JPH0436794A - Cursor control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily execute pointing operation and to improve operation efficiency by determining the insulating variable of an indicating position and the moving direction of a cursor by the operation of a position indicating mechanism and finding out the moving variable of the cursor on a display. CONSTITUTION:When the position indicating mechanism 1 is operated and an indicating position is changed at prescribed time, X and Y direction variable calculating circuits 6, 7 respectively calculate X and Y direction variables. An insulating variable calculating circuit 8 calculates an insulating variable based upon the calculated variable and a moving direction determining circuit 9 determines the moving direction. A cursor moving variable calculating circuit 10 calculates X and Y direction moving variables based upon the insulating variable and the moving direction and sends the calculates moving variables to a display control part. Consequently, the cursor on the display is moved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a device for controlling movement of a cursor on a display.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, when moving a cursor on a display, it was done by operating a mouse on a desk or a special board and inputting the amount of change in the indicated position with respect to two orthogonal coordinate axes, or by using a keyboard to move a cursor on a display. By operating the cursor keys and inputting the amount of change in the indicated position in the row direction (horizontal direction) or column direction (vertical direction), the cursor can be moved in the direction and amount corresponding to the direction and amount of change. was.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) With the above-mentioned mouse, the cursor on the display can be moved in all directions 360 degrees, allowing a user who is proficient in the operation to move the cursor to a desired position. Although it is easy to move it (hereinafter referred to as pointing), it has the disadvantage that pointing is difficult for users who are inexperienced with operations. In contrast, with cursor keys, the movement direction of the cursor on the display is limited to two directions (four directions): rows or columns (horizontal or vertical), so pointing is not difficult. However, the disadvantage is that the operation efficiency is usually low because the moving speed of the cursor is constant and it is necessary to wait for the cursor to finish moving in order to determine the amount of movement.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cursor control device that facilitates pointing and is highly efficient in operation.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a position pointing mechanism capable of pointing a position with respect to at least two coordinate axes, and an amount of change in the pointed position with respect to each coordinate axis in the position pointing mechanism. means for determining the absolute amount of change in the indicated position based on each of the amounts of change; and determining the movement direction of the cursor on the display to be one of a plurality of preset directions based on each of the amounts of change. 1. A cursor control device is proposed that includes means for determining the amount of movement of a cursor on a display based on the absolute amount of change and the direction of movement of the cursor.

(Function) According to the present invention, when the position indicating mechanism is operated, the amount of change in the indicated position with respect to each coordinate axis is determined, and the absolute amount of change in the indicated position and the moving direction of the cursor are determined based on this amount of change. , and based on these, the amount of movement of the cursor on the display is determined.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the cursor control device of the present invention, in which 1 is a position pointing mechanism, 2 is an X direction conversion circuit,
3 is a Y direction conversion circuit, 4.5 is an analog/digital (
6 is an X direction change amount calculation circuit, 7 is a Y direction change amount calculation circuit, 8 is an absolute change amount calculation circuit, 9 is a movement direction determination circuit, and 10 is a cursor movement amount calculation circuit.

The position pointing mechanism 1 is a mouse, a trackball, a joystick, or the like, and is capable of pointing a position in at least two coordinate axes, here an X direction and a Y direction. The X direction conversion circuit 2 and the Y direction conversion circuit 3 convert the indicated positions in the X direction and Y direction in the position pointing mechanism 1, respectively, into analog signals. A/D converters 4 and 5 convert analog signals output from the X-direction conversion circuit 2 and Y-direction conversion circuit 3 into digital signals, respectively.

The X-direction change amount calculation circuit 6 and the Y-direction change amount calculation circuit 7 calculate the amount of change in the indicated position in the position pointing mechanism 1 in the X direction and the Y direction from the output digital signals of the A/D converters 4 and 5, respectively. The absolute change calculation circuit 8 calculates the absolute value (
absolute change). The moving direction determining circuit 9
Based on the amount of change in the direction and Y direction, the moving direction of the cursor on the display (not shown) is determined to be one of a plurality of preset directions, in this case eight directions at every π/4 as shown in FIG. do. The cursor movement amount calculation circuit 10 calculates the amount of movement of the cursor on the display in the X direction and Y direction based on the absolute change amount and the movement direction of the cursor,
Send it to the display control section.

Next, the operation of the device will be explained in detail.

The positions x (t) and y (t) in the X direction and Y direction at time t detected by the position indicating mechanism 1 are determined by the conversion circuit 2
and 3 into analog signals, and further into A/D converters 4 and 5 into digital signals.

The X-direction variation calculation circuit 6 continuously inputs the position It x (t) based on the digital signal, and calculates the variation d x (t) of the indicated position in the X direction at time t using the following equation (1). calculate.

dx(t)-x(t)-x (-Δt) ---
--- (1) However, Δt is a minute time.

