JP2000284848A - Raised and laid stick type indicator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To generate and output diverse electric signals by one hand operation of an operation stick in a raised and laid stick type indicator to generate and output the electric signals from an inclined direction detector by performing inclining operation of the operation stick in the hole bearings and directions. SOLUTION: Electric signals corresponding to the rotational direction and an angle, etc., are generated and outputted through a rotary detector 24 and the diverse electric signals are generated and outputted by forming the operation stick 2 by inserting an inner shaft 22 in a hollow cylindrical outer shaft 21 turnably, integrating the inner shaft 22 with a grip ball 3, performing turn operation of the grip ball 3 in backward and forward directions simultaneously with the tilt operation of the operation stick 2 by providing the rotary detector 24 on the lower edge side of the inner shaft 22 by the raised and laid stick type indicator 100.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an inverting stick type pointing device suitable as, for example, an operator for video game software. The present invention relates to a tilting stick type pointing device capable of generating a wider variety of pointing signals by adding the following.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a general tilting stick type pointing device, a tiltable operation stick is fixed to a mounting base via a free bearing at an intermediate portion in a longitudinal direction thereof. It is elastically maintained in a neutral state (standing state) by the urging force of a coil spring inserted coaxially with the coil spring. Behind the mounting base, a plurality of microswitches constituting a tilt detector are arranged in a point-symmetric manner so as to surround the operation stick in an upright state. These microswitches are selectively turned on or off in conjunction with the tilting operation of the operation stick, whereby a multi-bit electric signal indicating the tilting direction of the operation stick is generated and output as an instruction signal.

[0003] The contents of an instruction signal generated and output by this type of device are orthogonal to the standing state of the operation stick, such as a forward / backward instruction signal, a left / right instruction signal, or an oblique direction instruction signal. Limited to the plane. Therefore, in the case where it is adopted as an operator for video game software that requires an operation other than the front, rear, left, right, and diagonal directions, it is necessary to separately provide a push-button indicating device in addition to this. For example, up and down on the screen,
The movement of the character in the left-right direction and the diagonal direction is
The operation stick is associated with a front-rear direction operation, a left-right direction operation, and an oblique direction operation. In addition, the movement of the character in the depth direction on the screen is associated with a combination of the front-back operation of the operation stick and the pressing operation of the push button.

[0004]

As described above, in the conventional general tilting stick type pointing device, since the operation of the two types of pointing devices requires both hands, the operation is complicated. Problems have been pointed out.

[0005] In addition, when adopted as an operator for video game software employing a three-dimensional image expression technique, the movement of a character in the vertical direction, the horizontal direction, and the diagonal direction on the screen is controlled by the operation. The front-rear operation, the left-right operation, and the diagonal operation of the stick are performed correspondingly, and the movement of the character in the depth direction on the screen is
Because the combination of the front-rear operation of the operation stick and the pressing operation of the push button corresponds to the operation of the operation stick or the push button, only the movement of the character is performed, and the realism of the game is further enhanced. For example, there has been a long-awaited desire to add motion variations such as a character turning 180 degrees or jumping at a stationary position.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and the object thereof is a one-handed operation by adding a rotation operation around an axis to a tiltable operation stick. It is another object of the present invention to provide a flip-type stick-type pointing device capable of generating various instruction signals.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an operation stick that is supported upside down and urged to return to an upright state, and an operation stick that tilts the operation stick. A tilt stick type pointing device having a tilt detector that generates and outputs an electric signal corresponding to the tilt in conjunction with the tilt stick, wherein the operation stick is supported to be tiltable and restored to a standing state. And an inner shaft rotatably inserted into and held in the hollow outer shaft and integrated with the operating grip portion. The stick-type pointing device includes a rotary detector that generates and outputs an electric signal in response to a rotation operation of the inner shaft with respect to the outer shaft.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, if the operation grip portion is gripped by hand and raised and lowered, the outer shaft holding the inner shaft integrated with the grip portion is raised and lowered. Therefore, the inverted direction detector generates and outputs an electric signal corresponding to the inverted direction as an instruction signal as before.

When the operation grip is gripped by hand and rotated in either forward or reverse direction, the inner shaft integrated with the operation grip is rotated in either forward or reverse, and the rotary type An electric signal corresponding to the rotation direction of the inner shaft is output from the detector as an instruction signal.

Therefore, by operating the grip portion about the axis in addition to raising and lowering the operating grip portion, in addition to generating and outputting an electric signal corresponding to the tilt direction as an instruction signal, At the same time, an electric signal corresponding to the rotation direction of the inner shaft can be output as an instruction signal.

The tilt detector includes, of course, a conventional structure in which a plurality of limit switches are developed around an operation stick in an upright state around the operation stick. Also, those skilled in the art can disassemble the raising / lowering operation of the operation stick into two orthogonal rotation operations and convert this into an analog electric signal or a pulse train electric signal via a rotary potentiometer or a rotary encoder. Various known configurations can be arbitrarily adopted.

