JP2008140225A - Three-dimensional motion input device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate input of three-dimensional motion, in a structure of a three-dimensional motion input device. <P>SOLUTION: An annular groove 10 is formed in the upper face of a case 4 of a motion commander 2, and a trackball 16 and an inputting ring 14 of the 3D motion are disposed thereinside. 2D motion is inputted by the trackball 16, and the four-axis 3D motion except the 2D motion is inputted by operation of the ring 14. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a structure of a three-dimensional motion input device.

Patent Document 1 discloses that a slit is provided in a ring and the direction of the slit is detected by detecting light that has passed through the slit. If the ring can be three-dimensionally moved with respect to the base, the six-axis motion of the ring can be detected by the six slits, and the three-dimensional motion can be input. However, it is difficult to input motion while conscious of 6 axes with respect to the ring. Therefore, the inventor has developed a three-dimensional motion input device that is easy to input six-axis motion and excellent in ergonomics, and has arrived at the present invention.
4-57202

  An object of the present invention is to facilitate input of three-dimensional motion.

  The present invention provides a two-dimensional motion input section on the upper surface of the case, and a ring-shaped input section for inputting a three-dimensional motion excluding the two-dimensional motion so as to surround the input section. In the three-dimensional motion input device, the upper surface of the surrounding case is lower than the upper surface of the ring. In the following, 3D motion is abbreviated as 3D motion, and 2D motion is abbreviated as 2D motion.

Preferably, a key arrangement is provided around the 3D motion input unit.
More preferably, a groove surrounding the 3D motion input unit is provided between the key arrangement and the 3D motion input unit.
Particularly preferably, the height of the ring upper surface of the input portion of the 3D motion is substantially equal to the height of the upper surface of the case around the groove. “Substantially equal” means substantially equal with respect to the size of a person's palm or the like. For example, the height difference between the two is ± 10 mm or less, more preferably ± 5 mm or less.
Preferably, the 2D motion input unit is a trackball, and the top of the ball is higher than the ring of the 3D motion input unit.

Preferably, the input part of the 3D motion is
Tilting the ring with respect to the upper surface of the housing,
Rotating the ring around an axis perpendicular to the housing,
And 4D 3D motion excluding the 2D motion is input in response to pulling or pushing the ring from the housing.

Preferably, a dent is provided in the lower center of both side surfaces of the case.
Preferably, the upper surface of the case is inclined so that the front end is low and the front end is high, and a palm rest is provided that has an inclined surface that is cut from the front side of the case from the front end portion of the case to the top surface of the case. A second key arrangement different from the above is provided.

  In this invention, since 2D motion and 3D motion excluding the 2D motion can be input from different input units, it is easier to input than when inputting all 3D motions of 3D from one input unit. is there. Also, since the 3D motion input unit is provided so as to surround the 2D motion input unit, the input between the 2D motion and the 3D motion can be switched by slightly moving the finger or the palm. Since the upper surface of the surrounding case is lower than the upper surface of the ring of the 3D motion input unit, the height of the trackball and the ring can be kept low.

If a key arrangement is provided around the 3D motion input unit, an auxiliary operation necessary for motion input can be performed by extending a finger and touching the key.
Here, if a groove surrounding the 3D motion input part is provided between the key arrangement and the 3D motion input part, the ring can be operated by putting a finger in the groove, and the height of the trackball and the ring is kept low. be able to. For this reason, when the keys around the 3D motion input unit are operated, the palm or the like is unlikely to hit the ring, and the key operation is not hindered.
In particular, if the height of the upper surface of the ring is substantially equal to the height of the upper surface of the case around the groove, the palm is considerably higher than the upper surface of the case with the fingertip touching the key. For this reason, since the key can be operated without hitting the trackball or the ring, the key input is easy, and there are few erroneous inputs to the trackball or the ring.
If the 2D motion input unit is a trackball and its top is higher than the surrounding ring, the trackball can be operated with the palm, and at this time, it is difficult to touch the surrounding ring by mistake.

Tilting the ring with respect to the upper surface of the housing,
Rotating the ring around an axis perpendicular to the housing,
・ By inputting the 4-axis motion in response to pulling or pushing the ring from the housing or into the housing, the 3D 4-axis motion can be easily input.

If a dent is provided in the center lower part of both sides of the case, a finger can be put into the dent when the 3D motion input device is held, and the 3D motion input device is easily held.
If the case upper surface is inclined so that the front side is low and the tip is high, and the case front side is cut from the front end of the case to the case upper surface to form a palm rest, the hand can be operated while being supported by the palm rest. Here, if the second key arrangement is provided near the tip of the case, keys that are not directly related to the 2D motion input unit or the 3D motion input unit can be collectively arranged at the tip.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below, but the present invention is not limited to this.

