JPH04109329A - Data input system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To effectively obtain a correct character to be displayed on an input area in a united type display input device by obtaining candidate characters by character recognition processing based upon inputted coordinate information. CONSTITUTION:When a character is hand-written on a transparent tablet 6 by means of a stylus pen 3, coordinate data indicating the strokes of the character are inputted and character recognition processing based upon the coordinate data is executed. The coordinate data indicating the strokes of the character are inputted from a coordinate input part 30. The input part 30 generates the coordinate data based upon a position pointed out by the pen 3 on the tablet 6. A processing control part 31 for executing character recognition, etc., based upon the sequence of position coordinates indicating the strokes of the character is connected to the input part 30. On the other hand, a display part 32 for displaying the character or the like recognized by the control part 31 and an external peripheral device 33 such as a storage device and a printer are connected to the control part 31.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a data input method in an information processing apparatus equipped with an integrated display input device.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, when directly inputting data into an information processing device such as a computer, for example, a keyboard, mouse, or tablet is used. Furthermore, in recent years, an integrated display/input device is sometimes used, which is constructed by overlapping a display device such as a flat liquid crystal display (LCD) and a transparent tablet for inputting coordinates. In an integrated display input device, electrodes are arranged in a matrix in a transparent tablet, and a position indicated by a stylus pen can be detected with high accuracy. The locus of the position indicated by the stylus pen is displayed on the display. Therefore, while visually checking the content displayed on the display, anyone can use the stylus pen to write letters on the tablet as if they were using paper and pencil, making data entry easy for anyone. It is a man-machine interface that allows you to perform the following tasks.

In this kind of information processing apparatus equipped with an integrated display/input device, the following method is used when inputting characters to create a document or a slip.

First, the first method is to set an area on the tablet in which characters are to be written (display a frame, etc. that indicates the area range on the display device), and then set the coordinate data series ( It performs character recognition processing on a character pattern) and displays the results in a predetermined area on the screen. At this time, for example, if the displayed recognition result is incorrect, it is necessary to carefully write the characters and input them again. The result of the character recognition process is displayed at the same position in place of the handwritten character pattern.

The second method is to display a soft keyboard containing keys for all the characters to be input on the screen, and use a stylus to indicate the key for the desired character.
It is used to input characters.

In the case of this second method as well, the characters of the designated key are displayed in a predetermined area.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, in the first method, if the result of character recognition for a written character pattern is incorrect, it is necessary to perform input again. Therefore, if a character with a particularly large number of strokes is misrecognized, it will take time to rewrite it.
There was a problem that input efficiency was reduced.

Furthermore, in the second method, since the soft keyboard used includes all the characters to be input, a large occupied area is required for display. For this reason, other displayable areas may be limited, or previously displayed content may be hidden by the soft keyboard. Therefore, it may not be possible to input data while referring to previously input data, which may reduce input efficiency.

Furthermore, since either method only displays input characters in a predetermined area, it may not be noticed if the characters are recognized or input incorrectly.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a data input method that allows efficient data input of positive values.

[Structure of the Invention (Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention provides an integrated display/input device configured by overlapping and integrating a transparent tablet for inputting coordinate information onto a display surface of a display device, and a first setting means for setting a first input area for indicating an input range of coordinate information and displaying the input contents on the display device; A recognition processing means that performs character recognition processing based on the correspondingly inputted coordinate information, and an input character to be displayed in the first input area where the coordinate information is inputted from the recognition result obtained by the recognition processing means. a first determining means for determining; and said first determining means;
The first display means displays the character determined by the determination means in the first input area.

The present invention also provides an integrated display input device configured by overlapping and integrating a transparent tab for inputting coordinate information on the display surface of the display device, and an input range of coordinate information in the tablé soto. , a first setting means for setting a first input area for displaying input contents on the display device; and when coordinate information corresponding to the first input area set by the first setting means is input. , which shows the input range of coordinate information on the tablet and the contents of the data to be input, and one column of row areas corresponding to the first row and the first column when the data contents are a two-dimensional array. a second setting means for setting a second input area consisting of an area; and a second setting means for setting a second input area consisting of an area; The apparatus comprises a second determining means for determining input characters to be displayed in the input area, and a second display means for displaying the characters determined by the second determining means in the first input area. .

(Operation) According to such a configuration, the first character is selected from the candidate characters obtained by the two-character recognition process based on the input coordinate information
One correct character to be displayed in the input area can be efficiently obtained.

Also, when the data content is a two-dimensional array, one row, one
Since a second input area consisting of one row area and one column area corresponding to each column is used, a large occupied area is not required for display, and input efficiency does not deteriorate.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the external configuration of an information processing device equipped with an integrated display and input device according to the same embodiment. In FIG. 2, an integrated display/input device 2 is provided on the top surface of the device housing 1. As shown in FIG.

The body shape display input device 2 is an LCD (liquid crystal display).
It is constructed by integrally laminating a transparent tablet for inputting coordinates and displaying data on the same coordinate plane.

3 in the figure is a stylus pen, which is used to indicate an arbitrary coordinate position on the tablet of the integrated display input device 2. The stylus pen 3 has a built-in switch that detects contact with the tablet surface. The detection result of this switch is notified to a processing function section provided inside the device housing 1 via the code 4. The integrated display input device 2 and the stylus pen 3 have a processing function section (
It is controlled by the CPU 21 (described later).

