JP2000242426A - Infrared mouse device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve a communication function by expanding the usable range of a mouse to both left and right sides when using an infrared mouse for a portable personal computer(PC). SOLUTION: Any one of connecting means 106 can be used by respectively providing the connecting means 106 on both the side faces of a main body 100 of PC so as not to limit the use range of the mouse with a limitation existent in the transmission/reception angle of infrared rays. When operating a mouse 101 with a right hand, an attachable and detachable infrared transmitting/ receiving means 104 is attached to the right side connecting means 106. When operating it with a left hand, the means 104 is attached to the left side connecting means 106. The infrared transmitting/receiving means 102 in the mouse 101 and the attachable and detachable infrared transmitting/receiving means 104 can use the infrared transmission/reception circuit of the same configuration.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an infrared mouse device for giving instruction information to a portable personal computer or the like via infrared rays.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, personal computers have become smaller and smaller.
Weight reduction has been achieved, and portable personal computers in particular have become widespread. Many portable personal computers (notebook personal computers) use a trackball or trackpad as a pointing device as an instruction input device. However, as another type of the instruction input device, there is an infrared mouse device that performs communication between the mouse and the personal computer main body by wireless means such as infrared light. Such an infrared mouse device has features that the operability of the mouse is improved and the connection cable can be eliminated, so that the portability of the personal computer can be further improved.

A conventional infrared mouse device will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is an external perspective view showing the relationship between a conventional infrared mouse device and a portable personal computer. The mouse 601 is an instruction input device that can be freely moved cordlessly with respect to the personal computer main body 600, has a click button 603 provided on an upper surface thereof, and an infrared transmission / reception window 602 for performing infrared communication.
Are provided at the corners. A fixed infrared transmission / reception window 604 is provided on one side surface of the personal computer main body 603.

The operation of the infrared mouse device having such a configuration will be described. First, the ball is rotated by the movement of the mouse 601, and movement information for a cursor mark on the display is generated. The movement information includes movement direction information and movement distance information. The movement information is converted into an infrared signal together with the switching signal of the click button 603, and transmitted from the infrared transmission / reception window 602. The personal computer 600 receives an infrared signal from the mouse 601 via the infrared transmission / reception window 604 and converts the signal into the original movement information and switching signal.

As described above, the operability and portability of the mouse 601 are improved by performing cordless communication between the mouse 601 and the personal computer 600 using infrared rays.

[0006]

However, in the above conventional configuration, the infrared transmitting / receiving means 602 of the mouse 601 is used.
Infrared radiation angle of the personal computer 600
There is a limit to the angle at which infrared light can be received by the infrared transmitting and receiving means.
For this reason, there is a problem that the operation range of the mouse 601 is limited with respect to the position of the infrared transmitting / receiving means of the personal computer main body 600. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, when the infrared transmitting / receiving means is installed on the right side of the personal computer 600 in general, it becomes difficult for a left-handed user to operate the mouse 601 with his left hand.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and alleviates the limitation on the operation range of a mouse, and further provides an additional function by infrared communication to improve operability and functionality. It is an object of the present invention to provide an excellent infrared mouse device.

[0008]

