Patent ID: 7405726

Claim:
A 3D cursor or joystick device comprising: a complementary pair of emitter/detector units, one of which is mounted on a movable component moved by the user in a 3D space and the other of which is mounted on a stationary component positioned at a reference position facing toward the 3D space in which the user moves the movable component, wherein each emitter/detector unit of the complementary pair has an emitter element for emitting a three-dimensionally distributed signal beam in a direction toward the other unit, and a detector element adjacent the emitter element so as to receive the signal beam from the other unit and provide an output signal representing measured characteristics of the signal beam received from the other unit, wherein only the two output signals of the two detector elements, each detecting the signal beam from the emitter element of the other one of the complementary pair of emitter/detector units at opposite endpoints defining a single line between the two emitter/detector units, are used in combination together to calculate position and orientation angle values for the emitter/detector unit of the movable component relative to the emitter/detector unit of the stationary component.