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the information processing apparatus in the same embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a side sectional view. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the integrated display/input device 2 is constructed by integrally laminating a transparent tablet 6 and an LCD 7. In addition,
FIG. 3 shows a state in which menu icons are displayed on the LCD 7.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing the structure of a switch built into the stylus pen 3. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, in a steady state, the electrode 13 of the pen tip II in the stylus pen shaft 1o is in a non-contact state (switched off) by the spring I2. When using the stylus pen 3 to indicate (click) the first position of a character,
The pen tip 11 is pushed against the force of the spring 12, and the electrode 13 portion is brought into contact (switched on). Based on this contact (switch-on) and non-contact (switch-off) information (switch information), it is detected that the writing of one character of the icon instruction is being performed within the coordinate detection effective range of the transparent tablet 6. Note that the on/off state is notified to the CPU 21 via the tablet controller 27, which will be described later, regardless of whether the transparent tablet 6 is within the effective coordinate detection range.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the information processing device. The transparent tablet 6 constituting the integrated display/input device 2 has transparent electrodes wired in a matrix in the X and Y directions perpendicular to each other in a glass plate. A pulse voltage is sequentially applied to these electrodes, and the stylus pen 3
The XY coordinate position indicated by is detected by capacitive coupling.

Details will be described later. The transparent tablet 6 and stylus pen 3 are controlled by a tablet controller 27 (described later), and the LCD 7 is controlled by an LCD controller 25 (described later).

21 is a CPU, which controls the entire information processing device. Reference numeral 22 denotes a RAM, which is a readable/writable memory and is used to store programs that define the operation of the CPU 2 and various data. RAM22
is for storing various information such as information regarding the software keyboard displayed on the LCD 7 (display information, position information, etc.), patterns input by handwriting on the transparent tablet 6, etc. Reference numeral 23 denotes a ROM, which is a read-only memory that stores a diagnostic program after the information processing device is powered on, a boot program for starting up the information processing device, and the like. 24 is a VRAM, which is a bitmap memory for storing display information. 25 is an LCD controller, which transfers display information from VRAM 24 to LCD 7, and from CPU 21 to VRAM 2.
It is in charge of display control such as display information transfer to 4. 2
7 is a tablet controller, which is a transparent tablet 6
Controls a series of tablet controls, such as scanning the X and Y electrodes of the computer, detecting voltage at the position indicated by the stylus pen 3 (capacitive coupling method), generating XY coordinate data, and transmitting the XY coordinate data to the CPU 2+. It is. Reference numeral 29 denotes an external interface, which is used to exchange data between the present device and an external device as necessary.

FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram for explaining the operation of an information processing apparatus equipped with an integrated display and input device.

The information processing device in this embodiment adopts an online character recognition method, and when a character is handwritten on a transparent tablet 6 with a stylus pen 3, coordinate data indicating the stroke of the character is input, and based on this coordinate data, Performs character recognition processing.

Coordinate data indicating strokes of characters, etc. is input to the coordinate input section 3.
0 (including the transparent tablet 6, stylus pen 3, and tablet controller 27). The coordinate input unit 30 generates coordinate data based on a position indicated by a pen (not shown) on a flat tablet. The coordinate input unit 30 includes a processing control unit 31 (CPU 21, RA
M22, ROM23, and external interface 29) are connected. The processing control unit 31 includes a display unit 32 that displays characters recognized by the control unit 31.
(LCD 7, LCD controller 25, and VRAM
24), and an external peripheral device 33 (not shown) such as a storage device or a printer device that stores recognition dictionary data necessary for character recognition processing in the processing control section 31.

The transparent tablet 6 of the coordinate input section 30 and the LC of the display section 32
As shown in FIG. 8, D7 has the same dimensions and the same coordinate plane. The transparent tablet 6 and the LCD 7 are integrally formed in a laminated manner on the processing control section 31. Therefore, the information displayed on the display section 32 can be visually recognized from the transparent tablet through the coordinate input section 3o.

Here, details of the coordinate input section 30 will be explained.

The capacitively coupled transparent tablet 6 used in the coordinate input section 30 is configured as shown in FIG. 9, for example. That is, the transparent tablet 6 has a pair of transparent glass plates 6a and 6b joined together via an insulating protective film (not shown). A plurality of transparent electrodes Be, 6d are arranged in parallel at predetermined intervals on the transparent glass plates 6a, 6b, respectively. Transparent glass plate Ga.

6b, transparent electrodes 6c and 6d are joined so as to be perpendicular to each other. The transparent electrodes 6c and 6d are connected to a shift controller 27, respectively, as shown in FIG.
A shift register 27f operating under the control of e,
Connected to 27g.

The specific operation is as follows.