Similarly, the Y-direction change calculation circuit 7 continuously inputs the position fty(t) based on the digital signal, and calculates the value at time t.
The amount of change in the indicated position in the Y direction d y (t
) is calculated using the following formula (2).

dy(t)=y(t)-y(t-Δt)...
(2) Also, the absolute change amount calculation circuit 8 calculates the amount of change d
Input x (t) and d y (t), and calculate the absolute change amount dr (t) at time t using equation (3) below.

d r(t)-(dx2(t)+dy2(t))""・
(3) The moving direction determination circuit 9 inputs the above-mentioned changes d x (t) and d y (t), and calculates the moving direction θ(1) of the cursor at time t from the following equation (4). It is determined according to the conditions of equation (16). That is, when dx(t)-0, if dy(t)>0, θ(1)-π/2...
(4) If dy(t)<0, θ(t)-1π/2...
...(5) When dx(t)>O, d y (t) / d x (t) <tan(-3
π/8) then θ(1) −1π/2...(6
)tan(-3π/8)≦dy(t)/dx(t)<t
an(-π/8) then θ(t)--π/4...(7) tan(
−yr /8)≦dy(t)/dx(t)<tan(π
/8) Then θ(t)−0・・・・・・(8)jan(y/l
)≦d)'(t)/dx(t)<tan(3π/8) then θ(1)−π/4 ・・・・・・(9) jan(
If 8z/8)≦dy(t)/dx(t) then θ(1)
-=-π/2 ......(lO) When dx(t)<0, d y (t) / d x (t) > tan(-
5r/8') then θ(t)--π/2...
・(11) jan(-5π/8)≧d)'(t)/dx
(t)> tan(-7π/If phantom, θ(t) −-3π/4...(12)j
If an(-7x/8)≧dy(t)/dx(t)>0, then θ(1)-π...(18)dy(
t) / d
z/8)≦dy(t)/dx(t)<tan(7π/8
) then θ(t) -3π/4...(15)ta
If n(7z/8)≧dy(t)/dx(t)≦0, θ(1)−π (16) In addition, in the cursor movement amount calculation circuit 10, the absolute change amount d r (t
) and the moving direction θ(1) of the cursor, and calculate the moving amounts Δc x (t) and Δc y (t) of the cursor on the display in the X and Y directions at time t as shown below (
17) and (18), and sends it to the display control section.

Δcx(t)−8*dr(t)*cosθ(1)...
...(17) ΔCy(t)sIISlldr(t) ・Slnθ(1
)...(18) However, S is an arbitrary value indicating input sensitivity.

Next, a specific example of the operation of the device will be described with reference to FIG. 3.

Assume that the position pointing mechanism 1 is operated and the pointed position is changed as shown by an arrow 11 at time tl. At this time, the X direction change amount calculation circuit 6 and the Y direction change amount calculation circuit 7 perform (1)
and (2), the X direction and Y direction as shown in FIG.
The amount of change in direction d x (tl) and dy (tl) are calculated. Further, the absolute change amount calculation circuit 8 calculates the amount of change d
Based on x (tl) and d 3F (tl) (3)
According to the formula, the absolute change amount d r corresponding to the length of the arrow 11
(tl), and the moving direction determining circuit 9 calculates (4)
~ (18) formula determines the movement direction, here d
Since y (tl)/d x (tl) is between π/8 and 3π/8 as shown in Figure 3, θ(tl
)−π/4. Further, the cursor movement amount calculation circuit 10 calculates the X direction and Y direction as shown in FIG. Directional movement amount Δ
Calculate c x (tl) and ΔCY (tl), where S-1 is used. ), and sends it to the display control section. Thus, the cursor on the display moves as indicated by arrow 12.

Note that in the above embodiment, the position indicating mechanism is
Although one that corresponds to two coordinate axes in the direction was used, one that corresponds to three or more coordinate axes may be used. Further, the moving direction of the cursor on the display is not limited to eight directions, but may be any number such as two directions, four directions, 16 directions, etc.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the present invention, a position indicating mechanism capable of specifying a position with respect to at least two coordinate axes, such as a mouse, is used to preliminarily adjust the size according to the amount of the operation. The cursor can be moved in any of a plurality of preset directions, and even users who are inexperienced with operations can easily point at it, and the operation can be performed efficiently.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the cursor control device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a preset movement direction, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a specific operation of the present invention. It is an explanatory diagram. 1... Position indication mechanism, 2... X direction conversion circuit, 3.
...Y direction conversion circuit, 4.5...A/D converter,
6...X direction change amount calculation circuit, 7...Y direction change amount calculation circuit, 8...Absolute change amount calculation circuit, 9...Movement direction determination circuit, 10...Cursor movement amount calculation circuit . Patent Applicant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation Agent Patent Attorney Yoshi 1) Sei Takashi Diagram 2 showing an example of movement direction An example of a specific movement? Figure 113

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A position pointing mechanism operable to point to a position with respect to at least two coordinate axes; means for determining an amount of change in a pointed position with respect to each coordinate axis in the position pointing mechanism; and a pointing position based on each of the amounts of change. means for determining the absolute amount of change in the amount of change; means for determining the movement direction of the cursor on the display in one of a plurality of preset directions based on each of the amounts of change; and the amount of absolute change and the direction of movement of the cursor. A cursor control device comprising means for determining the amount of movement of a cursor on a display based on.