JP3398229B2 - Pointing device and information processing device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pointing device and an information processing device. In recent years, many information processing devices such as computers have an operating system with a graphical user interface, and are superior in terms of usability and intelligibility to those having a conventional character-based interface. It is being recognized.

A pointing device such as a mouse, a trackball, a light pen, or a joystick for pointing a position on an arbitrary point on the screen is used as an input means for an information processing apparatus having such a graphical interface. .

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a mouse device has been widely used as a pointing device. However, it is rarely used in a portable or small information processing device such as a notebook computer because it requires an operating space. Without
A device-embedded pointing device is often used. The pointing device of this type is configured such that the exposed portion of the rotary operation body rotatably held in the apparatus from the device surface is rotationally operated, and the rotation angle of the rotary operation body is detected by the encoder section. There is a trackball.

[0004]

On the other hand, in the trackball, the area for operating the rotary operation body is smaller than the surface area of the rotary operation body, and the fingertip is delicate to operate the rotary operation body as desired. It has a drawback that the force is required to be adjusted. In addition, if the size of the rotary operation body is reduced as the apparatus becomes thinner, the operability is further deteriorated. In other words, when a small rotary operation body is used, the amount of rotation operation to the rotary operation body for operating a minute rotation angle is very small, and it is necessary to slightly adjust the force applied to the fingertip. In order to avoid the above, when the amount of point movement on the display surface with respect to the rotation angle is reduced, it is necessary to increase the number of rotational operations of the rotary operation body in order to move the points to distant positions.

The present invention has been made to solve the above drawbacks, and an object of the present invention is to provide a pointing device and an information processing apparatus which have good operability.

[0006]

According to the present invention, the above object is to provide a spherical rotary operating body 10 and an encoder section 30 for detecting the rotational angle of the rotary operating body 10, as shown in FIG.
And the rotary operating body 10 can be operated by pinching two places including a facing portion on the surface of the rotary operating body 10 with fingers.
And a holding body 20 that holds the rotatably in the extended state.
This is achieved by providing a pointing device characterized by the following.

[0007]

In the present invention, the rotary operation body 10 for operation is
The holding body 20 is mounted with its front surface exposed from the front and back surfaces, and enables fine operation by pinching the upper and lower sides of the rotary operation body 10 with a finger. Further, even when the holding body 20 such as the main body of the apparatus or the display unit becomes thin, it is possible to secure a certain size and improve the operability.

[0008]

EXAMPLE FIG. 1 shows an example of the present invention. The example shown is
The information processing device 40 is applied to a portable information processing device such as a laptop computer. The information processing device 40 includes a main body 41 having a keyboard matrix formed on the surface thereof, and a display unit rotatably mounted on the main body 41. And 42.

The display section 42 is formed by covering a display element such as liquid crystal and its drive circuit with a cover body, and the spherical rotary operating body 10 is rotatably mounted with the cover body as a holding body 20. This rotating operation body 1
0 is mounted in a state in which a part of the front and back surfaces of the display unit 42 is exposed. The mounting position of the rotating operation body 10 can be arbitrarily set to a position where it does not interfere with the display surface, but preferably, it is desirable that the upper and lower parts can be easily pinched with a finger.
It is arranged at the peripheral portion of the display unit 42.

Further, the display section 42 has an encoder section 30 for detecting the rotation angle of the rotary operation body 10.
Equipped with. As the encoder unit 30, it is possible to employ various known configurations provided for detecting a rotation angle.

In the above embodiment, the pointing device is incorporated in the display unit 42 side of the information processing apparatus 40, but it may be incorporated in the main body 41 side. It is also possible to configure so that the holding portion can be folded to the main body 41 side.

FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment shows a case where the holding body 20 is configured as a single pointing device without being incorporated in the information processing apparatus 40. The holding body 20 is formed in an elongated rectangular parallelepiped shape in consideration of easy grip, and A click button 43 is arranged on the edge. The rotary operating body 10 is incorporated in the holding body 20 with a part of the front surface exposed from the front and back surfaces of the holding body 20, and the rotary operating body 10 is operated by pinching the rotary operating body 10 with a finger. The rotation angle is detected by the encoder unit 30. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 44 indicates a connection cord for connecting to the device 40.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the holder 2
It is possible to operate by moving a desk or the like like a normal mouse device 40 while holding 0, and it is also possible to perform an operation of pinching the upper and lower sides of the rotary operation body 10 with a finger, which provides versatility of usability. Can be improved.

[0014]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, since it is possible to operate the rotary operation body while sandwiching the facing portion of the rotary operation body with fingers, it is possible to remarkably improve the pointing operability. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing an embodiment of the present invention, (a) is a side view,
(B) is a sectional view of a main part.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention, (a) is an overall perspective view, and (b) is a side view.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Rotating operation body 20 holder 30 Encoder part

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A spherical rotary operation body, an encoder section for detecting a rotation angle of the rotary operation body, and the rotary operation body with two fingers sandwiching a facing portion on a surface of the rotary operation body. pointing device, characterized in that it comprises a holding member which operably in exposed state <br/> rotatably holding the. 2. The pointing device according to claim 1, wherein the two locations are positions on the front and back of the holder. 3. A spherical rotary operation body, an encoder section for detecting a rotation angle of the rotary operation body, and the rotary operation body with fingers sandwiched at two places including a facing portion on a surface of the rotary operation body. An information processing apparatus, comprising: a display unit that is rotatably held in an exposed state so as to be operable. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the two locations are front and back positions of the display section.