JPS6217872Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an X-Y direction input device, and relates to an X-Y direction input device suitable for, for example, a figure input device of a graphic display device.

A graphic display device basically consists of a display screen, a display controller, a data channel, and various input devices. When the operator tilts one of these input devices, a lever supported by a gimbal mechanism, in any direction, the direction and angle of tilt are detected, and the voltage or digital signal of each component in the X-axis direction and Y-axis direction is detected. There is a Joystick (registered trademark) that generates. However, this input device
In addition to limiting the rotation range of the lever, there were also problems with the stability of the input signal.

In order to overcome these drawbacks, an input device called a "mouse" has been developed in recent years. This input device includes a rotated sphere (hereinafter referred to as sphere) arranged to be freely rotatable, a first driven roller that is in contact with the sphere and rotates by the rotational force of the sphere, and a sphere that is in contact with the sphere and rotates by the rotational force of the sphere. a second driven roller that is rotated by the rotational force of the first driven roller and whose axial direction is substantially orthogonal to the axial direction of the first driven roller; a variable resistor, an encoder, etc. that detects the rotation angle of the first driven roller; a first rotation angle detection means consisting of a rotation angle of the second driven roller; a second rotation angle detection means consisting of a variable resistor, an encoder, etc. for detecting the rotation angle of the second driven roller; It basically consists of a casing that houses a roller, first and second rotation angle detection means, and the like.

An opening is provided in the lower surface of the casing, and a part of the sphere protrudes downward through the opening, and by holding the casing and rolling the sphere in any direction on a predetermined base, the first and second spheres can be moved. The two driven rollers each rotate in a predetermined direction. The rotation direction and rotation angle of these driven rollers are
The second rotation angle detecting means extracts each component in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction as a voltage or digital signal, and the system inputs the signal to a display device.

The present invention is directed to this type of input device, and aims to provide a highly reliable X-Y direction input device.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a graphic display device including an X-Y direction input device according to an embodiment.

On the table 1 are a display device 2 equipped with a screen, a controller, a data channel, etc., an input device 3 equipped with function keys, and an input device 4 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
is placed. Note that the input device 4 is operated on a dedicated sheet 5 placed on the table 1,
By this operation, for example, the cursor 7 displayed on the screen 6 of the display device 2 can be moved to an arbitrary position.

Next, the structure and operating principle of the input device 4 will be explained using the drawings. FIG. 2 is a plan view of the input device, FIGS. 3 and 4 are front and rear views of the input device, and FIG. 5 is a cutaway side view of the input device.
FIG. 6 is an enlarged plan view of the operating section of the input device, and FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the operating section.

The casing 8 is composed of a lower case 9 and an upper case 10 made of synthetic resin, which are joined at a plurality of locations with screws 11, etc., as shown in FIG. At a predetermined position of the upper case 10, a second
As shown in the drawings and FIG. 5, a fitting hole 14 into which the operating end 13 of the switch 12 is fitted is formed. In this embodiment, two fitting holes 14 are formed, but depending on the control system of the input device, the number of switches 12 may be increased and the number of fitting holes 14 may also be correspondingly increased.

As shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of columns 15 are integrally erected inside the lower case 9, and a printed circuit board 16 having a predetermined conductive pattern (not shown) is fixed to the upper end of the column by screws or other appropriate means. It is attached by suitable means. A rubber bushing 18 for leading out the signal line 17 is clamped between the lower case 9 and the upper case 10. In addition to the switch 12 and the signal line 17, the printed circuit board 16 includes:
Terminals of two variable resistors 29 and 31, which will be described later, are also connected.

A metal mounting plate 19 is attached to the inner surface of the lower case 9 with screws. By connecting the lower case 9 and the mounting plate 19, the mounting plate 19 also serves as a reinforcement for the lower case 9. As shown in FIG. 5, a circular through hole 20 is formed at a predetermined position on the mounting plate 19, and a circular opening with a diameter slightly smaller than the through hole 20 is formed at a position facing the through hole 20 in the lower case 9. 2
1 is formed.

