Abstract:
A pointing device includes a wheel module capable of swinging left and right with respect to a housing. With rotation of the wheel and swinging of the wheel module, multiple-dimensional scrolling control is provided. In the wheel module, an optical rotation-sensing module is set beside the wheel to sense its rotation, and an elastic step unit, installed on the wheel module, engages a step-wise uneven ring inside the wheel for generating a stepwise vibration feeling when the wheel is rotated.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The invention relates to a pointing device, and more particularly, to a pointing device for multiple-dimensional scrolling control with simple manufacture and assembly.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Prior Art  
         [0004]     Computer systems have become one of the most important hardware backbones in modern information society. Most modern computer systems are equipped with a pointing device (such as a mouse) so that the computer operator can work with a computer more conveniently. Through the graphic user interface (GUI) on the display screen, the operator can intuitively do what they want with the computer using the pointing device. Meanwhile, manufacturers are continuously making improvements in the designs of pointing device for functional enhancement, more convenient operation, and satisfaction of user needs.  
         [0005]     Please refer to  FIG. 1 , which is an illustration of a prior art pointing device  10 . The pointing device  10  is a mouse having two buttons  12 A,  12 B, and a wheel  14  that can rotate about a rotary shaft Ap along an arrow  16 . While the operator moves the mouse  10 , it detects movement either mechanically with a solid ball or optically. The movement detected is converted into corresponding movement-sensing signals and transmitted to a computer system, not shown in  FIG. 1 , in the form of electrical signals to be processed on the computer. Also, the mouse  10  detects the pressing of the buttons  12 A,  12 B and transmits the corresponding button-sensing signals to a computer system to provide additional manipulations. Furthermore, as a computer operator often needs to view many different parts of a document, text, spreadsheets, web pages, or graphics on the display screen having limited display region, the wheel  14  on the mouse provides the function of scrolling up and down the contents on the screen. The mouse  10  detects the amount of the rotation as the operator rotates the wheel  14  and generates the corresponding rotation-sensing signals that can be transmitted to a computer system to display the upper part or the lower part of a document; equivalently, the document is scrolled vertically.  
         [0006]     Even though the wheel  14  of a prior art mouse  10  provides the ability of scrolling vertically, it scrolls only along one direction, which is unsatisfactory when the width of some wide screen pages, graphics, or engineering plots exceed the screen width. In such cases, an operator needs to view the leftmost/rightmost part of the document in an easy way. That is to say, an additional function that allows scrolling horizontally in a document would be welcomed by computer operators. The prior art mouse  10  provides only the ability for one-dimensional scrolling, such as vertical scrolling, and does not allow computer operators the convenience of scrolling horizontally with the same wheel at the same time. Although an on-going application for the patent in the United States (U.S. patent application No. 20030025673A1) also proposes the technique including a wheel assembly for scrolling an image in multiple directions, it bears the drawbacks of not only complicated structure, high cost and time needed for production, assembly, and manufacturing, but also discomfort to the user in the way the wheel rotates.  
       SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
       [0007]     It is therefore a primary objective of the claimed invention to provide a pointing device for multiple-dimensional scrolling control with one single scrolling wheel. The present invention is simple in structure, easy to produce and assemble, and simple to manufacture. In addition, the present invention helps computer operators gain more control of the positioning of the device and the amount of rotation of the wheel by providing a step-wise vibration feeling while rotating the wheel.  
         [0008]     One aspect of the present invention relates to a wheel module including a pedestal and a wheel connected to the pedestal. The wheel module is connected to the housing and capable of swinging left and right. The rotation of the wheel itself provides the control of vertical scrolling and the swing of the wheel module provides the control of horizontal scrolling. Thus, operators are capable of carrying out multiple-dimensional scrolling control with one single wheel module.  
         [0009]     Another aspect of the present invention relates to the detailed structure of the wheel module. An optical gate is disposed on one side of the wheel and a light emitting element and a light receiving element are disposed on both sides of the pedestal to detect the amount of rotation of the wheel. On the other side of the wheel, the step surface is distributed evenly on the inner circumference of the wheel; correspondingly, a step unit is disposed on the pedestal having one end connected to the pedestal and the other end contacting the step surface and moving back and forth elastically. When the operator rotates the wheel, the convex and the concave segments of the step surface alternatively stretch and compress the step unit and cause a step-wise vibration feeling so that the operator can control and position the wheel easily.  
         [0010]     The pedestal of the wheel module having a swing shaft is connected to the base plate of the housing. The front end of the swing shaft is fixed to the base plate and the other end of the swing shaft is connected to the housing vertically free on the base plate pivoting about the front end of the swing shaft so that the operator is capable of clicking the wheel and causing vertical movement of the wheel module.  
