JPH0651920U - Trackball coordinate information input device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] (Correction) [Purpose] A trackball coordinate information input device that improves the reliability of the device because the encoder and photocoupler are less likely to be misaligned and the amount of rotation of the ball can be accurately detected. provide. Constitution: A coordinate information input ball 35 rotatably housed in a frame 20, a pair of drivers 26, 27 abutting on the ball 35 in two directions orthogonal to the ball 35, and a pair of drivers 26, 27. Encoder 30a attached to rotating shafts 26a and 27a and encoder 3
0a, a photocoupler including a light emitting portion 30b and a light receiving portion 30c arranged to face each other, and a detecting portion 30 for detecting the amount of rotation of the ball. Driver 26, 2
The rotating shafts 26a and 27a of the No. 7 are oscillated with one end thereof as a fulcrum in a direction of approaching and separating from the ball 35, and the other end side thereof is provided in a direction of pressing the drives 26 and 27 against the ball 35. Encoder 30a is attached to one end portion of rotating shafts 26a and 27a while being biased.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a trackball coordinate information input device used as an external input device for easily and sophisticatedly inputting / instructing information about an XY coordinate position in a personal computer, a word processor or the like.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 Conventionally, such a trackball coordinate information input device (hereinafter abbreviated as a trackball) is configured as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, for example. That is, the track ball 1 is orthogonal to the ball 3 for coordinate input, which is rotatably supported on the upper surface of the frame 2 with a part thereof exposed and is rotatable in the frame 2. A pair of drivers 4 and 5 that come into contact with each other in two directions, and two displacement detectors 6 and 7 that detect the amount of rotation of the ball 3 as coordinate information of the X coordinate and the Y coordinate via the drivers 4 and 5, respectively. It has and.

The detectors 6 and 7 are connected to a printed wiring board (not shown) having a predetermined conductive pattern housed in the frame 2, and the frame is placed on the printed wiring board. A micro switch for deciding and releasing the coordinate position, which is operated by a push button integrally formed on the upper lid of 2, is mounted.

Further, the ball 3 is accommodated in an accommodating portion 8a which is provided at the center of the frame member 8 made of synthetic resin and has an upwardly opening circular section, and the ball 3 is accommodated in the accommodating portion 8a. In order to rotatably support the lifted state, a plurality of (here, five) support spheres 9 are freely rotatable in a state in which a part of the outer surface is exposed inward from the spherical inner wall surface of the accommodation portion 8a. Held in.

Therefore, the ball 3 does not come into contact with the spherical inner wall surface of the accommodating portion 8a, but comes into point contact only with the supporting sphere 9, so that the ball 3 can be smoothly rotated with an extremely light operating force.

According to such a trackball 1, the rotation direction and the rotation amount of the ball 3 are detected by the detection units 6 and 7 via the drivers 4 and 5, and the detection signal from the detection units is supplied to the connection cable. Is input to a personal computer or the like via a personal computer or the like, and thus the cursor or the like is moved on the screen of the display provided in the personal computer. At that time, by pressing the input button on the frame 2, The cursor position will be determined or released.

By the way, in the trackball coordinate information input device 1, in order to rotatably press the drivers 4 and 5 onto the ball 3, the following measures are taken.

That is, the pair of drivers 4 and 5 are pivotally supported on the upper ends of the bearings 13 and 14 which are erected on the frame member 8 made of synthetic resin, and the lower ends of the swingable ends of the levers 11 and 12 are swingable. It is rotatably suspended on the side by bearings 11a and 12a.

This will be described with respect to one of the drivers 5. As shown in FIG. 4, one end of the lever 12 is fixed near the upper end of the lever 12 and the other end of the frame 12 is connected to the frame member 8 as shown in FIG. A fixed tension spring 12c is stretched, so that the driver 5 attached to the swing end side of the lever 12 is constantly urged toward the ball 3 side.