  1 to 17 show a motion commander 2 of the embodiment and its modification. The motion commander 2 is used for input of 3D motion, and 4 is a case, which is composed of an upper case 5 and a lower case 6. Hereinafter, the lower side in FIG. The motion commander 2 is inclined so as to increase from the front to the tip, and an inclined surface rising from the front edge is provided on the front side. Following the palm rest 8, there is an annular groove 10 in the center of the upper surface of the case, and there are depressions 12 on both side surfaces of the lower case 6. Reference numerals 12a to 12d denote inclined surfaces of the recess 12, and the bottom surface of the lower case 6 includes flat surfaces 13a to 13c as shown in FIG. 4, for example, and the flat surface 13b may not be provided.

  Reference numeral 14 denotes a ring, the upper surface of which is parallel to the upper surface of the upper case 5, 16 is a trackball, 18 is a peripheral portion, which are concentrically in the groove 10, and the peripheral portion 18 rises with respect to the groove 10. The ring 14 rises with respect to the peripheral portion 18, and the top surface of the trackball 16 is higher than the upper surface of the ring 14. The upper surface of the ring 14 is substantially at the same height as the upper surface of the surrounding upper case 5. As shown on the right side of FIG. 3, the ring 14 may rise directly from the upper surface of the surrounding case without providing the groove 10.

  Reference numerals 20 and 22 denote keyboards, each of which is a group of keys. The keyboard 20 is arranged on the front end side of the upper case 5 so as to surround the groove 10. The keyboard 20 inputs a command directly connected to the operation of the ring 14 and the trackball 16, for example, prohibition of input from the trackball 16, prohibition of input from the ring 14, cancellation of the previous input, Includes keys such as sensitivity change. These keys are commonly used in the process of inputting 3D motion from the ring 14 or the trackball 16. On the other hand, the keyboard 22 is provided with keys that are not frequently used, and for menu display and function call that are not directly connected to the input of the trackball 16 or the ring 14.

  FIG. 5 exemplifies the use state of the motion commander 2. The palm rest 8 supports the palm, the finger tip is disposed in the groove 10, the ring 14 is operated with the finger, and the trackball 16 is operated with the palm, for example. The keyboard 20 can be touched by slightly extending a finger. Further, since the groove 10 is provided around the ring 14, the ring 14 can be operated by inserting a finger into the groove 10. By the way, the height required for the ring 14 is determined by the height from the bottom surface of the groove 10, and it is difficult to operate the ring 14 if this height is low. Further, when the upper surface of the ring 14 is lowered, the height of the trackball 16 can be kept low. Therefore, by providing the groove 10, the height of the trackball 16 and the ring 14 can be kept low. As a result, when a command is input from the keyboard 20, the palm or the like can be prevented from touching the trackball 16 or the ring 14. In FIG. 5, the human hand is displayed slightly smaller.

  When carrying the motion commander 2, there are dents 12 on both side surfaces of the lower case 6, and it can be easily carried without dropping by applying a finger to this part.

  The trackball 16 in the embodiment is for inputting a translational motion in a predetermined plane, that is, an x-direction motion and a y-direction motion. In the case of the trackball 16, the palm is placed at the same position where the fingertip is placed in the groove 10. And can be operated. Here, the predetermined surface is, for example, the screen of the color monitor 72 of the knit design apparatus of FIG. However, other 2D motion input means can be used. For example, in the case of the pad 34 shown in FIG. 6, the 2D motion can be input by touching the front, rear, left, and right of the pad. Although the ring 14 is circular here, it may be polygonal like a ring 14 'in FIG.

  Detection of 4-axis 3D motion by the ring 32 is shown in FIGS. A substrate ring 32 is attached to the lower part of the plastic ring 14, and is supported by springs 26 at, for example, three locations with respect to the substrate 30 fixed to the case 4. A pin 28 is fixed at one end to the substrate 30 and passes through the long hole 29 of the ring 32 to limit the displacement range of the ring 32. The substrate 30 is provided with a hole 35 so that the trackball 16 can be accommodated. Around the ring 32, the LED 36 and the PSD (position detector) 40 are provided in, for example, four places on the substrate 30 so as to face each other, and slits 38 and 39 are provided in the ring 32 so as to be positioned therebetween.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the slit 38 is for detecting 3D motion, and when the ring 32 moves, the beam passing through the slit 38 from the LED 36 moves up and down, and this is detected by the PSD 40. The slit 39 is for detecting the rotation θ around the z axis representing the height direction. As shown in FIG. 10, when the ring 32 rotates around the z axis, the beam of LED light that has passed through the slit 39 is directed to the PSD 40. Since it moves left and right, motion in the θ direction can be detected.

