JP4123680B2 - Electronics - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electronic device capable of performing a cursor movement operation on a display screen, which is a display device of the electronic device, with a mouse device serving as an input device .
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, electronic devices have become more sophisticated and software has been diversified, and there has been a tendency to display a large number of selection items on the display device of the electronic device, and the cursor movement on the display screen that is the display device has been operated. In order to respond to this improvement, mouse devices having menu selection dials are often used.
[0003]
Such a conventional mouse device and an electronic apparatus using the same will be described with reference to FIGS.
[0004]
FIG. 3A is a perspective view of a conventional mouse device, and FIG. 3B is a bottom view thereof.
[0005]
In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a main body portion of the mouse device, and a pair of pressing operation button portions 2 are disposed on the front portion of the upper surface thereof.
[0006]
At the center position of the pressing operation button portion 2, a narrow disk-shaped dial 3 that can be rotated is arranged so that the upper end portion 3A is positioned above the pressing operation button portion 2. Yes.
[0007]
On the other hand, as shown in the bottom view of FIG. 3B, a coordinate position detection ball 4 is disposed on the bottom of the mouse device.
[0008]
The ball 4 is configured to rotate when the entire mouse device is moved while holding the main body 1, and the rotation information such as the rotation amount and the rotation direction of the ball 4 at that time is the inside of the main body 1. The detected information is transmitted to a cable 5 disposed at the front end of the main body 1.
[0009]
The main body 1 also includes a second detector (not shown), which detects the amount and direction of rotation of the dial 3 described above when rotating, and the detection information is as described above. It is transmitted to the cable 5 in the same manner as in FIG.
[0010]
Further, a signal generated when each of the pair of pressing operation button portions 2 is pressed is also transmitted to the cable 5.
[0011]
A mouse device having a conventional menu selection dial 3 configured as described above is normally connected to an electronic device 13 having a display device 11 and an operation unit 12 as shown in FIG.
[0012]
Next, the operation of the electronic device 13 will be described, including how to use a conventional mouse device.
[0013]
First, in a state where the first cursor 14 is displayed on the display device 11 of the electronic device 13 shown in FIG. 4, the whole mouse device is moved in a predetermined direction by holding the main body 1 of the mouse device.
[0014]
Accordingly, the ball 4 arranged on the bottom of the mouse device rotates in the predetermined direction, and the rotation information is detected by the first detection unit and transmitted to the electronic device 13 via the cable 5. 13 moves the position of the first cursor 14 in the display screen in a direction corresponding to the moving direction of the mouse device based on the information (see FIG. 5).
[0015]
When the first cursor 14 is positioned at a predetermined menu selection position 15 on the display screen, when one of the pressing operation button portions 2 of the mouse device is pressed, a signal associated therewith is transmitted to the electronic device 13 via the cable 5. As shown in FIG. 6, the menu 16 in which selection items such as a plurality of stored data or icons are arranged in a predetermined planar arrangement state is opened on the display screen.
[0016]
In this state, when the dial 3 of the mouse device is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 3A, the rotation information detected by the second detector is transmitted from the mouse device to the electronic device 13, The second cursor 17 displayed on the screen moves up and down.
[0017]
Then, after the second cursor 17 is set at a predetermined item position, the other selected button 2 of the mouse device is pressed to confirm the item selected by the second cursor 17.
[0018]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the conventional mouse device and the electronic apparatus using the same, when the predetermined items are linearly arranged in a line on the display screen, the second cursor 17 can be easily moved. When it is necessary to select a predetermined item by moving the second cursor 17 in the menu 16 arranged in a planar multi-row, etc., the dial 3 is rotated many times to move the second cursor 17 Therefore, it is necessary to move to the uppermost or lowermost row of the displayed row and further rotate the dial 3 to move to the next row, and improvement in operability at this time is desired.
[0019]
The present invention solves such a conventional problem, and provides an electronic device excellent in operability that can quickly select a desired item even in a menu arranged in a planar multi-row or the like. For the purpose.
[0020]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following configuration.
