Patent · US Expired

Method for controlling scale parameters of an instrument in response to input to an event-generating control sensor

US6278268A · kind A · utility

4Cited by
4References
18Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 11, 2000
Grant dateAug 21, 2001
Priority date
Expiry dateFeb 11, 2020

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01R15/09
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A scale control method provides fine scale control in a measurement instrument and also provides scale control spanning wide adjustment ranges. The method detects the presence of the user input to a control sensor and establishes an acceleration factor for the input based on a rate at which events are generated by the control sensor. The acceleration factor modifies a defined scale step size that has a correspondence to the events generated by the control sensor. The defined scale step size, as modified by the acceleration factor, is added to a prior scale to establish a present scale. The present scale and prior scale are used to select a detent value from a series of detent values and to determine if a detent is applicable. When a detent is applicable, the present scale is set to the selected detent value and control of the scale parameters is then determined by this detent value. When the detent is not applicable scale parameters are adjusted according to the defined step size as modified by the acceleration factor.

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