JP2003216324A - Input system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an input system capable of executing handwriting inputs by using an electronic pen on a normal display which does not have a tablet or pad. <P>SOLUTION: This input system is provided with a display 103 for displaying information, an electronic pen 102 for successively outputting the position information of a pen tip and the contact information of the pen tip on the display, and a controller 101 for displaying the information on the display 103 based on the position information of the pen tip and the contact information of the pen tip transmitted from the electronic pen in a state that the pen tip position coordinates and display position coordinates on the display are substantially made coincident with each other. When the setting of an origin is necessary, a mark for making the pen tip position coordinates and display position coordinates on the display coincident with each other is displayed on the display. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an input system capable of handwriting input on a display using an electronic pen.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a technique of directly displaying on the display the contents of handwriting input on the display with a pen or filing the contents. However, conventionally, a tablet or pad is incorporated in the display, and the content of handwritten input is displayed on the display by reading the coordinates of the pen by the tablet or the like. A tablet or the like incorporated in the display includes, for example, a magnetic sensor or a pressure-sensitive sensor.

[0003]

As described above, the conventional handwriting input display has been required to be a special one incorporating a tablet or the like. Further, regarding this type of display, there is a problem in that, particularly, a display having a large display area is difficult and expensive to manufacture and further becomes large in size.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an input system capable of handwriting input using an electronic pen on a normal display having no tablet or pad.

[0005]

The above object is to provide a display for displaying information, an electronic pen for sequentially outputting position information and contact information of the pen tip on the display,
A controller for displaying information on the display based on the pen tip position information and the pen tip contact information transmitted from the electronic pen in a state where the pen tip position coordinates on the display substantially match the display position coordinates. Achieved by the input system.

Here, it is possible to display a mark for matching the pen tip position coordinates on the display with the display position coordinates on the display. This mark is displayed, for example, when the pen tip is separated from the display beyond a predetermined distance. Further, it is possible to provide an alignment section for matching the pen tip position coordinates on the display with the display position coordinates at a specific position of the display or the outer frame of the display. Furthermore, it is possible to provide a character area on the display for converting a character written using an electronic pen into a character code and displaying it, and a drawing area for displaying without converting the character code,
Further, a control area for performing at least one of a drawing operation, an editing operation and a storing operation can be provided. The controller has a template defining each area and can perform the processing defined by the template corresponding to the pen tip position coordinates.

The controller according to the present invention is a controller for displaying writing information by the electronic pen on the display based on the position information of the pen tip on the display and the contact information of the pen tip transmitted from the electronic pen. In a predetermined case, a mark for matching the pen tip position coordinates on the display with the display position coordinates is displayed on the display. In addition, when the writing information by the electronic pen is a character, it is possible to select the character mode in which the character written in the display is converted into the character code and displayed, and the drawing mode in which the character is displayed without converting the character code. You can Further, it is possible to display the writing information by the electronic pen on the display with the density and / or the thickness (width) according to the pressure at the time of writing.

Further, the information processing method of the system for inputting handwriting on the display using the electronic pen according to the present invention is for obtaining the coincidence between the pen tip position coordinate and the display position coordinate on the display in a predetermined case. Display the origin setting mark on the display. In this case, the origin of the writing input can be set when the pen tip hits the origin setting mark. With this configuration, it is possible to obtain an input system that allows handwriting input using an electronic pen on a normal display that does not have a tablet or a pad.

[0009]

1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an input system according to the present invention. As shown, the input system includes a controller 101, a specific electronic pen 102 described below, and a display 103. In the present embodiment, the controller 101 is wirelessly connected to the electronic pen 102 and wired to the display 103, but the connecting means is not limited to this, and is connected wirelessly or by wire. be able to. The input system is configured so that the display 103 is considered to be a paper such as a notebook, a memo paper, or a report paper, and the electronic pen 102 can be used for handwriting input on the display 103.

The controller 101 wirelessly transmits / receives signals to / from a slot 104 into which a storage medium is inserted, a processor 105 for performing calculations, a memory 106 for storing programs, a control circuit 107 for performing various controls, and an electronic pen 102. A first interface 108 and a second interface 109 for transmitting / receiving a signal to / from the display 103 by wire are provided. A storage medium in which a file referred to in this system is stored is inserted into the slot 104. Further, the overall control is performed according to the program stored in the memory 106.

The display 103 is merely a normal display as a function. That is, the display 103 is not provided with a pad or tablet for detecting the movement of the pen, which is conventionally required when writing with the pen. Further, as the display 103, a thin and lightweight display such as a liquid crystal display can be used in addition to a CRT display, and it is more preferable to use a lighter, thinner and soft display. For example, using a technology of electronic ink manufactured by E Ink,
A foldable thin display can be used.