First, when detecting coordinates in the horizontal direction, a predetermined voltage is sequentially applied to the transparent electrode 6C connected to the shift register 27f from the end. When the electrode to which voltage is applied approaches the stylus pen 3, an electrostatically induced voltage is generated in the stylus pen 3 due to the capacitance formed between the transparent electrode 6c and the stylus pen 3. This electrostatically induced voltage is amplified via an amplifier 27j and a high frequency component is removed via a filter 27k to provide a stable indicated position detection signal, which is then applied to a counter 27h. counter 2
71] starts counting when a predetermined voltage is applied to the electrode located closest to the origin among the transparent electrodes 6c,
Counting ends when a designated position detection signal of a certain value or more is input. By performing such an operation, the coordinates of the stylus pen 3 are detected in terms of time. When the horizontal direction coordinate i'TFI determination is completed, the vertical direction coordinate measurement is started. For vertical coordinate measurements,
Similar to the horizontal coordinate measurement, a predetermined voltage is sequentially applied to the transparent electrode 6d connected to the shift register 27g from the end, and the indicated position is detected from the electrostatic induced voltage detected by the stylus pen 3 by the amplifier 27j1 and the filter 27k. A signal is generated and the coordinates are detected by the counter 27h.

When writing characters, etc. on a transparent tablet using the stylus pen 3, information indicating the writing stroke is stored as a connection between the positions indicated by the stylus pen 3, that is, a connection between the indicated position coordinates (series of position coordinates). It will be entered.

In this way, the information on the characters input by hand via the coordinate input unit 30, that is, the sequence of position coordinates, is transferred to the processing control unit 31.
is provided to the display section 32 via the. Then, according to the series of position coordinates, the same coordinates on the display section 32 are driven to be displayed as described later. Through this display control, characters written on the transparent tablet surface are simultaneously displayed as the trajectory of the writing, and character information is input as if writing characters on a paper surface using the stylus pen 3. .

Next, the memory section (RAM22, ROM
23) is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 11, it is comprised of processing units 40a-40e storing programs for performing various processes, and data buffers 40r-401 holding various data.

That is, the processing units 40a to 40e that perform various processes include an input unit 40a that inputs data from the coordinate input unit 30.
A recognition processing section 40b that performs single character recognition processing, a region 111-specific processing section 40c that determines which region (described later) the coordinate data from the coordinate input section 30 indicates, and a guide corresponding to the specified region. A guide display data extraction processing section 40d1 that acquires data for display and a display control section 40e that controls display on the display section 32 are provided. Further, the data buffers 40f to 401 that hold various data include a position data buffer 4 that stores the coordinates of the indicated position specified in the coordinate input section 30.
0'', a pen status data buffer 40g that holds the pen status (on, off), and a guide data buffer 4 [1h that stores data for performing guide display and display data such as a soft keyboard.

A dictionary data buffer 401 that temporarily holds dictionary data for recognizing handwritten characters, an area data buffer 40j that stores information regarding each area, an output buffer 40k that holds output data, and an area where character recognition processing is performed. A recognition frame data buffer 40 in which related data is stored and a numerical data buffer 40m in which numerical data is stored are provided.

Further, the area data buffer 40j is provided with area data buffers 40J1 to 40 and i4 for independently storing data regarding each area.

Here, areas are provided for storing various information regarding the four areas A to D. As shown in FIG. 12, the δ area data buffers 40j1 to 40j4 include an area coordinate X starting point data buffer 41a and an area coordinate Y starting point data buffer 4 in which coordinate data indicating the position of an area is stored.
1b, area coordinate X end point data buffer 41c, area coordinate Y end point data buffer 41d, and area attribute data buffer 41 for storing attribute data regarding the area.
．． c is provided. Area attribute data buffer 41
e is an area processing attribute for storing data specifying whether or not to perform handwriting input processing on the coordinate data input to the area (including data specifying whether or not to perform character recognition processing). Data buffer 41e1, recognition attribute data buffer 41e2 for storing data specifying dictionary data used when executing character recognition processing in handwritten input processing, whether or not the item contents for the area have been input. Input completion flag 41e indicating
3 is provided.

Furthermore, the recognition frame data buffer 401 includes area data buffers 4011 to 401 for independently storing data regarding each area in which character recognition processing is performed based on coordinate data handwritten on the tablet.
There are three. Here, areas are provided for storing various information regarding areas A and B that are the targets of character recognition processing, and area C that receives numerical data. Each area data buffer 4011 to 4013 has a first
As shown in Figure 3, there is a number data buffer 42a1 in which data indicating the number of frames provided in the area is stored, and an area in which coordinate data indicating the positions of 6 frames (number n) provided in the area is stored. Coordinate X starting point data buffer 42bl
~42bn, area coordinate Y starting point data buffer 42cl
~42cns area coordinates X starting point data buffer 42d1~
42dn, area coordinate Y starting point data buffer 42el~
42 en.

and recognition result data buffers 42rl to 42'n in which the results of character recognition processing are stored.

Next, the first step is to explain the processing procedure when inputting character information.
This will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, when the device is powered on, an initial screen as shown in FIG. 15 is displayed on the display unit 32 (
Step AI). On this initial screen, a plurality of item names in the slip format and entry frames corresponding to each item name are displayed.

In other words, the item name includes "Name", which indicates a field for entering the name,
There is a ``Odokoro'' that indicates ``age'' and address.

