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 Finger operated digital input device

Details
Inventors: Kent, Robert Hormann; Wentz, John Dyer;
Assignee:
Primary Examiner: Nguyen; Chanh
Assistant Examiner:
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott

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.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION It is an object of the invention to provide a finger operated digital input device that produces X and Y displacement signals as a function of the user pointing a finger such as the index finger.
It is another object of the invention to provide a finger input device that is useful alternatively in a base or housing and on a surface such as a mouse pad.
It is a further object to provide a finger input device that can be worn on a finger and moved to a retracted position to permit the user to type.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a finger input device having a finger displacement detector at the end of a thimble worn on the finger, the thimble being detachably arranged in a housing via a universal joint, and the housing having a shaped surface over which the detector is displaced.
It is another object of the invention to provide a single data input device that is alternatively useful for angular pointing via a handle or via the user's finger, and for drawing over a surface either with the finger or as a stylus.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a finger input device that is uncomplicated in structure and circuitry, produces X and Y displacement pulses for input to a digital computer.
These and other objects are accomplished in a digital input device having a thimble that can be worn on a user's finger or attached on the end of a stylus.
Means are provided for sensing the displacement of the thimble relative to a surface, such as a contact roller arrangement or an electro-optical arrangement whereby the sensing means distinguishes grid lines or the like on a surface.
In the contact roller arrangement, for example, a small contact roller at an end of the thimble rotates with movement over a surface, and a detector circuit emits a pulsed signal responsive to incremental rotation.
Sensing rollers that preferably bear against an intermediate larger roller are rotatable on mutually perpendicular axes for detection of X and Y displacement


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