FIG. 8 is a bottom view of the lower case 9, and FIG. 9 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part near the opening 21. A first annular bulge 22 is provided on the lower opening edge of the opening 21 in the lower case 9, and a second annular bulge 23 is integrally formed from the lower case 9 in a concentric manner on the radially outer side of the first annular bulge 22. It is installed protrudingly.

A sphere 24 made of a steel ball is rotatably arranged above the through hole 20 and opening 21, and a part of it slightly protrudes from the first annular projection 22 through the through hole 20 and opening 21. As shown in FIG. 6, the spherical surface of the sphere 24 has a first driven roller 2.
5 and a second driven roller 26 are in contact with each other, and both rollers 25 and 26 are rotatably attached to the mounting plate 19 via bearings 27, respectively, and the axial directions of both rollers 25 and 26 are orthogonal to each other. It is arranged like this. Both rollers 25 and 26 are rotated by the rotational force of the sphere 24, and the first driven roller 2
The rotation direction and rotation angle of the second driven roller 26 are detected by the first variable resistor 29 connected via the rotation shaft 28, and the rotation direction and rotation angle of the second driven roller 26 are detected by the rotation shaft 30. It is detected by the second variable resistor 31 which is connected via the second variable resistor 31 . That is, as shown in FIG. 7, changes in the rotation direction and rotation angle of the first driven roller 25 appear as the slide direction and the amount of movement of the slider 32 in the first variable resistor 29, and similarly, changes in the rotation direction and rotation angle of the first driven roller 25 appear as the sliding direction and the amount of movement of the slider 32 in the first variable resistor 29. Changes in the rotation direction and rotation angle of the driven roller 26 appear as the slide direction and the amount of movement of the slider 33 in the second variable resistor 31, so that the rotation state of the sphere 24 can be changed in the x-axis direction and the y-axis direction. The first variable resistor 29 is divided into each component.
and the respective voltage values of the second variable resistor 31 can be detected.

As shown in FIG. 6, in order to ensure power transmission between the spherical body 24 and the first driven roller 25 and between the spherical body 24 and the second driven roller 26, an elastic member is attached at a position facing the sphere 24 and the second driven roller 26. force roller 34
is located. This roller 34 freely rotates due to the rotational force of the sphere 24, and
4 is elastically biased toward the first driven roller 25 and second driven roller 26 sides.

As shown in Figures 5, 8 and 9,
In the annular recess formed between the first annular bulge 22 and the second annular bulge 23 on the lower surface of the lower case 9,
An elastic cleaning member 35 made of felt, nonwoven fabric, or the like is fixed with an adhesive 36. This cleaning member 35 has a substantially flat bottom surface, and the edges are chamfered as necessary.
As shown in FIG. 9, it protrudes slightly downward from the lower surfaces of the jetties 22 and 23. Further, a gap 37 is provided along the entire circumference between the second annular jetty 23 on the outer periphery and the cleaning member 35, and this gap 37 serves as a dust accumulation area.

When the input device 4 is held in a hand on the seat 5 (see FIG. 1) and moved in an arbitrary direction, the sphere 24 rolls on the seat 5 due to the frictional force with the seat 5 caused by its own weight. The rotation of the sphere 24 is transmitted to the first driven roller 25 and the second driven roller 26, respectively, and the rotation angles of the rollers 25 and 26 are electrically detected by attached variable resistors 29 and 31, respectively. The detection signal is input to the display controller of the display device 2 via the signal line 17, and the cursor 7 on the screen 6 is moved in a desired direction by signal processing.

By the way, as mentioned above, when the input device 4 is moved on the dedicated sheet 5 or other surface, a lot of dust, oil, ink, drinking water, etc. may be deposited on the base (seat 5 or other surface). If the cleaning member 35 of the present invention is not attached, dust (dust, oil, ink, drinking water, etc.) will directly adhere to the sphere 24. When dust adheres to the sphere 24 in this way, the sphere 24
4 and the base (seat 5 or other surface) as well as between the ball 24 and the driven rollers 25, 26, resulting in inaccurate power transmission and ultimately reduced reliability.