Furthermore, the name entry field includes fields for writing in kanji and furigana. Here, the name entry column in kanji is A1, the name entry column in furigana is A1, the age entry column is B1, and the address entry column is C1. In addition, for area A, kanji handwritten character recognition processing, for area B, katakana handwritten character recognition processing, for area C, input using the soft numeric keypad (described later), and for area 1, handwriting display (image pattern of characters etc.) It is assumed that the settings are set to perform processing (as is).

Such information about each area A to D is set in advance in the area data buffer 40j and the recognition frame data buffer 401 in the processing control unit 31.

In other words, the coordinates indicating the area position, the processing attribute, and the recognition attribute data are stored in area data buffers 40j1 to 40j corresponding to each area in the area data buffer 40j.
It is stored in 0j4. Also, area A.

The number of frames provided in B and the coordinates indicating the frame positions are:
Area data buffer 4011 for each area in the approval frame data buffer 401. , 4012.

The display control unit 40c controls the display of the initial screen based on the data stored in each area data buffer.

When the initial screen is displayed in this way, the input section 4.
0a is in the input waiting state. In other words, the coordinate input section 3
0 on the transparent tablet surface with the stylus pen 3, and it is checked whether coordinate data is detected (step A2). When the input unit 40a detects that coordinate data has been input, it stores the coordinate data in the position data buffer 40' and also changes the state of the stylus pen 3 (
data indicating whether the pen is on or off, etc.) is stored in the pen state data buffer 40g (steps A3 and A4). Coordinate data and data indicating the pen state are stored in a predetermined buffer 40f4.
0g, the area determination processing unit 40c uses the stylus pen 3 to perform a Determine which area the specified position is included in. If it is determined that the input coordinate data is included in one of the areas A to D, information regarding that area is stored in the area attribute data buffer 41. Take out from e (step A
5). The area determination processing unit 40c uses the processing attribute data stored in the area processing attribute data hasher 41el.
It is determined whether the area designated by the stylus pen 3 is a target for handwriting input processing (step A, 6). The area determination processing unit 40c uses the stylus pen 3
The input unit 40a is notified of the determination result as to whether or not the area designated by is a target for handwriting input processing. That is, if the specified area is not a target of handwriting input processing, the handwriting input state is turned off, and if it is a target of handwriting input processing, it is set to a handwriting input waiting state (on) (steps A7 and A8). In the same example, area A
, B, and D are specified, the handwriting input processing state is set. Further, if the designated area is to be subjected to handwritten input processing, the area determination processing unit 40c determines whether handwritten character recognition processing is to be performed based on the area processing attribute data (step A9).

If the area is a target area for character recognition processing, the area discrimination processing unit 40c selects the attributes (kanji, katakana, etc.) stored in the dictionary data buffer 401 based on the recognition attribute data stored in the attribute data buffer 41e2. The dictionary data corresponding to the data is taken out and transferred to the recognition processing section 40b (step A10).

Then, the guide display data extraction processing unit 40d determines whether the input completion flag 41c3 for the designated area is on or off (step A11). If no data has been entered, of course the input completion flag 4
1c3 is off and continues to wait for data input corresponding to each area. Here, the input completion flag 41e
3 is on and it is determined that data has been input for the designated area, guide data for performing guide display stored in the guide data buffer 40h is taken out. Guide display data extraction processing section 4
The guide data extracted by 0d is transferred to the output buffer 40k. The display control unit 40c displays a guide message "Please press" as shown in FIG. 16(a), for example, based on the guide data in the output buffer 740 (step A12). Note that the guide display example shown in FIG. 16(a) is shown for the case of a region. Here, if the stylus pen 3 is on (
In step A13), as shown in FIG. 16(b), the data in the output buffer 40 regarding this area is cleared (step A14), and the guide display is cleared.

Then, the human horn completion flag 41e3 is turned off (step A15). In step A13, if the pen state is off and the entered data is not to be cleared, the process returns to step A2 and enters the input waiting state.

Then, the area determination processing unit 40c determines whether it is in the designated position or in areas A to D (steps AIe to A
19), processes A to D regarding areas A to D are executed (steps A20 to A23).

Here, the processing for area A will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, if the position specified with the stylus pen 3 is within area A, handwriting input is performed according to the procedure described above (step B1), and the input coordinate position (frame Display the handwriting as if it were written on paper (Step B2)
Based on the coordinate data of the input handwritten character, the recognition processing unit 40b calculates the position data (start point, end point of the frame coordinates) of the frame to be recognized stored in the area A data buffer 4011 of the recognition frame data buffer 401. ) is taken out (step B3). The recognition processing unit 40b uses the set dictionary data to perform a handwritten character recognition process (described later) on the coordinate data of the input handwritten character (step B4). The recognition processing unit 40b stores the handwritten character recognition processing result (character data) in the area kA data buffer 40.
11 to the recognition data buffer of the frame to be recognized (step B5), and the output buffer 40k.
Store character data in . That is, when a character is written as shown in FIG. 18(a), the character data of the kanji character "yama" is stored in the recognition data buffer 42r1.

In this way, the display control unit 40e controls the tH cover 740k.
Based on the character data stored in , the result of handwritten character recognition processing is displayed as shown in FIG. 18(b) (step B6).

