JPH06301479A - Track ball movement detecting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To assure the highly accurate alignment of a special image by operating this image or a cursor only in the X or Y direction by means of a track ball which can turn in all directions. CONSTITUTION:When a special image, for example, is moved, a 3D input switch 27 is turned on and also an output mode setting switch 28 is set in an X or Y mode. Thus a track ball 21 can serve as an operating means of the special image. At the same time, the outputs of an X counter 23 and a Y counter 24 are compared with each other by a CPU 11. Then the larger output is supplied to a video special effect processing part 15. Thus, the special image moves in the horizontal direction of the rotational frequency of the X direction is larger than that of the Y direction and in the vertical direction vice versa when the ball 21 is operated. Thus it is possible to align the special image with high accuracy by means of the unstable ball 21.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a trackball motion detecting device suitable for application to a three-dimensional image special effect device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a three-dimensional image special effect device is used in order to obtain a special effect by inserting another special image into an image on a monitor, enlarging or reducing the special image, or moving while rotating. Used. Like this 3
In the 3D image special effect device, a spherical trackball,
It is usual to operate a special image using a three-dimensional input device such as a lever-shaped joystick.

Further, various states such as the size of the special image and its contour (border) are given as parameters, and various effects can be achieved by appropriately setting them. Each parameter is displayed on various menus. For example, the cursor on the menu is moved to each parameter by operating a trackball, and then the value of the parameter is set by an input key such as a function key.

[0004]

As described above, a joystick or a trackball is used for operating a special image and operating a cursor for designating parameters. The joystick can be operated in various ways by tilting the lever.For example, when moving a special image to a predetermined position, first move the lever horizontally, for example, to move the special image laterally, and then move the lever. By operating vertically to move the special image in the vertical direction, the special image can be moved to a predetermined position relatively easily.

On the other hand, the trackball is unstable because it can be easily rotated in all directions in order to improve the sensitivity, and it is unstable when moving a special image or a cursor to a predetermined position with high accuracy. It was inappropriate.

Therefore, the present invention has solved the above-mentioned problems, and proposes a trackball motion detecting device capable of accurately aligning a special image, a cursor and the like with a trackball. is there.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the present invention, a spherical trackball which can rotate in all directions and a first rotation detection for detecting the amount of rotation of the trackball in one direction. Means, second rotation detecting means for detecting the rotation amount of the trackball in the direction perpendicular to the one direction, and rotation amount for comparing the output of the first motion detecting device and the output of the second motion detecting device. It is characterized in that it has a comparison means and outputs only the output which is judged to be larger by the rotation amount comparison means.

[0008]

When the special image created by the image special effect processing unit 15 of FIG. 1 is moved to a predetermined position with high accuracy, the 3D input switch 27 is turned on and the output mode setting switch 28 is used to set the X or Y mode. To set. With this, the trackball 21 becomes the operation means for the special image, and X
Only the larger output of the counter 23 and the Y counter 24 is supplied to the video special effect processing unit 15.

When the amount of rotation in the X direction when the trackball 21 is operated is larger than the amount of rotation in the Y direction, X is set.
Only the output of the counter 23 is supplied to the video special effect processing unit 15 and the special video moves only in the horizontal direction. When the rotation amount of the trackball 21 in the Y direction is larger than the rotation amount in the X direction, only the output of the Y counter 24 is supplied to the video special effect processing unit 15 and the special video moves only in the vertical direction.

That is, since the special image can be moved only in the horizontal or vertical direction by the unstable trackball 21, the special image can be accurately aligned when it is moved to a predetermined position. become.

When the cursor 51 on the menu shown in FIG. 8B is moved to a predetermined position with high accuracy, the cursor switch 26 (FIG. 1) is turned on and the output mode setting switch 28 is set to the X or Y mode. To do. With this, the trackball 21 becomes the operation means of the cursor 51, and the cursor 51 is moved only in the horizontal direction or the vertical direction by the operation of the trackball 21 in the same manner as described above. Therefore, the cursor 51 can be accurately moved to a predetermined position. It will be possible.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, one embodiment in which the trackball motion detecting device according to the present invention is applied to a three-dimensional image special effect device will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a system of a three-dimensional image special effect device 1 to which the present invention is applied. This 3D image special effect device 1
In FIG. 3, the CPU 11 is connected to the three-dimensional / parameter input unit 13, the graphic display creation unit 14, and the video special effect processing unit 15 via the bus 12. In the video special effect processing unit 15, a special effect is applied to the video signal supplied from the outside, and this is applied to the video monitor 16.
Is supplied to and displayed on the screen.

