JPH09244801A - Pressure detection type pointing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make a pointing device inexpensive and to improve operability by arranging a manipulator rocking with a rocking point as a center on an axial line passing through the dividing center of plural piezoelectric elements arranged while being equally devided on a substrate, in contact with the pressurizing plane of the piezoelectric elements. SOLUTION: A manipulator 10 rocking with a rocking point B as a center on an axial line 13 passing through a dividing center D of plural piezoelectric elements arranged while being equally devided on a circuit board 8, is arranged in contact with the pressurizing plane of the piezoelectric elements 9. Then, when pressure is applied to a finger operating part 18 in the direction of the axial line 13, the pressure of the manipulator 10 supported by a ball bearing 17 is not transmitted to the pressurizing plane 12 of the piezoelectric elements 9. When a finger is shifted from the axial line 13 to any prescribed direction while pressing an operating plane 24, a stem 16 is inclined with the rocking point B as a center with the rotation of the ball bearing 17, and a pressing part 14 arranged under the inclined side of a supporting plate presses the pressurizing plane 12 of the prescribed pizeoelectric element 9. Then, the moving speed of a cursor is changed based on the voltage of the piezoelectric element 9 outputted corresponding to the inclination of the operating plane 24.

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 specifying a moving amount and a moving direction of a cursor on a display screen, and more particularly to a pressing force detection type pointing device for specifying a cursor by detecting pressing force. It is a thing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional pointing device is, for example, a mouse. The mouse specifies the amount and direction of movement of the cursor on the display screen. A ball is provided at the center of the bottom and a rotary encoder is provided inside. Then, when the mouse is moved while the ball is in contact with the desk, the ball rotates, and a signal is output from the rotary encoder according to the rotation of the ball, and the moving amount and the moving direction of the cursor are specified by this signal. . The mouse basically moves the cursor to a predetermined position on the display screen by moving the hand in a certain direction with the ball in contact with the desk or the like.

[0003]

However, since the mouse described above is composed of several parts,
There was a problem of becoming expensive. Also, when operating the mouse, the hand holding the mouse must be moved faster or slower when adjusting the moving speed of the cursor, and when moving the cursor frequently Was required to move to. For this reason,
There was a problem that the operability was not good.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 6-274267 and 6-274268 disclose a structure in which piezoelectric elements are divided into a plurality of parts and arranged in a circle, and each piezoelectric element is provided with a protrusion. There is. Therefore, the technology disclosed in these publications is a Braille input device for a blind person that can be operated even by a person who is blind, by directly touching each protrusion with a finger, and the technical idea and idea of the present invention are different. To do.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a pressing force detection type pointing device which is inexpensive and can improve operability.

[0006]

A pressing force detection type pointing device according to the present invention is a pointing device for specifying a moving amount and a moving direction of a cursor on a display screen, and the pointing device is equally divided into a plurality and arranged on a substrate. At the same time, a plurality of piezoelectric elements that output a linear voltage according to the pressing force are arranged in contact with the pressing surface of the piezoelectric element, and centered on a swing point located on the axis passing through the division center of the piezoelectric element. It is characterized by having an operating body that swings.

For example, while applying a pressing force to the operating body with a finger,
When the operating body is swung around the swing point, the pressing force is transmitted to the equally divided pressing surface of the piezoelectric element through the operating body.
The piezoelectric element outputs a linear voltage according to the pressing force, and the moving speed of the cursor on the display screen can be changed based on this output voltage.

Further, the operating body is divided according to the number of divisions of each piezoelectric element, and from the center of the pressing portion that abuts the pressing surface of each piezoelectric element and the support plate that connects and fixes each pressing portion. A ball bearing that is fixed to the outwardly extending stem and is provided at a position including the swing point, and a finger that is fixed to the outside of the ball bearing and that has a flat operation surface on which the finger is placed. The operation unit is provided.

