DE29903770U1 - Computer joystick - Google Patents

Description

ZEITLER&WGKEt/;;!^:;;l PATENT ATTORNEYS EUROPEAN PATENT AND TRADEMARK ATTORNEYS

PO BOX 26 02 51 TELEPHONE: 089/22 18 06 HERRNSTRASSE 15

D-80059 MUNICH FAX: 089/22 26 27 D-80539 MUNICH

7183 Il/Br.

PRIMAX ELECTRONICS LTD.

6/F, No. 159, KangNingSt.

Hsi Chih Town,
Taipei, TAIWAN, ROC

Computer joystick

The invention relates to a computer joystick and in particular to a computer joystick for moving objects in three dimensions.

Computer joysticks are commonly used in computer games to control the movement of a cursor or an object on a screen. Due to the complexity of today's computer games, it is no longer sufficient for computer joysticks to only control two-dimensional movements. Joysticks must be able to control all types of object movements, especially those in the third dimension.

A typical computer joystick usually controls object movement in two dimensions using a joystick, with object movement in the third dimension controlled using either a button on the top of the joystick or a manually operated scroll wheel. If object movement in different dimensions is controlled separately using different joystick components, control with the joystick becomes cumbersome.

The invention is therefore based on the object of providing a joystick of the above-mentioned type which eliminates the aforementioned disadvantages.

This object is achieved by the invention with the features specified in claim 1. Advantageous embodiments emerge from the dependent claims.

In a preferred embodiment, the joystick according to the invention comprises the following:

a housing;

a control stick which is arranged vertically on the housing for rotation;

a joystick sensor disposed within the housing for detecting rotations of the joystick and generating a corresponding joystick position signal;

a joystick handle with a vertical slot, the joystick handle being rotatably mounted on the joystick by means of the vertical slot; and

a rotation detector comprising:

a coding disk mounted on the joystick; and

a light sensor arranged within the vertical slot of the joystick handle for detecting rotations of the joystick handle on the control stick and for generating corresponding rotation signals.

The invention has the advantage that the control stick of the computer joystick controls all cursor or object movements in all three dimensions, thus providing the user with a three-dimensional control input.

The invention is described in more detail below with reference to the drawing. Show:

Fig. 1 shows a computer joystick according to the invention in perspective

View and

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the computer joystick of Fig. 1 along line

2 - 2 of Fig. 1.

&iacgr;&ogr; The preferred embodiment of a computer joystick 10 according to the invention shown in Fig. 1 comprises a housing 12, a joystick 14 which is arranged vertically on the housing 12 for rotation, a plurality of function keys 15 which are arranged on the housing 12 for executing special commands of a cursor or an object, a joystick handle 18 which is arranged rotatably on the joystick 14, and a joystick 16 which is arranged within the housing 12 for detecting rotational positions of the joystick 14 and for generating corresponding position signals for controlling movements of the cursor or an object in a two-dimensional plane.

As can be seen from Fig. 2, the joystick handle 18 comprises a vertical slot 20, a fastening device 22 arranged between the vertical slot 20 of the joystick handle 18 and the joystick 14 for rotatably arranging the joystick handle 18 on the joystick 14, an elastic device 24 arranged between the vertical slot 20 and the joystick 14 for moving the joystick handle 18 back to an initial position after it has been deflected, a rotation detector 26 arranged within the vertical slot 20 for detecting deflections of the joystick handle 18 and for generating a corresponding deflection signal, and a handle position detector 31 for detecting the position of the top of the joystick 14 and for generating a corresponding handle position signal.

The rotation detector 26 includes an encoder disk 28 mounted on the joystick 14 and a light sensor 30 disposed within the vertical slot 20 of the joystick handle 18 adjacent to the encoder disk 28 for detecting rotations of the joystick handle 18 relative to the joystick 14 and for generating a corresponding rotation signal for controlling movement of the cursor or object in a third dimension.

The handle position detector 31 includes a position marker 32 located above the joystick 14 as a reference point and a position sensor 34 located within the vertical slot 20 of the joystick handle 18 for detecting movement of the top of the joystick 14 relative to the position marker 32 and for controlling movement of the cursor or object in the third dimension.