Various operations such as moving, rotating, enlarging or reducing the position of the special image displayed on the image monitor 16 are performed by the three-dimensional and parameter input unit 13. The three-dimensional and parameter input unit 13 has a spherical trackball 21 rotatable in an arbitrary direction, and a rotary ring 2 arranged on the outer circumference of the trackball 21 and rotatable along the outer circumference of the trackball 21.
2 and are provided.

The rotation amount of the trackball 21 is detected by the X counter 23 and the Y counter 24, and the rotation amount of the rotating ring 22 is detected by the Z counter 25. Further, here, a cursor switch 26 for setting a parameter for determining a state of a special image described later can be set,
A 3D input switch 27 for making the special image operable and an output mode setting switch 28 for setting the output direction of the rotation amount of the trackball 21 are provided.

The output mode setting switch 28 has a free mode and an X or Y mode. If the free mode is set as will be described later, the amount of rotation of the trackball 21 in both the X and Y directions, that is, the X counter 23. The count values of both the Y counter 24 and the Y counter 24 are supplied to the video special effect processing unit 15. Further, when the X or Y mode is set, only the larger rotation amount of the trackball 21 in the X direction or the Y direction, that is, the larger one of the count values of the X counter 23 or the Y counter 24 is the image special. It is supplied to the effect processing unit 15.

The trackball 21, the rotary ring 22, the cursor switch 26, the 3D input switch 27 and the output mode setting switch 28 are mounted on the panel 2 as shown in FIG. Other than this, various data input switches 29 are attached to the panel 2.

The parameters for determining the state of the special image in FIG. 1 are displayed on various menus created by the graphic display creating section 14.
Each menu is supplied to the menu monitor 17 and displayed on the screen. Then, as will be described later, when the values of the respective parameters are set by the trackball 21 and the rotary ring 22, the values are taken into the CPU 11, and the image special effect processing unit 15 is controlled by the instruction from here to determine the state of the special image. To be done.

FIG. 3 shows the structure of the track ball 21 and the rotary ring 22. In the figure, the trackball 21
The rotating ring 22 is rotatably mounted on the base chassis 32 arranged on the printed circuit board 31. The trackball 21 is rotatable in all directions, and the rotating ring 22 is rotatable in the circumferential direction of the trackball 21. The trackball 21 can input two-dimensional data corresponding to the X-axis and the Y-axis of the three-dimensional coordinate, and the rotating ring 22 can input data corresponding to the Z-axis.

As shown in FIG. 4, the rotating ring 22 is formed of a plate material having the same thickness in an annular shape, and has an upper surface portion 22a inclined in a conical shape and a flange portion 22b on its upper surface. A step portion 22c is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the flange portion 22b. Further, as shown in FIG. 5, a large number of slits 22d having a predetermined width are provided at the lower end of the flange portion 22b at equal intervals over the entire circumference. This slit 22
d is disposed so as to cross the groove-shaped optical path portion 33a of the photo interrupter 33 attached to the base chassis 32.

In the rotating ring 22, as shown in FIG. 4, a bearing 34 is arranged on the inner peripheral end surface of the upper surface portion 22a, and a plurality of screws are provided near the bearing 34 of the upper surface portion 22a as shown in FIG. A portion 22e is provided. And
One end of a retaining metal fitting 35 applied to the lower end surface of the bearing 34 is fixed by a screw portion 22e, whereby the rotating ring 22 is fixed to the outer ring portion 34a of the bearing 34.

A fixed ring 36 is arranged on the inner peripheral surface of the rotary ring 22. The fixing ring 36 is supported by a stand pin 37 that is planted in the base chassis 32. The inner ring portion 34b of the bearing 34 is firmly fitted to the outer peripheral surface of the fixed ring 36 to fix the bearing 34. As a result, the rotating ring 22 can be rotated with a light force in the circumferential direction, that is, in the direction corresponding to the Z axis.

On the other hand, the trackball 21 is the fixed ring 3
6, three cylindrical support rollers 3 arranged on the inner peripheral side of the base 6 and mounted on the base chassis 32 as shown in FIG.
It is supported by three points at 8, 39 and 40. Then, as shown in FIG. 6, the upper side of the trackball 21 is the fixing ring 3
It projects from the upper end surface of 6 in a dome shape, and this projecting portion can be operated from the outside.