         [0011]     With the various novel designs disclosed by the present invention, the pointing device provides the control for multiple-dimensional scrolling. Moreover, the simplicity of the structure further lowers the cost and time needed to produce, assemble, and manufacture the pointing device. Easy manipulation and positioning of the wheel is also attained.  
         [0012]     These and other objectives of the claimed invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0013]      FIG. 1  illustrates a prior art pointing device.  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  illustrates the present invention pointing device.  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  is an exploded view of the pointing device of  FIG. 2 .  
         [0016]      FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5  are different perspectives of the wheel module of  FIG. 3 .  
         [0017]      FIG. 6  and  FIG. 7  are different perspectives of the wheel of  FIG. 3 .  
         [0018]      FIG. 8  and  FIG. 9  are sectional diagrams of the wheel module of  FIG. 3 .  
         [0019]      FIG. 10  illustrates two different rotation situations of the wheel module of  FIG. 3 .  
         [0020]      FIG. 11  is a diagram of the wheel module removed from the housing of  FIG. 3 .  
         [0021]      FIG. 12  is a diagram of the wheel module connected to the housing of  FIG. 3 .  
         [0022]      FIG. 13  is a top view of the assembly of  FIG. 12 .  
         [0023]      FIG. 14  is a rear view of the assembly of  FIG. 12 .  
         [0024]      FIG. 15  is a side view of the assembly of  FIG. 12 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0025]     Please refer to  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 2  shows an exemplary embodiment of a present invention pointing device  20 .  FIG. 3  illustrates the components of the pointing device  20 . The pointing device  20  is a mouse including a housing  30 A,  30 B with buttons  22 A,  22 B and having a wheel  24  for scrolling control. In the present invention, the wheel  24  is disposed in a wheel module  40 , as in  FIG. 3 , where the wheel  24  is capable of rotating about a rotary shaft Ar in the direction of an arrow  26  and swinging left right about a swing shaft Aw in the direction of an arrow  28 . Therefore, vertical scrolling control is achieved by the rotation of the wheel  24  in the direction of the arrow  26  and horizontal scrolling control is achieved by the swing of the wheel  24  in the direction of the arrow  28 .  
         [0026]     As  FIG. 3  shows, besides the wheel  24 , the present invention wheel module  40  includes a pedestal  50 , a circuit board  42 A, a light emitting element  46 B, a light receiving element  46 A, and a step unit  36  (the housing  30 B is removed in  FIG. 3 ). The wheel  24  includes wheel components  32 A,  32 B and is installed on the pedestal  50  and rotates about the rotary shaft Ar. The pedestal  50  has three extending touch rods  48 A- 48 C and the swing shaft Aw on the bottom, extending from a front swing shaft end Aw 1  to a rear swing shaft end Aw 2 . The circuit board  42 A is connected to the bottom of the pedestal  50  as a whole. The light emitting element  46 B and the light receiving element  46 A are installed on the circuit board  42 A and located on either side of the wheel  24  respectively to form a rotation-sensing module that detects the amount of rotation of the wheel  24 . The light emitting element  46 B emits light and the light receiving element  46 A detects light and generates a corresponding rotation-sensing signal that is transmitted as an electrical signal through a bus  52  on the circuit board  42 A. In addition, the step unit  36  includes step unit components  38 A,  38 B and an elastic body  38 C (such as a spring). The elastic body  38 C is placed between the step unit components  38 A,  38 B, where the step unit component  38 B is the step body of the step unit  36  and is fixed to the pedestal  50  and the step unit component  38 A is the push pad elastically moving back and forth relative to the step body by the elasticity of the elastic body  38 C.  
         [0027]     The wheel module  40  is moveably connected to a base plate  62  in the housing  30 A. A circuit board  42 B that is connected to the base plate  62  has button sensors  58 A,  58 B, swing sensors  56 A,  56 B, a click sensor  54 , and a movement-sensing module  60 . The movement-sensing module  60  can be an optical sensing module or a mechanical sensing module with a rolling ball. When the operator moves the pointing device  20 , the movement-sensing module  60  detects movement of the pointing device  20  and generates a corresponding movement-sensing signal. The button sensors  58 A,  58 B detect the pressing of the buttons  22 A,  22 B (shown in  FIG. 2 ), respectively, and generate a corresponding button-sensing signal. The swing sensors  56 A,  56 B form a swing-sensing module and detect the swing of the wheel module  40  and generate the corresponding swing-sensing signal. The click sensor  54  detects up-and-down movement of the wheel module  40  and generates a corresponding click-sensing signal. All the above electrical sensing signals generated by the sensors/sensing modules are transmitted through the circuits on the circuit board  42 B to a computer system (not shown); likewise, the bus  52  of the wheel module  40  connects to the circuit board  42 B that transmits the rotation-sensing signal generated by the rotation-sensing module to a computer system.  
