U.S. patent application number 09/192559 was filed with the patent office on 2001-08-09 for network browsing remote controller with rotary selecting unit.
Invention is credited to CHING, PO-WEN, FERNG, JYHHWA, LIAO, WEN-CHIUAN, LIN, JENG-WEEI, WANG, TAI-YUAN.
Application Number | 20010011991 09/192559 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 21635542 |
Filed Date | 2001-08-09 |
United States Patent
Application |
20010011991 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
WANG, TAI-YUAN ; et
al. |
August 9, 2001 |
NETWORK BROWSING REMOTE CONTROLLER WITH ROTARY SELECTING UNIT
Abstract
A network browsing remote controller comprises a body, a
plurality of selecting buttons and a rotary selecting unit. Some
parts of the edge of the rotary selecting unit project over the
edge of the inward concave section. Moreover, the selecting buttons
are divided into several groups according to the similarity of
function and are installed on the cambered surface of the housing
of the body.
Inventors: |
WANG, TAI-YUAN; (FENG-SHAN,
TW) ; CHING, PO-WEN; (TAINAN, TW) ; LIAO,
WEN-CHIUAN; (HSINCHU, TW) ; FERNG, JYHHWA;
(TAICHUNG, TW) ; LIN, JENG-WEEI; (TAIPEI,
TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
POLLOCK VANDE SANDE AND PRIDDY
P O BOX 19088
WASHINGTON
DC
200363425
|
Family ID: |
21635542 |
Appl. No.: |
09/192559 |
Filed: |
November 17, 1998 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
345/156 ;
345/163; 348/E5.103; 348/E5.105 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04N 5/44543 20130101;
H04N 21/4782 20130101; H04N 21/42204 20130101; H04N 5/44582
20130101; H04N 21/47 20130101; G06F 3/038 20130101; H04N 21/42206
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
345/156 ;
345/163 |
International
Class: |
G09G 005/00; G09G
005/08 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Aug 18, 1998 |
TW |
87213506 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A network browsing remote controller which is used to send a
plurality of signals to control a network browser, computer program
or the like comprising: a body having an outer edge; a plurality of
selecting buttons distributed on the body; and a rotary selecting
unit pivotally installed on the body, some parts of the edge of
said rotary selecting unit projecting over the outer edge of said
body so that said rotary selecting unit may be rotated
conveniently.
2. The remote controller as claimed in claim 1, wherein said outer
edge of said body has an inward concave section, and said rotary
selecting unit is pivotally installed in the inward concave
section.
3. The remote controller as claimed in claim 2, wherein an outward
convex section with respect to the inward concave section is formed
on the outer edge of said body so that said outer edge of said body
is formed as a camber-moon shape,
4. The remote controller as claimed in claim 1, wherein said rotary
selecting unit further comprises a selecting button installed in
the central region of said a rotary selecting unit.
5. The remote controller as claimed in claim 4, wherein said
selecting buttons is an entering button.
6. The remote controller as claimed in claim 1, wherein said outer
edge of said body has a cambered upper cover, and said plurality of
selecting buttons are distributed on the surface of said upper
cover.
7. The remote controller as claimed in claim 6, wherein said
plurality of selecting buttons is divided into several different
button group, each group is distributed on the surface of said
upper cover.
8. The remote controller as claimed in claim 1, wherein said
buttons in each group have similar function and similar or same
shape.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a remote controller,
especially to a remote controller having a rotary selecting unit
for operating a network browser.
[0003] 2. Background of the Invention
[0004] U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,724,106 and 5,530,455 disclosed remote
controllers with "mouse function" for operating a network
browser.
[0005] However, such prior arts for network browsing remote
controller are plan-design has a plane surface and the control
buttons thereof are arranged as a orderly matrix. This type of
design is relatively inconvenient and is against the design of
ergonomics. During the operation, a user will waste lots of time
for searching a desired button and then moves his finger toward the
button and presses it. In addition, the operation for a network
browsing remote controller with a track ball thereon is inefficient
and inconvenient. The user needs to move or stretch his finger
exactly upon the track ball to operate the track ball, since, in
general, the track ball is arranged on the upper portion of the
surface.
[0006] Therefore, it is necessary to design a remote controller by
which the user may conveniently and rapidly operate the remote
controller to overcome the defects of the prior arts.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to
provide a remote controller by which the network browser may be
controlled easily and rapidly.
[0008] Another object of the present invention is to provide a
network browsing remote controller with a rotary selecting unit
which can be easily operated.
[0009] A further object of the present invention is to provide a
network browsing remote controller on which the button groups can
be identified easily.
[0010] The network browsing remote controller of the present
invention which provides a housing for installing a control circuit
and a signal generator comprises a body, a plurality of selecting
buttons and a rotary selecting unit,. The control signal can
transfer the control signal inputted from selecting buttons or a
rotary selecting unit to a network browser through the signal
generator.
[0011] The body is a hollow cambered housing and formed by an upper
cover and a lower cover. The control circuit and signal generator
are installed inside of housing like prior arts. The plurality of
selecting buttons and rotary selecting unit are installed
preferably on the upper cover according to their functions.
[0012] The selecting buttons provide different input functions to
select functions which may generate different control signals. The
control signals may be assigned by different operation of a network
browser, such as control signals of Web TV menu, Enter, Stop,
Reload, Shift, Frame, Page-up, Page-down, Back, Forward, Tools,
Home and etc.
[0013] After receiving the control signals inputted from the
selecting buttons or the rotary selecting unit, the control circuit
transfers the control signals to the signal generator.
