JPH1027064A - Mouse device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inexpensive highly operable mouth device which can readily change the ratio of the moving amount of the mouse main body of the device to the number of pulse signals generated from a pulse signal generating circuit without using any pressure detector. SOLUTION: A mouse device 11 is provided with a moving amount detecting circuit 22 which generates a first pulse signal corresponding to the moving amount of a mouse main body based on the rotation of a ball 14 provided on the bottom face 19 of the mouse main body, a frequency dividing circuit 25 which generates a second pulse signal by dividing the frequency of the first pulse signal, and a selector circuit 23 which selectively outputs either the first or second pulse signal. The bottom face 19 of the mouse main body is provided with a first bottom face section 191 and a second bottom face section 192 which is inclined against the section 191 and the ball 14 is positioned near the boundary 193 between the bottom sections 191 and 192. In addition, the bottom face 19 is also provided with a microswitch 15 which switches the signal selecting state of the circuit 23 in accordance with the inclined state of the mouse main body.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a mouse device for inputting information into a computer, and more particularly, to a mouse device for inputting information into a computer.
The present invention relates to a mouse device having a function of designating a mouse cursor position on a screen of a display connected to a computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a mouse device has been used as an input device of a personal computer, an engineering workstation or the like, and has a function of moving a mouse cursor displayed on a screen of a CRT display connected to the computer. The mouse device is provided with a ball that rotates when moving on the operation board at the bottom of the mouse main body, and electrically converts the rotation angle and the rotation direction of the ball as position information according to the moving amount and the moving direction of the mouse main body. Detect and enter into computer.

In the above mouse device, the X of the mouse cursor is
A first rotation axis for detecting the rotation of the ball corresponding to the axial direction; and a second rotation axis for detecting the rotation of the ball corresponding to the Y-axis direction of the mouse cursor. The movement amount and the movement direction of the mouse body are detected based on the number and the rotation direction. The mouse device further includes a pulse signal generation circuit that generates a number of pulse signals proportional to the amount of movement of the mouse body, and the ratio of the amount of movement of the mouse body to the number of pulse signals generated by the pulse signal generation circuit is Conventionally, it was fixed.

[0004]

By changing the setting of the ratio between the amount of movement of the mouse body and the number of pulse signals, the mouse cursor can be largely moved by a small movement of the hand holding the mouse body, or It is possible to move the mouse cursor small by a large movement of.
However, in the case of the former, detailed work becomes difficult, and in the case of the latter, the hand must be moved greatly in order to move the mouse cursor greatly, resulting in poor operability. In order to solve this problem, it is possible to change the ratio of the number of pulse signals generated to the amount of movement of the mouse body, a circuit for changing the ratio, a pressure detector provided at the bottom of the mouse body, a push button type provided on the mouse body A mouse device operated by a switch has been proposed.

However, in a mouse device having a pressure detector, the pressure detector is more expensive than a normal switch, so that the manufacturing cost is increased and the mouse must be operated while strongly pressing the mouse body against an operation board. There is a problem that fatigue during operation increases. Further, in the mouse device provided with the push button type switch, there is a problem that the operation of pressing with a finger every time the ratio of the movement amount is switched is troublesome, and the number of buttons requiring the operation increases, so that the entire operation becomes complicated.

In view of the above, the present invention can easily change the ratio between the amount of movement of the mouse body and the number of pulse signals generated by the pulse signal generation circuit without using a pressure detector, and is inexpensive and has good operability. It is an object to provide a mouse device.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, in the mouse device of the present invention, a first pulse signal corresponding to the amount of movement of the mouse body is generated based on the rotation of a ball provided on the bottom surface of the mouse body. A moving amount detecting circuit for generating the first and second signals;
A mouse device comprising: a frequency dividing circuit that divides a pulse signal to generate a second pulse signal; and a selector circuit that selects and outputs one of the first pulse signal and the second pulse signal. A bottom surface of the main body including a first bottom surface portion and a second bottom surface portion inclined from the first bottom surface portion, wherein the ball is located near a boundary between the first bottom surface portion and the second bottom surface portion; Further, a switching means for switching the signal selection state of the selector circuit according to the tilt state of the mouse body is provided.

In the mouse apparatus of the present invention, the switching means is operated to switch the selection by the selector circuit, and the number of pulse signals corresponding to the moving amount of the mouse body is changed by only slightly tilting the hand holding the mouse body. The amount of movement of the mouse cursor relative to the amount of movement of the mouse body can be changed. In addition, since the switching means can be configured to be turned on and off with a simple operation merely by changing the tilt state of the mouse main body, operability can be improved, and manufacturing can be performed at low cost. It becomes possible.

[0009]

The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings. 1 to 4 are views showing an embodiment of the mouse device according to the present invention, FIG. 1 is a side view showing the entire mouse device, and FIG. 2 is a side view showing the mouse device in an inclined state different from FIG. FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the mouse device, and FIG. 4 is a control block diagram of the mouse device.

