KR102559810B1 - an optical digital pen of providing eraser mode by use of pressure sensor - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention generally relates to a technology for implementing an eraser function for an optical electronic pen. In particular, the present invention relates to a technology for realizing an eraser function for an optical electronic pen by interpreting a user's manipulation form by a pressure sensor installed inside the electronic pen and controlling the optical electronic pen to enter or leave the eraser mode without installing a dedicated button or a toolbar. According to the present invention, there is an advantage in that an eraser function can be implemented in an optical electronic pen while simplifying the hardware of the optical electronic pen and simplifying the design of the electronic pen. In particular, according to the present invention, the eraser function can be intuitively activated, thereby increasing the convenience of use of the optical electronic pen.

Description

Optical electronic pen having an eraser function using a pressure sensor {an optical digital pen of providing eraser mode by use of pressure sensor}

The present invention generally relates to a technology for implementing an eraser function for an optical electronic pen.

In particular, the present invention relates to a technology for realizing an eraser function for an optical electronic pen by interpreting a user's manipulation form by a pressure sensor installed inside the electronic pen and controlling the optical electronic pen to enter or leave the eraser mode without installing a dedicated button or a toolbar.

In general, electronic pens (smart pens, touch pens) are used for displaying user's writing contents on electronic devices (eg, laptop computers, smart phones, electronic blackboards, etc.) and storing them as files. As electronic pen functions are being applied to tablet PCs and laptop computers, and various electronic writing programs (apps) are also developing, interest in electronic pens for electronic devices is growing.

As an electronic pen solution, an electromagnetic resonance type stylus pen and an electrostatic type active pen are generally used. However, it is difficult to secure the performance of these technologies in a display of 10 inches or more. In addition, since a two-dimensional sensor array must be installed on the display panel, manufacturing costs greatly increase as the size of the display increases, and it is difficult to respond to changes in form factor (eg, folding, rolling, sliding, etc.).

Accordingly, an optical digital pen is being developed as a pen solution for electronic devices. Since only the location code is formed by attaching a transparent film with a dot pattern to the display panel, etc., even if the display size increases, there is little decrease in electronic pen performance or increase in manufacturing cost, and it can effectively respond to change in form factor.

[FIG. 1] is a configuration diagram of a general optical electronic pen 10, and [FIG. 2] is a configuration diagram of a general optical electronic pen system. Referring to FIG. 2 , the optical electronic pen system is composed of an optical electronic pen 10 and a smart terminal device 30 .

When writing on the display panel 200 with the pen body 11 being gripped, the pen tip 12 forms a motion trajectory while in contact with the surface of the display panel 200 . At this time, the display panel 200 may be made of various materials. It may be made of a general paper material, or may be made of a liquid crystal (LCD) or organic light emitting diode (OLED) element made of glass or reinforced plastic.

The electronic pen controller 14 can identify a contact event between the electronic pen tip 12 and the display panel 200 through the pressure sensing of the pressure sensing unit 13, and through this, recognizes that the user is writing. Since the pressure sensing unit 13 is supported backward by the pressure sensor support unit 13a, it can sense the pressure applied to the pen tip 12 when writing starts. The electronic pen controller 14 controls the IR light emitting unit 17 to radiate light (eg, infrared (IR) light) to the outer surface of the display panel 200 according to the movement of the pen tip 12 when the writing fact is identified.

The light emitted by the IR light emitting unit 17 is reflected from the surface of the display panel 200, and the IR light receiving unit 16 receives the reflected light. A location code 210 is printed or displayed on the display panel 200 . The location code 210 may be implemented as a dot pattern formed according to a special encoding rule. A transparent film having a transparent dot pattern for absorbing an infrared light source is applied to the display panel 200, and the IR light emitting unit 17 may emit infrared rays thereon.

When the IR light receiving unit 16 collects the reflected light (IR reflected light), the location code 210 information corresponding to the movement trajectory of the pen tip 12 is also acquired. The IR light receiving unit 16 may include an IR filter unit 16a, a CMOS optical unit 16b, and an IR sensor unit 16c, and may further include a lens and the like. In one embodiment, the IR light receiving unit 16 may be implemented as an infrared camera module.

The coordinate calculation unit 14a of the electronic pen control unit 14 analyzes the location code 210 acquired by the IR light receiving unit 16 to obtain a series of coordinate information of the movement of the pen tip 12 on the display panel 200. The coordinate information obtained by the coordinate calculation unit 14a is transmitted to the terminal communication unit 31 of the smart terminal device 30 through the wireless communication unit 18 through short-range wireless communication (eg, Bluetooth).

