US 5,706,026 A · Finger operated digital input device

Abstract

A digital input device has a thimble worn on a finger and operated as a mouse for displacement encoding or as a pointer for angular encoding, using a base unit. The thimble can also be attached to a stylus to form a tracing pen or joystick handle. A sensor preferably includes a contact roller at an end of the thimble that rotates with movement over a surface. The sensor emits a signal as a function of incremental displacement of the sensor over a surface, in X and Y directions. The sensor couples to the base unit at a universal joint and the base unit has a cup-shaped contact surface for encoding angular displacement around the universal joint, using displacement of the sensor over the cup-shaped surface. The contact roller is mechanically arranged to pass a coding strip having reflective, transmissive or magnetic stripes before a sensing element. The sensor can be pivoted back on the finger to enable typing. When disengaged from the base unit, the sensor can roll on any surface, and with the stylus can be used as a tracing pen. By scaling the displacement of the input device to equal displacement of a cursor or pointer controlled by software, the input device can be used directly on a display screen.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A digital input device for operation via a user's finger, comprising:

a thimble dimensioned to engage the user's finger;
a sensing means arranged at an end of the thimble, the sensing means being operable to encode displacement of the thimble relative to a separate surface and to produce a signal as a function of said displacement;
and,
means for communicating the signal to an external device, whereby the user can encode data by wearing the thimble and displacing the thimble and the sensing means over the separate surface;
wherein the sensing means comprises a contact roller that is rotatable in the thimble by relative movement between the contact roller and the separate surface, and further comprising a detector circuit operable to generate the signal responsive to incremental rotation of the contact roller along at least two axes;
and,
wherein the detector circuit comprises a plurality of sensing rollers coupled mechanically with the contact roller to rotate upon rotation of the contact roller, the sensing rollers being rotatable on distinct axes, and wherein the sensing rollers each are operable to pass a surface having regular variations before a respective said at least one sensing element upon rotation of the contact roller, the sensing element producing an output signal that is pulsed as a function of movement of the contact roller.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Finger operated digital input device

Life of this patent

Finger operated digital input device

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims17