JP2006294071A - Computer input device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an input device (pointing device) with which continuous transfer is easily performed, an instruction of an absolute position and an instruction of transfer (relative distance) are made compatible, in which width of speed change is large and easy and input of reciprocal motions is facilitated. <P>SOLUTION: This invention is constituted by bundling a plurality of root sides of physically deformable individual detection elements or arranging them in parallel. The individual detection element has a sensor which detects force for physical deformation when the force is applied on the tip side and wiring from the sensor. The relative distance is instructed to a computer with absolute positions of one or more prescribed detection elements detected among all the detection elements by detecting physical deformation of the individual detection elements. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a computer input device for a computer or a computer-equipped device.

As an input device (pointing device) to a computer such as a personal computer, a mouse, a jog dial, a shuttle loop, a joystick, or the like is used.
The mouse is easy to manipulate the amount of movement, but has the problem that the amount of change in movement speed is not intuitive. In order to move continuously, such as scrolling for a long distance, it is inconvenient because it must be turned over many times. Also, the absolute position cannot be input.
It is difficult for the jog dial to increase the moving speed. The arm stroke is large. The shuttle loop has a large amount of movement when reciprocating. In contrast to a mouse, the joystick (type that comes with a keyboard) has fewer arm strokes. However, there is a problem that it is very difficult to indicate the absolute position.

The present invention solves the problems of such a conventional input device (pointing device), can easily perform continuous movement, indicates a position (absolute position and relative position), and moves (displacement and displacement). It is intended to be compatible with instructing (speed), to have a wide range of speed change, and to be easy, and to easily input reciprocating motion.
Further, it is intended to obtain a clear feel by utilizing physical deformation, and thereby make intuitive operation easier.

  A computer input device for a computer or computer-equipped device according to the present invention is configured by bundling a plurality of fundamental sides of individual detection elements that can be physically deformed. This detection element is a page portion constituted by a thin plate-like sheet having elasticity. For each detection element, a sensor that detects deformation caused by a physical deformation force applied to a portion other than the tip side or the base side, and information transmission such as wiring or electromagnetic means from the sensor A part. Information on the position or movement of one or more specific sensing elements detected in all sensing elements by detecting physical deformations of individual sensing elements, or information on physical quantities that can be converted to these, For example, an absolute position, a relative position, a moving amount (displacement), and a moving speed are instructed to the computer.

According to the present invention, continuous movement can be easily performed, and both an indication of an absolute position and an indication of movement (relative distance) are compatible, and the range of speed change is large and easy. The effect is that the input of movement is easy.
Further, since a physical deformation is used, a clear feel can be obtained. This is expected to make the intuitive operation easier.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on examples. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first example of an input device embodying the present invention. a) shows the basic configuration of the first example, b) and c)
Shows the variations. The example input device is composed of rectangular “pages” as elements (indicated as aA bA in FIGS. 1a and b), and 1-100 sheets (or more) are grouped together.
One end portion in the longitudinal direction of a plurality of page portions is integrated. That is, the page portion indicates the portion to be turned. Although not shown here, wiring and a connector for transmitting signals from the sensor are attached to the collected end portions.
Each of the page portions is constituted by a thin plate-like sheet having elasticity. The material may be any elastic material such as synthetic resin, metal, paper, wood, or a composite thereof. An element capable of detecting deformation such as a strain gauge is attached to the page portion. It is necessary to detect turning. Alternatively, an element for detecting contact is attached to the front end side of the page portion in order to detect turning.
Further, in order to bundle the page portions, it is not necessary to bundle the individual page portions in an aligned state as described above, and they can be bundled in a fan shape as shown in FIG. 1b. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 1c, the sheet can be folded into an accordion without separating a continuous sheet. In short, any configuration is possible as long as it is possible to operate each page portion as will be described later and detect the result of the operation.

FIG. 2 illustrates a method for manipulating bundled bundles. By turning, bunching and flipping the bundle of bundled page parts like a book page, the information of movement and position is generated and input to the computer. As shown in FIG. 2a, a finger can be sandwiched between the pages and then flipped or turned as shown in FIG. 2b.
There are two types of movement information: displacement (how many pages moved regardless of time) and speed (displacement within a certain time). Position information includes relative position (as a percentage of the entire bundle). Two types of information are generated: position) and absolute position (number of pages from the origin). On the computer side, the origin position can be specified in addition to which information is requested.

  The information first senses the position of the deformation. After the device has extracted up to the position of the opened page, it can be processed on the computer side to extract information. As a method for detecting deformation, a method using a contact sensor can be considered. FIG. 3 illustrates a detection mechanism. A contact sensor determines whether the two adjacent pages are closed / opened with a finger. The contact sensor senses contact or pressure when the page is closed, as shown in FIG. 3a), but not when opened, as shown in b). The electrical signal generated by the sensor is sent to a buffer in the apparatus via a wiring attached to the page (FIG. 4).

In this way, by sequentially investigating at regular time intervals, the open location is output as a coordinate value. (Even if multiple places are opened, all coordinate values are output and processed later). At this time, the timer function is used for scanning to keep the time interval accurate (to increase the accuracy by calculating the speed). Alternatively, time information is added. In this way, the opened portion is extracted and stored in the buffer. This corresponds to the part of “extraction of open part” to “buffer of open part” in FIG.
It may be determined that multiple locations have been opened, but this is allowed and all the locations on the open page are stored in the buffer. The buffer also stores time information so that it can be used to calculate speed information.