In the operation body having the above structure, when a finger is placed on a predetermined portion of the flat operation surface of the finger operation portion to apply a pressing force, the operation surface swings around a swing point created by the ball bearing. . Then, this pressing force is transmitted to the stem and the supporting plate, and the force is transmitted to the pressing surface of the piezoelectric element via the pressing portion of the supporting plate. At this time, since the pressing portion is divided corresponding to the number of divisions of the piezoelectric element, when the pressing force is transmitted to the predetermined pressing portion, this pressing force is surely transmitted to the piezoelectric element corresponding to the pressing portion. The piezoelectric element outputs a voltage according to the pressing force, and the moving speed of the cursor on the display screen can be changed based on the output voltage.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of a pressing force detection type pointing device according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a so-called laptop computer. The computer 1 includes a plate-shaped computer main body 2 serving as a base, and the computer main body 2 is provided with a key array unit 3 for inputting characters and the like. A panel 4 is attached to the computer main body 2 so as to be openable and closable, and a liquid crystal display 5 is provided on the panel 4. The liquid crystal display 5 displays the cursor 6 when it is in a displayable state. In order to move the cursor 6 freely, a pressing force detection type pointing device 7 is provided on the front side of the key array portion 3. As shown in FIG. 2, the pointing device 7 is embedded in a cylindrical cavity 11 formed in the computer main body 2, and a part of the pointing device 7 projects outside the computer main body 2.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a circuit board 8 is fixed to the bottom surface of the cavity 11, and a piezoelectric element 9 is arranged in a disk shape on the circuit board 8 and is divided into a plurality of parts. , For example, divided into four and arranged. The piezoelectric elements 9 are spaced apart from each other, and a flat pressing surface 12 is provided on the upper surface of each piezoelectric element 9. Therefore, when a pressing force is applied to the pressure surface 12, as shown in FIG.
Outputs a linear voltage corresponding to the pressing force in cooperation with the circuit board 8. Further, the moving speed of the cursor 6 is changed based on the output from the circuit board 8. Therefore, when the pressing force on the piezoelectric element 9 is increased, the moving speed of the cursor 6 increases, and when the pressing force on the piezoelectric element 9 is decreased, the moving speed of the cursor 6 decreases.

The piezoelectric element 9 is preferably made of either a plastic material or a composite material containing a plastic material. When such a piezoelectric element 9 is compared with a piezoelectric element made of a ceramic material, the piezoelectric element 9 made of plastic is used.
Since the output voltage per unit pressing force is large, the pointing device 7 can be made even more sensitive.
Moreover, since the piezoelectric element 9 made of plastic is excellent in impact resistance, the life can be extended.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, the operating body 10 has a plurality of pressing portions 14 arranged in contact with the pressing surface 12 of the piezoelectric element 9 and a disc-like shape for connecting and fixing the pressing portions 14. The support plate 15, a cylindrical stem 16 extending upward from the center of the support plate 15 along the axis line 13, a ball bearing 17 supporting the stem 16, and a finger fixed to the upper end of the stem 16 for placing a finger. The disk-shaped finger operating portion 18 to be obtained is provided, and the pressing portion 14, the support plate 15, and the stem 16 are integrally formed of resin or the like. Further, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the operating body 10 is arranged symmetrically with respect to an axis 13 extending directly above the division center D of the divided piezoelectric element 9. Therefore, when the operating body 10 is tilted by the same degree from the axis line 13, the same degree of pressing force can be applied to the pressing surface 12 of each piezoelectric element 9 in any direction.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, each pressing portion 14
Is formed into a thin disk shape, and its end face is flat, and is in close contact with the flat pressing surface 12 of the piezoelectric element 9. Therefore, the pressing force applied to the pressing portion 14 can be reliably transmitted to the pressing surface 12. Further, the number of pressing portions 14 corresponds to the number of divisions of each piezoelectric element 9, and each pressing portion 14 is placed at the center of each pressing surface 12.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, the ball bearing 17 comprises a ball portion 20 fixed to the stem 16 and a ball receiving portion 22 for supporting the ball portion 20, and the ball receiving portion 22 is a computer. It is fixed to an upper wall 2a forming an upper part of the cavity 11 in the main body 2. Then, the ball portion 20 and the ball receiving portion 22 are in a spherical pair relationship with each other. For this reason, the stem 16 of the operating body 10 is supported around the swing point B which is the center of curvature of the ball portion 21, and swings like a squirrel motion.
Further, the operating body 10 is configured so as not to rotate in the circumferential direction about the axis 13.

As shown in FIG. 5, the upper end portion 2 of the ball bearing 17 is
The finger operation portion 18 fixed to the stem 16 so as to abut on the finger 3 has a flat operation surface 24 on which a finger is placed, and the inclination of the operation surface 24 is provided on the surface of the computer main body 2. It is regulated by a protruding stopper 25 (see FIG. 2).