In addition to the character input method using handwritten character recognition, for example, a soft keyboard can also be used. As to whether input is to be performed using a soft keyboard or handwritten character recognition, the input method is set in advance for each area, for example, and the processing is switched depending on the settings. A method for inputting data using the soft keyboard will be described later.

The processing for area B is performed in the same manner as the processing for area A described above, but the dictionary data regarding katakana is recognized according to the recognition attribute data stored in the recognition attribute data buffer 41e2 in the area B data buffer 40j. It is set in the processing unit 40b, and handwritten character recognition processing is performed. FIG. 19 shows an example of a display screen when processing for area B is being performed.

In addition, the area processing displays the coordinate data (image pattern) of the input handwritten characters as is,
Does not perform handwritten character recognition processing.

FIG. 20 shows an example of a display screen when processing for this area is performed.

Here, processing for area C in which a guide display other than the above is performed will be described with reference to flowchart 1 shown in FIG.

First, the area determination processing unit 40c determines whether the stylus pen 3
When it is determined that the position specified by is within area C, the pen state is determined based on data indicating the pen state stored in the pen state data buffer 40g (step CI). Here, if it is determined that the pen state is off, the guide display data extraction processing section 40d extracts the ID data corresponding to the area C stored in the guide data buffer 40h and transfers it to the output buffer 40k.

The display control unit 40e displays a guide message "Please press" as shown in FIG. 22(a), for example, according to the guide data in the output buffer 40 (step C2).
). In step C, if the pen state is off,
No guide display is performed.

Here, when the pen state is turned on to input data, the guide display data extraction processing unit 40d extracts the guide data stored in the guide data buffer 40h that indicates the soft numeric keypad used for inputting data. is read and transferred to the output buffer 40k. The display control unit 40e displays a soft numeric keypad at a predetermined position at the bottom of the area C, as shown in FIG. 22(b) (step C4).
). Here, when the stylus pen 3 is on (step C5) and the numeric area of the soft numeric keypad is specified, numerical data is input (step C6). That is, when the area of the soft numeric keypad is specified with the stylus pen 3, the area determination processing unit 40c specifies the area of the stylus pen based on the area data indicating the area of each number of the soft numeric keypad stored in the guide data buffer 40h. 3
It is determined which number is specified by the coordinates of the indicated position. When the designated number is determined by the area determination processing unit 40C, the numerical data is stored in the numerical data buffer 40m. Further, character data corresponding to the numerical data stored in the numerical data buffer 40I11 is stored in the output buffer 40k, and the display control unit 40
e is displayed in the first digit of the three frames provided in the area indicating "age" (step C7). In this way, when an area indicating a number is specified with the stylus pen 3, the numerical data is sequentially stored in the numerical data buffer 40m as the lowest digit (first digit), and the first digit is stored in the numerical data buffer 40m according to the stored numerical data. Display in the digit. That is, the display of the numerical data input earlier is carried up in sequence. Here, if the input numerical data exceeds 3 digits (step C8), the numerical data value sofa 4011 and the numbers displayed in the 6 frames of area C are cleared (step C9). When the area indicating the end of the soft numeric keypad is designated with the stylus pen 3, the display of the soft numeric keypad is cleared and data input for area C is ended (steps C1, 0 to C11).

Next, the processing procedure from the coordinate input unit 30 to displaying characters input by writing them on the transparent tablet 6 will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 23.

First, when inputting data, the processing control unit 31 initializes each buffer for storing input data (step DI). The processing control unit 31 checks whether the stylus pen 3 is on (step D2). When the state of the stylus pen 3 is on, the coordinate data of the position indicated by the stylus pen 3 inputted from the coordinate input section 30 is inputted into the input section 40a, and
f (step D3). This storage of coordinate data continues until the position data buffer 40 is notified of delimiter data indicating that all coordinate data sequences for one character have been input. When the state is turned off and this off state is determined in step D2, the position data buffer 40r is notified and stored (step D4).Furthermore, the input of coordinate data for one character is completed using the processing method described above. In addition, the input coordinate data is determined based on whether it indicates a position outside the frame area that is currently being input.For example, if the input coordinate data indicates a position outside the frame area that is currently the input target. Among these, when the coordinate data input target is changed from the current input target frame to another frame, it is determined that the input of coordinate data for one character in the previous input target frame has been completed. It is.

In this way, the recognition processing time of character recognition processing based on coordinate data is shortened. In this way, the input coordinate data for one character is stored in the position data buffer 40r and transferred to the output buffer 40k. Then, the display control section 40e simultaneously displays the information at a predetermined position on the display section 32 as writing pattern information.

When the sequence of coordinate data for one character is thus stored in the position data buffer 40f, the recognition processing unit 40b analyzes the coordinate data sequence and performs character recognition processing (
Step D6. D7).

This character recognition process, for example, divides a series of coordinate data into each written stroke by determining stroke breaks based on the distance between each position coordinate data, and converts each written stroke into a series of values indicating the direction representing its characteristics. It is done as follows. Here, the value indicating the direction is, for example, as shown in FIG.
It is quantized and given in eight directions (direction values). Then, find out what kind of direction value series represents the series of coordinate data indicating each military stroke, and if the same direction (direction value) continues, combine those direction values into one direction value. The data is compressed by representing each writing stroke, and the position coordinate data indicating each writing stroke is converted into a direction value. According to this m-child conversion, for example, the number "3" is converted as a direction value r252357J, as shown in FIG.

