| US 7,593,006 B2 | ||
| Input device for moving cursor and scrolling image on screen | ||
| Osamu Hara, Fukushima-ken (Japan); Kouichi Ogino, Fukushima-ken (Japan); Kazuhito Ooshita, Fukushima-ken (Japan); and Akihisa Itoh, Fukushima-ken (Japan) | ||
| Assigned to Alps Electric Co., Ltd., Tokyo (Japan) | ||
| Filed on Feb. 01, 2006, as Appl. No. 11/345,467. | ||
| Application 11/345467 is a continuation of application No. 09/793009, filed on Feb. 26, 2001, granted, now 7,042,445. | ||
| Claims priority of application No. 2000-053395 (JP), filed on Feb. 29, 2000. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2006/0125788 A1, Jun. 15, 2006 | ||
| Int. Cl. G09G 5/00 (2006.01); G06F 3/033 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 345—184 | 3 Claims |
| 1. An input device comprising:
a display;
a computer body housing:
a driver;
software for displaying a screen on the display;
software for scrolling the screen; and
a supervisory program for supervising a state of image data to be displayed on the display and for receiving coordinate data
from the driver;
a plane-shaped input means fixedly housed in the computer body for giving an operation input signal for scrolling the screen
to the computer body, wherein the input means outputs coordinate information to the supervisory program when a surface is
scanned with a finger or an input pen; and
a vibration generating means disposed below the input means to generate shock or vibration to a hand of an operator, wherein
the vibration generation means comprises a vibrating element that receives a feedback command signal from the computer body
to give a shock force to the finger or the input pen and wherein vibration is given to the input means through the use of
the vibration generating means,
wherein an operation command is given to the vibration generating means from the computer body in accordance with the state
of the image data supervised through the use of the supervisory program to change a time interval or magnitude of the vibration
in accordance with a state of scrolling of the screen performed when a surface of the input means is scanned with a finger
or an input pen;
wherein the vibration generating means provides vibration to the input means or the vicinity of the input means in response
to the operation command from the computer body;
wherein the supervisory program supervises the position of a cursor on the image display and gives an operation command to
the driver when the cursor moves to a boundary line between menu items or icon within the image display;
wherein when the supervisory program supervises an amount of image data to be displayed on the screen and performs input for
scrolling the screen through the use of the input means, the supervisory program gives an operation command for changing a
time interval or magnitude of the vibration from the vibration generating means in response to a magnitude of the amount of
the image data, where the time interval or magnitude of the vibration is changed toward an end of a scrolling operation; and
wherein the driver processes the operation command and provides the operation command as a feedback signal to the vibrating
generating means.
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