JPH1011212A - Positional information input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To move a cursor accurately correcting the position even when a cursor moving instruction is temporarily interrupted on the way of its transmission. SOLUTION: The input device is provided with a RAM 20 for storing the information of the X and Y axis directional positions of a cursor displayed on a display screen, an operation part for optionally instructing the moving direction and distance of the cursor on the display screen and a ball 11, rollers 12, 13, pulse generators 14, 15, and up/down counters 16, 17 for generating X and Y axis moving distance signals for determining the moving direction and moving distance of the cursor instructed by the operation of the operation part. The device is also provided with a control part 18 for updating the positional information of the X and Y axes of the cursor which is stored in the RAM 20 at each prescribed time based on the generated moving variable signals of both the X and Y axes and a transmitting signal generating part 22 and an infrared-ray emitting part 2 for wirelessly transmitting the updated positional information of the X and Y axes of the cursor to an external control circuit.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a position information input device for inputting position coordinate information on a display screen of a computer device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, general-purpose and special-purpose computer devices such as personal computers, word processors, and electronic game machines have been widely used in ordinary households. In this type of computer device, an arrow or a cross-shaped cursor is displayed as a mark indicating which position on the display screen of the display device is to be processed. In general, in order to move the cursor in the drawing, Various position information input devices such as a mouse, a trackball, and a joystick are used.

[0003] Among them, a mouse generally called a mouse is rotated on a desk or a dedicated pad, whereby a ball provided on a bottom surface is rotated, and the amount of rotation is detected as a movement amount in each of X and Y axes. By doing so, it indicates the amount of movement of the cursor on the display screen.

[0004] This kind of mouse is a so-called infrared mouse which transmits the detected amount of movement wirelessly to the main body of the computer not by a connection cord but by a modulated infrared signal because of the ease of handling. What is called a term is often used.

In this infrared mouse, X- and Y-axis movement signals are transmitted to the computer at predetermined time intervals, and the computer receives the X- and Y-axis movement signals and transmits the signals to the computer. And updates the position data of the X and Y axes for cursor display stored in the storage device, and controls the cursor position of the display device based on the updated position data.

[0006]

However, although the above-mentioned infrared mouse has an advantage that it is easy to handle, the infrared transmission path between the mouse and the computer device is interrupted to interrupt the communication, or noise or communication interference may occur. There is a problem in terms of communication reliability as compared with a type of performing data communication with a computer device via a connection cord, such as occurrence of an error in communication data.

In the infrared mouse, since only the movement signals in the X and Y directions are transmitted to the computer at predetermined time intervals, it is possible to correct once the communication is interrupted or the data has an error. In some cases, the cursor on the display device could cause abnormal operation.

[0008] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to temporarily block the cursor movement instruction during transmission, or to temporarily stop erroneous data. It is an object of the present invention to provide a position information input device which can automatically correct an accurate movement position and move a cursor even when sent, and is excellent in handleability.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
What is claimed is: 1. A position information input device for transmitting position information of a cursor displayed on a display screen of an external display device to an external control device for controlling said external display device, comprising: Position information storage means for storing information on the axial position, and an operation unit for arbitrarily instructing the direction and amount of movement of the cursor on the display screen, the operation of the cursor indicated by the operation of the operation unit X-axis movement amount signal and Y for determining movement direction and movement amount
Coordinate input means for generating an axis movement signal; and an X-axis position of a cursor stored in the position information storage means based on the X-axis movement signal and the Y-axis movement signal generated by the coordinate input means. Updating means for updating the information on the position of the cursor and the Y-axis direction at predetermined time intervals; and information on the position of the cursor in the X-axis direction and the position of the Y-axis direction stored in the position information storage means updated by the updating means. Transmitting means for wirelessly transmitting to the control device.

With this configuration, not only information indicating the amount of movement but also position information updated according to a movement instruction is transmitted to the external control device by wireless transmission. Even if the instruction is temporarily interrupted during transmission or incorrect information is sent, when these causes are resolved, the cursor can be moved to the correct movement automatically and corrected Becomes

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, further provided is a signal input means for inputting a reset signal, the reset signal being input by the signal input means. A control unit for rewriting the information on the X-axis direction position and the Y-axis direction position stored in the position information storage unit to respective preset initial values.

With such a configuration, in addition to the operation of the first aspect of the present invention, even if the cursor is not known where on the display screen, the reset signal input operation can be performed. Since it can be easily returned to the preset initial position just by performing, without wasting time, the handleability is improved, and the above operation is processed only inside the position information input device. It can be executed without placing any burden on the OS (operating system) or the like on the external control device side.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, the initial values of the information on the X-axis direction position and the Y-axis direction position stored in the position information storage means by the control means are the display values. It corresponds to the center position of the screen.

With such a configuration, in addition to the operation of the second aspect of the present invention, in particular, the cursor is returned to the center position of the display screen by inputting a reset signal.
The location of the cursor can be reliably recognized.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an infrared mouse device will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an external configuration viewed from obliquely above, and 1 is a substantially cubic mouse housing. The mouse housing 1 has an upwardly inclined wall surface 1a formed between one side surface and the upper surface as shown in the figure. The inclined wall surface 1a has an infrared light emitting section 2 and two click buttons sandwiching the infrared light emitting section 2. 3a and 3b are provided.

For example, these click buttons 3a,
The reset button 4 is provided so that the reset button 4 contacts the thumb of the right hand while the mouse housing 1 is gripped so that the mouse 3b contacts the index finger and the middle finger of the right hand.

Although not shown here, a ball which is rotated by moving the mouse housing 1 on a desk or a dedicated pad is provided on the bottom surface of the mouse housing 1.

FIG. 2 shows a circuit configuration provided in the mouse housing 1, wherein 11 is the above-mentioned ball, and the rotation of the ball 11 is applied to the ball 11 so that their axial directions are orthogonal to each other. It is detected by a cylindrical X-axis direction detection roller 12 and a Y-axis direction detection roller 13 which are disposed in contact with each other.

That is, the X-axis direction detecting roller 12 is connected to the pulse generator 14, and when the X-axis direction detecting roller 12 is rotated by the rotation of the ball 11, the pulse is generated according to the rotating direction and the amount of rotation. The generator 14 outputs a positive pulse a or a negative pulse b.

More specifically, the X-axis direction detecting roller 1
2 is connected to a rotary encoder in the pulse generator 14. This rotary encoder is composed of a rotor formed by regularly arranging double notches concentrically, and two sets of transmissive photo-interrupters arranged so as to detect the notch across the rotor. The double notches are formed at the same period with a slight shift in the angle, and the X-axis direction detecting roller 12 is positively determined by the direction of the shift of the output waveforms of these two sets of photo interrupters. The reverse direction is detected, and a positive-direction pulse a or a negative-direction pulse b is output for each fixed rotation angle.

Similarly, the Y-axis direction detecting roller 13 is connected to the pulse generator 15, and when the Y-axis direction detecting roller 13 is rotated by the rotation of the ball 11, the Y-axis direction detecting roller 13 is rotated in accordance with the rotating direction and the amount of rotation. The pulse generator 15 outputs a positive pulse c or a negative pulse d.

The positive-going pulse a and the negative-going pulse b output from the pulse generator 14 are sent to an up / down counter 16, and the positive-going pulse c and the negative-going pulse d output from the pulse generator 15 are sent to an up / down counter 17, respectively. The count values of these up-down counters 16 and 17 are both read out to the control unit 18.

The control unit 18 also controls the click buttons 3a and 3b, the reset button 4, the ROM 19, the RA
M20, a timer 21, and a transmission signal generation unit 22. According to the operation program stored in the ROM 19, the operation signals of the click buttons 3a, 3b and the reset button 4 and the timer 21 and a specific period, for example, 30
The following processing corresponding to the time-up signal input every [mS] is performed, and various data including cursor position information is stored in the RAM 20.
Is read out as appropriate and output to the transmission signal generator 22 in accordance with a predetermined format.

The transmission signal generation section 22 generates a transmission signal by modulating the signal at a predetermined carrier frequency based on the information of the specific format sent from the control section 18. When the transmitted transmission signal is sent to the infrared light emitting section 2, the light emitting diode constituting the infrared light emitting section 2 is driven to emit light, and the infrared signal IR is transmitted.

FIG. 3 illustrates a part of the contents of the register set in the RAM 20. Here, the operation state of the click button 3a (shown as "click button A" in the figure) is shown. The operation state of the click button 3b (shown as “click button B” in the figure), the movement amount ΔX in the X-axis direction within one sampling period, which is the count value of the up / down counter 16, and the up / down counter 1
A dedicated register is set for the movement amount ΔY in the Y-axis direction within one sampling period which is the count value of 7, the X-axis coordinate value (X) as the absolute position of the cursor, and the Y-axis coordinate value (Y). And remember it.

Next, the configuration of a computer system including the infrared mouse configured as described above will be exemplified with reference to FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 31 denotes the infrared mouse shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and the modulated infrared signal IR emitted from the infrared light emitting unit 2 of the infrared mouse 31.
Is a control device 3 which is a main body of the computer system.
The light is received by an infrared light receiving unit 32a disposed on the front side of the second light receiving unit 2.

The control device 32 obtains position information of a specific format by demodulating the infrared signal IR received by the infrared light receiving portion 32a in a procedure reverse to the above-mentioned modulation.
Based on the obtained position information, the CPU 32b
The cursor CS is displayed at a corresponding coordinate position on the display screen of the display device 33 connected to the display device 2.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described. In the following, for the sake of simplicity, the resolution of the amount of movement detected by the infrared mouse 31 and the display device 33 will be described.
It is assumed that the dot unit constituting the display screen corresponds to 1: 1.

FIG. 5 shows the contents of the control processing by the control unit 18 in the infrared mouse 31 based on the operation program stored in the ROM 19, while initially clearing the up / down counters 16 and 17, The RAM 20 shown in FIG. 3 is cleared, and an initial process such as setting initial values to X-axis coordinate values and Y-axis coordinate values is performed (step A1).

Here, it is assumed that the display screen of the display device 33 is composed of a dot matrix of 640 horizontal (X-axis) × vertical (Y-axis) dots based on, for example, the VGA standard.

FIG. 8 shows the concept of the case where the display screen is a coordinate plane. As shown in FIG.
Assuming that the 320 dot on the right side along the axial direction and the 240 dot on the lower side along the Y axis direction are the initial position of the cursor CS and the origins (0, 0) of the X axis and the Y axis, the maximum of the X axis The coordinate value and the minimum coordinate value are “320” and “−31”, respectively.
9 ”, the maximum coordinate value and the minimum coordinate value of the Y axis are respectively“ 2 ”.
40 "and" -239 ". Therefore, step A
1, the X-axis coordinate value and the Y-axis coordinate value (X,
The initial value (0, 0) is set in each register of Y).

Thereafter, the control unit 18 sets the reset button 4
Is repeatedly detected (step A2), and whether there is a time-up signal inputted every 30 [ms] from the timer 21 (step A3). Wait for these inputs.

When it is determined in step A3 that a time-up signal has been input from the timer 21, the control unit 18
Detects whether each of the click buttons 3a and 3b is operated or not, and if it is operated, R
The flag "1" is set in the corresponding register position of the AM 20 (step A4).

Next, the count value held in the up / down counter 16 is read out as the movement amount ΔX in the X-axis direction during the sampling period 30 [ms] from the previous time to the present time, and is set in the corresponding register of the RAM 20 (step A5). ).

Similarly, the count value held in the up / down counter 17 is read out as the movement amount ΔY in the Y-axis direction during the sampling period 30 [mS] from the previous time to the present time, and is set in the corresponding register of the RAM 20 (step A5). ).

Thereafter, the up / down counter 1 which has read out the above count value in preparation for the next sampling.
6 and 17 are both reset (step A7), and then the process of updating the register contents of the X-axis coordinate value of the RAM 20 is performed (step A8).

FIG. 6 shows a subroutine for the X-axis coordinate value updating process. First, the register contents of the X-axis coordinate value up to that time and the register contents of the movement amount ΔX in the X-axis direction set in step A5 are stored. Then, the sum is set as a new X-axis coordinate value (step B1).