As the rotary detector, not only a rotary switch or the like having a configuration for generating a binary signal, but also a rotary potentiometer, a rotary encoder, etc. Those skilled in the art can arbitrarily adopt various configurations, such as those having a structure that converts the signal into an analog electric signal or a pulse train electric signal through the interface.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of a tilt stick type pointing device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of an up-down stick type pointing device according to the present invention in an assembled state. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view illustrating components of the up-down stick type pointing device and an assembly structure thereof. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional plan view illustrating the structure of the tilting direction detector of the tilting stick type pointing device, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the configuration of the tilting stick type pointing device.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the up-down stick type pointing device according to the present invention in an assembled state.
As shown in FIG.
0 has an appearance in which the operation stick 2 projects upward from the center of the mounting base 1 which is usually mounted on a frame of a video game machine in a horizontal posture. The operation stick 2 can be tilted (tilted) in a predetermined stalk in all directions around the operation stick 2 (in this example, back and forth, left and right, and oblique), similarly to the previous operation stick. In addition, the operation stick 2 is capable of rotating in the forward and reverse directions indicated by reference numeral 4 in FIG. 1 by gripping a grip ball 3 as an operation grip portion provided at an upper end thereof.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing components of the tilting stick type pointing device 100 and an assembly structure thereof. In this figure, a mounting base 1 is a plastic integral molded product of a predetermined thickness (height) having a substantially square outer shape in a plane in this embodiment, and mounting screw holes 1a at four corners. However, a through hole 1b is provided at the center of the central portion to allow the operation stick 2 to pass therethrough. The peripheral edge of the upper opening of the through hole 1b is expanded in a substantially hemispherical shape to form a pedestal surface 1c of the universal bearing. Pedestal surface 1
The two non-rotating grooves 1 which engage with the non-rotating protrusions 5c of the bearing piece 5, which will be described later,
d is formed. On the lower surface of the mounting base 1, four spacer projections 1e are provided.

The operation stick 2 includes a hollow straight outer shaft 21 and an inner shaft 22 which is inserted into the outer shaft 21 and is rotatable in forward and reverse directions with respect to the outer shaft 21.

The outer shaft 21 is a hollow pipe made of resin, and has a non-circular cross-section 21a, which is housed in the through hole 5b of the bearing piece 5 at a substantially center, in a flange shape. Is provided with a screw hole 21b to be screwed to a metal collar 23 attached to the lower end side of the inner shaft 22.

The inner shaft 22 inserted into the outer shaft 21 is made of metal, has an outer diameter slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the outer shaft 21, and has a length set to be longer than that of the outer shaft 21. The tip is press-fitted and fixed in the press-fit hole 3a of the grip ball 3, and the grip ball 3 and the inner shaft 22 are firmly integrated.
At the lower end of the inner shaft 22, a rotary detector 24 is provided via a collar 23.

As described above, the outer shaft 21,
The operation stick assembly including the inner shaft 22 and the grip ball 3 is supported on the mounting base 1 with the bearing piece 5 interposed therebetween so that the operation stick assembly can be turned upside down.

The bearing piece 5 is mounted on the pedestal surface 1c of the mounting base 1, and has a hemispherical lower surface 5a that comes into contact with the pedestal surface 1c. A through-hole 5b into which the non-circular cross-section 21a of the outer shaft 21 is fitted is provided at the center of the bearing piece 5, and the base 1 side is provided at two locations opposed to each other with the center of the peripheral side face interposed therebetween. Detent protrusions 5c, 5c to be fitted into the detent groove 1d are formed.
The hemispherical pedestal surface 1c on the base 1 side and the bearing piece 5 constitute a bearing mechanism with a rotation preventing function. Therefore,
The outer shaft 21 is in contact with the base 1 while the semi-spherical pedestal surface 1c and the semi-spherical lower surface 5a are in sliding contact with each other in a state where the outer shaft 21 is prevented from rotating through fitting of the detent groove 1d and the detent protrusion 5c. On the other hand, it is supported up and down in all directions.

On the lower surface side of the mounting base 1, a wiring board 6 and a tilt guide plate 7 are supported at an appropriate distance in parallel with the wiring base 6, and are fixed in parallel with the base 1. More specifically,
The wiring board 6 is an annular body (ring) having a square outer shape, and its internal opening 6a substantially matches the outer shape of the base 1 and the tilt guide plate 7 (more precisely, slightly larger than that). It has a square shape with rounded corners. On the wiring board 6, the terminals of a plurality (four in this example) of limit switches 9 constituting a tilt detector of the operation stick are connected. These limit switches 9 include a push button type micro switch 9a and a hinge lever 9b for operating a push button of the micro switch. These limit switches 9 are arranged on the wiring board 6 so that each hinge lever 9a faces the internal opening 6a of the wiring board 6 so as to surround the internal opening 6a.