The hardware controller 14b of the electronic pen controller 14 controls the hardware of the optical electronic pen 10 as a whole. In particular, the IR light emitting unit 17 is turned on or turned off in response to pressure information transmitted from the pressure sensing unit 13 . When the pressure is detected, the IR light emitting unit 17 turns on and starts radiating light on the display panel 200. In response, the IR light receiving unit 16 starts acquiring the location code 210, and the coordinate calculation unit 14a acquires coordinate information, and the electronic pen control unit 14 starts providing a series of coordinate information according to the movement of the pen tip to the smart terminal device 30. When the pressure is not detected, the IR light emitting unit 17 is turned off to stop irradiation of light, and accordingly, the electronic pen controller 14 stops providing coordinate information to the smart terminal device 30 .

On the side of the smart terminal device 30, a series of coordinate information is received from the electronic pen 10 through the terminal communication unit 31, and the trajectory calculation unit 32a of the terminal control unit 32 calculates the movement trajectory of the pen tip 12 of the optical electronic pen 10 based on the series of coordinate information. The trajectory display unit 32b of the terminal control unit 32 displays the movement trajectory of the pen tip 12 on the terminal panel unit 33 . At this time, it is common that the terminal panel unit 33 corresponds to the display panel 200, but is not limited thereto.

Electronic pens generally have a writing mode and an erasing mode as operation modes. The writing mode is an operation mode that generates a writing trajectory on the terminal panel unit 33 along the moving trajectory of the pen tip 12 of the electronic pen. Conversely, the eraser mode is an operation mode for deleting a previously created writing trajectory along the moving trajectory of the electronic pen tip 12 .

One conventional example of implementing an eraser function is to install a dedicated button (not shown) on the pen body 11 to enter an eraser mode when the button is pressed and to enter a writing mode when the button is released. This first method has a disadvantage in that the hardware structure of the electronic pen 10 is complicated and the aesthetic feeling is poor because the button must be physically installed on the pen body 11 of the electronic pen 10 .

Another example of conventionally implementing the eraser function is to display an eraser icon on one side of the display screen of the terminal panel unit 33 and enter the eraser mode when the user clicks the eraser icon with an electronic pen. [Fig. 3] is an exemplary view of implementing an eraser function according to the second method in the electronic pen system. In this second method, since the electronic pen 10 must be moved to the toolbar in order to use the eraser function, it is inconvenient to use when a large display is adopted and the flow of content is interrupted.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2017-0081302 "Electronic Eraser, Eraser Combined Electronic Pen, Code Printed Media" Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2016-0089989 "Electronic pen for electronic blackboard with eraser, color pen and presenter function" Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2004-0027590 "Electronic pen for electronic board"

An object of the present invention is to generally provide a technique for implementing an eraser function for an optical electronic pen.

In particular, an object of the present invention is to provide a technology for realizing an eraser function for an optical electronic pen by interpreting a user's operation form by a pressure sensor installed inside the electronic pen and controlling the optical electronic pen to enter or leave the eraser mode without installing a dedicated button or a toolbar.

The problem of the present invention is not limited to this, and other problems can be understood from the description of this specification.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention proposes a technique of controlling a user's operation type to be analyzed by a pressure sensor installed inside the electronic pen to enter or leave the eraser mode.

An optical electronic pen having an eraser function using a pressure sensor according to the present invention includes three or more pressure sensor arrays 13a to 13d respectively sensing the pen pressure applied to the pen tip 12, a pressure sensing unit 13 arranged on a vertical cross section of the optical electronic pen 10; A pen pressure pattern identification unit 14c for discriminating that a pen pressure application pattern, which is a gesture pattern formed by the pen tip 12 while the user presses the pen tip 12 of the optical electronic pen 10 against the screen, is a preset rotation pattern in a first direction or a rotation pattern in a second direction based on a sequence of sensing a series of pen pressures sensed by the pressure sensor arrays 13a to 13d for a certain period of time; An eraser control unit 14f for switching and controlling the operation mode of the optical electronic pen 10 between the writing mode and the eraser mode in response to the pen pressure application pattern being the rotation pattern in the first direction or the rotation pattern in the second direction, respectively.

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According to the present invention, there is an advantage in that an eraser function can be implemented in an optical electronic pen while simplifying the hardware of the optical electronic pen and simplifying the design of the electronic pen.

In particular, according to the present invention, the eraser function can be intuitively activated, thereby increasing the convenience of use of the optical electronic pen.