Next, the operation will be described based on the configuration of the pressing force detection type pointing device described above.

First, as shown in FIG. 2, a finger is placed on the flat operation surface 24 of the finger operation unit 18. At this time, the pad of the finger is positioned on the axis 13. When the finger is pressed right down so as to transmit the pressing force along the direction of the axis 13, the pressing force of the operating body 10 supported by the ball bearing 17 is not transmitted to the pressing surface 12 of the piezoelectric element 9. Next, while pushing the operation surface 24 with a finger, the finger is displaced in a predetermined direction from the axis line 13, the stem 16 is tilted about the swing point B and the support plate 15 is tilted as the ball bearing 17 is rotated. . And the support plate 1
Since the pressing portion 14 arranged below the inclined side of 5 presses the pressing surface 12 of the predetermined piezoelectric element 9, the operation surface 24 is inclined by a predetermined angle due to the elasticity of the piezoelectric element 9. Then, depending on the inclination of the operation surface 24, the pressing surface 1 of the piezoelectric element 9
A large pressing force is applied to 2. At this time, the moving speed of the cursor 6 changes based on the voltage output from the piezoelectric element 9. That is, the moving speed of the cursor 6 can be increased by applying a larger force to the piezoelectric element 9 while tilting the finger operation unit 18.

The pressing force detection type pointing device of the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above.
For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the piezoelectric elements 26 arranged in two may be used. In this case, the number of pressing portions 27 is also two corresponding to the number of divisions of the piezoelectric element 26. The reason why the piezoelectric elements 9 and 26 are equally divided and arranged in this way is to specify the moving direction of the cursor 6. Therefore, the number of divisions may be increased if necessary.

The operating body 10 may have any shape or structure as long as it swings around the swing point B.

[0022]

Since the pressing force detection type pointing device according to the present invention is configured as described above, the following effects can be obtained.

That is, the pointing device is equally divided into a plurality of elements on the substrate and arranged, and is arranged in contact with a plurality of piezoelectric elements that output a linear voltage according to the pressing force and the pressing surface of the piezoelectric elements. By the configuration including the operating body that swings about the swing point located on the axis passing through the division center of the piezoelectric element, it can be manufactured at low cost,
Operability can also be improved.

Further, the operating body is divided according to the number of divisions of each piezoelectric element, and the pressing portion abutting the pressing surface of each piezoelectric element and the support plate connecting and fixing each pressing portion are separated from the center. Finger operation with a flat operating surface that is fixed to the stem that extends toward the side and is fixed to the outside of the ball bearing and the ball bearing that is provided at a position including the swing point. With the configuration including the section, the operating body can be operated with one finger around the swinging point of the ball bearing.

Furthermore, the moving speed of the cursor can be easily changed by changing the pressing force applied by the finger.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of a pressing force detection type pointing device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a main part of a pressing force detection type pointing device.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an array state of piezoelectric elements.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing output characteristics of a piezoelectric element.

FIG. 5 is an exploded cross-sectional view showing a configuration of an operating body.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of a pressing force detection type pointing device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

5 ... Liquid crystal display (display), 6 ... Cursor, 7 ... Pressing force detection type pointing device, 8 ... Circuit board (board), 9, 26 ... Piezoelectric element, 10 ... Operating body,
12 ... Pressurizing surface, 13 ... Axis line, 14 ... Pressing part, 15 ... Support plate, 16 ... Stem, 17 ... Ball bearing, 18 ... Finger operating part, 2
4 ... Operation surface, B ... Swing point, D ... Division center.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A pointing device for specifying a moving amount and a moving direction of a cursor on a display screen, wherein a plurality of pointing devices are equally divided and arranged on a substrate, and a plurality of linear voltages are output according to a pressing force. A piezoelectric element, and an operating body which is arranged in contact with a pressure surface of the piezoelectric element and which swings about a swing point located on an axis passing through a division center of the piezoelectric element. Pressing force detection type pointing device. 2. The operating body is divided according to the number of divisions of each piezoelectric element, and
The pressing portion that abuts the pressing surface of each piezoelectric element and the stem that extends outward from the center of the support plate that connects and fixes each pressing portion are fixed to the stem and provided at a position including the swing point. 2. A pressing force detection type pointing device according to claim 1, further comprising: a ball bearing which is fixed to the outside of the ball bearing, and a finger operation portion which is fixed to the outside of the ball bearing and has a flat operation surface on which a finger is placed. device.