JPH0854980A - Optical coordinate input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To embody the coordinate input device capable of being used for a portable computer by improving an optical mouse to the compact structure. CONSTITUTION:An optical mouse OPM is made by a flat L-shaped plate 1 and an elastic mounting part 2 formed at the center of the plate 1. An optical fiber introduced from a connection cable 3 is arranged inside the plate 1 and is connected to a light detection part in the X and Y directions formed on the bottom of the plate. On the surface of the plate 1, opening parts 11 and 12 for control are formed. The optical fiber is also connected to the opening parts 11 and 12. An elastic recessed part 21 is formed on the elastic mounting part 2. Then the middle finger can be inserted and held in the part 21. When the index finger and the ring finger are applied to the opening parts 11 and 12 for control which inserting the middle finger into the part 21, the external light is cut and an input signal is sent to the computer.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical coordinate input device, and more particularly to a mouse structure suitable for a portable personal computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a coordinate input device called a mouse as a device for designating a position of a cursor displayed on a screen and performing various operations. This is configured so that the cursor can be moved according to the movement of the mouse by moving the mouse body on a flat surface.The mechanical mouse using a ball that rotates according to the movement of the mouse and the mouse pad There is an optical mouse in which an optical pattern is formed and the moving direction and the moving amount are detected by optically reading the optical pattern.

Of these, the optical mouse has the advantage that it has a simple structure and is easy to obtain in durability and accuracy because the detecting section has no mechanical mechanism. For this optical mouse, it is general to detect the movement amounts in the XY directions by using line patterns formed in different colors and different positions.

[0004]

In the conventional optical mouse described above, a light emitting element for irradiating the optical pattern with light, a lens for collecting light from the optical pattern, and the lens are provided in the mouse body. A photodetector for detecting light through the wiring, a wiring and a signal conversion circuit for connecting the light emitting element and the photodetector to an external signal cable, a switch connected to the operation button, and the switch and an external signal cable. Since many components such as wiring to be connected are housed, downsizing is difficult. Therefore, since a mouse cannot be housed inside a portable computer, which is particularly portable, other coordinate input devices such as a trackball have been used instead of attaching the mouse.

Therefore, the present invention solves the above-mentioned problems. The problem is to improve the conventional optical mouse so that it can be downsized so that the coordinate input can be used in a portable computer. It is to realize the device.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided an optical coordinate input device in which a mouse body is provided with an optical detecting means for detecting coordinate information or movement information from an optical pattern. A light emitting section for irradiating the light supplied from the optical pattern to a predetermined optical pattern, a light collecting section for collecting the light from the optical pattern, and the light emitting section and the light collecting section and the outside of the mouse body. A light guide body that transmits light between the light guide body and a provided signal conversion section, and the signal conversion section is provided with conversion means for mutually converting an optical signal and an electric signal propagating through the light guide body. Is.

In this case, an external operation section is provided on the surface of the mouse body to enable an operation corresponding to a predetermined operation content, and the external operation section has a light guide body connected to the signal conversion section. It is preferable to provide an optical aperture.

Further, it is preferable that the mouse body is provided with a finger holding portion which is constructed so as to be able to fit and hold a finger.

Further, it is preferable that the light guide is an optical fiber.

In this case, it is preferable to integrally form a condensing portion on the end portion of the optical fiber.

[0011]

According to the present invention, since it is sufficient to house the light emitting portion, the light collecting portion and the light guide in the mouse body, the mechanical and electrical operating portions are not required, and the mouse can be made compact and durable. Can be improved.

According to the second aspect, since the same function as that of the conventional operation button can be constructed only by providing the mouse body with the optical opening, the mouse can be further downsized and only the optical opening is blocked. Since it can be operated with, the operability is also improved.

According to the third aspect, by providing the finger holding portion, it is possible to secure operability without hindering downsizing of the mouse.

According to the fourth aspect, by using the optical fiber for the light guide, the parts are inexpensive and the assemblability is improved, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

According to the present invention, by forming the condensing part at the end of the optical fiber, the directivity of the emitted light can be improved and the condensing lens is not required. Can be realized.

[0016]

Embodiments of the optical coordinate input device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a planar L-shaped plate-like body 1 and the plate-like body 1 are provided.
The optical mouse OPM is configured to have an elastic mounting portion 2 configured to insert a middle finger in a substantially central portion thereof. Operation openings 11 and 12 are formed on the left and right surfaces of the plate body 1. The connection cable 3 is led out from the front side of the central portion of the plate-shaped body 1 and is connected to the computer main body.

The elastic mounting portion 2 is formed of an elastic material such as synthetic rubber, and an elastic recess 21 having an opening is formed on the upper surface or slightly rearward thereof. The elastic recess 21 is formed slightly wider so that the tip of the middle finger can be held with a predetermined elasticity. When the middle finger 4 is inserted into this elastic recess 21,
As shown in FIG. 2, the index finger 5 and the ring finger 6 can be arranged on the operation openings 11 and 12, respectively.

