Joystick assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019179357-A1
Application number	US-201916274576-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 13, 2019
Priority date	Jun 25, 2014
Publication date	Jun 13, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

A joystick assembly for use with a device including a joystick surface and a first magnet having north and south magnetic poles includes a second magnet having north and south magnetic poles and a movable elongated shaft having first and second opposing ends arranged along a major axis of the shaft. The first end of the shaft is coupled to the second magnet such that movement of the shaft results in movement of the second magnet relative to the first magnet such that a line between centers of the north and south magnetic poles of the second magnet is movable relative to a line between the north and south magnetic poles of the first magnet. An attraction of the second magnet to the first magnet results in a restoring force upon the shaft, and the shaft and the second magnet are removable from the joystick surface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A joystick assembly for use with a device comprising a first magnet having north and south magnetic poles, comprising:
a substantially spherical trackball comprising a second magnet having north and south magnetic poles, the trackball enclosing the second magnet such that movement of the trackball results in movement of the second magnet relative to the first magnet such that a line between centers of the north and south magnetic poles of the second magnet is movable relative to a line between the north and south magnetic poles of the first magnet, wherein an attraction of the second magnet to the first magnet results in a restoring force upon the trackball.

2 . The joystick assembly of claim 1 , wherein the restoring force results in the trackball being restored to a null position.

3 . The joystick assembly of claim 1 , wherein the device further comprises a cavity in which the trackball is fixedly and movably retained.

4 . The joystick assembly of claim 1 , wherein the device further comprises a joystick surface adjacent to the first magnet and a magnetic field sensor disposed between the joystick surface and the second magnet, the magnetic field sensor comprising a plurality of magnetic field sensing elements supported by a substrate and configured to generate a respective plurality of magnetic field signals and to detect a position of the second magnet relative to the first magnet.

5 . The joystick assembly of claim 2 , wherein the device further comprises a joystick surface adjacent to the first magnet, and wherein the trackball is removable from the joystick surface.

6 . The joystick assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a lubricant disposed over one or more portions of the trackball.

7 . The joystick assembly of claim 1 , wherein the trackball comprises a magnetic material providing the second magnet.

8 . The joystick assembly of claim 1 , wherein the trackball comprises an outer shell enclosing the second magnet.

9 . The joystick assembly of claim 1 , wherein the joystick assembly is provided in a mobile computing device.

10 . The joystick assembly of claim 1 , wherein the device is at least one of a smartphone, a tablet computer, an instrumentation console, a video game console, a video game controller, a keyboard, and a laptop computer.

Assignees

• Allegro Microsystems Llc

Inventors

• Sirohiwala Ali Husain Yusuf
• Taylor William P
• Shamberger Katherine

Classifications

• G01D5/145

  influenced by the relative movement between the Hall device and magnetic fields (see G01R33/06) · CPC title

• H01F7/0252

  PM holding devices (H01F7/021, H01F7/0215, H01F7/0226 take precedence) · CPC title

• G05G1/08

  Controlling members for hand actuation by rotary movement, e.g. hand wheels · CPC title

• G05G1/04

  Controlling members for hand actuation by pivoting movement, e.g. levers · CPC title

• G05G5/05 Primary

  Means for returning or tending to return controlling members to an inoperative or neutral position, e.g. by providing return springs or resilient end-stops (G05G5/28 takes precedence) · CPC title