[0014] The control signal transferred to the network browser
through radio frequency, an infrared, or a wired communication
method to communicate with the network browser.
[0015] In the present invention, a camber-moon shape is adapted as
the shape of the body. It has an outward convex section and an
inward concave section. Furthermore, a rotary ring disk selecting
element is pivotally installed in the inward concave section. Some
parts of the edge of the rotary selecting unit project over the
edge of the inward concave section. While the camber-moon shape
formed by the inward concave section and the outward convex section
can be easily held by a user so that the user may easily and
comfortably control the remote controller.
[0016] The shape of the upper cover of the body may is preferably a
archwise cover to provide different groups of selecting buttons
mounted thereon. The selecting buttons can be divided into several
button groups according to the similarity of function. Through
arranging different groups of selecting buttons on different
elevations of the upper cover, the user can clearly identifies the
position of a button because of the friendly design. In addition,
the camber-moon shape matches the requirement of ergonomics so that
the user may easily and rapidly control the remote controller of
the present invention.
[0017] The present invention will be better understood and its
numerous objects and advantages will become apparent to those
skilled in the art by referencing to the following drawings in
which:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0018] FIG. 1 is a plane view of the preferred embodiment of the
present invention.
[0019] FIG. 2 is the schematic view of the usage of the present
invention.
[0020] FIG. 3 is a local cross sectional view along the line 3-3 of
FIG. 1.
[0021] FIG. 4 is a side view of the preferred embodiment of the
present invention.
[0022] FIGS. 5-12 is an operational view shown that the present
invention is applied on an image map.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0023] Referring to FIGS. 1.about.4, the remote controller of the
present invention comprises a body 1, a rotary selecting unit 2,
and a plurality of selecting buttons 3 arranged on the body 1.
[0024] The body 1 is a hollow housing. In a preferred embodiment,
the body 1 may be formed by an upper cover 11 and a lower cover 12,
and the inner part thereof contains a control circuit (not shown in
the figure), a signal generator (not shown in the figure, a
well-know device) and etc. The plurality of selecting buttons are
arranged on the housing. In a preferred embodiment, most of the
selecting buttons are distributed on the upper cover 11 for
operating the control circuit to control the signal generator for
generating different signals.
[0025] The selecting buttons 3 provide the user to select functions
which may generate different signals, such as a Web TV menu button
31, a stop button 32, a reload button 33, a shift button 34, a
frame button 35, a page-up button 36, a page-down button 37, a back
button 38, a forward button 39, a tool button 40, a home button 41,
and etc. Through these button, the signal generator within the body
1 may transfer the control signal a network browser according to
the selection of users. The signal transformation should be
wireless, such as, through radio transmitter or infrared
transmitter. Since the wireless transformation is well known by
those skilled in the art, thus it will not be described herein.
[0026] One of the character of the present invention is that a
camber-moon structure is adapted as the shape of the body 1. As
shown in FIG. 1, it has an outward convex section 13 and an inward
concave section 14. The cambered lines of the outward convex
section 13 and the inward concave section 14 are preferably toward
the same direction to be easily held by the user. Furthermore, a
rotary ring disk selecting element 2 is pivotally installed in the
inward concave section 14. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, some parts of
the edge of the rotary selecting unit 2 project over the edge of
the inward concave section 14. Therefore the user can easily use
his thumb to operate the rotary selecting unit 2.
[0027] Because the entering action is generally the following step
after the selecting action, it is preferable that an enter button
21 is mounted on the central section of the rotary selecting unit
2. In the embodiment, when the rotary selecting unit 2 is rotated
clockwise, it represents an upward movement; while the rotary disk
is rotated counterclockwise, it represents a downward movement. If
a converse button 34 is clicked, then a clockwise rotation of the
rotary selecting unit 2 represents a rightward movement, while a
counterclockwise rotation of the rotary selecting unit 2 represents
a leftward movement.
[0028] By the rotary selecting unit 2 of the present invention, the
searching of network pages will be more suitable the requirement of
ergonomic so that the orientation sense of an user can match the
variation of drawings. For example, the case is shown in FIGS.
5.about.12. Referring now to FIG. 5, a map of Taiwan is disclosed.
A special section 52 (dashed lines section) corresponding to the
rotary selecting unit 2 is indicated in the drawing 51. When the
rotary selecting unit 2 is rotated clockwise to the position of
FIG. 7, the special section 52 on the drawing 51 will be changed to
the upper portion thereof, as shown in FIG. 8. Similarly, FIG. 9 is
correspondent to FIG. 10, and FIG. 11 is correspondent to FIG. 12.
When the rotary selecting unit 2 continuously rotates clockwise, it
will return to the position of FIG. 5.
[0029] Another character of the present invention is that the
selecting buttons 3 can be divided into several button groups
distributed on the surface of the body 1 according to the
similarity of function thereof. Thereby, the user may easily
operate and use it. For example, in the present embodiment, the
function of the stop button 32, reload button 33, shift button 34,
and frame button 35 are similar, thus they are classified as a
button group mounted on a near area. While the function of the tool
button 40 and home button 41 are similar, thus they are classified
as a button group. While the functions of the page-up button 36 and
the page-down button 37 are similar, thus they are classified as
one group. Similarly, the functions of the back button 38 and the
forward button 39 are processed as one group. For easily identify
different group of buttons, the buttons of same button group are
suggested to have same shape.
[0030] Although the present invention has been described using
specified embodiment, the examples are meant to be illustrative and
not restrictive. It is clear that many other variations would be
possible without departing from the basic approach, demonstrated in
the present invention.
* * * * *