  By providing the slits 38 at three locations and the slit 39 at one location, a total of 3D four-axis motion can be detected. The correspondence between the signals of the four PSDs 40 and the four-axis motion is arbitrary. For example, pulling or pushing the ring 32 in the z-axis direction corresponds to the z-axis motion. Turning the ring 32 around the z axis corresponds to the rotation θ around the z axis. When the ring 32 tilts along the x-axis direction corresponds to the rotation φ around the y-axis, and the tilt along the y-axis corresponds to the rotation φ around the x-axis, the operation of the ring 32 It is possible to naturally correspond to the type of exercise that is input. 2D motion, that is, motion in the xy direction can be detected by the trackball 16. As described above, 6-axis motion of 3D motion can be detected.

  In the embodiment, four LEDs 36 are used. However, light from one LED may be supplied to the four slits 38 and 39 by an optical fiber, for example. The shape of the slit is arbitrary, and for example, a slit 41 having a pinhole may be used as in the slit 41 of FIG.

  If the distance between the slits 38 and 39 and the LED 36 is reduced in order to make the motion commander 2 compact, the position of the beam in the PSD 40 changes greatly even if the ring 32 is slightly displaced. For this reason, it is difficult to input fine 3D motion. An example in which this point is improved is shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, 50 and 51 are Hall elements, 52 is a magnet, and may be a permanent magnet or an electromagnet. In FIG. 12, when the Hall element 50 is moved closer to or away from the magnet 52, the magnetic field received by the Hall element 50 changes, and the height relative to the magnet 52 can be detected from this. Further, in FIG. 13, when a part of the Hall element 51 is located above the magnet 52, when the ring 32 is rotated around the z axis, the area of the Hall element 51 that overlaps the magnet 52 changes, From this, the rotation angle θ around the z-axis can be detected. Note that the Hall element and the LED may be used together. For example, only the rotation of the ring 32 around the z axis is detected by the LED 36, PSD 40, and slit 39 in FIG. Directional translation may be detected by the Hall element 50 of FIG.

  FIG. 14 shows detection of motion in the x and y directions by the trackball 16. Reference numerals 56 and 57 denote rollers which detect the rotation of the trackball 16 in the x and y directions.

  FIG. 15 shows an auxiliary circuit 60 of the motion commander 2. A motion calculation unit 61 receives motion in the z, θ, φ, and ψ directions from the ring 14, and receives motion in the x and y directions from the trackball 16. For example, the keyboard 20 locks the trackball 16 to disable the input in the x direction and the y direction, locks the ring 14 and disables the four-axis input from the ring. A signal for changing the sensitivity is input. Based on these signals, the motion calculation unit 61 detects coordinate changes of six axes of x, y, z, θ, φ, and ψ by trigonometry. In particular, if the keyboard 20 is provided with a key for invalidating the input of the trackball 16, no trouble will occur even if the trackball 16 is accidentally touched to operate the ring 14.

  In the motion obtained by the trigonometric method, the displacement of the ring 14 and the trackball 16 is proportional to the degree of 3D motion. On the other hand, when the ring 14 or the trackball 16 is slightly operated, the sensitivity is reduced, an error when the trackball 16 or the ring 14 is inadvertently touched is removed, and a fine 3D motion is input. It is preferable to make possible. Further, when the trackball 16 or the ring 14 is operated largely, it is preferable that a large motion can be easily input on the assumption that a large 3D motion is input. When such correction is performed by the γ correction unit 62 and the 3D coordinate is changed by ΔP by trigonometric calculation as shown in FIG. 16, the output is reduced in a region where ΔP is small and the output is increased in a region where ΔP is large. To make it non-linear. The interface 63 outputs the input from the keyboards 20 and 22 and the output from the γ correction unit 62 to the outside. For example, the keyboard 20 has a key for canceling the previous input, and when this key is operated, the fact is output from the interface 63.

  FIG. 17 shows a knit design apparatus 70 using the motion commander 2. Reference numeral 71 is a keyboard, 72 is a color monitor, and 73 is a printer. The knit design unit 80 designs a knit product, particularly clothing, by input from the motion commander 2 or input from the keyboard 71 or the like. The design data of the knit product is converted between the knitting data and the 2D or 3D simulation data by the data conversion unit 81, and the 3D simulation unit 82 puts a 3D image simulating the knit data on a mannequin or the like. In the 3D simulation, it is convenient to be able to change the viewpoint on the color monitor, operate the mannequin, change the posture of the mannequin, etc. with respect to the wearing state of the knit product. This requires input of 3D motion, which is performed by the motion commander 2, and the obtained 3D simulation image is displayed on the color monitor 72 in real time and hard-copied by the printer 73.

