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Published in Philip A. Laplante, Comprehensive Dictionary of Electrical Engineering, 2018
tracing in software engineering, the process of capturing the stream of instructions, referred to as the trace, for later analysis. track a narrow annulus or ring-like region on a disk surface, scanned by the read/write head during one revolution of the spindle; the data bits of magnetic and optical disks are stored sequentially along these tracks. The disk is covered either with concentric rings of densely packed circular tracks or with one continuous, fine-pitched spiral track. See also magnetic disk track, optical disk track, magnetic tape track. track buffer a memory buffer embedded in the disk drive. It can hold the contents of the current disk track. trackball the earliest version of an input device using a roller ball, differing from the mouse in that the ball is contained in a unit that can remain in a fixed position while the ball is rotated. It is sometimes referred to as an upside-down mouse, but the reverse is more appropriate, as the trackball came first. tracking conduction along the surface of an insulator and especially the establishment of a carbonized conduction path along the surface of a polymer insulator. tracking bandwidth See lock range.
Digital processing principles
Published in John Watkinson, Convergence in Broadcast and Communications Media, 2001
Figure 2.35 shows how a mouse works. The ball is turned in two dimensions as the mouse is moved over a flat surface and a pair of rollers mounted orthogonally (at 90°) operate pulse generators which are sensitive to direction. These may be optical and consist of slotted vanes. Two suitably positioned light beams falling on photocells will produce outputs in quadrature. The relative phase determines the direction and the frequency is proportional to speed. The pulses from the mouse move the cursor across the display screen until it is over one of the available functions. This function can then be selected by pressing a key on the mouse. A trackball is basically an inverted mouse where the operator rotates the ball in two dimensions with the fingertips.
Using computer software packages to assist engineering activities
Published in David Salmon, Penny Powdrill, Mechanical Engineering Level 2 NVQ, 2012
Trackballs are often incorporated into laptops. They are basically an upside down mouse in which the trackball remains stationary and you move the ball, often with your thumb. Variations on this idea help people with limited movement in their hands. The size of the ball can be made quite large to make movement easier. Similarly, touch screens can be adapted for use by people who are paralysed.
TouchWheel: Enabling Flick-and-Stop Interaction on the Mouse Wheel
Published in International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 2023
Sunmin Son, Jingun Jung, Auejin Ham, Geehyuk Lee
The concept of TouchWheel can be applied not only to the mouse wheel but also to other rotary input devices, such as a trackball and a smartwatch crown. A trackball allows pointing and scrolling inputs while requiring a small workspace compared to a mouse. However, trackballs are known to perform poorly when the device must be clutched to travel long distances (Accot & Zhai, 1999; Natapov & MacKenzie, 2010). Therefore, enabling flick scrolling on trackballs may resolve the clutching problem. Watch crowns have been used as an alternative to smartwatch touchscreens due to the “fat-finger” problem (Baudisch & Chu, 2009; Siek et al., 2005). However, the small form factor of watch crowns makes it difficult to scroll a long distance. Thus, the flick scrolling functionality may also be useful for smartwatch crowns.
Analysis of natural finger-press motions for design of trackball buttons
Published in Ergonomics, 2019
Xiaopeng Yang, Amir Tjolleng, Wonsup Lee, Seokbong Park, Baekhee Lee, Jineun Jeong, Jinman Kim, Wongi Hong, Kihyo Jung, Heecheon You, Seikwon Park
A trackball has been widely used as a pointing device in moving environments such as cockpits and ships for its better stability and accuracy than a mouse. Unlike the mouse that can be moved on a work surface (Chaparro et al. 1999), the trackball is fixed at the work surface and operated by rolling the ball and pushing buttons with fingers and therefore provides a more stable operation in moving environments (Cockburn et al. 2017; Lin et al. 2007; Thomas 2018; Yau et al. 2011). In addition, the trackball can provide a more accurate selection of a small target than the mouse (error rate = 8.6% for the trackball and 9.4% for the mouse; MacKenzie, Kauppinen, and Silfverberg 2001).