Patent ID: 7672692

Claim:
A pointing device that can be operated to move an operational object on a display screen in any 360-degree direction, comprising: a control unit changing an operation mode of said pointing device according to a positional orientation of contents displayed on said display screen at the time said pointing device is operated, wherein said control unit determines a direction in which said operational object can be moved on said display screen according to said operation mode to limit the movement of the operational object on the display screen to less than the 360-degree direction based on the positional orientation of contents displayed on the display screen, and wherein said control unit defines the direction in advance in which said operational object can be moved on said display screen, as a current direction in which said pointing device can be operated and has a moving amount adjusting means for moving said operation object by a predetermined step value wherein the control unit outputs a signal to move the operational object in a predetermined manner in a menu representation on the display screen in accordance with a continuous signal from said pointing device for a predetermined time period.