In the embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) Since the 2D motion is input with the trackball 16 and the 3D motion other than the 2D motion is input with the ring 14, it is easy to input the 3D motion. In particular, there is no inconvenience when inputting a six-axis motion using only one ring 14.
(2) The trackball 16 is a very suitable tool for inputting motion in the xy directions. In addition, if the four types of movements of the ring 14 in the x direction, the y direction, the push and pull of the ring 14 and the rotation of the ring 14 are made to correspond to the four axis movements of the 3D motion, the four axes can be simply Can input motion.
(3) When operating the motion commander 2, the palm is supported by the palm rest 8, the fingertip is held in the groove 10, and the trackball 16 can be operated from the palm from here. In addition, 3D motion can be easily input by contracting the finger and grasping the ring 14. When the finger is further extended, the keyboard 20 can be operated, and thereby the lock of the trackball 16, cancellation of the previous input, change of sensitivity, etc., which are closely related to the input of the 3D motion, can be input.
(4) Since the depressions 12 are provided on both side surfaces of the lower case 6, the motion commander 2 can be easily held.
(5) Since the upper surface of the trackball 16 protrudes slightly from the upper surface of the upper case 5, the trackball 16 does not obstruct the access to the keyboard 20.

In the embodiment, the knit design apparatus 70 is shown as an application of the motion commander 2, but it can be used for other appropriate CAD, 3D simulation, and the like.

Top view of the motion commander of the embodiment Side view of an example motion commander III-III direction sectional view of the motion commander of the embodiment Bottom view of the motion commander of the example The figure which shows typically the use condition of the motion commander of an Example. Plan view of the main part of the motion commander of the modified example The principal part top view of the motion commander of the 2nd modification Plan view of main part of 3D input unit in motion commander of embodiment The figure which shows typically the detection mechanism of the vertical motion in the motion commander of an Example. The figure which shows typically the detection mechanism of 2D motion in the motion commander of an Example. The figure which shows typically the modification which detects a vertical motion and 2D motion simultaneously. The figure which shows the modification of the detection mechanism of the vertical motion typically The figure which shows the modification of the detection mechanism of 2D motion typically The figure which shows the trackball in an Example typically The figure which shows the motion commander in an Example, and an external incidental circuit The figure which shows the gamma correction in an Example typically Block diagram of a knit design device using the motion commander of the embodiment

Explanation of symbols

2 Motion commander 4 Case 5 Upper case 6 Lower case 8 Palm rest 10 Groove 12 Depression 12a-d Inclined surface 13a-c Flat surface 14 Ring 16 Track ball 18 Peripheral part 20, 22 Keyboard 26 Spring 28 Pin 30 Substrate 32 Ring 34 Pad 35 Hole 36 LED
38, 39 Slit 40 PSD
41 Slit 50, 51 Hall element 52 Magnet 56, 57 Roller 60 Attached circuit 61 Motion calculation unit 62 γ correction unit 63 Interface 70 Knit design device 71 Keyboard 72 Color monitor 73 Printer 80 Knit design unit 81 Data conversion unit 82 3D simulation unit

Claims (8)

A two-dimensional motion input unit is provided on the upper surface of the case, and a ring-shaped input unit for inputting a three-dimensional motion other than the two-dimensional motion is provided so as to surround the input unit. 3D motion input device with lower surrounding case top. The three-dimensional motion input device according to claim 1, wherein a key arrangement is provided around the three-dimensional motion input unit. 3. The three-dimensional motion input device according to claim 2, wherein a groove surrounding the three-dimensional motion input unit is provided between the key arrangement and the three-dimensional motion input unit. The three-dimensional motion input device according to claim 3, wherein the height of the upper surface of the ring of the input portion of the three-dimensional motion is substantially equal to the height of the upper surface of the case around the groove. The three-dimensional motion input device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the two-dimensional motion input unit is a trackball and the top of the ball is made higher than the ring of the three-dimensional motion input unit. The input part of the three-dimensional motion is
Tilting the ring with respect to the upper surface of the housing,
Rotating the ring around an axis perpendicular to the housing,
The three-dimensional motion input device according to claim 5, wherein four-dimensional three-dimensional motion other than the two-dimensional motion is input in response to pulling and pushing the ring from the housing or into the housing. . The three-dimensional motion input device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein a depression is provided in a central lower portion of both side surfaces of the case. The top surface of the case is inclined so that the front end is low and the front end is high, and a palm rest is provided with an inclined surface that cuts the front side of the case from the front end of the case to the top surface of the case. The three-dimensional motion input device according to claim 2, wherein the second key arrangement is provided.

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