Trackball assembly including a loosely mounted ball support

Details Trackball assembly including a loosely mounted ball support Trackball assembly including a loosely mounted ball support

1991-11-22

1992-12-15

Nelms, David C.

Radiant energy

Photocells; circuits and apparatus

Optical or pre-photocell system

25023114, 340710, 74198, 74471XY, G01V 904, G05G 9053, G09G 500

Patent

active

051719789

ABSTRACT:
A trackball assembly has a ball supported on a bottom ball support, which is rotatably and translationally mounted on a lower support having an upper support conntected thereto. The ball protrudes through an opening, which has a beveled inner surface, in a retaining cap releasably secured to an upper wall of the upper support to enable manipulation of the ball by a user to position a pointer on a computer screen. The amount and direction of movement of the ball during its rotation in each of X and Y coordinate directions are sensed by two silicone rubber rollers, which are substantially perpendicular to each other, engaging the ball. Each roller is mounted on a metal shaft, which extends through an enlarged hole in a shaft support mounted on the lower support to enable limited pivoting of the shaft and the roller thereon. The amount of pivoting of each of the shafts towards the ball by the force of a magnet, which is supported on the bottom of the bottom ball support, is limited by a retaining portion of the bottom ball support. Each of the shafts has an encoder wheel mounted thereon for cooperation with photosources and photodetectors mounted on the lower support. The photosources and the photodetectors enable determination of the amount and direction of movement of the ball in each of the X and Y directions during any rotation of the ball.

REFERENCES:
patent: 4538476 (1985-09-01), Luque
patent: 4562347 (1985-12-01), Hovey et al.
patent: 4952919 (1990-08-01), Nippoldt
patent: 5008528 (1991-04-01), Duchon
patent: 5122654 (1992-06-01), Koh et al.

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