The optical mouse OPM is configured to be operated on a mouse pad. On the mouse pad, a plurality of line patterns 8a extending in the X direction are formed in parallel on the front surface side of the transparent substrate 8 made of acrylic or the like shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, and on the back surface side, a plurality of line patterns 8b extending in the Y direction. Are formed in parallel. These line patterns 8a and 8b are adapted to be detected by the photodetectors 7A and 7B formed on the central bottom surface side of the optical mouse OPM.

In the photodetection section 7A shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of through holes 10A, 1 are formed in the bottom plate 10 which constitutes the bottom surface of the plate-shaped body 1.
0B is provided, optical fibers 13 and 14 are inserted into the through holes 10A and 10B, respectively, and the sealing resin 16 and
It is fixed by 17. A condenser lens 15 is attached in the through hole 10B. The optical fiber 13 transmits visible light or infrared light from a computer main body (not shown), and radiates the light from the end surface 13a in the through hole 10A to the bottom surface side. When the radiated light is applied to the line pattern 8b formed on the mouse pad, the reflected light is condensed by the condenser lens 15 and the optical fiber 14 is emitted from the end face 14a.
Be introduced inside.

The photodetector 7B shown in FIG. 4 is also the above photodetector 7B.
A similar to A, and a through hole 10 formed in the bottom plate 10.
Optical fibers 18 and 19 are inserted and fixed in C and 10D, respectively. However, the end face 18a of the optical fiber 18
The light emitted from the light source is condensed by the condenser lens 22 when reflected by the line pattern 8a formed on the surface side of the mouse pad, and is introduced into the optical fiber 19 from the end face 19a. There is. Note that FIG.
And the optical fiber 19 shown in FIG.
For the sake of convenience of explanation, the case of one each is shown, but in order to detect the moving direction, a plurality (usually two) are arranged adjacent to each other in the Y direction and the X direction.

It is also possible to form the end face of the optical fiber shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 into a lens shape or to attach a material having a refractive index different from that of the fiber itself onto the end face. As a result, the directivity of the emitted light is improved on the light emitting side and the condenser lens is not required on the light receiving side, so it is possible to further reduce the size of the mouse and simplify the assembly process while ensuring detection accuracy. You can

FIG. 5 shows the structure near the operation opening 11, and the operation opening 12 also has the same structure. The operation opening 11 is formed by a front surface side opening of a through hole 20A formed in the front plate 20 that forms the surface of the plate-shaped body 1. A transparent window member 24 is attached in the through hole 20A, and the optical fiber 23 is attached to the window member 24 with the end face 23a in contact therewith.
Are fixed by the sealing resin 25.

FIG. 6 shows an optical mouse OP according to this embodiment.
It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view and a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of M. Inside the optical mouse OPM, optical fibers 13, 14A, 14B, 18, 19A, whose ends are fixed to the bottom plate 10,
19B (14A, 14B and 19A, 19B correspond to 14 in FIG. 3 and 19 in FIG. 4, respectively) and optical fibers 23, 26 (26 is the operation opening 12) whose ends are fixed to the front plate 20. Which are attached to the.) And.

Each optical fiber of the above-mentioned optical mouse OPM passes through the inside of the connection cable 3 and is introduced into a signal conversion unit ST including a light emitting element and a light receiving element housed in the computer body as shown in FIG. To be done. Signal converter S
T is a light emitting element LD such as a laser diode or an LED that emits light based on an electric signal from the computer main body to the optical fibers 13 and 18 (light emitting side fiber).
The emitted light is introduced via the condenser lens 27. In addition, the optical fiber 14 (or 14A, 14B), 19 (or 1
9A, 19B), 23, 26 (light receiving side fiber), light introduced through the fiber is converted into an electric signal by a photodiode or other light receiving element PD,
It is designed to be sent to the computer itself.

The signal conversion section ST shown in FIG.
May be housed in the computer body, or may be housed in a box formed separately between the connection cable 3 and the computer body. Further, also in the signal conversion unit ST, the condensing lens may be omitted by forming the condensing unit on the end face of the optical fiber as described above.

In the above embodiment, by detecting the number of the line patterns 8a, 8b of the mouse pad by the photo detectors 7A, 7B, the moving direction and the moving amount of the optical mouse OPM are converted into numerical values on the counter. This is displayed on the screen of a CRT or the like. The details of the method of detecting the moving direction and the moving amount are described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 1-39128, but the outline is as follows: a pair of optical fibers 14A and 14B.
Alternatively, the movement direction is detected by the phase difference generated by the passage order of the line patterns detected by 19A and 19B, and the movement amount is detected by the number of passages of the detected line patterns. The line pattern 8a formed on the front surface side
In some cases, the line pattern 8b may be made semi-transparent or formed in a striped pattern in order to prevent detection error. Also,
It is desirable to form a protective film that protects the line pattern formed on the surface.

