Joystick

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6774887
  • Patent Number
    6,774,887
  • Date Filed
    Thursday, August 23, 2001
    22 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, August 10, 2004
    19 years ago
  • Inventors
  • Original Assignees
  • Examiners
    • Eisen; Alexander
    Agents
    • Birch, Stewart, Kolasch & Birch, LLP
Abstract
A joystick 3 includes a circuit board 1, a thin film circuit 2 arranged on the circuit board 1, a joystick 3 on the thin film circuit 2, and a spacer 4 arranged between the thin film circuit 2 and the circuit board 1. By the joystick 3, the thin film circuit 2 is in contact with the circuit board 1 so that resistor are connected in parallel so as to reduce the resistance to control the direction and speed of the cursor precisely. As the rod 37 is pushed by an outer force, the pit 36 on the movable body 34 presses one of the joint points 12 and 22. Then, the joint points 12 and 22 will transfer a signal of the resistor, and thus, the movement of the control cursor can be controlled.
Description




FIELD OF THE INVENTION




The present invention relates to a joystick, wherein the joystick is made by the thin film circuit so that the variation of the resistance can be changed so as to precise control the displacement and speed of the cursor.




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




The prior art cursor control device is installed to a substrate and an elastic touch controlled plate is installed to be spaced with the cursor control device. The substrate and the elastic touch controlled plate are installed with a first conductive surface and a second conductive surface. The first conductive surface is installed with a common connecting wire, and the second conductive surface is a conductive surface having a property of a resistor. The periphery thereof is installed with a plurality of electric joints. The elastic touch controlled plate is installed with a touch control key which will push the first and second conductive surfaces along a force applying direction so as to be formed with a surface contact and an electric contact. Therefore, by surface contact and area of contact surface, different electric connections are formed so as to control the displacement and direction of the cursor.




Although aforesaid cursor control device may achieve a desired effect. However, by surface contact and area of contact surface, different electric connections are formed so as to control the displacement and direction of the cursor, since the resistance is too low and changes nonlinearly. Thereby, it is difficult to write the software for processing the output signal. Furthermore, move time and labor are consumed. The cursor control device is thicker and can not be combined to a conventional thin film circuit board.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




Accordingly, the primary object of the present invention is to provide a joystick, wherein the joystick is made by the thin film circuit so that the variation of the resistance can be changed to precisely control the displacement and speed of the cursor.




Another object of the present invention is to provide a joystick, wherein a software about the joystick can be written easily.




Another object of the present invention is to provide a joystick, wherein the joystick can be made with a conventional keyboard.




A further object of the present invention is to provide a joystick, wherein the cost is down greatly.




To achieve above objects, the present invention provides a joystick including a circuit board, a thin film circuit arranged on the circuit board, a joystick on the thin film circuit, and a spacer arranged between the thin film circuit and the circuit board. By the joystick, the thin film circuit is in contact with the circuit board so that resistor are connected in parallel so as to reduce the resistance so as to control the direction and speed of the cursor precisely. As the rod is pushed by an outer force, the pit on the movable body presses one of the joint points. Then, the joint points will transfer a signal of the single resistor, and thus, the movement of the control cursor can be controlled.




The various objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the appended drawing.




Further scope of the applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS




The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:





FIG. 1

is an exploded schematic view of the joystick of the present invention.





FIG. 2

is another schematic view of the joystick is FIG.


1


.





FIG. 3

is a schematic view showing the operation of the FIG.


1


.





FIG. 4

is a front schematic view of the thin film circuit in FIG.


1


.





FIG. 5

is a front schematic view of the circuit board in FIG.


1


.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS




Referring to

FIGS. 1

to


2


, an exploded view of the joystick of the present invention and a lateral schematic view of the joystick are illustrated. As shown in the figures, the present invention includes a circuit board


1


, a thin film circuit


2


arranged on the circuit board


1


, a joystick


3


on the thin film circuit


2


, and a spacer


4


arranged between the thin film circuit


2


and the circuit board


1


. By the joystick


3


, the thin film circuit


2


is in contact with the circuit board


1


so that resistor are connected in parallel so as to reduce the resistance so as to control the direction and speed of the cursor precisely.




The above circuit board


1


is installed with a wire


11


. The wire


11


has a plurality of joint points


12


arranged circularly. Each joint point


12


is connected to a welding point


13


having a welded resistor (not shown). When the resistor is welded to the welding point


13


, it is serially connected to the joint point


12


. One end of each welding point


13


is connected together. Each of the resistors is connected in parallel. Moreover, a plurality of first positioning holes


15


for accommodating the joystick


3


are provided. A first joint hole


16


is formed at a center of the joint points


12


.




The thin film circuit


2


has a wire


21


for transferring signals. The wire


12


has a plurality of joint points


22


which are arranged circularly. Each joint


22


is connected to a second joint


23


. After the second joint


23


is in contact with the circuit board


1


, the joint points


12


and


22


are connected in series. Moreover, the thin film circuit


2


has a second positioning hole


24


on the first positioning hole


15


. The center of the circle formed by the joints


22


has a second joint hole


25


arranged with respect to the second joint hole


16


.




