to improve the operability of the joystick for giving an instruction in multiple directions.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of a main part of a joystick unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of an apparatus using a joystick unit as illustrated in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing 16 directions of a joystick according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram conceptually showing a display on a display relating to selection of an azimuth in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a deviation between an intended orientation and a target orientation recognized by the device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for describing cursor movement control according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing a time change of an azimuth corresponding to the cursor movement control of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a diagram for describing cursor movement control according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

9 is a graph showing a time change of an azimuth corresponding to the cursor movement control of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a process of determining a target orientation θd according to the embodiment of the present invention.

11 is a flowchart showing a process for rotating the cursor from the current direction θc to the target direction θd determined in the processing of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a process for realizing a third embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining the concept of a third embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a diagram for explaining the concept of a fourth embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a process for realizing a fourth embodiment according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 joystick unit 11 stick 12 recess 13 operation panel 20 CPU 21, 22 potentiometer 23, 24 analog / digital converter 25 interface unit 26 various keys 27 ROM 28 RAM 29 display 30 CD-ROM drive

Claims (8)

[Claims] An instruction direction signal processing device for instructing at least eight directions based on a tilt direction of an instruction operator, comprising an instruction operator capable of tilting in at least eight directions, and a tilt direction of the instruction operator. Means for outputting a signal, a target azimuth for checking whether the tilt direction of the pointing operator recognized based on the tilt direction signal falls within each of predetermined azimuth angle ranges, and determining the azimuth as a target azimuth. Determination means; display means for identifying and displaying one of a plurality of display positions annularly associated with the at least eight directions as a currently selected current direction on a display screen; While rotating the identification display sequentially from the current azimuth to the target azimuth, the identified and displayed azimuth is set as a new current azimuth, and the tilt angle of the pointing operator is within a predetermined dead zone angle. When returning or when the identification display reaches the target direction, the movement of the identification display is stopped, and the identification display movement control means for maintaining the current direction at that time; The pointing direction signal processing device, wherein the moving speed of the identification display is reduced at least at a display position immediately before the identification display reaches the target direction while the tilt angle of the identification display exceeds the dead zone angle. 2. The identification display movement control means, when moving the identification display, reduces the moving speed of the identification display in the direction one step before or two steps before the target direction. A pointing direction signal processing apparatus as described in the above. 3. The identification display movement control means, when the identification display is moved, is lowered after the identification display reaches the target azimuth while the tilt angle of the pointing operator exceeds the dead zone angle. The pointing direction signal processing device according to claim 2, wherein the identification display is moved to the azimuth one step ahead at the moving speed. 4. An identification display movement control means for directly moving the identification display from the current direction to the target direction when a tilt angle of the pointing operator exceeds a predetermined threshold value. The pointing direction signal processing device according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein 5. The target azimuth determining means weights and adds a latest sample value obtained when the tilt direction signal is sampled at a predetermined cycle and at least one or two past sample values to obtain a current tilt direction. 5. The pointing direction signal processing device according to claim 1, further comprising a low-pass filter for calculating a direction. 6. The method according to claim 6, wherein the identification display movement control means sets the tilt angle of the pointing operator to a second predetermined angle even when the target azimuth determining means cannot obtain a target azimuth different from the current azimuth. The method according to claim 1, wherein, after returning to the dead zone angle again after exceeding a threshold value, the identification display is moved by one step in a rotation direction determined according to the tilt direction of the pointing operation element. 5. The pointing direction signal processing device according to any one of 5. 7. An instruction direction signal processing method for instructing at least eight directions based on a tilt direction of an instruction operator, wherein the method is recognized based on a tilt direction signal from an instruction operator capable of tilting in at least eight directions. Examining whether the tilting direction of the designated operating element falls within a predetermined azimuth range of at least eight directions, and one of a plurality of display positions arranged in a ring and associated with at least eight directions. Identifying the current azimuth on the display screen as the currently selected current azimuth; and displaying the azimuth in the azimuth range to which the tilt direction of the pointing operator recognized based on the tilt direction signal belongs as the target azimuth. Rotating the identification display from the current azimuth to the target azimuth sequentially, and setting the identified and displayed azimuth as a new current azimuth; Stopping the movement of the identification display when the tilt angle returns within a predetermined dead zone angle or when the identification display reaches the target direction, and maintaining the current direction at that time; A step of reducing the moving speed of the identification display at least at a display position immediately before the identification display reaches the target direction while the angle exceeds the dead zone angle. . 8. An instruction direction signal processing method for instructing at least eight directions based on a tilt direction of an instruction operator, wherein the method is recognized based on a tilt direction signal from an instruction operator capable of tilting in at least eight directions. Examining whether the tilting direction of the designated operating element falls within a predetermined azimuth range of at least eight directions, and one of a plurality of display positions arranged in a ring and associated with at least eight directions. Identifying the current azimuth on the display screen as the currently selected current azimuth; and displaying the azimuth in the azimuth range to which the tilt direction of the pointing operator recognized based on the tilt direction signal belongs as the target azimuth. Rotating the identification display from the current azimuth to the target azimuth sequentially, and setting the identified and displayed azimuth as a new current azimuth; Stopping the movement of the identification display when the tilt angle returns within a predetermined dead zone angle or when the identification display reaches the target direction, and maintaining the current direction at that time; A step of reducing the moving speed of the identification display at least at a display position immediately before the identification display reaches the target direction while the angle exceeds the dead zone angle. Recording medium on which a computer program for executing the program is recorded in a readable manner.