According to the invention of claim 1 of the present application, position information corresponding to a moving direction and a moving distance is input,
Move the cursor mark on the display,
An infrared mouse device that generates a switching signal of a position on the display indicated by the position information, converts the position information and the switching signal into an infrared signal, and gives an instruction to a personal computer main body, comprising: A mouse having position information generating means for generating travel distance information as the position information, a click button for generating the switching signal, infrared transmitting and receiving means for converting the position information and the switching signal into infrared signals and transmitting and receiving the signals, and A detachable infrared transmitting / receiving means that is detachable from a computer main body, communicates with the mouse via infrared to decode the position information and the switching signal, and inputs the decoded signal to the personal computer main body; Duplicate personal computer Attached to locations, it is characterized in that it comprises a plurality of connection means to be input to the personal computer a decoded signal of the detachable infrared transceiver means.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the connecting means is provided at a plurality of positions of the personal computer main body, the detachable infrared transmitting / receiving means is inserted into the connecting means closer to the place where the mouse is used. , Can extend the range of use of wireless mouse.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a position signal corresponding to a moving direction and a moving distance is input, a cursor mark on a display is moved, and a switching signal of a position on the display indicated by the position information is inputted. An infrared mouse device for generating an instruction and giving an instruction to a personal computer main body, wherein the position is formed in a box-like member detachable from the personal computer main body, and generates moving direction information and moving distance information as the position information. Information generating means, a click button for generating the switching signal, infrared transmitting / receiving means for converting the position information and the switching signal to infrared signals for transmission and reception when the box-shaped member is detached from the personal computer main body, and the box When the member is attached to the personal computer main body, A mouse having a connection terminal for inputting the position information and the switching signal to the personal computer main body, detachable from the personal computer main body, communicating with the mouse via infrared rays, the position information and the Detachable infrared transmitting / receiving means for decoding a switching signal and inputting the decoded signal to the personal computer main body, and a detachable infrared transmitting / receiving means attached to a plurality of locations of the personal computer main body, the decoded signal of the detachable infrared transmitting / receiving means being transmitted to the personal computer main body. And a plurality of connection means for inputting.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the mouse can be used either in a state where the mouse is attached to or detached from the personal computer body.

The invention of claim 3 of the present application is directed to claim 1 or 2
In the infrared mouse device of the above, the plurality of connection means,
The keyboard is provided on both left and right sides of a keyboard of the personal computer main body.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, even if the mouse is used on the right side or the left side of the personal computer, infrared signals can be transmitted and received.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the infrared mouse device according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein an accessory device for inputting / outputting data to / from the personal computer main body by infrared transmission / reception is provided. The simultaneous use of the mouse and the accessory device is enabled by time division processing.

According to the fourth aspect, when the attached device is a printer, the print data can be transmitted wirelessly.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the infrared mouse apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, when a plurality of the mice are used for the personal computer main body, each of the plurality of mice is used. Add recognition signal,
An individual mouse is identified by the recognition signal.

According to the configuration of the fifth aspect, a plurality of persons can simultaneously use a wireless mouse for one personal computer.

[0018]

(Embodiment 1) An infrared mouse device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external view showing a configuration of an infrared mouse device used in a portable personal computer according to the first embodiment. This infrared mouse device includes a mouse 101 including an infrared transmission / reception unit 102, a detachable infrared transmission / reception unit 104, and a connection unit 106 attached to the personal computer main body 100.

The mouse 101 is provided at the left and right corners of the housing, and transmits and receives infrared rays.
2 and a click button 103 provided on the upper part of the housing for generating a switching signal. The mouse 101 is for instructing the movement of the cursor mark on the display and for confirming or canceling the display content indicated by the position of the cursor mark, like a general mouse. The mouse 101 converts the moving direction information, the moving distance information, and the switching signal into an infrared signal and transmits and receives the infrared signal.

The detachable infrared transmitting / receiving means 104 shown in the circle of FIG.
And decodes the signal into the original moving direction information, the moving distance information, and the switching signal, and supplies it to the circuit of the personal computer main body 100.

Connecting means 106 are provided on the left and right sides of the keyboard of the personal computer main body 100, and the detachable infrared transmitting / receiving means 104 is made detachable. Then, via the detachable infrared transmitting / receiving means 104, the moving direction information and the moving distance information of the mouse 101 and the switching signal are obtained.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the infrared transmitting / receiving circuit incorporated in the mouse 101 and the detachable infrared transmitting / receiving means 104. In this figure, a visible light cut filter 201 is an optical filter that allows only infrared light to pass. The infrared transmission / reception circuit 202 converts mouse movement information and switching signals into infrared signals. The light emitting / receiving circuit 204 is provided with the infrared light emitting diode 20.
7, a transmission amplifier 208, a photodiode 209, and a reception amplifier 210 for transmitting and receiving infrared rays. The modulation / demodulation circuit 205 and the serial / parallel conversion circuit 206
The mouse position information and the switching signal from the data bus 203 are converted into an infrared signal, and conversely, the infrared signal is converted into the mouse position information and a switching signal and output to the data bus 203.

