The present invention relates to an input device, and more particularly to a mouse device for controlling a movement of a cursor.
The widely-used input device of a computer system includes for example a mouse device, a keyboard device, a trackball device, a touchpad device, or the like. Among these input devices, the mouse device is the most prevailing because it is very easy-to-use for most users. When a mouse device is held by the palm of a user, the user may move the mouse device in order to control a movement of a cursor shown on a display screen of a computer.
Hereinafter, the structures and the functions of a conventional mouse device will be illustrated with reference to
The upper cover 11 is used for covering the base 10 and supporting the user's palm. The upper cover 11 comprises a perforation 111, a left button part 112, and a right button part 113. The left button part 112 is located at a first side of the perforation 111. The right button part 113 is located at a second side of the perforation 111. The displacement sensing device 12 is disposed on the base 10, and partially exposed outside the base 10. Moreover, the displacement sensing device 12 comprises a light-emitting element 121, an optical assembly 122, and an optical sensing element 123. The light-emitting element 121 is disposed on the circuit board 16 for emitting a light beam. The optical assembly 122 is disposed on the base 10 for allowing the light beam to go through and projecting the light beam on a working surface. For example, the working surface is a desk surface where the conventional mouse device 1 is placed. The optical sensing element 123 is used for receiving the light beam, and generating a cursor displacement signal according to the light beam. That is, when the conventional mouse device 1 is moved by the user, the displacement sensing device 12 detects a displacement amount of the base 10 relative to the working surface and generates the cursor displacement signal according to the displacement amount. According to the cursor displacement signal, the cursor 222 shown on the display screen 22 is moved by the computer host 21.
The wheel module 13 comprises a scroll wheel 131, a rotating shaft 132, an encoder 133, and a wheel switch 134. The scroll wheel 131 is disposed on the base 10. Moreover, the scroll wheel 131 is penetrated through the perforation 111 of the upper cover 11 to be exposed outside the upper cover 11, so that the scroll wheel 131 is rotatable by the user. The rotating shaft 132 is penetrated through the scroll wheel 131, and a first end 1321 of the rotating shaft 132 is inserted into the encoder 133. As the scroll wheel 131 is rotated by the user, the rotating shaft 132 is synchronously rotated with the scroll wheel 131. As the rotating shaft 132 is synchronously rotated with the scroll wheel 131, the encoder 133 is driven to generate a scrolling signal in response to the rotation of the scroll wheel 131. According to the scrolling signal, the graphic-based window 221 shown on the display screen 22 is correspondingly scrolled by the computer host 21. The wheel switch 134 is disposed on the circuit board 16, and disposed under a second end 1322 of the rotating shaft 132. When the scroll wheel 131 is depressed, the second end 1322 of the rotating shaft 132 is moved downwardly to trigger the wheel switch 134. Consequently, the wheel switch 134 generates a wheel button signal. According to the wheel button signal, the computer host 21 executes a corresponding command.
The left button switch 14 is disposed on the circuit board 16, and disposed under the left button part 112. When the left button part 112 is depressed by the user, the left button switch 14 is triggered by the left button part 112 to generate a left button signal. According to the left button signal, the computer host 21 executes a left button command. The right button switch 15 is disposed on the circuit board 16, and disposed under the right button part 113. When the right button part 113 is depressed by the user, the right button switch 15 is triggered by the right button part 113 to generate a right button signal. According to the right button signal, the computer host 21 executes a right button command. An end of the connecting wire 17 is connected with the connector 18. The cursor displacement signal, the scrolling signal, the wheel button signal, the left button signal and the right button signal may be transmitted from the mouse device 2 through the connecting wire 17. Moreover, after the connector 18 is plugged into the connecting port 211 of the computer host 21, the mouse device 1 is in communication with the computer host 21. Moreover, the connector 18 is a universal series bus (USB) for example.