Through this processing, coordinate data indicating a character input by hand via the coordinate input unit 30 or a direction value is expressed for each handwritten stroke.

The recognition processing unit 40b compares the information on the direction value string obtained in this manner with dictionary data for performing character recognition processing provided via the dictionary data buffer 40i stored in the storage device, and determines the character. Recognize the Note that the dictionary data used for character recognition processing, for example, as shown in FIG. It is classified and configured to correspond to each character code. The recognition processing unit 40b refers to such dictionary data and sets the character code corresponding to the stroke characteristics of the coordinate data indicating the handwritten input character as a recognition result (step D8). Here, if the input coordinate data is for one character, the character size for character display is set. That is, based on the series of input coordinate data, the size of the written character in the X and Y directions is detected (step D1.0). Then, the X size and Y size are compared (step D1
1) Depending on the result, set the X and Y direction size as the character size according to either the X size or the Y size (Steps D1.1-D14)
). Then, the display control unit 40c displays characters according to the set character size (step D15).

Note that if the input coordinate data is for the second character or later, the process to obtain the character size is not performed, and the characters are displayed according to the character size set by the data for one character. -D, as a result of inputting character information to the initial screen shown in FIG. 15, a display screen as shown in FIG. 27, for example, is obtained.

Next, character input using handwritten character recognition performed in area A shown in FIG. 15 will be described.

Generally, in character input using handwritten character recognition, whether or not a desired character is correctly input is greatly influenced by the quality of a handwritten character pattern.

For example, a character pattern written with the intention of inputting the character "fat" may be mistakenly recognized as characters such as "dai" and "jo". In such a case, conventionally, the incorrect character displayed was checked, the character was rewritten more carefully than the previous time, and the character was re-recognized to obtain the character ``thick''.

In this embodiment, if the initially input character pattern is erroneously recognized, the desired correct character can be input using the following first to third methods.

First, the first method is carried out according to the procedure of the flowchart shown in FIG. First, when a character is written in a frame targeted for character input and a character pattern is input (step El), the recognition processing unit 40b executes character recognition processing and selects the first to third candidate characters in order of recognition rate. (step E2). Next, as shown in FIG. 28, in order to display a frame (candidate frame) for displaying a plurality of candidate characters near the input frame, select candidate characters from among the images near the bottom of the input frame indicated by the cursor. The area occupied by several frames (for example, three) is temporarily saved in advance in a save area (not shown) in the memory (step E3). and,
A candidate frame is provided in the area where the image has been saved, and candidate characters for the input character pattern are displayed in the candidate frame in descending order of recognition rate, for example, "large", "thick", and "length" (step E4). Here, if the first candidate character displayed in the input frame (candidate frame) is incorrect and the desired character is displayed in another candidate frame (step E5.
E6), when this character frame is ticked with the stylus pen 3, the correct character displayed in the ticked frame (
(correct character) is displayed in the input frame (step E7). Further, along with displaying the correct character, the saved image is redisplayed in the candidate frame area and the candidate frame is erased (step E8). Further, if the desired character is the first candidate character (displayed in the input frame) as a result of character recognition, (step E
5) By inputting a character pattern into the next input frame, the candidate frame corresponding to the previous input frame is deleted (step E8). Note that if the desired character is not displayed in either the input frame or the candidate frame (step E6), the character pattern is input again (step E9), or the character is input using the kana-kanji conversion technology (step E10).

A method for inputting characters using the kana-kanji conversion technology in this embodiment will be described later.

Next, in the second method, the procedure is performed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. The second method changes the display position of the candidate frame in the first method as shown in FIG.
This is fixed regardless of the position of the input frame. The processing procedure is almost the same as in the case of the second method, so the details will be omitted. In the second method, in step F3, a candidate frame for displaying candidate characters is set in a predetermined area that does not overlap with the displayed character input format. Furthermore, if the desired character is displayed in the candidate frame, similarly to the first method, by picking that frame, the correct character is displayed in the predetermined input frame (step F7). .

Next, in the third method, the procedure is performed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. The third method is based on the first method. Second
When a candidate frame is provided as in the above method, candidate characters are displayed in the input frame as necessary. First, when a character is written within a frame targeted for character input and a character pattern is input (step G1), the recognition processing unit 40b
executes a character recognition process, and selects the first to third candidate characters in descending order of recognition rate (step G2). First, in the input frame into which the character pattern has been input, as shown in FIG. 32, the first candidate character with the highest recognition rate is displayed in the character recognition process (steps G3 and G4). If the candidate character displayed here is not the desired correct character and the input frame is ticked, the next candidate character, if any, is displayed in place of the previously displayed character (steps G5.G6.G7.G4. ). When a desired character is displayed within the input frame, the input character is determined by inputting a character pattern into the next input frame. In addition, the second. Third. . . . When the desired character is not found among the candidate characters sequentially displayed by ticking the input frame, the first method is used.

Character input is performed in the same manner as in the second method (step G8
．． G9).