On one end side of the rotary shaft 5a to which the driver 5 is fixed, an encoder 7a, which constitutes the detecting portion 7 and is formed in a disk shape and has a large number of radial slits, is attached. Therefore, the rotational displacement of the ball 3 is detected as the rotational movement of the Y coordinate, for example.

[0011]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 In the conventional trackball coordinate information input device 1 described above, the positional relationship among the lever 12, the driver 5, the encoder 7a, the ball 3 and the like is shown schematically in FIG. As is apparent from this, the rotary shaft 12a of the lever 12 is located at the end opposite to the driver 5 and the encoder 7a attached to the rotary shaft 5a. 5. The encoder 7a is adapted to perform a pendulum motion with the rotary shaft 12a as a pivot shaft and an amplitude corresponding to the eccentric amount of the driver 5 and the rotary shaft 5a.

In this case, the encoder 7a constituting the detection unit 7 is attached to a portion farthest from the rotation shaft 12 of the lever 12, in other words, a portion where the amplitude of the pendulum movement is the largest. Therefore, when the driver 5 or the like is eccentrically rotated, its influence is directly reflected on the encoder 7a as it is, and the encoder 7a having a radial slit is provided with a pair of a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit which are arranged so as to sandwich it. The photocoupler equipped with the parts will be greatly shaken, resulting in displacement. As a result, the detected amount of rotation of the ball 3 becomes inaccurate and reliability is impaired.

In view of the above point, the present invention is configured so that the encoder attached to the rotary shaft of the driver that is pressed against the ball is prevented from largely shaking with respect to the photocoupler including the light emitting portion and the light receiving portion. It is an object of the present invention to provide a trackball coordinate information input device capable of accurately detecting the amount of rotation of a ball by making it difficult for the positional deviation between the photocoupler and the photocoupler to occur, and improving the reliability of the device. And

[0014]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the coordinate information input device according to the present invention basically comprises a coordinate information input ball rotatably housed in a frame and two directions orthogonal to the ball. A pair of drivers that come into contact with each other, an encoder attached to the rotating shafts of the pair of drivers, and a photocoupler having a light emitting portion and a light receiving portion that are arranged so as to face the encoder, for detecting the rotation amount of the ball. And a detection unit. The rotation shaft of the driver is swung in a direction approaching and separating from the ball with one end thereof as a fulcrum, and the other end side thereof is attached in a direction in which the driver is pressed against the ball. It is characterized in that it is energized and the encoder is attached to one end side of the rotary shaft.

[0015]

[Action]

 In the trackball coordinate information input device according to the present invention configured as described above, the encoder is attached to one end of the rotary shaft of the driver, and the rotary shaft of the rotary shaft to which the encoder is mounted is attached. Since the one end is used as a fulcrum to swing toward and away from the ball, the swing of the encoder can be minimized.

Therefore, the encoder is less likely to be misaligned with the photocoupler including the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit, the amount of rotation of the ball is accurately detected, and the reliability of the device can be improved.

[0017]

【Example】

 Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1, 2, and 3 are a perspective view, a bottom view, and a sectional view, respectively, showing an embodiment of a trackball coordinate information input device of the present invention.

The trackball coordinate information input device 10 of the present embodiment shown in the figure is basically a ball 35 for inputting coordinate information and a hemispherical shape that opens upward to accommodate this ball 35. A state in which a part of the outer surface is exposed inward from the spherical inner wall surface of the accommodating portion 22 in order to rotatably support the frame 20 having the accommodating portion 22 and the balls 35 in the accommodating portion 22. A plurality of supporting spheres 25 rotatably held by the housing 22 and a part of the outer surface of the housing 22 which is arranged on the back surface side of the housing 22 and which is formed in the housing 22. And a pair of drivers 26, 27 that are brought into contact with the ball 35 from two directions orthogonal to each other, and are attached to the rotating shafts 26a, 27a of the pair of drivers 26, 27, respectively. Disk-shaped and A displacement detector 30 for detecting the amount of rotation of the ball 35, which has an encoder 30a having a large number of radial slits, and a pair of a light emitting portion 30b and a light receiving portion 30c that are arranged to face the encoder 30a, Is equipped with. Reference numeral 50 in the figure denotes a printed wiring board provided with a predetermined conductive pattern.

