JPH09251344A - Cursor position indicator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To move a cursor inside an insensitive area and to improve the sensitivity of a fine movement operation. SOLUTION: This indicator is provided with a sensor voltage read part 2 for reading and numerizing an analog output voltage from a sensor 1 at the time of an operation, a sensor voltage change amount calculation part 3 for comparing the output voltage of the sensor voltage read part 2 with a reference value at the time of non-operation and calculating a change amount and a cursor control part 4 for deciding a cursor speed and a moving direction corresponding to a cursor speed setting table 4a from the calculated change amount. In this case, a sensor area monitoring part 5 for defining an insensitive area until the change amount calculated by the sensor voltage change amount calculation part 3 exceeds a fixed value and judging whether the cursor is on the inner side or on the outer side of the insensitive area and a fine operation valid time monitoring part 6 for controlling a timer 6a so as to continue cursor movement for fixed time after the cursor enters the insensitive area from the outer side are installed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cursor position pointing device. For example, as a means for moving a cursor on a CRT display portion of a notebook personal computer or the like, a cursor position pointing device (pointing device) using a Hall element or a strain gauge corresponding to a change in an operation movement amount or an operation pressing force of a joystick as a sensor. Device). This cursor position pointing device converts a voltage change amount generated by an analog output from a sensor into a moving amount and a moving direction of a cursor to indicate a position of the cursor.

For example, the joystick has a dead zone set so that the cursor movement output is not output when the joystick is not operated due to poor precision in returning to the mechanical center position, noise effects, and voltage fluctuations in the power supply. However, it is desired to improve the sensitivity of the cursor minute movement to the fine movement operation of the joystick or the like in the dead area.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in the conventional block diagram of FIG.
A joystick type cursor position pointing device 10 using an analog sensor includes a sensor voltage reading unit 2 that samples the analog voltage output from the sensor 1 at constant time intervals and digitizes it, and a sensor voltage reading unit 2 A sensor voltage change amount calculation unit 3 for calculating a change amount from a reference value by comparing a sensor voltage (reference value) at the time of non-operation with a sensor voltage at a certain operation position of a joystick (not shown); It comprises a cursor control unit 4 which determines a predetermined cursor speed and a moving direction from a change amount calculated by the voltage change amount calculation unit 3 according to a predetermined cursor speed setting table 4a.

Then, until the change amount calculated by the sensor voltage change amount calculation unit 3 exceeds a certain value, the CRT display unit 1
A dead area (play) is provided around the mechanical center position of the joystick so that the cursor movement of 1 is not performed.

More specifically, when the sensor output represents the sensor voltage with respect to the operation movement amount or the operation pressing force of the joystick as shown in the sensor voltage-operation amount diagram of FIG. The sensor voltage is the voltage at the return center position.

The sensor voltage during non-operation is stored as a reference (it becomes a reference voltage value after power-on initialization), and the difference between the reference voltage and the sensor voltage at a certain operating position, that is, the sensor voltage change amount is set. By calculating the sampling interval for a certain period of time, for example, about 5 ms, the moving speed of the cursor is increased as the sensor voltage change amount increases as shown in the operation amount-cursor moving speed diagram of FIG. .

[0007]

However, according to the above-mentioned structure, there is a problem that the fine movement operation in the minute cursor movement is significantly reduced due to the dead area. For example, if you are moving the cursor to the right and the cursor goes too far from the target, even if you try to move the cursor back to the left, the cursor will not move to the left unless you pass the dead zone once. Since the operator does not know the badness or the time interval until the cursor starts moving to the left, this time, things such as going too far to the left occurred.

In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cursor position pointing device that enables movement of a cursor within a dead zone to improve the sensitivity of fine movement operation.

[0009]

To achieve the above object, in a cursor position pointing device of the present invention, a sensor voltage reading unit for reading an analog output voltage from a sensor during operation and converting it into a numerical value, and the sensor voltage reading unit. A sensor voltage change amount calculation unit that calculates a change amount by comparing the output voltage of the reading unit and a reference value when not in operation, and determines a cursor speed and a moving direction from the calculated change amount according to a cursor speed setting table. In a cursor position pointing device including a cursor control unit, a dead area is set until the amount of change calculated by the sensor voltage change amount calculation unit exceeds a certain value, and the cursor is inside or outside the insensitive region depending on the change amount. The sensor area monitoring unit that determines whether or not the timer is controlled so that the cursor continues to move for a certain period of time after the cursor enters the dead area from the outside. It annexed a valid operation time monitoring unit for configuration.

With such a configuration, the timer is cleared when it goes out of the dead zone, and when it goes inside the dead zone, the timer starts timing and the movement of the cursor can be continued for a certain time. It is possible to eliminate an area that is not set as a dead area for a certain period of time, that is, play on the operation, and to improve the sensitivity of cursor fine movement to fine movement operations such as a joystick.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The gist of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. Note that the same reference numerals are used for the parts described in the conventional drawings, and description thereof is omitted.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flow chart of FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the cursor position pointing device 100 of the present invention includes a sensor area monitoring unit 5 and a minute operation effective time between a sensor voltage change amount calculation unit 3 and a cursor control unit 4 of the conventional configuration of FIG. The monitoring unit 6 is added and configured.

The sensor area monitoring unit 5 is provided with a sensor voltage comparison unit 5a for comparing the sensor voltage change amount calculated by the sensor voltage change amount calculation unit 3 with a reference value in the non-operation state. If it is smaller than the reference value, the joystick is insensitive. It is determined that it is inside the area and outside the dead area if it is large.

The minute operation effective time monitoring section 6 is provided with a timer 6a for invalidating a dead area for a set time. Next,
The flowchart of FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIG.

In step A, the sensor area monitoring unit 5
When it is determined that the value is outside the dead area (the amount of change in the sensor voltage changes from a value smaller than the reference value to a value larger than the reference value), the timer 6a is cleared (step B) and the cursor control unit 4
Is a predetermined cursor speed setting table 4 based on the sensor voltage change amount calculated by the sensor voltage change amount calculation unit 3.
A predetermined cursor speed and moving direction are determined according to a, the cursor is allowed to move (step c), and the position of the cursor is designated.

On the contrary, when it is determined that the dead zone has entered from the outer side to the inner side (the sensor voltage change amount changes from larger to smaller than the reference value), the timer 6a starts measuring time (step D),
If the timer 6a is measuring a preset time (for example, about 3 seconds), the dead area is invalidated (step E) and the cursor movement is continued. Then, when the set time has elapsed and the timer 6a times out, the sensor area monitoring unit 5 is determining that the joystick operation is still within the dead area (the sensor voltage change amount is smaller than the reference value). For example, the dead area is switched to valid (step F) to disable cursor movement (step G), and the cursor movement output is immediately stopped.

As described above, the sensor area monitoring unit determines whether the sensor voltage change amount is inside or outside the dead zone based on the magnitude of the sensor voltage change amount calculated by the sensor voltage change amount calculation unit, and the sensor voltage change amount exceeds a predetermined value. When it is determined that the cursor has moved from the inside to the outside of the dead zone, the cursor is moved in the predetermined cursor speed and moving direction according to the predetermined cursor speed setting table as in the conventional case, and the timer of the minute operation effective time monitoring unit is set. clear. On the contrary, the timer starts counting when it enters the dead zone, and by continuing the cursor movement during the set time of the timer, it is possible to eliminate the area that is not the dead zone for the set time, that is, the play in operation. Since it is possible to improve the sensitivity of the cursor minute movement to the fine movement operation of the joystick or the like, it is possible to improve the operability.

[0018]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
It has the effect of increasing operation sensitivity while securing a dead zone.
It has an extremely useful effect in the industry, which greatly contributes to the improvement of the operability of the manual operation of the cursor position pointing device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram according to the related art.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an operation amount-sensor voltage line in FIG.

5 is an operation amount-cursor movement velocity diagram in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Sensor 2: Sensor voltage reading unit 3: Sensor voltage change amount calculation unit 4: Cursor control unit 4a: Cursor speed setting table 5: Sensor area monitoring unit 5a: Sensor voltage comparison unit 6: Minute operation effective time monitoring unit 6a: Timer 10: Cursor position pointing device 11: CRT display unit 100: Cursor position pointing device

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A change amount is calculated by comparing a sensor voltage reading unit that reads an analog output voltage from a sensor during operation and digitizes it with an output voltage of the sensor voltage reading unit and a reference value during non-operation. In a cursor position pointing device including a sensor voltage change amount calculation unit and a cursor control unit that determines a cursor speed and a moving direction from the calculated change amount according to a cursor speed setting table, the sensor voltage change amount calculation unit calculates It is set as a dead area until the amount of change exceeds a certain value, and a sensor area monitoring unit that determines whether the cursor is inside or outside the dead area based on the amount of change and a constant value after the cursor enters the dead area from the outside A cursor position pointing device comprising: a minute operation effective time monitoring unit for controlling a timer so as to continue moving the cursor for a time.