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:
Sep. 05, 2000
Filed:
Aug. 22, 1996
Ravin Balakrishnan, Toronto, CA;
Thomas P Baudel, Toronto, CA;
Gordon P Kurtenbach, Toronto, CA;
George W Fitzmaurice, Toronto, CA;
Silicon Graphics, Inc., Mountain View, CA (US);
Abstract
An input system for controlling the position or motion of a cursor, three dimensions that uses x, z position for inputting two coordinates and tilt in a plane (x-y or z-y) to input a third (and possibly a fourth coordinate). The invention is moved about on a surface for inputting two of the dimensions and tilted to input the third. The amount or degree of tilt and the direction of tilt controls the input of the third dimension. The base of the hand held device is curved so that the device can be tilted even while it is moved in two dimensions along the surface of the tablet. Tilting can be along two orthogonal axes allowing the device to input four coordinates if desired. The coil can also have switched resistors controlled by mouse buttons connected to it which the tablet can sense being activated to allow clutching and selection operations like those of a conventional mouse.