[0010] As shown in FIGS.
Is connected to the computer 20 and moves a mouse cursor (not shown) displayed on the screen of the display 21 according to the amount of movement of the mouse body. Mouse device 1
Reference numeral 1 denotes a mouse main body having a curved grip portion 10, a bottom surface 19 including a first bottom surface portion 191 and a second bottom surface portion 192, and a mouse body 1 disposed on the front upper portion of the mouse main body (left side in FIG. 1). A push button switch 13 and a signal cable 12 extending forward from the front of the mouse body and connected to the computer 20 are provided.

The mouse device 11 includes a bottom surface 19 of the mouse body.
A ball 14 for detecting a moving amount and a moving direction of the mouse main body with respect to the operation board 26 is provided at a substantially middle portion in the front-rear direction (horizontal direction in FIG. 3). That is, the ball 14 is attached to the first bottom surface portion 1 on the bottom surface 19 of the house body.
It is located at the boundary 193 between the first base 91 and the second bottom surface 192.

Slip members 16 and 17 are provided on the first bottom surface portion 191 and extend in the width direction of the mouse body, and a micro switch 15 is provided at an intermediate portion between the two slide members 16 and 17. Has been established. Micro switch 15
Is protruded from the sliding members 16 and 17 and is turned on when lightly pushed by the operation board 26 in the state of FIG. In addition, a sliding member 18 extending in the width direction of the mouse main body is disposed at a rear portion of the second bottom surface portion 192. The mouse device 11 having such a structure is tilted back and forth with the ball 14 as a center, and the micro switch 15 is mechanically pressed or released to turn on and off the operation board 2.
6 can be moved.

An intermediate portion between the first bottom surface portion 191 and the second bottom surface portion 192 is provided with a substantially bottomed cylindrical ball housing portion 24. The mouse device 11 includes an X-direction rotation axis 2 for detecting the number of rotations and the rotation direction of the ball 14 corresponding to the movement of the mouse cursor on the screen of the display 21 in the X-axis direction.
7 and a Y-direction rotation shaft 28 for detecting the number of rotations and the rotation direction of the ball 14 corresponding to the movement of the mouse cursor in the Y-axis direction so as to protrude into the ball housing 24. Note that reference numeral 20 in FIG. 3 denotes an annular stopper that suppresses the ball 14 from dropping out of the ball housing 24.

As shown in FIG. 4, the mouse device 11 includes a movement amount detection circuit 22 for generating a first pulse signal corresponding to the movement amount of the mouse body based on the rotation of the ball 14,
A frequency dividing circuit 25 for dividing the pulse signal to generate a second pulse signal, and a selector circuit 23 for selecting one of the first pulse signal and the second pulse signal and outputting the selected signal to the computer 20 are provided. The frequency dividing circuit 25 includes the moving amount detecting circuit 2
The first pulse signal generated in step 2 is input, and the first pulse signal is frequency-divided and output as a second pulse signal obtained by dividing it by an integer. Further, the mouse device 11 includes a microswitch 15 that constitutes switching means for switching the signal selection state of the selector circuit 23 according to the tilt state of the mouse body.

With the above configuration, the mouse device 11 is
When tilted backward, the micro switch 15 is turned off, the signal selection state by the selector circuit 23 is switched, and the first pulse signal from the movement amount detection circuit 22 is input to the computer 20. As a result, the amount of movement of the mouse cursor on the display screen with respect to the amount of movement of the mouse body increases. Further, the mouse device 11 turns on the micro switch 15 when tilted forward as shown in FIG. 1, and switches the signal selection state by the selector circuit 23,
The second pulse signal from the frequency dividing circuit 25 is input to the computer 20, and the ratio of the number of generated pulse signals to the amount of movement of the mouse body is changed. As a result, the amount of movement of the mouse cursor on the display screen with respect to the amount of movement of the mouse body is reduced.

Therefore, in the mouse device 11 according to the present invention, the operator holding the curved holding portion 10 tilts the wrist lightly to tilt the mouse body backward (see FIG. 2).
When the second bottom surface portion 192 is brought into contact with the operation board 26,
The micro switch 15 turns off. Thereby, the signal selection state by the selector circuit 23 is switched, and the first pulse signal of the movement amount detection circuit 22 is input to the computer 20 to increase the movement amount of the mouse cursor on the display screen with respect to the movement amount of the mouse body. Can be. In this state, the operator moves the mouse cursor largely with a small movement of the hand holding the mouse body,
The input operation using the mouse cursor can be performed efficiently.

Further, the operator tilts the wrist in the opposite direction to tilt the mouse body forward (see FIG. 1), and
When the 91 side is brought into contact with the operation board 26, the micro switch 15 is turned on. As a result, the signal selection state by the selector circuit 23 is switched, and the second pulse signal from the frequency dividing circuit 25 obtained by dividing the first pulse signal of the moving amount detecting circuit 22 is input to the computer 20 and the moving amount corresponding to the mouse body moving amount By changing the ratio of the number of generated pulse signals, the amount of movement of the mouse cursor on the display screen with respect to the amount of movement of the mouse body can be reduced. In this state, the operator can perform a small input operation using the mouse cursor by moving the mouse cursor small by a large motion of the hand holding the mouse body.

