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:
Apr. 30, 1996
Filed:
Aug. 17, 1994
Sarah F Gibson, Arlington, MA (US);
Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc., Cambridge, MA (US);
Abstract
A three degree-of-freedom locator device for the control of graphical objects on a computer display mimics natural two-dimensional movement of the user's hand by providing for simultaneous translation and rotation of the graphical object. In one embodiment, a computer mouse-type locator with two trackball and position-encoder sensor systems detects movement of the locator over a stationary pad or like device. The graphical object is selected by a mouse button click. Subsequent two-dimensional translation and rotation of the locator are detected by the dual trackball system and used to control the position and orientation of the graphical object. The result is intuitive control of the placement of the selected object on the computer screen. The natural movement of the mouse in the user's hand is transformed into simultaneously translation and rotation of the object.