Thomson Licensing

Gyration Inc.

Thomas J Quinn

Gregory C Smith

James Jay Leftwich

Lex N Bayer

Lex M Bayer

An inertial sensor-based pointing deviceis compatible with a removable USB podhaving a digital flash memoryand an integrated radio transceiver. Flash memorycan be used by a user to store software that enables a user to auto load software applications into compatible computers. Pointing deviceis adapted to receive USB podresulting in a combined memory/transceiver and pointing device system that can be conveniently carried as a single unit in a pocket or via a belt clip.

Inertial sensor-based pointing device with removable transceiver

A user interface for multimedia centers advantageously utilizes hand-held inertial-sensing user input devices to select channels and quickly navigate the dense menus of options. Extensive use of the high resolution and bandwidth of such user input devices is combined with strategies to avoid unintentional inputs and with dense and intuitive interactive graphical displays.

Multimedia user interface

A vertical gyroscope is adapted for use as a pointing device for controlling the position of a cursor on the display of a computer. A motor at the core of the gyroscope is suspended by two pairs of orthogonal gimbals from a hand-held controller device and nominally oriented with its spin axis vertical by a pendulous device. Electro-optical shaft angle encoders sense the orientation of a hand-held controller device as it is manipulated by a user and the resulting electrical output is converted into a format usable by a computer to control the movement of a cursor on the screen of the computer display. For additional ease of use, the bottom of the controller is rounded so that the controller can be pointing while sitting on a surface. A third input is provided by providing a horizontal gyroscope within the pointing device. The third rotational signal can be used to either rotate a displayed object or to display or simulate a third dimension.

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Los Gatos, CA, United States of America

Thomas J Quinn