A 2-D pointer motor provides for panning (sideways actuate motion) and tilt (yaw motion) and may be made smaller than one-cubic inch. The motor is preferably controlled by a microcomputer based controller using pulse-width modulation (PWM) to separately control each of its three coils. The coils are arranged orthogonally to provide a single unified torque vector which turns the rotor and accurately points it in the desired directions. The motor is especially adapted to carry a sensor such as a C...

A laser pointing system directs a laser beam at one face of a steering mirror to produce a steered reflected beam. A highly attenuated portion of the laser beam passes through the mirror leaving at a second side, which side also reflects a stellar field. A star of the stellar field and the attenuated beam are both imaged on a star tracker. The mirror is moved so the two images coincide, thus aligning the steered beam parallel to the direction of the star. A gyro package detects changes in the sy...

An antenna pointing equipment of the present invention includes an error estimating section and a pointing angle correcting section. The error estimating section records the difference between a pointing mechanism angle detected by an angle detector and a reference angle estimated by a satellite position calculator, a pointing angle calculator and an angle estimating section in the tracking control mode and, for example, averages recorded differences to obtain a quantitative error of the estimat...

A pointing device that comprises a movable pointing element and a detector. The pointing element affects a magnetic field the changes of which are detected by the detector and adapted so as to point out information. The detector that produces a detection signal on the basis of which the movement of the pointing element is sensed and utilized to point out information on a display. The movable pointing element and the detector comprises means for generating a magnetic field and for detecting a mag...

A keyswitch-integrated pointing assembly in which a plurality of substantially planar force sensing elements are disposed on a planar surface adjacent a keyswitch on a keyboard. The keyswitch includes a plunger which extends downwardly from a key cap for actuating a switch at the lower end of vertical key cap travel. The key cap engages an indexing surface when fully depressed which transmits force applied to the key cap to the force sensing elements. The force sensing elements are sandwiched be...

A method, apparatus, and signal-bearing medium that selects an object displayed on a display screen when a cursor controlled by a pointing device pauses at the object for a time period longer than a dwell-time threshold. The dwell-time threshold is adjusted based on the density of the objects displayed on the screen. Thus, when the density of displayed objects is higher, the dwell-time threshold is longer and the user must hold the cursor at the desired object for a longer time in order to selec...

An input device having a housing and electronic circuitry for detecting user inputs, and transmitting signals corresponding to those inputs to an electronic device, such as a computer. A sleep mode is provided for the electronic circuitry to conserve power. A hand detection circuit is provided for detecting the proximity of a user's hand to the housing and producing a hand detect signal in response. The hand detect signal will awaken the input device from its sleep mode.

Portable devices and associated methods for orienting a receiver that is supported on a mast by a mounting bracket in a desired orientation. In one embodiment, the portable device includes an actuator that is removably coupled to the mounting bracket and, upon actuation thereof, rotates the mounting bracket and the receiver about the mast to the desired orientation and, upon deactivation thereof, may be decoupled from the mounting bracket while the mounting bracket retains the receiver in the de...

An electronic device has a case and a screen attached to the case. The screen indicates a cursor position. The electronic device further has an input device mounted to the case. The input device includes a curved surface for detecting an object disposed on the curved surface using a light path that transfers an image of the object to an optical sensor. The optical sensor detects the movement of the object across the curved surface and in response, the input device manipulates the cursor position...

An integrated information processing apparatus is provided with a display device and a generally transparent input tablet having an input surface placed on a display surface of the display device for outputting a pointing coordinate which is a coordinate on the input surface pointed by a user's finger or an indicator. The apparatus includes a circuit for determining an indication direction extended point coordinate from the pointing coordinate output by the input tablet and a predetermined value...