Also, cylindrical supporting rollers 38, 39, 4
0 has its center axis 41 rotatably supported, and one of the support rollers 38 is arranged so as to be perpendicular to the X direction in FIG. 7. The other support roller 39 is arranged so as to be perpendicular to the Y direction orthogonal to the X direction. Therefore, the trackball 21
When is operated by a finger to rotate, the support rollers 38 and 39 also rotate according to the amount of rotation.

Next, the trackball 21 and the rotating ring 22
A method of detecting the rotation amount of will be described. Rotating ring 22
Is detected, that is, the rotation in the Z direction is detected by the photo interrupter 33 as described above. In the photo interrupter 33, as shown in FIG. 4, the light emitting element and the light receiving element are arranged on the printed board 31 so as to face each other so as to form a groove-shaped optical path portion 33a.

When the rotary ring 22 rotates and the slit 22d crosses the optical path portion 33a, the photo interrupter 33 outputs a pulsed electric signal. By counting the number of pulses with the Z counter 25 (FIG. 1), the rotation amount of the rotary ring 22 can be detected.

The amount of rotation of the trackball 21 in the X or Y direction is detected by the photo interrupters 42 and 43, respectively, as shown in FIG. 6 or 4. These photo interrupters 42 and 43 are configured similarly to the above-mentioned photo interrupter 33, and the light emitting element and the light receiving element are arranged so as to face each other so as to form the optical path portions 42a and 43a as shown in FIG.

When the cylindrical support rollers 38, 39 rotate, the radial slits 44a of the disc-shaped shutter plate 44 attached to the support rollers 38, 39 are aligned with the optical path portions 42a, 43a.
A pulsed electric signal is output by crossing
By counting this with the X counter 23 or the Y counter 24, it becomes possible to detect the rotation amount of the trackball 21 in the X direction or the Y direction.

Now, in FIG. 1, the outputs of the X counter 23, the Y counter 24, and the Z counter 25 are fetched by the CPU 11 via the bus 12. Then, the image special effect processing unit 15 is controlled by the instruction of the CPU 11 to operate the special image on the image monitor 16 in the three-dimensional direction.

The parameters for determining the state of the special image such as the size of the special image created by the image special effect processing unit 15 and the size and color of the border (contour) 50 as shown in FIG. 8A are described above. As described above, the graphic display creating unit 14 creates the menus, which are displayed on the menu monitor 17 as various menus. FIG. 1B shows an example of a menu display for border setting.

In this menu, the width b of the entire border 50 is
“All” is provided as a parameter for determining the value of “B”, and “H” is provided as a parameter of the width b of the upper and lower borders 50A and 50B. Also, the left and right borders 50
“V” is provided as a parameter for C and 50D. Furthermore, “Left”, “Rght”, “Top”, and “Bt” are set as individual parameters of the respective borders 50A to 50D.
tm ”is provided. Further, the border 50 can change the color as a whole, and as its parameters, “Lum” that determines the lightness and “Sa” that determines the saturation degree.
“T” and “Hue” that determines the hue are provided.

When setting each parameter, the cursor switch 26 is pressed to display, for example, an arrow-shaped cursor 51 on the menu. As a result, each parameter can be set, the trackball 21 serves as the cursor moving means, and the rotary ring 22 serves as the parameter setting means.

Here, the output mode setting switch 28 is set to X.
In the OR Y mode, the CPU 11 calculates the difference between the absolute values of the output of the X counter 23 and the output of the Y counter 24, and only the larger output is supplied to the graphic display 14.

Therefore, when the track ball 21 is operated, for example, when the count value of the X counter 23 is larger, the cursor 51 moves only in the lateral direction. If the count value of the Y counter 24 is larger, the cursor 51 moves only in the vertical direction. This makes it possible to easily and accurately position the cursor 51 at a predetermined position.

On the other hand, the output mode setting switch 2
When 8 is set to the free mode, the count values of the X counter 23 and the Y counter 24 are both supplied to the graphic display 14, which allows the cursor 51 to move in any direction.

In FIG. 8B, the parameter "Top" of the upper border 50A is set to 10.00 mm, and the width b of the upper border 50A is 10 mm.
Is displayed as. To change this to 20 mm, for example, the trackball 21 is turned to move the cursor 51 into the parameter display area 52. Now, the value 10.00 of the parameter “Top” can be changed.

