JPH07160409A - Pointing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the operability when a pressure sensing type tablet is fitted to a keyboard or remote controller and operated with fingers by forming a projection surface at the center part of the pressure sensing type tablet. CONSTITUTION:A pressure sensing type conductive rubber sheet 25 is sandwiched between electrode sheets 22 and 26 to which resistance bodies 23 and 27 and plural parallel electrodes 24 and 28 connected thereto are fitted, and further sandwiched with insulating sheets 21 and 29 for protection from the outside to constitute multi-layered structure, and all the layers swell hemispherically at their center parts. The parallel electrodes 24 and 28 can easily be manufactured by using the technology of three-dimensional printing. When a pointing device using a projection surface table like this is incorporated in a keyboard, this projection surface tablet is easier in force control than a plane tablet since the thumb is directed sidewards on the assumption that the tablet is operated with the thumb while the hands are put on the home positions.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pointing device for detecting a position pressed by a writing instrument, a finger or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a pointing device using a pressure-sensitive tablet uses a flat tablet. It was built into a keyboard or remote control to operate the cursor and input handwritten characters with writing instruments, fingers, etc. The pressure-sensitive tablet used at that time includes a pressure-sensitive conductive rubber tablet and the like. As a typical example, FIG.
The structure of the pressure-sensitive conductive rubber tablet described in JP-A-56-014383 will be briefly described with reference to FIG. The pressure-sensitive conductive rubber tablet is a pressure-sensitive conductive rubber sheet 15
Is attached to a resistor (13, 17) and a plurality of parallel electrodes (14, 18) connected thereto, and an electrode sheet (12, 1)
6) Scissors, and the insulating sheet for protection (1
1, 19) has a multi-layered structure.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional flat type tablet, when the finger or the like is used to substitute for the mouse or the trackball, the pressing pressure is difficult to be constant and the operability is poor. is there. It is an object of the present invention to provide a pointing device with improved operability when the tablet is attached to a keyboard or a remote controller and operated with a finger.

[0004]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention forms the central portion of a pressure sensitive tablet into a convex surface.

[0005]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a basic configuration diagram of the concave tablet of the present invention. The basic configuration is the same as the conventional example shown in FIG.
The pressure-sensitive conductive rubber sheet 25 is used as a resistor (23, 27).
And a plurality of parallel electrodes (24, 28) connected thereto are sandwiched between electrode sheets (22, 26), and a protective insulating sheet (21, 29) is sandwiched from the outside to have a multilayer structure. What is different from the conventional example is that all layers have a hemispherical bulge in the central part. The parallel electrodes 24 and 28 can be easily manufactured using a three-dimensional printing technique.

The object of the present application can be achieved by using other types of tablets such as dot spacer type tablets.

FIG. 3 is an external view when a pointing device using the convex tablet of the present invention is incorporated in a standard keyboard. The basic operating method (home position) of the keyboard assumes that the "J" key is pressed with the right index finger and the "F" key is pressed with the left index finger. By placing the convex tablet under the "Space" key and operating it with either the left or right thumb, key input is possible without disturbing the operation of other fingers.

In this case, the thumb faces sideways.
As shown in, the direction of the thumb and the direction in which force should be applied to the contact surface of the tablet match, so it is easy to control the amount of force applied.

[0010]

As described above, when the pointing device using the convex tablet of the present invention is incorporated into the keyboard, assuming that the tablet is operated with the thumb while keeping the hand at the home position, the thumb is placed sideways. Since it is facing toward, it is easier to control the force with a convex tablet than with a flat tablet. Further, since the height and the angle are different depending on the contact position of the tablet, there is an effect that the pressing position can be intuitively grasped without looking at it like a trackball. These effects can also be expected when the convex tablet of the present invention is incorporated in a remote controller.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a pointing device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a conventional pressure-sensitive conductive rubber tablet.

FIG. 3 is an external view of the convex tablet of the present invention incorporated into a standard keyboard.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing directions of forces when operating the convex tablet of the present invention and the conventional flat tablet.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11, 19, 21, 29 Protective insulating sheet 12, 16, 22, 26 Electrode sheet 13, 17, 23, 27 Resistor 14, 18, 24, 28 Parallel electrode 15, 25 Pressure-sensitive conductive rubber

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A pointing device characterized in that the central portion of a pressure-sensitive tablet is formed as a convex surface. 2. The pressure-sensitive paper tablet comprises a first protective insulating sheet, a rectangular resistor layer provided on one side of an upper portion of the sheet, and a plurality of one end connected to a long side of the resistor layer. A first electrode sheet provided with a linear electrode, a conductive sheet, and a linear electrode having the same configuration as the first electrode sheet
A pointing device comprising a second electrode sheet provided in a direction orthogonal to the linear electrodes of the electrode sheet and a second protective insulating sheet, which are laminated in this order. 3. The pointing device according to claim 1, wherein the convex surface is spherical.