Next, it is determined whether or not the new X-axis coordinate value has exceeded the maximum coordinate value "320" of the X-axis (step B2). The coordinate value "320" is set in the register of the X-axis coordinate value (step B3), and the subroutine is completed.

If it is determined in step B2 that the new X-axis coordinate value does not exceed the maximum X-axis coordinate value "320", then the new X-axis coordinate value is set to the minimum value of the X-axis. It is determined whether or not the coordinate value is smaller than "-319" (step B4). If the coordinate value is smaller than the minimum coordinate value, the minimum coordinate value "-319" of the X-axis is further reset to the X-axis coordinate value. (Step B5)
This is the end of this subroutine.

If it is determined in step B4 that the new X-axis coordinate value is not less than the minimum X-axis coordinate value "-319", the new X-axis coordinate value is set in the range of the display screen. Therefore, the subroutine is terminated as it is.

After updating the register contents of the X-axis coordinate values in this manner, the update processing of the register contents of the Y-axis coordinate values in the RAM 20 is similarly performed (step A).
9).

FIG. 7 shows a subroutine for this Y-axis coordinate value updating process. First, the register contents of the Y-axis coordinate values up to that time and the register contents of the movement amount ΔY in the Y-axis direction set in step A6 are stored. Then, the sum is set as a new Y-axis coordinate value (step C1).

Next, it is determined whether or not the new Y-axis coordinate value has exceeded the maximum coordinate value "240" of the Y-axis (step C2). The coordinate value “240” is set in the register of the Y-axis coordinate value (step C3), and the subroutine is completed.

If it is determined in step C2 that the new Y-axis coordinate value does not exceed the maximum Y-axis coordinate value "240", the new Y-axis coordinate value is then changed to the minimum Y-axis coordinate value. It is determined whether or not the coordinate value is smaller than "-239" (step C4). If the coordinate value is smaller than the minimum coordinate value, the minimum coordinate value "-239" of the X-axis is again set to the Y-axis coordinate value. (Step C5)
This is the end of this subroutine.

If it is determined in step C4 that the new Y-axis coordinate value is not less than the minimum Y-axis coordinate value "-239", the new Y-axis coordinate value is set in the range of the display screen. Therefore, the subroutine is terminated as it is.

As described above, by updating the register contents of the Y-axis coordinate value, the setting of each register of the RAM 20 in accordance with the movement of the infrared mouse 31 and the operation of the click buttons 3a and 3b is completed. Control unit 1
8 reads out these settings as appropriate, causes the transmission signal generator 22 to output them according to a predetermined format, causes the transmission signal generator 22 to generate a transmission signal, and causes the infrared light emitter 2 to execute transmission ( Step A1
0), the series of processes is completed, and the process returns to step A2 again.

FIG. 9 shows the transmission format of the data output from the control unit 18 to the transmission signal generation unit 22 at this time. Following the start bit at H level, the A button bit indicating the operation state of the click button 3a is 1 bit, the B button bit indicating the operation state of the click button 3b is 1 bit, and the coordinate value data in the X-axis direction is 1 bit. The coordinate value data in the Y-axis direction is composed of 10 bits including the sign bit, and 9 bits including the sign bit of 1 bit.

The A button bit and the B button bit both become "1" when the button is operated and a flag is set in the register, and are "0" when the button is not operated. Each bit data has a waveform in which the ratio between the "H" level and the "L" level is 1: 1 when it is "1" and a waveform in which the ratio is 2: 0 when it is "0". The content according to the data transmission format is transmitted signal generation unit 22
The transmission signal generation section 22 generates a transmission signal modulated at a predetermined carrier frequency, drives the infrared light emitting section 2 to emit light, and transmits an infrared signal IR.

Therefore, in the control device 32 which has received the infrared signal IR at the infrared light receiving section 32a, the CPU 32b displays the display on the display device 33 based on the X-axis coordinate value and the Y-axis coordinate value sent from the infrared mouse 31. It controls the position of the cursor CS on the screen. Since the sent data is not the movement amount data but the absolute position data, even if the transmission is temporarily interrupted, the interrupted state is released. Then, according to the absolute position data sent next,
The position of the cursor CS can be controlled without any delay.