[Figure 1] is a configuration diagram of a general optical electronic pen.
[Figure 2] is a configuration diagram of a general optical electronic pen system.
[Figure 3] is an example of implementing an eraser function in a conventional electronic pen system.
[Figure 4] is a configuration diagram of an optical electronic pen system for the present invention.
5 is a flowchart of a process of providing an eraser function of an optical electronic pen according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
[Figure 6] is an embodiment in which the pressure sensing unit in the present invention is composed of a pressure sensor array.
[Fig. 7] is an operation mode transition flowchart of the optical electronic pen in the first embodiment of the present invention.
8 is a flow chart of a process of providing an eraser function of an optical electronic pen according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
[Fig. 9] is an operation mode transition flowchart of the optical electronic pen in the second embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In describing the present invention, detailed descriptions of portions overlapping with those of the prior art may be omitted.

[Figure 4] is a configuration of an embodiment of an optical electronic pen system for the present invention.

Compared with FIG. 2 , the optical electronic pen system for the present invention further includes a pen pressure pattern identification unit 14c, a pen pressure level calculator 14d, a pen pressure time calculator 14e, an eraser controller 14f, and a gyro sensor 15.

The pen pressure pattern identification unit 14c is a component that identifies a gesture pattern (pen pressure application pattern) formed by the pen tip 12 of the optical electronic pen 10 in a state where the pressure is applied.

The pen pressure level calculator 14d is a component that calculates a pen pressure application level applied to the pen tip 12 of the optical electronic pen 10 .

The pen pressure time calculation unit 14e is a component that calculates a duration (pen pressure application time) in a state in which a certain or more pen pressure is applied to the pen tip 12 of the optical electronic pen 10 .

The eraser controller 14f is a component that controls the operation mode of the optical electronic pen 10 to be switched between a writing mode and an eraser mode according to a pen pressure application pattern, a pen pressure application level, and a pen pressure application time.

The gyro sensor 15 is a component that senses the physical movement of the optical electronic pen 10, and is used by the eraser control unit 14f to determine whether a writing operation is being performed with respect to the optical electronic pen 10.

4 shows that the pen pressure pattern identification unit 14c, the pen pressure level calculator 14d, the pen pressure time calculator 14e, and the eraser control unit 14f are provided in the optical electronic pen 10, but some of them may also be included in the smart terminal device 30.

5 is a flowchart of a process of providing an eraser function of an optical electronic pen according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The first embodiment of FIG. 5 is a method of activating or canceling an eraser function based on a pressure pattern using a plurality of pressure sensors provided in the optical electronic pen 10 .

Step S100: First, the pressure sensor arrays 13a to 13d provided in the pressure sensing unit 13 of the optical electronic pen 10 sense the pen pressure applied to the pen tip 12.

For the first embodiment of the present invention, the pressure sensing unit 13 has pressure sensor arrays 13a to 13d. 6 shows an embodiment in which the pressure sensing unit 13 is composed of pressure sensor arrays 13a to 13d in the present invention. Referring to FIG. 6, four pressure sensors 13a to 13d form an array.

Step S110: Next, the pen pressure pattern identification unit 14c identifies a pen pressure application pattern based on a series of pen pressures sensed for a certain period of time (eg, 2 seconds).

For example, when a user turns the optical electronic pen 10 clockwise 360 degrees around the pen tip 12 while pressing the pen tip 12 of the optical electronic pen 10 against the floor, the pressure sensor arrays 13a to 13d sense the pen pressure in the order of (13a) - (13b) - (13c) - (13d) - (13a). Conversely, when the user rotates the optical electronic pen 10 counter-clockwise 360 degrees around the pen tip 12 while pressing the pen tip 12 of the optical electronic pen 10 against the floor, the pressure sensor arrays 13a to 13d sense the pen pressure in the order of (13a) - (13d) - (13c) - (13b) - (13a).

As such, the pen pressure pattern identification unit 14c identifies the pen pressure application pattern, which is related to what kind of gesture the user made with respect to the optical electronic pen 10 while pressing the pen tip 12 of the optical electronic pen 10 against the floor.

Step S120: Next, the eraser control unit 14f switches the operation mode of the optical electronic pen 10 between the writing mode and the eraser mode based on the pen pressure application pattern. That is, by interpreting a gesture made by the user with the optical electronic pen 10 while pressing the pen tip 12 of the optical electronic pen 10 against the floor, switching between the writing mode and the eraser mode is controlled.

7 is an operation mode transition flowchart of the optical electronic pen in the first embodiment of the present invention. The entire process of [Fig. 7] corresponds to step S120 in [Fig. 5].

Step S200: First, the eraser control unit 14f initially sets the operation mode of the optical electronic pen 10 to the writing mode.