Further, pin insertion holes 6b for inserting terminal pins 9c of the micro switch 9a are provided at four corners of the wiring board 6.
Are formed. These pin insertion holes 6b are positioned in alignment with the positions where the terminal pins 9c will be located when the microswitch 9a is mounted on the tilt guide plate 7 using the positioning projections. .

The tilt guide plate 7 located on the back side of the wiring board 6
Is provided with a guide hole 7a corresponding to the tilt detection direction of the device. The guide hole 7a has its inner peripheral edge abutted on the outer periphery of the operation stick 2 to define the tilt limit of each direction of the operation stick 2, and as is well known to those skilled in the art, The shape is different depending on whether the tilt detection direction is 2, 4 or 8 directions. In other words, the upper limit of the tilting stroke of the operation stick 2 is defined by the guide hole 7a.

The limit switch groups 9, 9,... Assembled on the wiring board 6 are sandwiched and fixed between the base 1 and the tilt guide plate 7, and the screws 10 are screwed into the screw holes 7 of the tilt guide plate 7.
The limit switch 9 is fixed by tightening the screw from b into the screw hole of the spacer projection 1e of the base 1.

In the space between the wiring board 6 and the base 1, a spring assembly 8 having both a function of operating a limit switch of a tilt detector and a function of applying an upright restoring force of an operation stick is coaxial with the outer shaft 21. Are located in
That is, the spring assembly 8 includes a spring end 8a, a coil spring 8b, and a spring holder 8 that are sequentially fitted to the outer shaft 21 from the top.
c. The spring holder 8c has a large diameter portion 8c 'occupying approximately half of the upper side and a small diameter portion 8 occupying approximately half of the lower side.
c ″ and a stepped cylindrical body. The coil spring 8b includes a spring end 8a and a spring holder 8
c and the large diameter portion 8c '. Therefore, when the outer shaft 21 is tilted in accordance with the tilt of the operation stick 2, the coil spring 8 is deflected in a radial direction to bend, thereby generating a restoring force for restoring the outer shaft 21 to the upright state. Further, the outer peripheral surface of the large diameter portion 8c 'of the spring holder 8c comes into contact with the hinge lever 9b of the limit switch group constituting the tilt detector, and the micro switch 9a is selectively operated.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, when the large diameter portion 8c 'of the spring holder externally fitted to the outer shaft 21 moves with the tilt of the operation stick 2, the hinge lever 9b is moved. The micro switch 9a is turned on and off by bending. As a result, in the illustrated example, the corresponding microswitches 9a are operated one by one with respect to the tilt of the operation stick in the front, rear, left and right directions, while the tilt of the operation stick 2 is tilted with respect to the tilt of the operation stick 2 in the oblique direction. Two adjacent micro switches 9a
Operate simultaneously. Therefore, a 4-bit electrical signal indicating the tilt direction of the operation stick 2 is obtained from the connector pin array 6c. In this example, the microswitch 9a is of a board-mounted type, and its output signal is guided to a connector pin array 6c via a conductive pattern (not shown) on the wiring board 6.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that, in addition to the tilting operation of the operation stick 2, the gripping ball 3 is rotated in any direction in the normal or reverse direction to generate further electric signals.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the solid inner shaft 22 is integrated with the grip ball 3 at the upper end thereof, and the rotary detector 2 is formed at the lower end thereof.
4 so as to be rotatable. As for the assembling of the outer shaft 21 and the inner shaft 22, first, the collar 23 is fitted to the lower end of the outer shaft 21 and fixed by screwing the lock screw 23a. A female screw 23b is engraved on the inner peripheral surface of the collar 23. A male screw 24a on the outer periphery of a mounting cylindrical portion of the rotary detector 24 is tightened with respect to the female screw 23b, and a lock screw 23c is screwed in. The inner shaft 22 is inserted into the
Is fixed.

Further, as the rotary detector 24,
A cap 24d that covers the internal substrate 24c is fitted into the lower surface of the detector main body 24b, and a connector pin array 24e that is electrically connected to the conductor of the substrate 24c is provided to the outside.

Accordingly, the inner shaft 22 is rotatably supported by the rotary detector 24, and an output signal is transmitted via a conductive pattern (not shown) in accordance with the operation of rotating the inner shaft 22 in the forward and reverse directions. To the connector pin row 24e.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the operation of the up-down stick type pointing device having the above-described configuration during operation. As is clear from the figure, according to this device, when the gripping ball 3 is gripped and the operation stick 2 is tilted up and down as indicated by the phantom line in the figure, the outer stick is interlocked with this in the same manner as before. The shaft 21 moves up and down. By the raising and lowering operation of the outer shaft 21, the limit switch group 9 constituting the tilt detector is operated appropriately, and the connector pin array 6
From c, tilt direction (for example, back and forth, left and right, diagonal direction, etc.)
Is output as an instruction signal. This instruction signal is processed by a known method, and the movement of the character on the screen is performed.