When a finger is put on the operation opening 11, the external light introduced into the optical fiber 23 is blocked and the light receiving element P
D does not detect light, and the computer main body recognizes this as a fixed input. When a finger is put on the operation opening 12, the external light introduced into the optical fiber 26 is blocked and the other light receiving element PD does not detect the light, and the computer main body recognizes this as an escape input.

FIG. 8 shows an embodiment different from the above embodiment. The optical mouse SPM of this embodiment is a simplification of the above embodiment and further miniaturization. The connection cable 3 accommodating a plurality of optical fibers includes a main body 30 accommodating a photodetector similar to that of the above-described embodiment, and the main body 30.
And a finger support portion 40 extending upward from the. The finger support portion 40 is made of a resin material having a tubular hole 41 having a slit 41a, and an index finger is inserted into the tubular hole 41 for operation. In this embodiment, an operation opening as a click button is not formed, and for example, a predetermined key (return key,
Use the escape key, etc.) to confirm and escape. Since the finger support portion 40 has a sufficient depth for inserting a finger, it does not necessarily have to be made of an elastic material, but if it is made of a material having some flexibility or elasticity, the wearability and the It is preferable from the viewpoint of operability. Further, the slit 41a of the tubular hole 41 is not necessary if the finger support 40 has sufficient flexibility or elasticity.

According to each of the above-described embodiments, since only the optical fiber is provided in the mouse body, the mouse can be made much smaller than the conventional one and can be easily accommodated in a portable computer or the like. Further, as described above, the configuration of the mouse is extremely simple, and since the signal conversion unit can be housed in the main body or the box body, the manufacturing process can be simplified and the manufacturing cost can be reduced. Furthermore, since the operation button, which was conventionally composed of a mechanical switch and an electrical contact, is composed of a detection unit of only an optical fiber, further miniaturization can be achieved and an operation force is unnecessary, and operability is improved. Further, since the mouse is provided with the elastic mounting portion or the finger support portion for holding the finger, a miniaturized mouse can be configured without deteriorating the operability. Furthermore, the mouse can be further miniaturized by providing the end portion of the optical fiber with a light collecting property.

[0030]

As described above, the present invention has the following effects. According to the first aspect of the present invention, since it is sufficient to house the light emitting part, the light collecting part and the light guide body in the mouse body, the mechanical and electrical operating parts are unnecessary, and the mouse can be miniaturized and the durability can be improved. Can be planned.

According to the second aspect, since the same function as that of the conventional operation button can be configured only by providing the optical opening in the mouse main body, the mouse can be further downsized and only the optical opening is blocked. Since it can be operated with, the operability is also improved.

According to the third aspect, by providing the finger holding portion, operability can be ensured without hindering downsizing of the mouse.

According to the fourth aspect, by using the optical fiber for the light guide, the parts are inexpensive and the assemblability is improved, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

According to the fifth aspect, by forming the condensing portion at the end of the optical fiber, the directivity of the emitted light can be improved and the condensing lens is not required. Can be realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of a mouse body in an embodiment of an optical coordinate input device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a mouse body in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a photodetection section of the mouse body in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a photodetector section of the mouse body in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of the operation opening of the mouse body in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view (a) and a horizontal sectional view (b) showing an overall configuration of a mouse body in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a conceptual configuration of a signal conversion unit in the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of a mouse main body in another embodiment of the optical coordinate input device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 plate-like body 2 elastic mounting part 3 connection cable 7A, 7B light detection part 8 transparent substrate 10 bottom plate 11, 12 opening for operation 13, 14, 14A, 14B, 18, 19, 19A, 1
9B, 23, 26 Optical fiber 30 Main body 40 Finger support

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An optical coordinate input device having an optical detection means for detecting coordinate information or movement information from an optical pattern in a mouse body, wherein the optical detection means is configured to detect light supplied from the outside in a predetermined manner. A light emitting unit for irradiating the optical pattern, a light collecting unit for collecting light from the optical pattern, a light emitting unit and a light collecting unit, and a signal conversion unit provided outside the mouse body. A light guide for transmitting light between the light guides, and the signal converter is provided with conversion means for mutually converting an optical signal and an electric signal propagating through the light guide. Input device. 2. The mouse according to claim 1, wherein an external operation section that enables an operation corresponding to a predetermined operation content is provided on the surface of the mouse body, and the external operation section is connected to the signal conversion section. An optical coordinate input device characterized in that an optical aperture of a light body is provided. 3. The optical coordinate input device according to claim 1, wherein the mouse body is provided with a finger holding portion configured to be capable of holding a finger by being fitted therein. 4. The optical coordinate input device according to claim 1, wherein the light guide is an optical fiber. 5. The optical coordinate input device according to claim 4, wherein a converging portion is integrally formed at an end portion of the optical fiber.