  FIG. 4 shows a system configuration including a host computer that stores open page location information in the buffer and further processes this information. On the host computer side, the device driver reads information from the device buffer via the interface. Based on the time and the information on the opened position, the requested information is calculated and processed, and the information is transmitted to the application software in response to an OS command. In addition, it is conceivable that this apparatus is built in the computer from the beginning, but even in that case, the structure inside the computer is not different.

Next, information that is processed based on the information of the opened page and transmitted to the application software will be further described. The following operations of ad are processed by the device driver according to instructions from the OS on the computer.
a: Position information The position is detected using the value of “opened page” sent from the device. You can also get the relative coordinates by specifying the origin. When a plurality of locations are opened, the application side specifies whether to request a plurality of points.
b: Displacement information Obtained by calculating the time change of the position obtained above. The time interval for sampling the displacement is an integral multiple of the read time interval in the device. This can be specified from the application side. Note that the read time interval can also be specified from the device driver. If necessary (such as when a time interval shorter than the standard value is required), specify from the application side. When there are a plurality of open locations, the positions of the past points are compared, and the pair with the smallest displacement is obtained. Whether to request a plurality of displacements is designated from the application side.
c: Speed information Divide the above displacement by the sampling time interval to find the speed.
d: Relative position information The position is calculated by dividing the position by the total number of pages. In this case as well, the position of the origin can be specified.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a second example of an input device embodying the present invention. a) shows the overall appearance of the device, b) shows a concentric arrangement (dotted lines are auxiliary lines to show the shape, not an actual device), c) shows a radial arrangement, When the cross portion is single, d) shows a case where they are arranged radially and the center cross portion is double.
The illustrated input device is configured in a brush shape by integrally forming a large number of protrusions on a surface of a plate-like portion such as a disk with a predetermined interval therebetween. The protrusions can be two-dimensionally configured by bundling thin linear objects such as brushes, in which case the “tip” can be tactilely sensed, and the deformation or contact of the tip can be electrically detected. As long as it can be detected, the length and thickness (diameter) of the protrusion can be arbitrarily selected.
The arrangement of the protrusions on the plate-like portion can be a concentric circle as shown in FIG. 5b, or a cross line (and a radial shape for each reference angle) as shown in FIG.

Further, when considering the slipping of the finger, as shown in FIG. 5d, it is more stable that the two rows of protrusions are arranged on the cross line (and radially for each reference angle). Handle the input of movement that reciprocates in a specific area by raising the protrusion near the origin (one center, the innermost circumference of the concentric circle or its vicinity, one round near the intersection of the radiation part) Can do. In addition, the angle (rotation angle) can be input by raising the circumference part that is moderately distant from the origin by one turn, and can be used in a shuttle loop-like manner.
Next, detection of the deformation of the protrusion having such a configuration will be described. At the base of the protrusion, an element for detecting deformation such as a strain gauge is attached. A pair in which the difference in deformation amount between the previous and next pages is maximized can be detected as an opened page.
Alternatively, an element that senses that a part of the human body is touched, such as a capacitance, is attached. (In this case, the direction of the deformation cannot be detected, but the direction can also be calculated in post-processing).

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a detection method, and a front view of an example of detection by an internal electrical contact is shown in a), and a cross-sectional view thereof is shown in b). The protrusion is hollow and an electrical contact is inserted inside. As shown on the right side, due to the deformation of the protrusion, it contacts one of the contact x located in the center and the four contacts y located in the four corners (in all directions, front, rear, left and right as shown in the cross-sectional view of b). Then, deformation can be detected by the flow of current.
FIG. 6c shows another example of a deformation detection method. Deformation can be detected by attaching a strain gauge to the base.

The input device of the present invention as described above is particularly useful when used in the following fields.
Video editing One way to use a computer is to edit video using video editing software. However, a dedicated machine is also equipped with a computer. For this reason, it is possible to add this device.
Coarse movement (equivalent to the role of shuttle loop) can be realized by turning quickly, and fine movement (equivalent to the role of jog dial) can be realized by turning one by one. Both roles can be combined in a single device. In addition, with regard to coarse motion, taking advantage of the large amount of change in speed, it is possible to freely move back and forth and at high speed.
E-books You can browse through the same operations as turning pages. The dedicated device for browsing electronic books is also a computer with limited use, and it is conceivable to add or use this device. The same applies to web browsers and information appliances.
Web browser Long pages can be viewed at the same speed as e-books.
Information appliances For example, a recent portable music player can store a large number of songs, but it is more convenient than a jog dial to select a target station. The input device of the present invention is useful for a menu that is selected from a number of lists such as a telephone directory on a mobile phone interface.

It is a figure which shows the 1st example of the input device which actualizes this invention. The operation method of the bundle | stacked bundle is illustrated. It is a figure which illustrates the mechanism of detection. 1 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration including a host computer that processes information; FIG. It is a figure which shows the 2nd example of the input device which actualizes this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the detection method.

Claims (3)

A computer input device for a computer or computer-equipped equipment,
It consists of multiple bundles of the fundamental side of each sensing element that can be physically deformed.
The detection element is a page portion constituted by a thin plate-like sheet having elasticity,
Each of the detection elements includes a sensor that detects deformation caused by a physical deformation force, and an information transmission unit from the sensor.
By detecting physical deformations of the individual sensing elements, information on the position, movement, or physical quantity that can be converted into one or more specific sensing elements detected among all the sensing elements is transmitted to the computer. Instruct
Computer input device comprising:   2. The computer input device according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is a contact sensor that detects physical deformation by contact / separation between detection element tip sides or a strain gauge that detects deformation of a page portion base side. The said page part is comprised by bundling in the state which arranged the independent page part individually, or bundling in the shape of a fan, or folding in the accordion form, without separating one continuous sheet | seat. Computer input device.

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