Steps (S210 to S230): Next, the eraser controller 14f waits for the pen pressure application pattern to be identified by the pen pressure pattern identification unit 14c. That is, it waits until the user takes a gesture while pressing the pen tip 12 against the ground. The eraser control unit 14f switches the operation mode of the optical electronic pen 10 to the eraser mode if the pen pressure application pattern identified in step S210 is a preset rotation pattern in the first direction, for example, (13a) - (13b) - (13c) - (13d) - (13a), otherwise it returns to the forward direction.

Steps S240 to S260: The operation mode of the optical electronic pen 10 is set to the eraser mode by the previous step S230. In this state, the eraser controller 14f waits for identification of the pen pressure application pattern by the pen pressure pattern identification unit 14c. If the pen pressure application pattern identified in (S240) is a preset second direction rotation pattern, for example, (13a) - (13d) - (13c) - (13b) - (13a), the operation mode of the optical electronic pen 10 is switched to the writing mode (i.e., the eraser mode is released), and then proceeds to step S210. Otherwise, it proceeds to step S240.

8 is a flowchart of a process of providing an eraser function of an optical electronic pen according to a second embodiment of the present invention. The second embodiment of [ FIG. 8 ] is a method of activating or canceling the eraser function in response to the level of pressure applied to the pen tip 12 of the optical electronic pen 10 .

Step (S300): First, the pressure sensing unit 13 of the optical electronic pen 10 senses the pen pressure applied to the pen tip 12.

Step S310: At this time, the pen pressure level calculator 14d of the optical electronic pen 10 calculates the pen pressure application level. That is, the strength of the pressure applied to the pressure sensing unit 13 is calculated. In the second embodiment, it is important to accurately calculate the pressure applied to the pen tip 12, and for this purpose, the pressure sensing unit 13 is preferably composed of a force sensitive resistor (FSR) type pressure sensor. The FSR pressure sensor is a sensor that uses the property that the resistance value changes depending on physical force or weight.

Step S320: In addition, the pen pressure time calculator 14e of the optical electronic pen 10 calculates the pen pressure application time. Preferably, in a state where the pen pressure application level calculated by the pen pressure level calculator 14d exceeds a specific threshold, the duration is measured and calculated as the pen pressure application time.

Step S330: Next, the eraser controller 14f switches the operation mode of the optical electronic pen 10 between the writing mode and the eraser mode based on the pen pressure application level and the pen pressure application time.

As an example, the eraser control unit 14f may be configured to switch to the eraser mode when a state in which the pen pressure application level exceeds a specific threshold value is maintained for a specific threshold time in the writing mode state. In addition, the eraser controller 14f may be configured to release the eraser mode and switch to the writing mode when the pen pressure application level exceeds a specific threshold value is maintained for a specific threshold time in the erase mode state. In addition, the eraser control unit 14f may be configured to release the eraser mode and switch to the writing mode when a timeout occurs in which a certain amount of time (eg, 10 seconds) elapses in the eraser mode state.

[Fig. 9] is an operation mode transition flowchart of the optical electronic pen in the second embodiment of the present invention. The entire process of [FIG. 9] corresponds to step S330 in [FIG. 8].

Step S400: First, the eraser controller 14f initially sets the operation mode of the optical electronic pen 10 to the writing mode.

Step S410: Next, the eraser controller 14f waits for the writing operation of the optical electronic pen 10 to be stopped. The second embodiment is a method corresponding to the pressure level applied to the pen tip 12. Since the pen pressure is applied while the user normally uses the optical electronic pen 10, the operation mode is not switched while writing operation occurs.

The gyro sensor 15 may be preferably used to determine whether the writing operation of the optical electronic pen 10 is in progress or whether the writing operation has been stopped. For example, when it is determined from the sensing value of the gyro sensor 15 that the electronic pen 10 is currently continuously moving, it is preferable to fix the optical electronic pen 10 to the writing mode without controlling the operation mode.

Steps (S420 to S440): Next, the eraser controller 14f waits for the pen pressure level calculator 14d and the pen pressure time calculator 14e to calculate the pen pressure application level and the pen pressure application time. When the pen pressure application level and the pen pressure application time calculated in (S420 and S430) exceed preset threshold values (threshold level and threshold time), the eraser control unit 14f switches the operation mode of the optical electronic pen 10 to the eraser mode. In the case of judging only by the pen pressure application level, there is a high possibility of an operation mode conversion by mistake, so the pen pressure application time is also checked.

On the other hand, if the above condition is not satisfied, proceeding to step S420, the eraser controller 14f continues to monitor the pen pressure application level and the pen pressure application time in the writing mode.