When a user deflects the joystick 14, the joystick sensor 16 within the housing 12 detects the movement of the joystick 14 and generates a corresponding two-dimensional motion signal for controlling the movement of the cursor or object in the two-dimensional plane. When the user rotates the joystick handle 18 about a center of the joystick 14, the rotation sensor 26 within the joystick handle 18 detects the rotation of the joystick handle 18 relative to the joystick 14 by means of the encoder disk 28 disposed on top of the joystick 14 and the light sensor 30 disposed within the joystick handle 18 to generate a corresponding rotation signal. Furthermore, the handle position detector 31 within the joystick handle 18 generates a corresponding handle position signal using the position sensor 34 according to the position marking 32 on the top of the joystick 14 as a reference point. The handle position signal and the rotation signal then determine the angular position of the joystick handle 18 for controlling the movement of the cursor or object in the third dimension. Distances between coding openings of the coding disk are fixed so that the range of possible angular positions is predetermined. Therefore, calibration of the rotation signal is not necessary.

Compared with a conventional computer joystick which uses different devices to control movement of the cursor or object in different dimensions, the computer joystick according to the invention uses the joystick 14 to control movement of the cursor or object in the two-dimensional plane and the joystick handle 18 of the joystick 14 to control movement in the third dimension by a rotational movement. In addition, the arrangement of the encoder disk 28 makes it unnecessary to calibrate the rotational signal in the third dimension. Since the computer joystick according to the invention only uses the joystick 14 to input movement for the cursor or object in all three dimensions, the operation is very simple for a video game user.

In summary, the invention relates to a computer joystick 10 for controlling the movement of a cursor or object in three dimensions. The computer joystick 10 comprises a housing 12, a joystick 14 which is arranged vertically on the housing 12 for rotation, a joystick sensor 16 which is arranged within the housing 12 for detecting deflections of the joystick 14 and for generating corresponding joystick position signals, and a joystick handle 18 which comprises a vertical slot 20 and a rotation detector 26. The joystick handle 18 is arranged rotatably on the joystick 14 above the vertical slot 20. The rotation detector 26 comprises an encoder disk 28 mounted on the joystick 14 and a light sensor 30 disposed within the vertical slot 20 of the joystick handle 18 for detecting rotations of the joystick handle 18 on the joystick 14 and for generating corresponding rotation signals.

Claims (5)

Il/Br. Protection claims: 1. Computer joystick (10) comprising:
a housing (12); a joystick (14) which is arranged to be deflectable on the housing (12); a joystick sensor (16) arranged within the housing (12) for detecting deflections of the joystick (14) and for generating corresponding joystick position signals; a joystick handle (18) having a vertical slot (20), the joystick handle (20) being rotatably mounted on the joystick (14) above the vertical slot (20); and a rotation detector (26) having a coding disk (28) which is arranged on the joystick (14); and a light sensor (30) disposed within the vertical slot (20) of the joystick handle (18) for detecting rotations of the joystick handle (18) on the control stick (14) and for generating corresponding rotation signals. 2. Joystick according to claim 1, characterized, that between the vertical slot (20) of the joystick handle (18) and the control stick (14) a fastening device (22) is arranged in such a way • · &igr;&Igr; · · · net is that the joystick handle (18) is rotatably arranged on the control stick (14). 3. Joystick according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a handle position detector (31) is provided for detecting a predetermined position of the joystick handle (18) and for generating a handle position signal upon detecting a movement of the joystick handle (18) beyond a predetermined position. &iacgr;&ogr; 4. Joystick according to claim 3, characterized in that the handle position detector (31) has the following, a position marker (32) at a predetermined position on the top of the control stick (14); and a position sensor (34) disposed within the vertical slot (20) of the handle (18) for detecting the position marking (31) on the top of the joystick (14) and for generating a handle position signal, upon detecting the position marking. 5. Joystick according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that an elastic device (24) is provided between the vertical slot (20) of the joystick handle (18) and the top of the control stick (14) for elastically returning the joystick handle (18) into a starting position after deflection of the joystick handle.