When the rotary ring 22 is rotated in this state, the value of the parameter increases or decreases in sequence, so this value is 2
When the value of 0.00 is reached, the operation of the rotary ring 22 is stopped, and if the cursor 51 is moved outside the range of the parameter display area 52, the value of the parameter “Top” becomes 20.00.
set to mm. The width b of the upper border 50A is now 2
It is displayed as 0 mm.

When the special image is operated after setting the respective parameters, the 3D input switch 27 is turned on. With this, the trackball 21 and the rotary ring 22 become a three-dimensional input means, and the special image on the image monitor 16 can be operated. In this case, when the output mode setting switch 28 is set to the X or Y mode, the special image can be moved only in the horizontal direction or the vertical direction by operating the trackball 21, so that the special image can be moved to a predetermined position with high accuracy. It will be possible. When the output mode is set to the free mode, the special image can be moved in any direction by operating the trackball 21.

In this example, as shown in FIG. 7, the support roller 38 for detecting the amount of rotation in the X direction and the support roller 39 for detecting the amount of rotation in the Y direction are orthogonal to each other.
When the trackball 21 is rotated in the middle of the directions, that is, toward the X direction from the direction of 45 ° in the figure, the special image or the cursor 51 moves laterally, and the trackball 21 is rotated toward the Y direction from 45 °. In this case, the special image or the cursor 51 moves vertically.

FIG. 9 shows the procedure of the output processing 60 in the X or Y mode in the 3D image special effect apparatus 1. In this output processing 60, first, the output values X and Y are X = 0 and Y =
0 (step 61), then output values X and Y are X =
X1 (count value of X counter 23) and Y = Y1 (count value of Y counter 24) are set (step 6).
2). Next, it is determined whether the absolute value of the count value X1 of the X counter 23 is larger than the absolute value of the count value Y1 of the Y counter 24 (step 63). That is, here, it is determined which of the X direction and the Y direction the trackball 21 is rotating more.

When it is determined in step 63 that the absolute value of X1 is the same as the absolute value of Y1 or the absolute value of X1 is larger, then only the count value X1 of the X counter 23 is displayed by the graphic display creation unit 14 or It is supplied to the video special effect processing unit 15 (step 64). As a result, the special image or the cursor 51 moves laterally. This completes the output processing 60 in the X or Y mode.

If it is determined in step 63 that the count value Y1 of the Y counter 24 is larger than the count value X1 of the X counter 23, then only the count value Y1 of the Y counter 24 is displayed by the graphic display creating unit 14 or the image. It is supplied to the special effect processing unit 15 (step 65). This moves the special image or cursor 51 vertically. This ends the output processing 60 in the X or Y mode.

Output processing 60 in this X or Y mode
Is, for example, every 1 field of the image (16m at 60Hz)
By repeating the operation every s), the movement of the trackball 21 can be faithfully transmitted to the special image or the cursor 51.

In the above embodiment, the trackball 2
The case where the special image or the cursor 51 is moved only in the two directions of the vertical direction and the horizontal direction by the operation of 1 has been described.
It is also possible to move the special image or the cursor in three or more directions.

[0045]

As described above, according to the present invention, a special image or a cursor is laterally moved based on the rotation direction of the trackball which can rotate in any direction, whichever is larger. Alternatively, it can be operated only in the vertical direction.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the alignment of the special image and the cursor can be accurately performed with an unstable trackball, and the rotation of the trackball is softly regulated in one direction. Therefore, it is possible to release the direction regulation and change the direction easily.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system diagram of a three-dimensional image special effect device to which a trackball motion detection device according to the present invention is applied.

2 is a front view of panel 2. FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a trackball 21 and a rotating ring 22.

4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

5 is a side view of a trackball 21 and a rotating ring 22. FIG.

6 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG.

7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line CC of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a border.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a procedure of an output process 60 in X or Y mode.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 3D image special effect device 2 panel 11 CPU 13 3D and parameter input unit 15 image special effect processing unit 21 trackball 22 rotating ring 23 X counter 24 Y counter 25 Z counter 26 cursor switch 27 3D input switch 28 output mode setting Switch 31 Printed circuit board 32 Base chassis 33, 42, 43 Photo interrupter 36 Fixing ring 38, 39, 40 Support roller 51 Cursor 52 Parameter display area

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A spherical trackball rotatable in all directions, a first rotation detecting means for detecting a rotation amount in one direction of the trackball, and a trackball in a direction perpendicular to the one direction. The rotation amount comparing means for comparing the output of the first rotation detecting means with the output of the second rotation detecting means; A motion detecting device for a trackball, characterized in that only the output of the rotation detecting means judged to be large is output.