When the input device of the present invention moves on the base, the bottom surface of the cleaning member 35 comes into elastic contact with a pressure that does not interfere with operation and cleans the base surface, thereby preventing dust from adhering to the sphere 24. This eliminates the problems caused by this. In this embodiment, the dust collected during cleaning is accumulated in the gap 37 provided between the second annular jetty 23 and the cleaning member 35, so that the cleaning mechanism can function for a long period of time. Further, the second annular jetty 23 provided on the outer periphery of the cleaning member 35 is useful for removing coarse foreign matter such as paper waste and thread waste, and can prevent movement of the input device 4 from being hindered by coarse foreign matter.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part showing a second embodiment of the present invention. In the case of this embodiment, a plurality of annular tip portions 38 are provided on the side of the cleaning member 35 in contact with the base, and the tip portion 38 and the tip portion 3
An annular concave portion 39 for collecting dust is formed between the portions 8 and 8. If the cleaning member 35 is provided with the tip 38 in this way, the input device 4 can be moved smoothly without reducing the cleaning effect.

In this embodiment as well, the cleaning member 35 is fixed to the lower case 9 with an adhesive 36, but the cleaning member 35 is removably attached to the lower case 9 to prevent dust from accumulating on the cleaning member 35 to some extent. If so, the cleaning member 35 may be replaced with a new one.

In the embodiment described above, a variable resistor is used as the rotation angle detecting means of the driven roller, but the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, an encoder or the like may be used.

The present invention has the above-described structure, and can effectively prevent dust from adhering to the sphere, thereby eliminating various problems caused by dust adhesion. Furthermore, since the cleaning member comes into contact with the base, the input device does not wobble during operation, and stable running can be achieved. Because of this, a highly reliable input device can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figures are all for explaining the X-Y direction input device according to the embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a graphic display device including the input device, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of the input device. Figures 3 and 4 are front and rear views of the input device;
5 is a cutaway side view of the input device, FIG. 6 is an enlarged plan view of the operating section of the input device, FIG. 7 is a principle diagram of the operating section, and FIG. 8 is a bottom view of the lower case of the input device. Figure 9 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main parts of the input device;
The figure is an enlarged sectional view of a main part of an input device according to another embodiment. 4...Input device, 5...Seat, 8...Casing, 9...Lower case, 21...Opening, 23...
...Second annular jetty, 24...Steel ball, 25...First driven roller, 26...Second driven roller, 29...First variable resistor, 31...Second variable resistor, 35...
...Cleaning member, 37...Gap, 38...Point, 39...Recess for accumulation.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] (1) A rotated sphere arranged to be freely rotatable, a first driven roller that contacts the rotated sphere and rotates by the rotational force of the rotated sphere, and the rotated sphere. a second driven roller that is in contact with and rotates by the rotational force of the rotated sphere and whose axial direction is substantially orthogonal to the axial direction of the first driven roller; and detecting the rotation angle of the first driven roller. a first rotation angle detection means, a second rotation angle detection means for detecting the rotation angle of the second driven roller, and a second rotation angle detection means for detecting the rotation angle of the second driven roller; and a casing for accommodating a rotation angle detection means, the casing has an opening on the lower surface, a part of the rotated sphere projects through the opening, and the rotated sphere rolls on the base.
- An X-Y direction input device, characterized in that an elastic cleaning member that contacts the base is attached to the lower surface of the casing. (2) Utility Model Registration The X-Y direction input device according to claim (1), wherein the cleaning member is formed in an annular shape so as to surround the opening of the casing. (3) In the utility model registration claim (1), the cleaning member is characterized in that a tip is provided on the side that contacts the base.
-Y direction input device. (4) The X-Y direction input device according to claim (1), characterized in that a recess for collecting dust is formed on the side of the cleaning member that contacts the base. (5) In the utility model registration claim (1), the cleaning member is formed in an annular shape so as to surround the opening of the casing, and a part for removing coarse foreign matter is provided on the outer periphery of the cleaning member on the lower surface of the casing. An X-Y direction input device characterized by being provided with a foreign matter removal protrusion.