DE29517096U1 - Trackball control - Google Patents

Description

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ALFADATA Computer Technic Corp.
3F. No.8, Lane 263, Chung Yang Rd,
Nankang, Taipei

Taiwan R.O.C.

ALF102

Roll ball control

Description

The invention relates to a trackball control according to the preamble of claim 1.

From G 92 08 871.6 a trackball control with an illumination device for a transparent trackball and with an object holding device is known. The trackball lying in a holder is moved with one hand, whereby a position of a cursor on a computer screen is controlled. The trackball control has a left button and a right button on opposite sides.

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Keys that are used to execute program functions. A so-called keylock key on the front of the trackball control is used to hold objects with the cursor so that they can be moved on the screen without constantly pressing one of the keys.

The known trackball control has an electronic circuit that consists of a trackball movement detector and a button control with a flip-flop, an amplifier circuit and an LED circuit. The button control activates or deactivates LEDs depending on the activation state of the buttons. If the left button is pressed, the transparent trackball is illuminated red, but if the right button is pressed, the transparent trackball is illuminated green. If no button is pressed, the transparent trackball remains unlit. A disadvantage of this known trackball control is that it only has two buttons for controlling program functions. This is not sufficient for many computer programs. In addition, the transparent trackball is unlit unless at least one button is pressed. This means that it is not possible to tell whether the trackball control or the associated computer is switched off altogether or whether no control button is currently pressed.

The object of the present invention is to create a trackball control in which the lighting of the trackball always provides an optical signal to the user, taking into account the respective operating state.

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This object is achieved according to the invention by a trackball control with the features of claim 1.

The solution according to the invention has an electronic lighting control that ensures that the transparent trackball is illuminated differently when the keys are pressed and not pressed. Pressing a keylock key is equivalent to pressing one of the keys to execute program functions, since the keylock key locks the function of one of the keys, which corresponds to a continuous press of the key.

An advantageous embodiment has a light-emitting diode arrangement as the lighting device, whereby when the button is activated or deactivated, voltage is only applied to one light-emitting diode arrangement in the forward direction.

Further preferred and advantageous embodiments of the trackball control according to the invention are characterized in the dependent claims.

The idea underlying the invention is explained in detail below using embodiments shown in the drawings. They show:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a trackball control;

Fig. 2 is a schematic representation of a trackball control in connection with a computer screen;

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Fig. 3 is a block diagram of a trackball control;

Fig. 4 a circuit diagram of the electronic circuit

a trackball control;

Figure 1 shows a trackball control 1, which has a left button 10 and a right button 11 on opposite sides and a middle button 12 on the front side. A keylock button 100 is arranged next to the left button 10. A transparent trackball 13 is positioned centrally on the top of the trackball control 1. The trackball control 1 is connected to a computer (not shown) via a connection 14. The trackball control 1 is also supplied with operating voltage via the connection 14.

The transparent roller ball 13 can be moved by hand and thereby controls the movement of a cursor 15 (see Figure 2) on a computer screen 16. The left button 10, the middle button 12 and the right button 11 are used in a known manner to activate program functions, such as marking an object 7 on the computer screen 16. Pressing the keylock button 100 locks the function of the left button 10.

Figure 2 shows a schematic representation of the functionality of the trackball control. The cursor 15 is moved to the object 7 on the computer screen 16 by rotating the trackball 13. As soon as the cursor 15 reaches the object 7

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, the keylock button 100 is pressed to hold the object 7. By pressing the keylock button 100, the program function that can be triggered by the button 10 is in the activated state without the button 10 having to be pressed continuously.

The held object 7 can now be moved to the desired location on the computer screen 16 by moving the trackball 13. With the keylock button 100 activated, it is therefore unnecessary to keep pressing the button 10, which leads to a lower workload. This is particularly important when working with CAD programs, since very precise positioning of objects 7 is often necessary and simultaneously pressing the button and moving the trackball 13 is laborious.

As soon as the desired position of the object 7 is reached, the keylock button 100 is pressed again (i.e. the program function of the left button 10 is deactivated) and the object 7 is released. For good usability, the keylock button 100 is located in the immediate grip area of the transparent roller ball 13, so that the roller ball 13 and the keylock button 100 can be operated with one hand. The arrangement of the keylock button 100 in the immediate vicinity of the left button 10 is ergonomically favorable, since the function of this button 10 is locked by the keylock button 100.

Figure 3 shows a block diagram of the electronic circuit of the trackball control 1. A connection to the computer is established via lines TXD, RXD, RTS, DTR and GND. The line TXD (Transmit Data)

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is used to send data, while the RXD (Receive Data) line is used to receive data. The RTS (Request to Send) line is a control line that switches on the sending unit. The DTR (Data Terminal Ready) line indicates that the terminal is ready for use. The GND line leads to ground.