The operation of the infrared mouse device configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a use range of the mouse 101 according to a mounting position of the detachable infrared transmitting / receiving means 104. The detachable infrared transmitting / receiving means 1 is now connected to the connecting means 106 at the mounting location R1.
04, IrDA (Infrared Data Association)
Since the receivable angle of the 1.0 method is ± 15 degrees or more, the mouse use range is a range R2 as illustrated. On the other hand, when the detachable infrared transmission / reception unit 104 is attached to the connection unit 106 at the attachment location L1, the mouse use range is the range L2 as illustrated.

According to the present embodiment, the mounting position of the detachable infrared transmitting / receiving means 104 can be changed, so that the use range of the mouse 101 can be reduced.

(Embodiment 2) Next, an infrared mouse device according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The infrared mouse device according to the present embodiment is characterized in that a detachable mouse 401 detachable from the personal computer main body 400 is provided instead of the mouse 101 according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, the same parts as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

The detachable mouse 401 has a rectangular parallelepiped box-shaped member (hereinafter referred to as a housing) detachable from the keyboard of the personal computer main body 400, and has infrared transmitting / receiving windows 102 at the left and right corners. . A ball 403 and two click buttons 404 are provided on the upper surface of the housing.
Are mounted, the first connection terminal 405 is mounted on the back side surface, and the connection groove 406 is formed on the left and right side surfaces. The ball 403 freely rotates in the operation direction, and outputs moving direction information and moving distance information of the cursor mark according to the rotating direction and the amount of rotation. The click button 404 is provided in an arc around the ball 403, and provides a switching signal to the personal computer main body 400 by pressing. The connection terminal 405 is a terminal for directly outputting position information of a cursor mark and a switching signal to a circuit section of the personal computer main body 400 when the detachable mouse 401 is used in a state stored in the personal computer main body 400.

A pair of connecting means 106 is provided on the left and right sides of the personal computer main body 400 as in the first embodiment. In front of the keyboard, a connection recess 407 is provided.
Is formed, and the detachable mouse 401 is attached. In the mounted state, the second
The movement information and the switching signal are input by the direct connection between the connection terminal 408 of the mouse and the connection terminal 405 on the mouse side. When the user moves with a personal computer, the detachable mouse 401 may be inserted into the connection recess 407 and the display panel may be closed.

According to this embodiment, two types of usage modes of the mouse, that is, the storage state of the main body and the separation state, can be selected, and the operability and portability of the mouse are greatly improved.

(Embodiment 3) Next, an infrared mouse apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG. The infrared mouse device according to the present embodiment has a function of time-divisionally processing an infrared signal of the mouse itself and an infrared signal of a printer as an accessory having an infrared communication function, in addition to the configuration and functions of the first embodiment. It was done. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a frame structure when multiplexing two infrared signals.

In FIG. 5, DF1_01, DF1_02.
Represents one frame of the infrared signal from the mouse, and DF
2_01, DF2_02... Each represent one frame of an infrared signal from the printer. In the personal computer main body 100 shown in FIG.
, The timing of the time-division processing is transmitted to the mouse 101 and the printer. When the timing of generating such a frame is given, the mouse 101 and the printer output frame data as shown in FIG. The detachable infrared transmitting / receiving means 104 is shown in FIG.
The frame data is received at the timing shown in FIG.
The personal computer main body 100 performs time-division processing of the signals of the above two types of devices flowing through the data bus 203 built in the detachable infrared transmitting / receiving means 103 in frame units.

According to such an embodiment, by performing time-division processing of an infrared signal, a mouse and other attached devices can be used simultaneously.

(Embodiment 4) Next, an infrared mouse apparatus according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention will be described. The infrared mouse device according to the present embodiment has a configuration in which the recognition signal is added to the mouse in addition to the configuration and functions of the first embodiment, so that the personal computer main body can identify the individual mouse. On the mouse side, a recognition number similar to the SCSI ID is added, and this recognition number is superimposed on the infrared signal and transmitted to the personal computer as a recognition signal.
The personal computer receives the identification signal and identifies the identification number of the mouse currently in use.