In the conventional mouse device 1, there is a gap between the displacement sensing device 12 and the opening 101 of the base 10. If electrostatic discharge (ESD) occurs in the external environment of the conventional mouse device 1, the electrostatic discharge is readily introduced into the conventional mouse device 1 through the gap. As known, the electrostatic discharge is detrimental to the performance of the mouse device 1. For solving the problem of the electrostatic discharge, another conventional mouse device is disclosed to minimize the influence of the electrostatic discharge.
In comparison with the conventional mouse device 1, the displacement sensing device 32 of the conventional mouse device 3 further comprises a protection disc 3221. The protection disc 3221 is disposed on a bottom of the optical assembly 322 for sheltering the periphery of the opening 301. If electrostatic discharge (ESD) occurs in the external environment of the conventional mouse device 3, the electrostatic discharge is also introduced into the conventional mouse device 3 through the gap between the opening 301 and the optical assembly 322. Due to the protection disc 3221, the electrostatic discharge should be firstly transferred through the protection disc 3221 along the gap and then introduced into the conventional mouse device 3. During the electrostatic discharge is transferred through the protection disc 3221 along the gap, the electrostatic discharge nearly disappears. In other words, the possibility of introducing the electrostatic discharge into the conventional mouse device 3 is minimized, and thus the problem of the electrostatic discharge is overcome by the conventional mouse device 3.
However, the conventional mouse device 3 still has some drawbacks. For example, for preventing the electrostatic discharge from being introduced into the conventional mouse device 3, the length of the protection disc 3221 should be large enough to allow the electrostatic discharge to be disappeared. Under this circumstance, the protection disc 3221 may occupy a lot of space between the base 30 and the upper cover 31. Moreover, since the protection disc 3221 is disposed on the bottom of the optical assembly 322 and the protection disc 3221 has a specified thickness, the altitudes of the optical assembly 322 and the circuit board 36 are ascended, and more space with the conventional mouse device 3 is increased. Under this circumstance, the overall height and the overall volume of the conventional mouse device 3 are both increased, so that the conventional mouse device 3 fails to meet the requirements of slimness and light weight.
Therefore, there is a need of providing a mouse device for avoiding the influence of the electrostatic discharge without increasing the inner space of the mouse device.
The present invention provides a mouse device for avoiding the influence of the electrostatic discharge.
The present invention also provides a mouse device for avoiding the influence of the electrostatic discharge without increasing the inner space of the mouse device.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mouse device. The mouse device is in communication with a computer system for controlling a movement of a cursor of said computer system. The mouse device includes a base and a displacement sensing device. The displacement sensing device is disposed on the base, and partially exposed outside the base for generating a cursor displacement signal in response to a movement of the base on a working surface. According to the cursor displacement signal, the movement of the cursor of the computer system is correspondingly controlled. Moreover, the displacement sensing device includes a light-emitting element, an optical assembly, and an optical sensing element. The light-emitting element is used for emitting a light beam. The optical assembly is disposed on the base for allowing the light beam to go through and projecting the light beam on the working surface. The optical sensing element is used for receiving the light beam, and generating the cursor displacement signal according to the light beam. Moreover, the optical assembly is integrally formed with the base, and there is no gap between the optical assembly and the base.
The above objects and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which:
For eliminating the drawbacks encountered from the prior art, the present invention provides a mouse device.