Here, in the present embodiment, one end of the rotary shafts 26a, 27a of the drivers 26, 27 is provided in the support holes provided at the upper left and lower right corners when viewed from the bottom side of the frame 20. 36 and 37 are loosely inserted and supported, and the other ends of the pair of levers 46 are rotatably inserted above and below a support shaft 39 that is erected near the lower left corner of the frame 20, respectively. , 47 are formed in the holes 46a, 47a. A torsion coil spring 40 is mounted on the support shaft 39, and both ends of the torsion coil spring 40 are locked by the pair of levers 46 and 47.

Therefore, the rotary shafts 26a, 27a of the drivers 26, 27 are made to oscillate in a direction toward and away from the ball 35 with one end portion on the side of the support holes 36, 37 as a fulcrum. At the same time, the other ends of the levers 46 and 47 are urged by the action of the torsion coil spring 40 in the direction of pressing the drivers 26 and 27 against the balls 35, and the rotating shaft 26a. , 27a are attached to the fulcrum side of the encoder 30a.

The rotary shafts 26a and 27a may be supported so as to perform a pendulum motion as in the conventional case. However, one end of the rotary shafts 26a and 27a is oscillated in a direction toward and away from the ball. Any structure as long as it is configured to move, the other end side is biased in the direction of pressing the driver against the ball, and the encoder is attached to one end side of the rotating shaft. But good.

In the trackball coordinate information input device 10 of the present embodiment having such a configuration, the encoder 30a is attached to one end side of the rotary shafts 26a, 27a of the drivers 26, 27, and the rotary shaft 26a and 27a are configured to oscillate in a direction toward and away from the ball 35 with one end of the rotary shafts 26a and 27a to which the encoder 30a is attached as a fulcrum, so that the drivers 26 and 27 are eccentric. Even when rotating, the shake of the encoder 30a can be suppressed to the minimum.

Therefore, the encoder 30a and the photocoupler including the light emitting portion 30b and the light receiving portion 30c are less likely to be displaced, the amount of rotation of the ball 35 is accurately detected, and the reliability of the device can be improved. Becomes

[0024]

[Effect of device]

 As is clear from the above description, according to the trackball coordinate information input device of the present invention, the encoder attached to the rotary shaft of the driver pressed against the ball is different from the photocoupler including the light emitting part and the light receiving part. Since it does not shake significantly, the positional deviation between the encoder and the photocoupler is less likely to occur, and as a result, the amount of rotation of the ball can be accurately detected and the reliability of the device can be improved. The effect is obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a bottom perspective view of an embodiment of a trackball coordinate information input device according to the present invention.

2 is a bottom view of the embodiment of FIG.

3 is a cross-sectional view of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of an example of a conventional trackball coordinate information input device.

5 is a cross-sectional view of the conventional example shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram used for explaining the operation of the conventional example shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 trackball coordinate information input device 20 frame 22 accommodating portion 25 bearing sphere 26, 27 driver 26a, 27a rotation axis of driver 30 detecting portion 30a encoder 30b light emitting portion 30c light receiving portion 35 ball 36, 37 support hole 39 supporting shaft 40 torsion coil Spring 46, 47 lever

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A ball for inputting coordinate information, which is rotatably accommodated in a frame, a pair of drivers abutting from two directions orthogonal to the ball, and an encoder attached to a rotating shaft of the pair of drivers. And a detection unit for detecting the rotation amount of the ball, which has a photocoupler composed of a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit which are arranged to face the encoder, and a rotation axis of the driver. Is oscillated in a direction of approaching and separating from the ball with one end thereof as a fulcrum, and the other end side is biased in a direction of pressing the driver to the ball, and A trackball coordinate information input device, wherein the encoder is attached to one end side of a rotary shaft.