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Mouse Thimble

Double-Tap Here
  (+27, -1)(+27, -1)(+27, -1)
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Replacement wireless mouse input device shaped like a thimble.

Pop it over your index finger, and move it around the table - Its motion is detected in the same way as ball-less mice (with an LED and a CCD device).

Dub, Jan 09 2006

Sonar Touchpad http://www.halfbake...ea/Sonar_20Touchpad
Kinda similar thing I just found [Dub, Jan 09 2006]

OOPS ! [shaggysin] got there first - The Finger Mouse Finger_20Mouse
Damn, I looked to thimble and mouse and didn't find anything [Dub, Jan 09 2006]

Finger Mouse project http://www.cs.techn...mouse.sav/fimo.html
Uses a video camera. Not the same, but interesting. [half, Jan 09 2006]

Mouse Glove Patent http://www.freshpat...ptan20060033710.php
[Dub, Feb 22 2006]

Teeny-tiny mouses http://uk.gizmodo.c...lds_tiniest_mo.html
[Dub, May 01 2006]

Finger Mouse http://uk.gizmodo.c...s_finger_mouse.html
Not quite the same thing... [Dub, Nov 20 2007]

Glove mouse http://hackaday.com.../02/19/glove-mouse/
Hmmm [Dub, Feb 20 2010]

Accelerometer based clicking http://www.youtube....watch?v=Sk-ExWeA03Y
shows accelerometer used to profile clicking events [metarinka, Feb 24 2010]

Toe Mouse! http://www.engadget...10/04/07/toe-mouse/
[Dub, Apr 07 2010]

Way Cooler Idea! http://mashable.com.../03/bluetooth-ring/
Bluetooth Finger Gesture Ring [Dub, Mar 03 2014]

ThumbTrack https://www.indiego...t-wearable-mouse--2
[Dub, Aug 02 2014]

Feeling More Amateur Than Maestro with a Finger-Worn Mouse http://www.technolo...-finger-worn-mouse/
A critical review [Dub, Dec 06 2014]

Thumbnail track pad http://hackaday.com...-fingernail-polish/
[Dub, Apr 17 2015]

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       Hmm...interesting thought. The first implementation hurdle that pops in to my head is that when you raise your bethimbled finger to tap it, the mouse will probably see movement and not register the double-click.   

       Maybe the motion sensor on one finger and the clicking sensor on another? Not nearly as slick as the one finger thing. How about if you somehow tap on the side of the "thimble" with an adjacent finger to click? Or, tap on the surface beside the thimble an have the tap be detected sonically?   

       Would you somehow disable the thimble mouse when you're typing?
half, Jan 09 2006
  

       Hmm, the thumb-tap idea's interesting, but I'm sure CCD mice //know// when they're on or off the surface (either by focusing or by a method similar to what the dam-busters parallax used - e.g. 2 LEDs pointing where the surface should be - Then it's not difficult to establish when the surface is in focus, and when you've tapped/double tapped.
Dub, Jan 09 2006
  

       I still think it would be difficult not to register motion at the instants that your finger is lifting from and approaching the surface during tapping, but I'm not an expert on mice, optics or kinesiology. Heck, I don't even know how to spell kinesiology.
half, Jan 09 2006
  

       If you get a chance try one of those optical mice. The moment you lift them off the surface they stop moving the pointer. When they're put down again, the pointer follows the movement.   

       [BTW I don't know how they know they're off the surface, I'm guessing focusing or the amount of reflected light or something.]   

       Thinking about it, it's very similar to how the stylus works on palm PCs.   

       Ah, typing - that's the Half Baked bit.
Dub, Jan 09 2006
  

       Actually, my optical mouse continues to move the cursor with the mouse raised a couple of mm above the surface. Hence, my concern.   