On the other hand, if the grip ball 3 is gripped and the grip ball 3 is rotated in either the forward or reverse direction, the outer shaft 21 does not rotate, but the inner shaft 22 integrated with the grip ball 3 is , Rotates around a predetermined angle axis in the outer shaft 21. For example, a rotary detector 2
4 、 When a rotary switch is applied,
A binarized signal corresponding to the rotation operation direction (clockwise, counterclockwise) of the inner shaft 22 is output. And this 2
The quantified signal is processed by a known method, and is reflected in a rotation operation, a jumping operation, and the like of the character on the screen.

That is, by combining the tilt direction (eg, forward / backward, left / right, diagonal direction, etc.) that has existed before and the turning operation of the operation stick 2 arbitrarily, it is possible to generate and output more various instruction signals. it can. Therefore,
For example, if the content of a video game is a soccer game,
It is possible to realize the real movement that the player runs in any direction and receives the soccer ball, turns his body and kicks it out in any direction by combining the tilt and rotation of the operator it can.

As another embodiment of the rotary type detector 24, a rotary type variable output device which outputs an analog signal according to a rotation direction and a rotation amount is used instead of a rotary type switch which outputs a binary signal. If a resistor, a rotary variable capacitor (varicon), a rotary pulse generator that outputs a pulse train according to the amount of rotation (for example, a two-phase pulse train having a phase difference of 90 degrees from each other), or the like is used, the inner shaft 22 can be used. Can be generated and output in various signal forms.

If a differentiating circuit or the like is mounted in the rotary detector 24, the inner shaft 2
The rotation speed around the second axis can be directly detected and reflected on the movement of the character in the video game.

[0037]

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, when the tilting stick is turned upside down, an electric signal corresponding to the tilting is output from the tilting detector as an instruction signal as before. Is generated and output.

When the grip ball is gripped and rotated in the forward and reverse directions, an electric signal corresponding to the forward and reverse rotation directions is output from the rotary detector as an instruction signal.

Therefore, by simply operating the grip ball with one hand, it is possible to output an instruction signal in any direction, thereby improving operability and simultaneously generating and outputting a rotation direction detection signal in addition to a tilt direction detection signal. Therefore, it is possible to generate and output various instruction signals.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of an upright stick type pointing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention in an assembled state.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view illustrating components of the tilting stick type pointing device and an assembly structure thereof.

FIG. 3 is a plan sectional view for explaining a structure of a tilt direction detector of the tilt stick pointing device.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of the tilting stick type pointing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Mounting base 2 Operation stick 21 Outer shaft 22 Inner shaft 23 Collar 24 Rotary detector 3 Grip ball 5 Bearing piece 6 Wiring board 7 Tilting guide plate 8 Spring assembly 9 Limit switch 100 Tilting stick type pointing device

Claims (6)

[Claims] An operation stick supported so as to be capable of being turned upside down and urged to return to an upright state, and an inverted direction for generating and outputting an electric signal corresponding to the inverted direction in conjunction with the inverted operation of the operation stick. A tilting stick type pointing device having a detector, wherein the operation stick is supported upside down, and a hollow outer shaft urged to return to a standing state; An inner shaft that is rotatably inserted and held in the outer shaft and that is integrated with the operating grip portion. Further, the tilting stick type pointing device further includes a rotating operation of the inner shaft with respect to the outer shaft. And a rotary type detector for generating and outputting an electric signal corresponding to the above. 2. The rotary detector according to claim 1, wherein the rotary detector is a rotary switch that outputs a binary signal in response to a forward / reverse rotation operation about the inner shaft. Up-down stick type pointing device. 3. The rotary detector according to claim 1, wherein the rotary detector is a rotary variable resistor capable of changing an internal resistance in accordance with a forward or reverse rotation angle around the axis of the inner shaft. Up-down stick type pointing device. 4. The rotary variable condenser according to claim 1, wherein the rotary detector is a rotary variable condenser capable of changing an internal capacitance in accordance with a forward and reverse rotation angle around the axis of the inner shaft. Up-down stick type pointing device. 5. The rotary type detector according to claim 1, wherein the rotary type detector is a rotary type speed detector which detects a forward / reverse rotation speed around an inner shaft and outputs an electric signal. Raising stick type pointing device. 6. The stick according to claim 1, wherein the rotary detector is a rotary pulse generator that outputs a pulse train corresponding to the amount of rotation in the forward and reverse directions around the axis of the inner shaft. Expression indicating device.