The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 17, 1992
Filed:
Oct. 15, 1991
Lee L Bain, Arlington, TX (US);
Other;
Abstract
Improved cursor-positioning apparatus is disclosed for use with a mouse-type cursor controller and a host computer display system to enable the mouse's operating area to remain relatively small, yet enabling normal-feeling mouse operation to provide both high-precision cursor pointing and very efficient coarse positioning of the cursor to any zone of a relatively larger display area. The disclosed apparatus provides an ideally limited operative-area for the attached mouse, comprising structure for defining a boundary limiting the range of X-Y movement of the mouse when it is operated within such contained operative-area. The apparatus also comprises elements that sense orthogonal forces that result when the travel of the mouse is limited by such structural boundaries, elements for synthesizing appropriate cursor-movement signals upon activation by the sense of such forces during mouse/boundary contact and elements for selectively coupling either such synthesized signals or normal mouse-generated signals to the host computer system.