       I always assumed that they knew they were off the surface due to a lack of reflected light of the specific frequency that they emit (and expect to detect).
half, Jan 09 2006
  

       I think this is brilliant, a kind of reverse laptop style touchpad, everywhere. I think it's brilliant. Can't you get the motion detected using a pressure/drag sensor ?
neilp, Jan 09 2006
  

       hmm, I think your implementation of it's better [dub], the clicking is sorted. None of the examples are remotely baked by the looks of things.
neilp, Jan 09 2006
  

       Well heck, this is doughy indeed. Typing wouldn't really be a problem provided you can stand typing with a device on one finger - it could be disabled when over the keyboard via RF, perhaps, or, dare I say it in conjunction with computer equipment, a magnet in each key in a specially designed keyboard.
roleohibachi, Jan 09 2006
  

       Hoe about a 3 finger approach-forefinger has a thimble that when tapped is left-click, middle figner is right click, but neitehr of those detect motion-jsut being tapped. Then, one on the thumb that you slide around. Deosn't detect tapping.
Ohiojoe, Jan 10 2006
  

       [half]Nice link... but it's a bit more unwieldy than a thimble? Perhaps the equipment could be installed into a hat of some-kind?   

       [Ohiojoe] That's quite cunning. If I understand you correctly, have 2 additional thimbles (on the thumb and middle finger) and 'click' them together.... Yes, Very nice :) If none of them detect tapping (except when 2 clickers are tapped together) then they'd be more keyboard safe.
Dub, Jan 10 2006
  

       Yeah, just a wee bit.
half, Jan 10 2006
  

       You could have 2 thimbles, and when both are down you click / drag.
Parmenides, Jan 10 2006
  

       "no place like home" <clicks thimbles>
po, Jan 10 2006
  

       I think most annotations are hung up on the OLD way of doing things - clicking a mouse is done because it has switches on the top.   

       A thimball [sic] affords a different technique - pressing with a force (no need to lift).   

       Extended menu? Press the second finger onto the top of the thimball and push it down.   

       Scrolling could be done by rolling the finger.   

       A keyboard with a coded backlight between the keys could turn off the function.
Ling, Jan 10 2006
  

       Pressure sensitve... Nice - and easy to detect with some cheap piezo mechanism.
Dub, Jan 10 2006
  

       //I always assumed that they knew they were off the surface due to a lack of reflected light of the specific frequency that they emit (and expect to detect)//Nope - in the interests of science, I have just laid my Logitech optical mouse on its back and shone my keyring maglight at it - the cursor went crazy.
coprocephalous, Jan 10 2006
  

       //some cheap piezo mechanism// Uh-oh, there go my weekends... ;-)
AbsintheWithoutLeave, Jan 10 2006
  

       I'd be concerned about requiring the user to repeatedly press against a non-yielding surface.   

       If it has a certain amount of motion range and resistance before activating a "click" that could work. Possibly the same old mouse microswitches could do the job.
half, Jan 10 2006
  

       [CopPro]//due to a lack of reflected light // Not any light or it'd go mad if you pointed it at a fluorescent tube?   

       [AWOL]Shhhh!   

       [half]Very light for motion, slightly harder for 'click' - [ The pressure setting would (:)) in the Control Panel->Settings-> Mouse-> Thimble -> Pressure-> Calibration-> Sensitivity window]. But that should go without saying.
Dub, Jan 10 2006
  

       If you say so.
half, Jan 10 2006
  

       You might solve some of these problems by making it a 'false nail' design, rather than a thimble. It's not too hard to type with long nails once you get used to it, and you can still tap with your nails when you need to click.
Tem42, Feb 21 2010
  

       [+] Another solution would be to embed the motion sensing bit at the tip of the thimble, and a tiny mechanical switch on the part of the thimble that's near the finger's joint. To click, one simply flattens one's finger, so the switch is pressed against the table.
goldbb, Feb 23 2010
  

       the easiest and most robust clicking method would be a small 1 axis accelerometer (similar to the ones used in the wii). It would sense the abrupt profile of a finger tapping on a table and input it as clicks.   

       then it could do double duty as a midi device and you could record your finger drumming symphonies.
metarinka, Feb 24 2010
  

       A 3D accelerometer would lend itself nicely to 3D modelling of surfaces - run your finger all over the surface and, hey presto, a perfect 3D image of the inside of your nostrils.
Ling, Apr 08 2010
  


 

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