[0021]
According to a first aspect of the present invention, a ball for detecting coordinate positions on the bottom, further to the outer circumferential surface other than the bottom portion, the rotational operable spherical operating body moderation feeling is obtained at the time of rotation operation A mouse device serving as an input device provided, and a display device that displays a predetermined display in response to an input operation on the mouse device, and responding to item selection by operating a first cursor displayed on the display device The second cursor is displayed in the displayed menu, and the second cursor is moved in the left and right and up and down directions corresponding to the X and Y directions according to the rotation operation in the X and Y directions with respect to the spherical operation body. The electronic device is configured as described above. According to this, even when a desired item is selected from a menu arranged in a planar multi-row or the like, the spherical operation body is rotated with one finger without greatly moving the finger, The second cursor displayed in the menu can be easily moved in a direction orthogonal to each other so that the desired item can be quickly selected and obtained from the spherical operating body. it is possible to easily recognize the operation amount of the spherical operating body by the click feeling during operation is, for the accompanying spherical operating body occurrence of the moderation in a stopped state, the second cursor is reliably stopped for the selected item It has an effect that an electronic device with few erroneous operations can be realized.
[0022]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the desired item selected by the second cursor is determined or confirmed by the pressing operation of the spherical operating body of the mouse device. In addition to the operation according to the invention described in 1, the determination or determination of a desired item selected by the second cursor is performed by pressing the spherical operating body , so that the operation can be further improved. Have.
[0026]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
[0027]
In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the part of the structure same as the structure demonstrated in the term of the prior art, and detailed description is abbreviate | omitted.
[0028]
(Embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a mouse device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 21 denotes a main body of the mouse device. A ball (not shown) for detecting the coordinate position is arranged on the bottom.
[0029]
This coordinate position detection ball is the same as that of the prior art, and rotates when the entire mouse device is moved while holding the main body 21, and the rotation amount, rotation direction, etc. The detection information is detected by a first detection unit (not shown) built in 21, and the detection information is transmitted to a cable 23 disposed at the front end of the main body 21.
[0030]
A signal generated when each of the pair of pressing operation button portions 22 is pressed is also transmitted to the cable 23.
[0031]
According to the present embodiment, in addition to the above-described configuration, a spherical operation body 24 that can be rotated is arranged on the upper surface portion, which is a portion other than the bottom portion of the main body portion 21, with its upper end protruding by a predetermined amount. It has become.
[0032]
The spherical operation body 24 can be rotated in all directions, and can provide a sense of moderation when rotated at least in the Y direction and the X direction that are orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the main body 21. Is mounted in the main body 21, and a second detection unit (not shown) capable of detecting the rotation amount and rotation direction of the spherical operating body 24 is built in, and the detection information is the same as above. 23 can be transmitted.
[0033]
Since the spherical operation body 24 can be rotated in all directions, a sense of moderation may be obtained even if the spherical operation body 24 is rotated in any direction other than the X and Y directions.
[0034]
Further, the spherical operating body 24 does not move downward by a downward pressing force that is slightly applied during the rotating operation, but the spherical operating body 24 is moved downward when a larger downward pressing operation force is applied. And a predetermined signal is generated, and this signal is also transmitted to the cable 23.
[0035]
The mouse device according to the present embodiment configured as described above is used by being connected to an electronic device 33 having a display device 31, an operation unit 32, and the like, as shown in FIG.
[0036]
Next, the operation of the electronic device 33 will be described, including how to use the mouse device according to the present embodiment.
[0037]
First, as in the prior art, the main body portion 21 of the mouse device according to the present embodiment is held and the entire mouse device is moved in a predetermined direction, whereby the ball at the bottom of the mouse device is rotated and detected by the first detection unit. The predetermined signal is transmitted to the electronic device 33 via the cable 23, the position of the first cursor 14 in the display screen is moved in a direction corresponding to the moving direction of the mouse device, and the first cursor 14 is displayed on the displayed menu. Align with selection position 15.
[0038]
Subsequently, one of the pressing buttons 22 of the mouse device is pressed, and a predetermined signal obtained thereby is transmitted to the electronic device 33 via the cable 23, so that the plurality of selection items are in a predetermined planar arrangement state. Opening the arranged menu 16 in the display screen is the same as that of the prior art.
[0039]
In this state, when the spherical operation body 24 is rotated in the X direction or the Y direction described above, the rotation information detected by the second detection unit is transmitted to the electronic device 33 via the cable 23 and displayed in the menu 16. The second cursor 17 thus moved moves in the left and right and up and down directions corresponding to the X and Y directions.
[0040]
In other words, even when the column on which the second cursor 17 is displayed and the column of the desired item are in different columns, the positions of both can be quickly adjusted with only a few finger movement operations.
[0041]
In the electronic device 33, the first cursor 14 is assigned to the ball of the mouse device, and the second cursor 17 displayed in the opened menu 16 is the same as the first cursor 14 when the spherical operation body 24 is rotated. Since they move independently, the second cursor 17 can be operated immediately and efficiently, and work efficiency can be easily improved.
