Importance

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Abstract

An interface device and method for providing enhanced cursor control with force feedback. A force feedback interface device includes a manipulandum, such as a mouse, that is moveable in a local workspace. The device is coupled to a host computer that displays a cursor in a graphical environment, such as a GUI, on a display screen. An interior region and a border region in the local workspace is defined. One mapping of device movement to cursor movement is used for the interior region, and a different mapping is used for the border region. Mapping methods include ballistics, absolute, linear, rate control, and variable absolute. Rate control embodiments can be single axis or dual axis. In one embodiment, when the mouse moves from the interior region to the border region, the mapping providing the greater cursor velocity is used to better conserve device workspace in the direction of travel and to decrease any sense of mapping mode change to the user. Other features include an autocentering function for reducing offset between local and host frames.

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First Claim