When the pressure sensing unit 13 is implemented as an FSR pressure sensor, the pen pressure level calculation unit 14d may calculate the pen pressure applied level as a digital value within a certain range, for example, from 0 to 4096. At this time, a value of 0 means no pressure, and a value of 4096 means when the pen tip 12 is pressed the most measurably. (S420 to S430) may be configured to switch the operation mode from the writing mode to the eraser mode when the state in which the pen pressure level calculation unit 14d calculates the pen pressure application level of 3000 or more is maintained for 2 seconds or longer.

Steps (S450 to S480): The operation mode of the optical electronic pen 10 is set to the eraser mode by the previous step (S440). In this state, the eraser controller 14f waits for the pen pressure level calculator 14d and the pen pressure time calculator 14e to calculate the pen pressure application level and the pen pressure application time. When the pen pressure application pattern calculated in (S450 and S460) exceeds a preset threshold value, the eraser control unit 14f switches the operation mode of the optical electronic pen 10 to the writing mode, and then proceeds to (S420). Alternatively, when a timeout in which a preset time (eg, 10 seconds) elapses occurs while entering the eraser mode, the eraser control unit 14f switches the operation mode of the optical electronic pen 10 to the writing mode, and then proceeds to step S420.

On the other hand, if the above condition is not satisfied, proceeding to step S450, the eraser controller 14f continues to monitor the pen pressure application level and the pen pressure application time in the eraser mode.

Assuming the above embodiment in which the pressure sensing unit 13 is implemented as an FSR pressure sensor, in (S450 to S480), the operation mode may be configured to switch from the eraser mode to the writing mode when the state in which the pen pressure level calculation unit 14d calculates the pen pressure application level of 3000 or more is maintained for 2 seconds or more.

On the other hand, the present invention can be implemented in the form of computer readable codes on a computer readable non-volatile recording medium. Various types of storage devices exist as such non-volatile recording media, such as hard disks, SSDs, CD-ROMs, NAS, magnetic tapes, web disks, cloud disks, and the like. In addition, the present invention may be implemented in the form of a computer program stored in a medium in order to execute a specific procedure in combination with hardware.

10: optical electronic pen
13: pressure sensing unit
14: Electronic pen control component
14a: coordinate calculation unit
14b: hardware control unit
14c: pen pressure pattern identification unit
14d: pen pressure level calculator
14e: pen pressure time calculator
14f: eraser control unit
15: Gyro sensor
16: IR light receiving unit
17: IR light emitting unit
18: wireless communication unit
30: smart terminal device
31: terminal communication unit
32: terminal control unit
33: terminal panel unit

Claims (6)

a pressure sensing unit 13 in which three or more pressure sensor arrays 13a to 13d respectively sensing pen pressure applied to the pen tip 12 are arranged on a vertical end surface of the optical electronic pen 10;
A pen pressure pattern identification unit 14c for discriminating that a pen pressure application pattern, which is a gesture pattern formed by the pen tip 12 while the user presses the pen tip 12 of the optical electronic pen 10 against the screen, is a preset rotation pattern in a first direction or a rotation pattern in a second direction, based on a sequence of sensing a series of pen pressures sensed by the pressure sensor arrays 13a to 13d for a certain period of time;
an eraser control unit 14f for switching an operation mode of the optical electronic pen 10 between a writing mode and an eraser mode in response to the pen pressure application pattern being the rotation pattern in the first direction or the rotation pattern in the second direction;
An optical electronic pen having an eraser function using a pressure sensor comprising a.
The method of claim 1,
The eraser control unit 14f,
The operation mode of the optical electronic pen 10 is initially set to a writing mode,
In a state where the operation mode of the optical electronic pen 10 is set to the writing mode, if the pen pressure application pattern identified by the pen pressure pattern identification unit 14c is a preset rotation pattern in a first direction, the operation mode of the optical electronic pen 10 is switched to the eraser mode,
An optical electronic pen having an eraser function using a pressure sensor, characterized in that configured to switch and set the operation mode of the optical electronic pen 10 to the writing mode when the pen pressure application pattern identified by the pen pressure pattern identification unit 14c is a preset second direction rotation pattern in a state in which the operation mode of the optical electronic pen 10 is set to the eraser mode.
The method of claim 2,
The rotation pattern in the first direction is set to one of clockwise and counterclockwise directions centered on the pen tip 12 of the optical electronic pen 10,
The optical electronic pen having an eraser function using a pressure sensor, characterized in that the rotation pattern in the second direction is set to the other one of the clockwise direction and the counterclockwise direction of the center of the pen tip 12 of the optical electronic pen 10. delete delete delete

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