The joystick


3


is made of rubber and has a bottom


31


. The bottom


31


has a protrusion


32


passing through the first positioning hole


15


and the second positioning hole


24


. The surface of the bottom


31


has a protruded solid portion


33


. The solid portion


33


is connected to a moveable body


34


. The center of the moveable body


34


has a protrusion


35


connected to the first and second joint holes


16


,


25


. The outer edge thereof is formed with pits


36


with respect to the joint points


12


and


22


. When the protrusion


35


moves in the moveable body


34


, the pits


36


on the moveable points


34


can press on the joint points


12


and


22


of the thin film circuit


2


and the circuit board


1


precisely. The moveable body


34


enclosing a rod


37


linked to the moveable body


34


. One end of the bottom


31


has a press


38


. The press


38


press the second joint


23


of the thin film circuit


2


. The second joint


23


is steadily jointed to the first joint


14


.




The spacer


4


is arranged on the centers of the joint points


12


and


22


of the thin film circuit


2


and the circuit board


1


. The spacer


4


has a third joint hole


41


with respect to the first and second joint holes


16


,


25


. Therefore, a new joystick is formed.




Referring to

FIGS. 3

,


4


, and


5


, a lateral view of FIG.


1


and the front schematic view of the circuit board


1


are illustrated. As shown in Figures, after the circuit board


1


, thin film circuit


2


and joystick


3


are assembled, as the rod


37


is pushed by an outer force, the pit


36


on the movable body


34


presses one of the joint points


12


and


22


. Then, the joint points


12


and


22


will transfer a signal of the single resistor, and thus, the movement of the control cursor can be controlled.




If the two pits


36


of the movable body


34


press the joints


12




a


,


12




b


,


22




a


and


22




b


. The joints


12




a


,


12




b


,


22




a


and


22




b


will cause the two resistors connected in parallel so as to reduce the resistors such as 10 ohm || 10 ohm=5 ohm). Then, the transferring signal is the signal of two parallel resistors.




If three pits of the movable body


34


press on the three joints


12




a


,


12




b


,


12




c


,


22




a


,


22




b


and


22




c


. The three joints


12




a


,


12




b


,


12




c


,


22




a


,


22




b


and


22




c


will cause the three resistors connected in parallel. The resistance is further reduced. Then the transferring signal is the signal of three parallel resistors.




The present invention are thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the present invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.



Claims
  • 1. A joystick comprising:a circuit board installed with a wire, the wire having a plurality of first joint points arranged circularly, each of the first joint points being connected to a welding point, one end of each of the welding points being connected together to form a parallel circuit, the circuit board having a plurality of first positioning holes for accommodating the joystick; a thin film circuit having a wire for transferring signals, the wire of the thin film circuit having a plurality of second joint points which are arranged circularly and each of the second joint points being connected to a joint on the thin film circuit; and a joystick having a bottom with a protruded solid portion, the solid portion being connected to a movable body, the outer edge thereof being formed with pins aligned with the first and second joint points, the movable body enclosing a rod linked to the movable body, the rod being pushed by an outer force, the pin on the movable body pressing one of the second joint points to bring it into contact with a corresponding one of the first joint points whereafter the joint points will transfer a signal to control movement of a control cursor.
  • 2. The joystick as claimed in claim 1, wherein the circuit board has a joint connected to the joint on the thin film circuit.
  • 3. The joystick as claimed in claim 1, wherein the thin film circuit has at least one positioning hole which is located in a position to correspond to one of the first positioning holes of the circuit board.
  • 4. The joystick as claimed in claim 1, wherein the joystick is made of rubber.
  • 5. The joystick as claimed in claim 1, wherein the bottom of the joystick has a protrusion passing through first and second positioning holes.
  • 6. The joystick as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rod is made of plastic.
  • 7. The joystick as claimed in claim 1, wherein one end of the bottom of the joystick has a press which presses the joint of the thin film circuit so that the joint is steadily connected to a joint of the circuit board.
  • 8. The joystick as claimed in claim 1, wherein a lower end of the movable body has a protrusion.
  • 9. The joystick as claimed in claim 8, wherein the circuit board, the thin film circuit and a spacer have a first, a second and a third joint holes respectively for positioning the protrusion of the movable body.
  • 10. The joystick as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a spacer provided between the thin firm circuit and the circuit board.
  • 11. The joystick as claimed in claim 10, wherein the spacer has an aperture which is aligned with centers of the circular arrangements of the first and second joint points.
US Referenced Citations (5)
Number Name Date Kind
4246452 Chandler Jan 1981 A
5225831 Osborn Jul 1993 A
5459487 Bouton Oct 1995 A
5689285 Asher Nov 1997 A
6266046 Arita Jul 2001 B1