[0042]
In addition, since this spherical operating body 24 can obtain a predetermined moderation feeling at the time of a rotation operation in at least the X direction or the Y direction, the movement amount of the second cursor 17 and the operation direction thereof can be easily determined by the moderation feeling. Preferably, the movement amount can be most easily recognized by setting so as to obtain a one-time moderation feel when moving between adjacent items.
[0043]
As the moderation feeling is generated, the spherical operation body 24 is stopped, so that the second cursor 17 can be reliably stopped for the selected item, and erroneous operations can be easily reduced.
[0044]
As described above, the spherical operation body 24 is rotated to align the desired item with the position of the second cursor 17, and then the spherical operation body 24 is pressed, and a predetermined signal associated therewith is transmitted via the cable 23 to the electronic device. The electronic device 33 determines a desired item based on the signal.
[0045]
Note that, as a configuration for generating a signal when the spherical operation body 24 is pressed, a pressing operation type electronic component having a function of generating a predetermined signal by being pressed, such as a switch or a pressure sensitive element, is used as the spherical operation body 24. What is necessary is just to arrange | position so that it may be pressed in conjunction with the downward movement of.
[0046]
As described above, the electronic apparatus 33 using the mouse device according to the present embodiment can select one item from a menu arranged in a planar multiple row without moving the finger greatly. The spherical operation body 24 is rotated or pressed with a finger to provide a good operability that allows a desired item to be quickly selected and determined.
[0047]
In addition to the above usage method, for example, the rotation and pressing operation of the spherical operation body 24, that is, the selection and determination operations are repeatedly performed on a menu configured by overlapping a plurality of layers, and the deepest layer When the signal by the pressing operation is obtained, what is selected may be determined.
[0048]
In addition, when it is desired to confirm what is selected at that time in an intermediate hierarchy, it may be confirmed by pressing twice continuously (so-called double click).
[0049]
Further, since the spherical operating body 24 can be rotated while maintaining the pressed state, a signal in this state may be assigned to a predetermined function.
[0050]
For example, it is possible to easily add a function of recognizing and moving a predetermined character group displayed, which is often used when composing a sentence in the above state, a so-called drag function.
[0051]
Furthermore, the operation mode of the electronic apparatus using the mouse device of the present invention is not limited to the one described above, and may be other than the above.
[0052]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, in the electronic device according to the present invention , the ball for detecting the coordinate position is arranged on the bottom, and the spherical operation body that can be rotated is provided on the outer peripheral surface other than the bottom so that a feeling of moderation can be obtained during the rotation. A mouse device as an input device, and a display device that displays a predetermined display in response to an input operation on the mouse device, and displays in response to an item selected by an operation of a first cursor displayed on the display device. A second cursor is displayed in the displayed menu, and the second cursor is moved in the left and right and up and down directions corresponding to the X and Y directions according to the rotation operation in the X and Y directions with respect to the spherical operation body. Therefore, it can be realized to have a good operability so that a desired item can be quickly selected from a menu arranged in a planar multiple row or the like . In addition, if the selection and determination of the desired item selected with the second cursor is performed by pressing the spherical operating body, the selection, determination, or determination will be included, and the operability will be improved. it can.
[Brief description of the drawings]
1 is a perspective view of a mouse device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an electronic device using the mouse device. FIG. 3A is a perspective view of a conventional mouse device. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an electronic apparatus using the conventional mouse device shown in FIG. 3, and shows a state in which predetermined selection items are displayed on the display device. FIG. The figure which shows the state operated [Figure 6] The figure which shows the state operated using the same mouse device [Explanation of numerals]
14 First cursor 15 Menu selection position 16 Menu 17 Second cursor 21 Main unit 22 Press operation button unit 23 Cable 24 Spherical operation body 31 Display device 32 Operation unit 33 Electronic device

Claims (2)

The balls for detecting the coordinate position at the bottom further includes a mouse device comprising as its also the outer peripheral surface other than the bottom, the rotation operable spherical operating body moderation feeling is obtained at the time of rotation operation is provided an input device, the Provided with a display device that displays a predetermined display in response to an input operation on a mouse device, and a second cursor is displayed in a menu displayed in response to an item selection by operating the first cursor displayed on the display device An electronic apparatus configured to move the second cursor in the left and right and up and down directions corresponding to the X and Y directions in response to a rotation operation in the X and Y directions with respect to the spherical operation body . The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the desired item selected by the second cursor is determined or confirmed by a pressing operation of the spherical operating body of the mouse device .

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