Pointing stick device and the manufacturing method thereof

Details Pointing stick device and the manufacturing method thereof Pointing stick device and the manufacturing method thereof

1999-10-13

2003-05-27

Lao, Lun-Yi (Department: 2673)

Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system

Display peripheral interface input device

Cursor mark position control device

C345S157000, C074S4710XY

Reexamination Certificate

active

06570556

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF INVENTION
The invention relates to a device for controlling the cursor movement on a display device.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
The traditional cursor controller, e.g. joystick or mouse, is not suitable for the notebook type computer system due to its size. As shown respectively in FIG.
1
(A) and FIG.
1
(B), a pointing stick
12
disposed on a keyboard
10
has been widely used in the notebook type computer due to its miniature structure. The state-of-art cursor controller device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,521,596 and 5,640,178.
The following introduces two types of state-of-art pointing stick. The pointing stick, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,178 and depicted in FIG.
2
(A), FIG.
2
(B), includes a substrate
21
and a stick
22
connected to the substrate
21
. The substrate
21
is made of resilient material. According to the different designs, the substrate
21
may be in form of three or four blades structure. Four blades structure is shown in FIG.
2
(A). At the end of each blade, one female screw
211
is provided. Through the male screw
23
, the pointing stick is attached to the baseplate
24
of the keyboard (not shown). The sensors
212
are respectively disposed and attached to the bottom of the substrate
21
. The resistance of the sensor
212
varies responsive to the deformation of the substrate
21
. During operation, by exertion of force onto the tip of the stick
22
, the substrate
21
deflects and deforms. The sensor
212
deforms accordingly and a corresponding signal change is received by a controller (not shown). The controller then controls the cursor movement. As a three blades structure of the substrate is adopted, totally three sensors
212
are required.
However, for the above-mentioned pointing stick, the sensors are attached onto the substrate, and the deformation of the substrate is caused by the external force on the stick. Therefore, the substrate's material property must have enough flexibility and the stick's material property must have enough rigidity. These requirement place limitation on the types of material that can be used for the substrate or the stick. Furthermore, since the substrate property requires flexibility, the substrate may be easily damaged by the force exerted from the stick when the horizontal force applied on the stick exceeds a value. On the other hand, a spacing
24
A, which is required to allow a vertical displacement of the substrate
21
during operation, would not allow further size reduction of the keyboard.
Another state-of-art pointing stick, shown in
FIG. 3
, includes a substrate
31
of rigid material and a stick
32
in rectangular column. On each of the four surfaces
321
of the column, one sensor
322
is disposed. The sensor
322
consists of two electrodes
3222
,
3223
, a strain gauge
3221
, and a conductor
3224
, which increases the conductivity. One end of the stick
32
is vertically disposed with respect to the substrate
31
and connected to the substrate
31
using a conventional approach. For instance, a female screw
311
and a corresponding male screw (not shown) may be used. The resistance of the sensor
322
varies responsive to the deflection of the stick
32
. During operation, by exertion of a force onto the tip of the stick
32
, the strain gauge
3221
deforms accordingly and a corresponding signal change is received by a controller (not shown). The controller then controls the cursor movement.
The rigid material of the substrate of the second type pointing stick mentioned above increases the strength of the substrate
31
. The substrate
31
does not deforms during operation. Through this implementation, the substrate
31
may be attached to the keyboard baseplate without requiring a spacing, which is required for the pointing stick shown in FIG.
2
(B). However, since the stick is in form of a rectangular column, four sensors are required. In addition, the sensor on each surface need one print process to make, and totally four print processes are needed to form the sensors on the. rectangular column. The corresponding print process is tedious and is not cost effective. As a result, the cost for the pointing stick of the second type can not be lowered.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
A pointing stick for use to control the cursor movement on a display device is provided.
The pointing stick includes a substrate, a stick and a plurality of sensors.
One end of the pointing stick is connected to the substrate and a portion of the stick is in form of a cylinder.
The plurality of sensors are disposed over a circular surface corresponding to the cylinder of the stick.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5521596 (1996-05-01), Selker et al.
patent: 5640178 (1997-06-01), Endo et al.
patent: 5732314 (1998-03-01), Tsukida et al.
patent: 5748180 (1998-05-01), Inukai
patent: 5754167 (1998-05-01), Narusawa et al.
patent: 6002388 (1999-12-01), Seffernick et al.
patent: 6183933 (2001-02-01), Ishikawa et al.
patent: 6-207865 (1994-07-01), None
patent: 8-124811 (1996-05-01), None
patent: 10-057884 (1998-03-01), None

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