         [0028]     Please refer to  FIG. 4  to  FIG. 9  (also  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 ) for detailed information of the components of the present invention pointing device  20 . With different angles of view,  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5  are illustrations of the assembly of the wheel module  40 . As mentioned before, the wheel  24  rotates about the rotary shaft Ar in the direction of the arrow r  26 .  FIG. 6  and  FIG. 7  show the detailed structure of the wheel  24  from different angles of view.  FIG. 8  and  FIG. 9  show the step unit  36  and the interrelationship between the rotation-sensing module and the wheel  24 .  
         [0029]     As  FIG. 6  and  FIG. 7  show, a plurality of radial slits  66  is placed on a plane of the wheel  24 . These slits  66  form light-passing areas of the plane. The areas between the slits  66  are light-blocking areas. The light-passing areas and the light-blocking areas are placed alternatively along the rotary shaft Ar and form an optical gate  64 .  FIG. 7  shows a step surface  68  distributed evenly on the inner circumference of the wheel  24 .  FIG. 8  and  FIG. 9  show that the optical gate  64  is installed between the light emitting element  46 B and the light receiving element  46 A. As the operator rotates the wheel  24 , the optical gate  64  rotates so light-passing areas and light-blocking areas alternately pass between the light-emitting element  46 B and the light-receiving element  46 A. When a slit  66  passes by, the light from the light-emitting element  46 B passes through the slit and is received by the light-receiving element  46 A. Conversely, when a light-blocking area passes by, the light from the light-emitting element  46 B is blocked and not received by the light-receiving element  46 A. In other words, the amount of rotation of the wheel  24  is obtained according to alternating light-passing and light-blocking, and is converted into the rotation-sensing signal to carry out vertical scrolling control.  
         [0030]     The step unit  36  in  FIG. 9  shows that the step unit component  38 A (such as a push pad) contacts the step surface as a result of the elasticity of the elastic body  38 C as in  FIG. 3 . When the wheel  24  rotates, the step surface  68  also moves through the step unit component  38 A, propelling the step unit component  38 A to move up and down to generate the step-wise vibration feeling. Please refer to  FIG. 10  for detailed information.  FIG. 10  shows the up-and-down movement of the step unit component  38 A in a side view as the wheel  24  rotates. In state Sa, a concave segment  69 A of the step surface  68  passes through the step unit component  38 A that then is lifted along the direction of an arrow  72 A by the elasticity of the elastic body  38 C in the step unit  36 . When the wheel  24  turns into a state Sb along the direction of the arrow  26 , a convex segment  69 B of the step surface  68  passes through the step unit component  38 A that then is pressed downward along the direction of an arrow  72 B. As the wheel  24  rotates, the step unit component  38 A is in the states of Sa and Sb alternatively, i.e., it vibrates vertically along the arrows  72 A,  72 B to generate a step-wise vibration feeling.  
         [0031]     As  FIG. 4  to  FIG. 10  show, the present invention wheel module  40  generates a control signal from the rotation of the wheel  24 . Also, when an operator rotates the wheel  24 , the step unit  36  generates a step-wise vibration feeling that improves the handling of the wheel  24 . The frequency of the vibration feeling assists the operator in knowing the rotating rate of the wheel  24  so that the operator can control the wheel more intuitively to get to an appropriate scrolling rate of a document on the display screen. In addition, the step unit  36  allows the wheel  24  to be readily fixed in one place if the operator vertically scrolls a document and needs to stay in some specific part of the document.  
         [0032]     Please refer to  FIG. 11  to  FIG. 12  showing the present invention wheel module  40  connected moveably to the housing  30 A.  FIG. 11  illustrates how the wheel module  40  is connected to the housing  30 A. And  FIG. 12  illustrates the assembly of the wheel module  40  and the housing  30 A.  FIG. 13  is a top view of  FIG. 12 . Parts of the housing  30 A and the circuit board  42 B are not depicted in  FIG. 11  to  FIG. 13  for clarity. As  FIG. 11  shows, two convex plates  70 A,  70 B are built on the base plate  62  of the housing  30 A. The convex plate  70 A includes an aperture  74 A and the convex plate  70 B includes a slot  74 B. The aperture  74 A matches the swing shaft end Awl of the wheel module  40  holding the swing shaft Awl but allowing rotation. The other swing shaft end Aw 2  of the wheel module  40  is placed in the slot  74 B capable of rotating and also vertically sliding through in the direction of an arrow  76 . In other words, as the wheel module  40  is connected to the housing  30 A by the swing shaft ends Aw 1 , Aw 2 , the wheel module  40  is capable of not only swinging left right about the swing shaft Aw extended from the swing shaft end Aw 1  to the swing shaft end Aw 2  (i.e., about the direction of the arrow  26  in  FIG. 12 ) but also sliding vertically along the direction of the arrow  76  with the swing shaft end Aw 2  pivoting about the swing shaft end Aw 1 .  