According to such an embodiment, an individual mouse can be identified by adding a recognition signal to the mouse. This allows the personal computer to set various environment settings, such as the basic software startup screen, mouse double-click speed, and pointer speed, for each mouse recognition number. It is possible to work with. Also, two users can operate the respective mice simultaneously to use the personal computer.

In the first embodiment, the detachable infrared transmitting / receiving means 104 is connected to the personal computer main body 10.
It is mounted on either the left or right side of 0, but may be located elsewhere. Further, in the first embodiment, the detachable infrared transmitting / receiving means 1
The number of mounting locations of the number 04 is two, but may be more.
Further, in the third embodiment, the control device using the infrared signal is a printer, but another device may be used.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention, the limitation on the operation range of the mouse can be eased. Further, as a further additional function by infrared communication, a plurality of mice can be identified, and an attached device having an infrared communication function can be controlled in a time sharing manner.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an infrared mouse device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an infrared transmission / reception circuit incorporated in the mouse and the detachable infrared transmission / reception unit in the infrared mouse device according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a use range of a mouse in the infrared mouse device according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of an infrared mouse device according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of time-division processing of an infrared signal in the infrared mouse device according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of an infrared mouse device in a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100, 400 Personal computer main body 101 Mouse 102 Infrared transmitting / receiving window 103, 404 Click button 104 Removable infrared transmitting / receiving means 105 Infrared transmitting / receiving window 106 Connecting means 201 Visible light cut filter 202 Infrared transmitting / receiving circuit 203 Data bus 204 Light receiving / emitting circuit 205 Modulation / demodulation circuit 206 Serial / parallel conversion circuit 207 Infrared light emitting diode 208 Transmitting amplifier 209 Photodiode 210 Receiving amplifier 401 Removable mouse 403 Ball 405,408 Connection terminal 406 Connection groove 407 Connection recess

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A position information corresponding to a moving direction and a moving distance is input, a cursor mark on a display is moved, and a switching signal of a position on the display indicated by the position information is generated. And an infrared mouse device for converting the switching signal into an infrared signal and giving an instruction to a personal computer main body, wherein position information generating means for generating moving direction information and moving distance information as the position information, and generating the switching signal. A mouse having an infrared transmission / reception means for converting the click button, the position information and the switching signal into an infrared signal and transmitting / receiving the infrared signal, and which is detachably attached to the main body of the personal computer; Decoding the position information and the switching signal, A detachable infrared transmitting / receiving means for inputting a signal to the personal computer main body; and a plurality of connecting means attached to a plurality of locations of the personal computer main body, for inputting a decoded signal of the detachable infrared transmitting / receiving means to the personal computer main body. An infrared mouse device comprising: 2. A personal computer main body by inputting position information corresponding to a moving direction and a moving distance, moving a cursor mark on a display, and generating a switching signal of a position on the display indicated by the position information. An infrared mouse device for giving an instruction to the personal computer, formed in a box-shaped member detachable from the personal computer main body, and generating position information generating means for generating moving direction information and moving distance information as the position information; and the switching signal. A click button that generates a signal, infrared transmission / reception means for converting the position information and the switching signal into an infrared signal when the box-shaped member is detached from the personal computer main body, and transmitting / receiving the same. When attached to the position information and the front A mouse having a connection terminal for inputting a switching signal to the personal computer main body, detachable from the personal computer main body, communicating with the mouse via infrared to decode the position information and the switching signal, Detachable infrared transmitting and receiving means for inputting the decoded signal to the personal computer main body; and a plurality of connecting means attached to a plurality of places of the personal computer main body and inputting the decoded signal of the detachable infrared transmitting and receiving means to the personal computer main body And an infrared mouse device comprising: 3. The infrared mouse device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of connection means are provided on both left and right sides of a keyboard of the personal computer main body. 4. When the accessory device for inputting and outputting data by infrared transmission / reception to / from the personal computer main body is provided, simultaneous use of the mouse and the accessory device is enabled by time division processing. Claim 1
The infrared mouse device according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 5. When a plurality of the mice are used for the personal computer main body, a recognition signal is added to each mouse, and an individual mouse is identified by the recognition signal. The infrared mouse device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.