Patent Application
20130127723
This application is based on and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2011253212, filed on Nov. 18, 2011, the contents of which are incorporated by reference.
Embodiments of the inventive subject matter generally relate to the field of electronic computing device input mechanisms, and more particularly to trackball input mechanisms.
Electronic computing devices can include many different input mechanisms. Common input mechanisms typically include hard and soft buttons, touchscreens, trackpads, mice, and trackballs. For example, a laptop computer may have both a trackpad and hard buttons. Alternatively, a laptop computer, or mobile phone, may have a trackball in addition to a plurality of hard and soft buttons.
Trackballs are a desirable input mechanism because of their ease of use. To retain this ease of use, it is often necessary for the trackball to be of sufficient diameter. This can pose a problem with today's technological advances creating slimmer and slimmer electronic computing devices. For example, the thickness of a laptop computer may limit the diameter of the trackball, or the diameter of the trackball may dictate the thickness of the laptop computer.
A component reduced in size and thickness has been mountable on a diagnostic ultrasound system, which is a medical device and industrial instrument, and a portable product thereof has appeared. A trackball, which is one of mechanical elements, cannot be reduced in thickness from a viewpoint of a user interface, which inhibits the reduction in thickness of a device. For example, the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1 requires at least a thickness for a trackball, which leads to a limitation in reduction in thickness of a device.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a trackball which is able to be used directly as a user interface and enabling a reduction in thickness of an information device.
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a trackball for manipulating a cursor displayed on a screen of an information device, including: a ball separated into an upper part and a lower part, which is capable of storing the upper part in the inside thereof, and formed by an overlap and engagement between an edge of the upper part and an edge of the lower part; and a cam mechanism which connects the lower part to the upper part, the cam mechanism being provided in the inside of the lower part so as to be able to lock the upper part in a position close to the bottom of the lower part in the inside thereof by pushing down the upper part and to return the upper part to the initial position by pushing down the upper part again to release the lock, wherein the upper part is:
1. in a stored state
pushed down in the diameter direction of the ball and locked with being pushed down by the cam mechanism to maintain the state of being stored inside the lower part; and
2. in an in-use state
pushed down in the diameter direction of the ball and then released from the lock where the upper part is pushed down by the cam mechanism and pushed up in the diameter direction by an elastic force of the cam mechanism, by which the edge of the upper part engages with the edge of the lower part so as to maintain a spherical configuration against a given pressure applied from the outside of the ball.
In the above, the trackball has a tapered engagement surface between the edge of the lower part and the upper part and a joint surface between the edges of the upper part and the lower part forms a smooth spherical surface.
Moreover, the trackball has the surface of the upper part which is separated from the surface of the lower part by color so that the upper part is identifiable.
Moreover, the present invention is an information device including the aforementioned trackball.
In addition, the information device has an upper-side unit including a display unit and a lower-side unit including an input unit (a keyboard having character keys, function keys, and a trackball). The input unit includes the trackball and the upper-side unit and the lower-side unit are foldable.
Further, the information device is characterized in that, in the state where the upper-side unit and the lower-side unit are opened, the upper part in the stored state is pushed down in the diameter direction so as to release the lock of the cam mechanism and the upper part is pushed up in the diameter direction so that the edge of the upper part is pressed against and engaged with the edge of the lower part to resume the spherical configuration of the ball and to maintain the spherical configuration against the given pressure applied from the outside of the ball to the upper part, and when the upper part and the lower part are folded, the upper part in the in-use state is pushed down and stored into the inside of the lower part by the locking function of the cam mechanism.
Still further, the information device is characterized in that an inner surface of the upper-side unit, in the state where the upper-side unit and the lower-side unit are folded, does not contact the top of the upper part in the stored state of the trackball.
Moreover, the cam mechanism of the trackball is a heart cam provided inside the lower part.
The reduction in thickness of the information device can be achieved by mounting a trackball having the above structure.
The present embodiments may be better understood, and numerous objects, features, and advantages made apparent to those skilled in the art by referencing the accompanying drawings.
Some embodiments of the inventive subject matter include a relatively large diameter collapsible trackball that facilitates user input on a computing device. Because the trackball is collapsible, some embodiments can employ a larger diameter trackball than if a traditional, non-collapsible, trackball were used. In one embodiment, the trackball may comprise and upper portion and a lower portion. The upper portion may be a portion created from dissecting the trackball above its equator. The result may yield an upper portion of the trackball that can be housed inside the lower portion of the trackball, decreasing the storage height of the trackball. In such embodiments, an electronic computing device may be able to include a trackball with a diameter close to, as large as, or larger than, the thickness of the electronic computing device.
The description that follows includes exemplary systems, methods, techniques, instruction sequences and computer program products that embody techniques of the present inventive subject matter. However, it is understood that the described embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. For instance, although examples refer to the upper portion of the trackball being housed within the lower portion of the trackball when collapsed, in other embodiments, the lower portion of the trackball may be housed in the upper portion of the trackball when collapsed. In other instances, well-known instruction instances, protocols, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obfuscate the description.
The cam mechanism 28 may be a heart cam, rotating cam, cylindrical cam, etc. In some embodiments, the cam mechanism 28 has two “locked” positions—an extended position and a collapsed position. When the trackball 20 is in use, it will be in the extended position. When the lid 10 of the laptop computer 33 is closed, the trackball 20 will be in the closed position.
In some embodiments, the expanding and collapsing function may be achieved by pressing upper portion of the trackball 20. When the trackball 20 is in the expanded position, pressing the upper portion of the trackball 20 will cause the upper portion 24 of the trackball 20 to collapse and rest inside the lower portion 40 of the trackball 20. The trackball 20 will then be in the collapsed “locked” position. When the trackball 20 is in the collapsed position, pressing the upper portion 24 of the trackball 20 will cause the upper portion of the trackball 20 to reemerge from the lower portion 40 of the trackball 20. The trackball 20 will then be in the expanded “locked” position.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011253212 | Nov 2011 | JP | national |