If it is determined in step A2 that the operation of the reset button 4 has been detected, the RAM
An initial value (0, 0) is set to the X-axis coordinate value and the Y-axis coordinate value of 20 (step A11), and thereafter, the process directly proceeds to step A10 to execute transmission.

Therefore, when the reset button 4 is operated, the cursor CS is unconditionally displayed at the center position on the display screen of the display device 33 irrespective of the previous display position of the cursor CS. Even if the user forgets the position of the cursor CS such as when complicated graphics are displayed on the display screen while handling the control device 32, the reset button 4 is operated. , The cursor CS always returns to the predetermined position, so that usability can be further improved.

At this time, the return of the cursor CS to the initial position is entirely performed by the processing in the infrared mouse 31 and does not require any special processing on the control device 32 side. No burden is placed on the operating system).

Here, it is assumed that the reset button 4 is operated to return to the center position in the display screen of the display device 33. However, the initial position is not limited to the center of the screen. Or a position corresponding to a specific icon on the screen.

Although the embodiment has been described with reference to the case where the present invention is applied to an infrared mouse, the invention is not limited to this.
It is a matter of course that another coordinate input device that inputs the position coordinates of the cursor by wireless transmission may be used. In addition, the present invention can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the gist thereof.

[0055]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, not only information indicating the amount of movement but also position information updated in accordance with a movement instruction is transmitted to the external control device by wireless transmission. Therefore, even if an instruction is temporarily interrupted during transmission or erroneous data is generated due to noise or the like, it is possible to correct the movement position and move the cursor.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effects of the first aspect of the present invention, even when the cursor is not known where on the display screen, the reset signal input operation can be performed. Can be easily returned to the initial position set in advance, the handling is improved without wasting time, and the above operation is processed only inside the position information input device. It can be executed without placing any burden on the OS (operating system) or the like on the external control device side.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the second aspect of the present invention, the cursor is returned to the center position of the display screen by inputting a reset signal, so that the location of the cursor is reliably recognized. can do.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a register configuration in a RAM of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an exemplary block diagram showing a configuration of a computer system including the infrared mouse according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation according to the embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a subroutine of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a subroutine of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an operation according to the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an operation according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Mouse housing 2 ... Infrared light emitting part 3a, 3b ... Click button 4 ... Reset button 11 ... Ball 12 ... X-axis direction detection roller 13 ... Y-axis direction detection roller 14, 15 ... Pulse generator 16, 17 ... Up / down Counter 18 Control unit 19 ROM 20 RAM 21 Timer 22 Transmission signal generating unit 31 Infrared mouse 32 Control unit 32a Infrared light receiving unit 32b CPU 33 Display unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A position information input device for transmitting position information of a cursor displayed on a display screen of an external display device to an external control device for controlling the external display device, wherein X of the cursor displayed on the display screen is displayed. Axial position and Y
Position information storage means for storing information on the axial position, and an operation unit for arbitrarily instructing a moving direction and a moving amount of the cursor on the display screen, wherein the cursor is instructed by an operation on the operating unit. Coordinate input means for generating an X-axis movement signal and a Y-axis movement signal for determining a movement direction and a movement amount, and based on the X-axis movement signal and the Y-axis movement signal generated by the coordinate input means. Updating means for updating the information on the X-axis position and the Y-axis direction position of the cursor stored in the position information storage means at predetermined time intervals; and a cursor stored in the position information storage means updated by the update means Wireless information transmitting means for transmitting information on the X-axis direction position and the Y-axis direction position to the external control device. 2. A signal input means provided in the operation unit for inputting a reset signal, and a X-axis direction stored in the position information storage means when a reset signal is input by the signal input means. 2. The position information input device according to claim 1, further comprising control means for rewriting the information on the position and the position in the Y-axis direction to respective preset initial values. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the initial values of the information on the X-axis direction position and the Y-axis direction position stored in the position information storage means by the control means correspond to the center position of the display screen. Item 2. The position information input device according to Item 2.