Patent ID: 7770470

Claim:
A pointer operation apparatus comprising: an operation unit that is susceptible to a movement caused by a user operation; a force applicator that applies a force to the operation unit; a signal output unit that outputs a position signal to a display control unit according to a position of the operation unit; an association unit that associates a pointer position displayed on a display unit under control of the display control unit according to the position signal and the force applied to the operation unit by the force applicator by using a predetermined relationship; a force control unit that controls the force applicator to yield a force that accords with a current pointer position based on the predetermined relationship determined by the association unit; a recording unit that records a movement history of the pointer position; and a user input unit that receives a determination instruction for determining the pointer position from a user, wherein the association unit changes the predetermined relationship based on the movement history recorded by the recording unit, wherein the association unit changes the predetermined relationship based on the movement history of the pointer position during a selected period that is defined as a period between a start of the user operation of the operation unit and the determination instruction by using the user input unit, and wherein the association unit decreases the force in the predetermined relationship based on a fact that the trace of a pointer position movement in the selected period is a detour path.