The movements of the trackball 13 are converted into pulses in a known manner by an X-axis decoder and a Y-axis decoder. The X-axis and Y-axis decoders each consist of light-emitting diodes 54, 55, optical gates 58, 59 and encoder elements 56, 57.

The pulses are counted in the usual way by a mouse controller 20 (e.g. type EC3 567A1) on pins Xl, X2, Yl and Y2. The status of buttons 10, 11 and 12 is recorded on pins BL, BM and BR of mouse controller 20.

A lighting control 30 determines the lighting of the transparent trackball 13 by a green LED arrangement 41 and a red LED arrangement 42 depending on the actuation of the button 10, 11, 12, whereby the power supply is controlled by a voltage stabilization 40. The exact functioning of the lighting is described below.

If none of the buttons 10, 11, 12 is pressed, a low voltage level is present on the pins BL, BM and BR of the mouse controller 20. If one of the buttons 10, 11, 12 is pressed, a high voltage level is present on the pins mentioned.

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The mouse controller 20 has two operating modes that can be selected when starting up the computer. If none of the keys 10, 11, 12 or the keylock key 100 are held down during start-up, the mouse controller 20 is in the so-called Microsoft mode, i.e. only the left key 10 and the right key 12 can execute program functions. If one of the keys 10, 11, 12 or the keylock key 100 are held down during start-up, the mouse controller 20 is in the so-called mouse system mode, i.e. the keys 10, 11, 12 can execute program functions.

Figure 4 shows the electronic circuit of the trackball control, in particular the lighting control 30 and the voltage stabilization 40.

The signal lines of the buttons 10, 11, 12 to the mouse controller 20 and the connections of the voltage stabilization 40 are connected to the lighting control 30. The voltage stabilization circuit 40 has a Z-diode 46, where the output voltage is equal to the Zener voltage.

The lighting control 3 0 determines the color in which the transparent trackball 13 is illuminated, depending on whether the buttons 10, 11, 12 are pressed or not.

When one of the buttons 10, 11, 12 is pressed, a circuit is closed. If the left button 10 is pressed, a circuit is closed in which the resistor 48 is located, which is connected in series with a first parallel circuit. In the one branch of the first parallel circuit

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In the first parallel circuit, resistors 47 and 53 are connected in series. In the other branch of the first parallel circuit, an inverter 31 and a diode 37 are connected in series in reverse direction.

When the circuit is closed, a second parallel circuit is connected in series to this first parallel circuit. One branch of this second parallel circuit consists of two inverters 34, 35 and the green LED array 41 connected in series with them. The other branch of the second parallel circuit consists of an inverter 36 and a red LED array 42 connected in series with them. Both the green LED array 41 and the red LED array 42 have two LEDs that ensure uniform illumination of the transparent trackball 13.

By pressing the left button 10, a high voltage level is present in front of the inverter 31. A low voltage level is therefore present behind the inverter IO, which causes the diode 37 to be operated in the forward direction. Thus, when the left button 10 is pressed, a low voltage level is present after the first parallel circuit, which simultaneously forms the input level for the second parallel circuit connected downstream. After the inverters 34, 36, there are high voltage levels in both branches of the second parallel circuit. One branch of the second parallel circuit has another inverter 35, so that a low voltage level is present behind it.

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Pressing the left button 10 therefore causes a low voltage level behind the inverter 35, so that the green LED array 41 is operated in the forward direction and emits light. The transparent trackball 13 is illuminated green. Since there is a high voltage level behind the inverter 36 in the other branch of the second parallel circuit, the voltage is applied to the red LED array 42 in the reverse direction and the red LED array 42 therefore does not emit any light.

In a completely analogous manner, circuits are closed when the right button 11 or the middle button 12 is pressed, whereby the connection between the button 11, 12 and the green LED arrangement 41 is made via corresponding components of the electronic lighting control 30.

If the middle button 12 is pressed, resistors

50, 49, 53, an inverter 32 and a diode 38 are part of the first parallel circuit.

If the right button 11 is pressed, resistors 52,

51, 53, an inverter 33 and a diode 39 are part of the first parallel circuit.