         [0033]     As  FIG. 12  and  FIG. 13  show, the touch rods  48 A,  48 B, and  48 C of the wheel module  40  correspond respectively to the swing sensors  56 A,  56 B and the click sensor  54  when the wheel module  40  is connected to the housing  30 A. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the swing sensors and the click sensor are made with elastic touch button sensors. As  FIG. 12  shows, when a touch button  79  of the click sensor  54  is pressed, the click sensor  54  generates a click-sensing signal in response and returns elastically (with a spring inside, for example) the touch button  79  to its status before clicking. Likewise, a touch button  78  having elastic restoration ability is set on the swing sensors  56 A,  56 B. With these sensors having elastic restoration ability, the present invention elastically supports the mobile wheel module  40  using a simplified structure. Please refer to  FIG. 14 , a rear view diagram along the section line  14 - 14  in  FIG. 13 , for illustrative description of swinging left and right.  
         [0034]     In a state Ta in  FIG. 14 , the touch rods  48 A,  48 B on both sides of the wheel module  40  are held respectively by the touch buttons  78  of the swing sensors  56 A and  56 B and keep the wheel module  40  right in the middle. When an operator swings the wheel module  40  along the direction of the arrow  28 , the touch rod  48 A or  48 B presses the touch button  78  of the swing sensor  56 A or  56 B. The state Tb in  FIG. 14  illustrates the touch button  78  of the swing sensor  56 B being pressed down by the touch rod  48 B as the operator tilts the wheel module  40  to the right; meanwhile, the swing sensor  56 b generates a corresponding swing-sensing signal to indicate that the wheel module  40  has been tilted. Once the tilting of the wheel module  40  stops, the touch button  78  of the swing sensor  56 B elastically returns to the position in the state Ta, bringing back the whole wheel module  40  to the middle.  
         [0035]     Continuing to  FIG. 15 , a side view diagram along the section line  15 - 15  in  FIG. 13 , it shows a vertical movement of the wheel module  40  pivoting about the swing shaft end Aw 1 . A state Qa in  FIG. 15  shows that the touch rod  48 C of the wheel module  40  is kept horizontal by the support of the touch button  79  of the click sensor  54 . And a state Qb shows that if the operator presses down the wheel  24 , the swing shaft end Aw 2  of the whole wheel module  40  moves downward the direction of the arrow  76  pivoting about the swing shaft end Aw 1 , and the touch rod  48 C then presses the touch button  79  of the click sensor  54  to generate the click-sensing signal. The click-sensing signal indicates that the wheel  24  (or the wheel module  40 ) has been pressed. After the wheel  24  is released, the touch button  79  of the click sensor  54  returns elastically to the position of the state Qa, and the wheel module  40  goes back to the horizontal status as in Qa.  
         [0036]     The wheel module  40  of the present invention disclosed in the above discussion is capable of swinging left and right ( FIG. 14 ) and moving vertically ( FIG. 15 ). The swing motion is detected by the swing sensors  56 A,  56 B and provides the vertical scrolling control. The vertical movement is detected by the click sensor  54  and provides the clicking control. With the additional vertical scrolling control by the rotation of the wheel  24  itself ( FIG. 4  to  FIG. 10 ), the present invention pointing device  20  allows intuitive muliple-dimensional scrolling control with one single wheel.  
         [0037]     In contrast to the prior art, the present invention pointing device is capable of realizing a multiple-dimensional scrolling control with one single, simply structured wheel/wheel module and preserving the step-wise vibration feeling while the wheel is rotating. With the front shaft end and the rear shaft end of the present invention wheel module connecting directly to the base plate of the housing and the touch buttons of the click sensor and the swing sensors elastically supporting the mobile wheel module, the present invention pointing device is implemented with simple structure, lower cost and time for production, and easy assembly for manufacturing. In addition to the scrolling control, the present invention swingable wheel module also allows other types of multiple-dimensional control, for example, all-directional control in a virtual-reality environment in computer games, etc. In addition, the embodiment of the present invention applies to not only on a mouse-like pointing device but also other types of pointing devices such as a track balls, etc.  
         [0038]     Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.