Please refer to
As shown in
The displacement sensing device 52 is disposed on the base 50, and partially exposed outside the base 50. In response to a movement of the base 50, the displacement sensing device 52 generates a cursor displacement signal S3. According to the cursor displacement signal S3, the cursor 422 of the computer host 41 is correspondingly moved. Moreover, the displacement sensing device 52 comprises a light-emitting element 521, an optical assembly 522, and an optical sensing element 523. The light-emitting element 521 is disposed on the circuit board 56, and electrically connected with the circuit board 56. When the light-emitting element 521 receives electricity from the circuit board 56, the light-emitting element 521 is enabled to emit a light beam B. As shown in
Please refer to
In a case whether the mouse device 5 is placed on the working surface T but is not moved, the light-emitting element 521 emits the light beam B. The light beam B is projected on the reflective mirror 5221. In the reflective mirror 5221, the light beam B is firstly reflected by the first reflective surface 5221A and the reflected light beam B is further reflected by the second reflective surface 5221B, so that the light beam B is projected on the working surface T. Then, the light beam B is reflected by the working surface T and further focused by the focusing lens 5222. After the focused light beam B is received by the optical sensing element 523, the optical sensing element 523 generates a first working surface image. In a case whether the mouse device 5 is placed on the working surface T and moved to a specified position, the light beam B emitted by the light-emitting element 521 is sequentially reflected by the reflective mirror 5221 and the working surface T and focused by the focusing lens 5222. After the focused light beam B is received by the optical sensing element 523, the optical sensing element 523 generates a second working surface image. Next, the optical sensing element 523 compares the first working surface image with the second working surface image, thereby acquiring a displacement of the base 50 relative to the working surface T and generating the cursor displacement signal S3 according to the displacement amount. That is, when the mouse device 5 is moved on the working surface T, the displacement sensing device 52 detects the displacement of the base 50 relative to the working surface T and generates the cursor displacement signal S3 according to the displacement amount. According to the cursor displacement signal S3, the cursor 422 shown on the display screen 42 is moved by the computer host 41.
Please refer to
During operations of the mouse device 5, the first button signal S1, the second button signal S2, the cursor displacement signal S3, the scrolling signal S4 and the wheel button signal S5 are generated by the mouse device 5. These signals S1˜S5 are transmitted to the wireless signal transmitter 57 through the circuit board 56, and then these signals S1˜S5 are transmitted from the wireless signal transmitter 57 to the wireless signal receiver 58 by the wireless transmission technology. According to these signals S1˜S5, the computer host 41 executes corresponding commands, respectively.
As is understood from
The present invention also provides a mouse device of a second embodiment.
Except for the following items, the mouse device 6 is substantially identical to the mouse device 5 of the first embodiment.
Firstly, the light-emitting element 621 of the mouse device 6 is integrally formed with the optical assembly 622 and the base 60. The light shade 6211 of the light-emitting element 621 and the optical assembly 622 are made of resin materials. The pins 6212 are partially shaded by the light shade 6211. That is, the light-emitting element 621 and the optical assembly 622 are produced by an insert injection process. The optical assembly 622 and the base 60 are produced by a double injection process. Similarly, there is no gap between the optical assembly 622 and the base 60.
Secondly, the mouse device 6 of this embodiment is in communication with a computer system (not shown) through the connecting wire 67. That is, during operations of the mouse device 6, the first button signal, the second button signal, the cursor displacement signal, the scrolling signal and the wheel button signal are generated by the mouse device 6. These signals are transmitted to the computer system through the connecting wire 67.
It is noted that numerous modifications and alterations of the connection member may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. For example, in some embodiments, the wheel module is a swingable wheel module with a tilting function in order to generate a left tilting signal or a right tilting signal to the computer system. According to the left tilting signal or the right tilting signal, the computer system executes a corresponding command of horizontally scrolling the window. Alternatively, in some other embodiments, the mouse device may be equipped with a touch module, an optical finger navigation (OFN) module or a membrane switch circuit module to generate the scrolling signal in replace of the wheel module.
From the above two embodiments of the mouse of the present invention, the optical assembly is integrally formed with the base, so that there is no gap between the optical assembly and the base. If electrostatic discharge (ESD) occurs in the external environment of the mouse device, the electrostatic discharge fails to be introduced into the mouse device through the region between the optical assembly and the base. Consequently, the influence of the electrostatic discharge is minimized, and the performance of the mouse device is not adversely affected. Moreover, since the optical assembly is integrally formed with the base, the assembling cost of assembling the optical assembly with the base will be reduced. On the other hand, since the large-sized protection disc is not disposed on the optical assembly and a small-sized circuit board is used, the overall height and the overall volume of the mouse device are not increased.
While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201320053148.2 | Jan 2013 | CN | national |