If none of the buttons 10, 11, 12 are pressed, the first parallel circuits described are not in the closed circuit. A circuit is closed in which a high voltage level is present in front of the second parallel circuit, so that behind the inverter 35 in one branch of the second parallel circuit there is also a high voltage level, so that the green LED arrangement

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voltage 41 is operated in the reverse direction and therefore does not emit any light. On the other hand, in the other branch of the second parallel circuit behind the inverter 36 there is a low voltage level, so that the red LED arrangement 42 is operated in the forward direction and thus emits light. Without pressing a button 10, 11, 12 the transparent trackball 13 is illuminated red.

The transparent roller ball 13 is thus illuminated green each time at least one of the buttons 10, 11, 12 is pressed. The transparent roller ball is also illuminated green when the keylock button 100 is pressed, as this locks the function of the button 10. This known locking of the keylock button 10 is not part of the electronic circuit and is not shown in Figure 4.

If none of the buttons 10, 11, 12 are pressed, the transparent trackball is illuminated red.

This ensures that the transparent trackball is always illuminated. It is therefore always possible to see whether the trackball control or the computer is ready for use and whether one or more of the control buttons 10, 11, 12 are activated. The trackball control can be operated in both Microsoft mode and Mouse Systems mode.

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ALF102

The invention is not limited in its implementation to the preferred embodiments given above. Instead, a number of variants are conceivable that make use of the trackball control according to the invention even in fundamentally different designs.

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Claims (11)

ALF102 Page 12 Claims 1. Trackball control for a cursor control of a computer, in particular a PC, with a transparent trackball as a cursor control element, a lighting device for the transparent trackball, at least two buttons for executing program functions, a keylock button for locking program functions and an electronic circuit for processing the signals that emanate from the movement of the trackball and the actuation of the buttons, marked by an electronic lighting control (30) for the lighting device, wherein the transparent trackball (13) is illuminated differently when the functions of the buttons (10, 11, 12) are activated and deactivated. 2. Trackball control according to claim 1, characterized in that the lighting device has light-emitting diode arrangements (41, 42), wherein in each operating state voltage is applied to exactly one of the light-emitting diode arrangements (41, 42) in the forward direction. - 13 - ÄLF102 Page 13 3. Trackball control according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the electronic lighting control (30) and the light-emitting diode arrangements (41, 42) are supplied with voltage from a voltage stabilizer circuit (40), wherein a) when one or more buttons (10, 11, 12) are actuated, a current-carrying connection is established from the voltage stabilizer circuit (40) via a first light-emitting diode arrangement (41) to ground (GND), whereby, depending on the actuation of the buttons (10, 11, 12), different components of the electronic lighting control (30) are part of the current-carrying connection, b) if the buttons (10, 11, 12) are not pressed, an electric circuit with a second light-emitting diode arrangement (42) is closed. 4. Trackball control according to claim 4, characterized in that a) when a button (10, 11, 12) is pressed, a connection is established from the button (10, 11, 12) to the first light-emitting diode arrangement (41), the connection firstly running via a parallel circuit with at least two branches, one branch of which has a series circuit of resistors and the other branch of which has a series circuit of an inverter (31, 32, 33) and a diode (37, 38, 39) in the reverse direction, - 14 - ALF102 Page 14 and secondly via a series connection of two inverters (34, 35) arranged in series with the parallel connection, so that when a high voltage level is applied before the parallel connection, the first light-emitting diode arrangement (41) is operated in the forward direction, b) when the buttons (10, 11, 12) are not actuated, a connection is established from the voltage stabilizer circuit (40) via an inverter (36) to the second light-emitting diode arrangement (42), so that when a high voltage level is applied to the inverter (36), the second light-emitting diode arrangement (42) is operated in the forward direction. 5. Trackball control according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the first light-emitting diode arrangement (41) has green light-emitting diodes and the second light-emitting diode arrangement (42) has red light-emitting diodes. 6. Trackball control according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the electronic voltage stabilizer circuit (40) has a Z-diode (46). 7. Trackball control according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized by a mouse controller (20) designed as an integrated circuit for processing the signals which emanate from the movement of the transparent trackball (13) and the actuation of the buttons (10, 11, 12). - 15 - • 4* ALF102 Page 15 8. Trackball control according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that different operating modes of the mouse controller (20) can be selected via predetermined actuations of the buttons (10, 11, 12) or the keylock button (100). 9. Trackball control according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the keylock button (100) is electronically and/or mechanically connected to one of the buttons (10, 11, 12) in such a way that actuation of the keylock button causes a constant activation of the corresponding button (10, 11, 12). 10. Trackball control according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the keylock button (100) is arranged near the transparent trackball (13) on the surface of the trackball control (1). 11. Trackball control according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the keylock button (100) is arranged on the surface of the trackball control (1) and in the immediate vicinity of one of the buttons (10, 11, 12).