As described above, the mouse device 1 according to the present invention
According to the first aspect, the operator tilts the wrist lightly to tilt the mouse main body, and selectively contacts the first and second bottom surface portions 191 and 192 with the operation board 26 side. The movement of the cursor on the display screen can be easily selected and can be conveniently used in the selected state. Therefore, there is no need to work while strongly pressing the mouse body against the operation board 26, and the operator is less fatigued even when operated for a long time.
A stable operation can be performed. Further, since the selection structure of the mouse cursor movement amount can be realized using the inexpensive microswitch 15, the manufacturing cost of the mouse device 11 can be reduced.

The same effect as described above can be obtained by disposing the microswitch 15 on the second bottom portion 192 side, not limited to the above configuration. Further, the selector circuit 23 may be configured to select the first pulse signal when the micro switch 15 is turned on and to select the second pulse signal when the micro switch 15 is turned off.

Next, FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of the mouse device according to the present invention. In the figure, the same reference numerals are given to the elements common to FIG.

In the second embodiment shown in FIG. 5, a photo switch 29 having a photo sensor is used in place of the micro switch 15. The photo switch 29 is shown in FIG.
Is mounted on the mouse body with the light receiving portion exposed from a hole (not shown) formed between the sliding members 16 and 17 in the first bottom surface portion 191.
The first bottom portion 191 is separated from the operation board 26 and turned on when the amount of light received from the outside increases when the amount of light received from the outside decreases in contact with the device 6.
When the photo switch 29 is turned on, the signal selection state by the selector circuit 23 is switched, and when the first pulse signal from the movement amount detection circuit 22 is input to the computer 20 and the photo switch 29 is turned off,
The second pulse signal from the frequency dividing circuit 25 is input to the computer 20.

Accordingly, the operator tilts the wrist to tilt the mouse body backward (see FIG. 2), and the second bottom surface portion 192
When the side contacts the operation board 26, the amount of light received from the outside to the light receiving unit increases and the photo switch 29 is turned on, so that the selector circuit 23 is switched and the first pulse signal from the movement amount detecting circuit 22 is output. Is a computer 20
Is input to Therefore, the amount of movement of the mouse cursor on the display screen with respect to the amount of movement of the mouse body increases. When the operator tilts the wrist in the opposite direction to tilt the mouse main body forward (see FIG. 1) and brings the first bottom surface portion 191 into contact with the operation board 26, the photo switch 29 is turned off. As a result, the second pulse signal from the frequency dividing circuit 25 is input to the computer 20, so that the amount of movement of the mouse cursor on the display screen with respect to the amount of movement of the mouse body is reduced.

It is to be noted that the same function can be provided by disposing the photo switch 29 on the second bottom surface portion 192 side, without being limited to the above configuration. Also, the selector circuit 2
3 may select the second pulse signal when the photo switch 29 is turned on and select the first pulse signal when the photo switch 29 is turned off.

As described above, the present invention has been described based on the preferred embodiment. However, the mouse device of the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above-described embodiment, but is based on the configuration of the above-described embodiment. A mouse device with various modifications and changes is also included in the scope of the present invention.

[0025]

As described above, the mouse device according to the present invention is provided with the switching means for switching the signal selection state of the selector circuit in accordance with the tilt state of the mouse main body on the bottom surface. Since the amount of movement of the mouse cursor with respect to the amount of movement of the mouse main body can be switched by a simple operation of simply tilting the mouse, the present invention has a remarkable effect of providing a mouse device with good operability.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an entire mouse device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing the mouse device in an inclined state different from FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the mouse device.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a control system of the mouse device.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a control system in another embodiment of the mouse device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Mouse Device 14 Ball 15 Micro Switch (Switching Means) 19 Bottom 191 First Bottom Part 192 Second Bottom Part 193 Boundary Part 20 Computer 21 CRT Display 22 Movement Detection Circuit 23 Selector Circuit 25 Divider Circuit 29 Photo Switch (Switching Means) )

Claims (3)

[Claims] A moving amount detecting circuit for generating a first pulse signal corresponding to a moving amount of the mouse body based on rotation of a ball provided on a bottom surface of the mouse body; A frequency dividing circuit for generating a two-pulse signal;
A mouse device comprising a selector circuit for selecting and outputting one of a pulse signal and a second pulse signal, wherein a bottom surface of the mouse body is a first bottom surface portion and a second bottom surface portion inclined from the first bottom surface portion. Switching means for switching the signal selection state of the selector circuit in accordance with the tilt state of the mouse body, wherein the ball is located near the boundary between the first bottom surface portion and the second bottom surface portion. A mouse device comprising: a mouse; 2. The switching device according to claim 1, wherein the switching means is a microswitch disposed on the first bottom surface or the second bottom surface and turned on and off by being mechanically pressed or released. A mouse device according to claim 1. 3. A switching device according to claim 1, wherein said switching means is a photo switch disposed on said first bottom surface portion or said second bottom surface portion, the photo switch being turned on / off by a change in the amount of received light due to the inclined state of both bottom portions. The mouse device according to claim 1, wherein