Next, a character input method using the kana-kanji conversion technique, which is performed when a desired character is not found among the candidate characters obtained by character recognition processing, will be described. In this embodiment, a soft keyboard for kana input as shown in FIG. 33 is used. For example, if the character ``太'' cannot be input using handwritten character recognition and is input using kana conversion technology, the readings of the kanji to be input, ``fu'', ``to'', and ``shi'', can be entered using the soft keyboard displayed on the LCD 7. Input by clicking the character key.

The soft keyboard shown in Figure 33 includes the character key V (hereinafter referred to as row key) for the first row (Akasatana...) of the 50-syllabary character arrangement shown in Figure 34, and the character key for the - column (5 characters). W
(hereinafter referred to as column keys), key X indicating voiced sounds, half-width, etc., and "
A key Y indicating "Katakana" is provided.

The procedure for inputting characters using the soft keyboard is shown in the flowchart of FIG. First, from the row key V, pick the character "ha" in the column containing the desired character. In response to this, the character that was clicked is displayed in the input frame b], and the column key W is switched to the column ``Hahifuheha'' containing ``ha'' (step H1). Here, the character to be input is "fu", so pick "fu" in the column key. As a result, the picked character "fu" is displayed in the input frame b1 (steps H2 and H3). In this way, desired characters can be input in sequence using the keyboard.

In addition, if you want to convert the entered characters into half-width characters or voiced characters, you can do so by picking the specified key (
Steps H5, H6). Further, when converting to katakana, it is similarly achieved by picking the katakana key (steps H7 and H8). For example, if you input "Katakana" and then pick the Katakana key, it will be converted to "Katakana".

In this way, by sequentially inputting ``fu'', ``to'', and ``shi'' and instructing execution of kana-kanji conversion, the character ``ta'' is obtained. The obtained kanji is displayed within a predetermined input frame.

With a soft keyboard like this, the area required for display is small, so even if the format for inputting characters occupies a large area on the display screen, the two will interfere with each other. There is no.

Next, a process for displaying an error (warning) when a character input (displayed) in the input frame is incorrect will be described. This processing procedure is shown in the flowchart of FIG. For example, in the case of the character input format shown in Fig. 15, the character types (
category). For example, for area A, kanji.

It is assumed that attributes are set for hiragana, katakana, katakana for area B, and numbers for area C.

Here, taking the case of inputting characters in area C as an example, inputting characters into the input frame of area C is performed using handwritten character input or a soft keyboard. In the case of handwritten character input, it is determined whether the character type is valid by referring to the character type of the character obtained by character recognition and the attribute set in advance for area C (step I ].

12). For example, if the number "5" is incorrectly recognized as the alphabet "S" when it should have been entered as r3J r5J, it is determined that the region-specific attributes are violated. In this case, an error message is displayed as shown in FIG. Then, the process moves on to re-input characters (step I4).

In addition, in the above explanation, it was assumed that the soft numeric keypad was used to input data to area C, but for example, as shown in Fig. can be designed to perform data entry using in this case,
When a character of the violating character type is picked, an error message is displayed in the same manner as in the case of erroneous recognition.

As a result, even if an incorrect input is made, it can be easily determined, so that data can be input accurately, increasing reliability.

In this way, when inputting characters using handwritten character recognition, even if the recognition result for the input character pattern is incorrect, candidate characters can be easily selected and specified, allowing for efficient character input. can be done.

In addition, by using a soft keyboard as shown in Figure 33, the area occupied on the display screen is small, so the previously displayed content is not hidden by the soft keyboard, and data that has already been entered can be saved. You can input data while referring to the following.

Furthermore, if a character is input that is different from the type of character to be input that is preset for each area, an error message will be displayed to indicate that the input was incorrect or incorrectly recognized, as shown in Figure 37. You can enter data easily.

In addition, data can be input for items in a specific area arbitrarily designated using the stylus pen 3, and a guide display for the designated area can be used to prevent incorrect data input due to erroneous operation. can. Further, the guide display is not displayed on the initial screen, and the initial screen area can be effectively used because the guide display is displayed according to the area specified by the stylus pen 3. For example, when specifying area C with the stylus pen 3, a soft numeric keypad is used when inputting data, so the screen display can be simplified. Furthermore, since the guide display can be set to be displayed or not depending on the pen state (on, off), it is not always displayed when specified with the stylus pen 3, so the user can easily It becomes possible to perform operations.

In the above embodiment, the transparent tablet 6 is used in the coordinate input section 30, but a pressure-sensitive tablet or an opaque tablet may be used. Furthermore, the display unit 32 is not limited to a liquid crystal display, and may use other display devices such as a plasma display.

Further, the screen configuration on the initial screen, the position of the content 1 of the guide display, etc. are not limited to the above embodiments, and can be set arbitrarily.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in Section 2 below, according to the present invention, characters to be input are determined from candidate characters obtained through character recognition processing.
Data entry can be performed efficiently. In addition, the soft keyboard (second input area) used for data entry has been designed so that it does not require a large display area, and the display contents do not overlap, making data entry easier and more efficient. This allows input.

