Patent · US Expired

Coordinate processor for a computer system having a pointing device

US5432531A · kind A · utility

109Cited by
2References
12Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 7, 1991
Grant dateJul 11, 1995
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 7, 2011

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F3/04883
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A coordinate processor for a computer system having an absolute position pointing device (10) such as a touch sensitive display screen comprises stimulus detection means (200) for detecting a tactile stimulus of an absolute position pointing device (10) and directed to a point within a data display area (610) of a computer system. The processor further comprises coordinate locking means (210-320) for locking a current cursor position to the point within the display area corresponding to the tactile stimulus in response to said stimulus exceeding a predetermined threshold value. The processor permits the computer system to distinguish a stimulus of the pointing device (10) for repositioning the cursor within the data display area (610) from a stimulus of the pointing device (10) for issuing a button click command to the computer system. The processor may be embodied in an electronic logic circuit within a pointing device adapter portion of the computer system. Equally, the coordinate processor may be in the form of a central processing unit operating under the control of a computer program.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.