METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SWITCHING BETWEEN ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE POINTING WITH DIRECT INPUT DEVICES

A method maps positions of a direct input device to locations of a pointer displayed on a surface. The method performs absolute mapping between physical positions of a direct input device and virtual locations of a pointer on a display device when operating in an absolute mapping mode, and relative mapping between the physical positions of the input device and the locations the pointer when operating in a relative mapping mode. Switching between the absolute mapping and the relative mappings is in response to control signals detected from the direct input device.