As described above, an information processing apparatus equipped with an integrated display/input device has great practical effects.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 37 are diagrams relating to an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the procedure of character input by the first method using handwritten character recognition, and FIG. 3 is a plan view of the information processing device, FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of the information processing device, and FIG. 5 is a stylus pen. A sectional view showing the configuration of the switch described in the white paper, FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the information processing device,
FIG. 7 is a schematic horizontal diagram for explaining the operation of the information processing device.
8 is a diagram showing the correspondence relationship between the transparent tablet and the LCD, FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the configuration of the transparent tablet, and FIG. 10 is a block diagram for explaining the operation of the coordinate input section.
Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the contents of the memory section of the processing control section.
FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the area data buffer, FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the area data buffer in the recognition frame data buffer, and FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure when inputting character information. , FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of the display of the initial screen, FIG. 16 is a diagram for explaining an example of the guide display in the area, FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing the procedure for inputting data to area A, and FIG. The figure shows an example of the display when inputting handwritten characters to area A, Figure 19 shows an example of the display when inputting handwritten characters to area B, and Figure 20 shows an example of the display when inputting handwritten characters to area B. A diagram showing an example of the display when
Fig. 21 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure for data input using the soft numeric keypad for area C, Fig. 22 is a diagram for explaining an example of a guide display in area C, and Fig. 23 displays characters input by hand. 24 is a diagram for explaining the direction of a written stroke. FIG. 25 is a diagram showing an example of conversion of position coordinate data indicating a written stroke into a direction value.
Figure 6 shows an example of the structure of dictionary data used in character recognition processing, Figure 27 shows an example of a display screen with character information entered for each area, and Figure 28 shows handwritten character recognition. 29 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the second method using handwritten character recognition, and FIG. 30 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the second method using handwritten character recognition. A diagram showing an example of a display screen in the method, FIG. 31 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the third method using handwritten character recognition, and FIG. 32 is an example of a display screen in the third method using handwritten character recognition. Figure 33 is a diagram showing an example of a soft keyboard for ephemeral input, Figure 34 is a diagram showing the display contents of the soft keyboard shown in Figure 33, and Figure 35 is a diagram showing character input using the soft keyboard. FIG. 36 is a flowchart showing the procedure for error display, and FIG. 37 is a diagram showing an example of error message display. 2...Integrated display input device, 3...Stylus pen,
6... Transparent tablet, 7... LCD (liquid crystal display), 31... Processing control section, 40a... Input section, 40b... Recognition processing section, 40c... Area discrimination processing section, 4 ．． Oe: Display control unit, 40j: Area data buffer, 401: Recognition frame data buffer.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] (1) An integrated display/input device configured by overlapping and integrating a transparent tablet for inputting coordinate information onto a display surface of a display device; , a first setting means for setting a first input area for displaying input contents on the display device; and coordinate information input corresponding to the first input area set by the first setting means. a recognition processing means for performing character recognition processing based on the character recognition processing means to obtain candidate characters to be input; and determining an input character to be displayed in the first input area into which the coordinate information is input from the candidate characters obtained by the recognition processing means; A data input method comprising: a first determining means; and a first display means for displaying characters determined by the first determining means in a first input area. (2) When a plurality of candidate characters are obtained by the recognition processing means, the first determining means includes a first candidate character display area that displays the candidate characters and indicates an input range of coordinate information for specifying the candidate characters. is set near the first input area, and when coordinate information corresponding to the first candidate character display area is input,
2. The data input method according to claim 1, wherein the candidate character displayed in the candidate character display area is determined as the input character to be displayed in the first input area. (3) When a plurality of candidate characters are obtained by the recognition processing means, the first determining means includes a second candidate character display area that displays the candidate characters and indicates an input range of coordinate information for specifying the candidate characters. is set at a predetermined position on the display screen of the display device, and when coordinate information corresponding to the second candidate character display area is input,
2. The data input method according to claim 1, wherein the candidate character displayed in the candidate character display area is determined as the input character to be displayed in the first input area. (4) When a plurality of candidate characters are obtained by the recognition processing means, the first determining means sequentially displays the candidate characters each time coordinate information corresponding to the first input area is input; When coordinate information that does not correspond to the first input area is input, the candidate character displayed in the first input area is
2. The data input method according to claim 1, wherein the input character is determined to be displayed in the input area. (5) An integrated display/input device configured by overlaying and integrating a transparent tablet for inputting coordinate information on the display surface of the display device; a first setting means for setting a first input area to be displayed on the display device; and when coordinate information corresponding to the first input area set by the first setting means is input, coordinates on the tablet are input. The second input indicates the input range of information and the contents of the data to be input, and consists of a row area and a column area corresponding to the first row and first column, respectively, when the data contents are a two-dimensional array. a second setting means for setting an area; and a second setting means for setting an area to be displayed in the first input area according to coordinate information corresponding to the row area and the column area of the second input area set by the second setting means. A data input method comprising: second determining means for determining an input character; and second display means for displaying the character determined by the second determining means in a first input area. (6) Attribute setting means for setting an attribute indicating a category of characters to be displayed in a first input area set by the first setting means; and a character determined to be displayed in the first input area. The data input device according to claim 1 or claim 5, further comprising: a warning display means for displaying a message to that effect when the attribute set by the attribute setting means does not apply. method.