When a character or a picture is written on a display using the electronic pen 102, the pen itself detects the position information of the pen tip on the display and the contact information of the pen tip at short time intervals, and Is transmitted to the controller 101. Examples of this type of pen include OT
M Technology's Vpen ^™ (TheV
irual Pen) can be used. This pen uses a technique of irradiating a laser from the pen tip to read the movement (change of coordinate position) of the pen tip from the reflected light of the laser when a character or a picture is written on the medium. This type of technology is disclosed in, for example, Tokuyo 2000-50843.
0 publication. The pen reads the position information of the pen tip in a three-dimensional manner at short time intervals by such a technique and transmits it to the controller 101 connected by the Bluetooth interface. In the present invention, in addition to the position information of the pen tip in the X and Y directions, contact information of the pen tip for detecting whether the pen tip is in contact with the writing medium (display) is also detected.

FIG. 15 is a partial view showing an example of the electronic pen 102. The electronic pen 102 has a pen tip 1501 provided at its tip, a writing detection section 1502 for detecting contact information of the pen tip, an optical section 1503 for reading positional information of the pen tip, a writing detection section 1502, and an optical section. 150
3, a pen control circuit 1504 for performing control for transmitting information from the controller 3 to the controller 101, and the controller 1
01 is provided with a third interface 1505 for wirelessly transmitting and receiving a signal.

Here, the pen tip 1501 is a pen tip for manual writing. In this embodiment, the pen tip does not need ink, and writing is performed on the display with this pen tip. In the writing detection unit 1502, the pen tip 1501 has the display 103.
Detects if it is pressed against. That is,
When writing with the electronic pen 102, the pen tip 1501
Is pressed against the display 103, but since pressure is applied to the pen tip 1501 at this time, it is possible to detect contact information of the pen tip that the pen tip contacts the display 103 and writing is performed. Writing detector 15
02 can also know the degree of contact of the pen tip with the display by the strength of the pressure applied to the pen tip 1501. On the other hand, when pressure is not applied to the pen tip 1501, contact information of the pen tip that the pen tip is away from the display 103 and writing is not performed can be detected. The optical unit 1503 has an optical component such as a laser diode or a circuit for reading the position information of the pen tip. The pen control circuit 1504 is the controller 1
01 is provided with a circuit necessary for exchanging information.

In FIG. 1, using the electronic pen 102,
When writing is performed by bringing the pen tip into contact with the display 103, information that the pen tip is in contact and the X coordinate, Y
The coordinate information is wirelessly sent from the electronic pen 102 to the controller 101 at short time intervals. When the pen tip is floated and moved, the information that the pen tip is not in contact and the X coordinate and the Y coordinate are wirelessly sent from the electronic pen 102 to the controller 101 at short time intervals. As a result, the controller 101 can obtain the position information of the pen tip on the display 103 and the contact information of the pen tip.
The information written in 2 can be reproduced and displayed on the display 103 as it is. In addition, the electronic pen 102
Can detect the strength of the pressure applied to the pen tip 1501, that is, the degree of contact of the pen tip with the display, by the writing detection unit 1502.
It is also possible to display the writing information by using the density and / or the thickness (width) according to the pressure at the time of writing on the display.

In order to use the electronic pen 102 to write characters and pictures on the display 103 instead of paper, it is necessary to first match the position coordinates of the pen tip with the corresponding position coordinates on the display. Various methods can be considered.
As an example thereof, FIG. 14 shows a diagram for explaining the origin setting screen. The usage method will be described later.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a flow chart when writing is performed by bringing the pen tip into contact with the display 103 using the electronic pen 102. First, when the controller 101 determines that the pen tip position coordinates and the display position coordinates do not match after the system is started up, the origin setting screen 1401 shown in FIG. 14 is displayed on the display 103 (step 161). An origin setting mark 1402 is displayed on the origin setting screen 1401.
By aligning the pen tip 1501 with the origin setting mark 1402 and pressing the electronic pen 102 against the display 103, the coordinates of the pen tip 1501 on the display 103 can be set to the origin setting mark position (step 1
62). This completes the preparation for writing input. After that, when there is a writing input with the electronic pen 102 (step 163), the trajectory of the pen tip is displayed as it is on the display 103.
Displayed as a drawing in. On the other hand, when there is no write input, the process ends.

The controller 101 receives the coordinate information from the electronic pen 102, and for example, continues the display while the coordinate information arrives within the specified time and requests the setting of the origin when the coordinate information is interrupted (step 164). When it is necessary to reset the origin, for example, the operator displays the pen tip on the display 103.
This is the case when the pen tip is moved to the outside of the screen, or when the pen tip is separated to some extent, although it is on the display screen. In such a case, the reflected light intensity of the laser light emitted from the electronic pen becomes less than or equal to a predetermined level, so that it is recognized from the display that the pen tip has left a predetermined distance, and the process returns to step 161. The origin setting screen 1401 is displayed. Then, the origin is set by applying the pen tip 1501 to the origin setting mark, and good writing can be performed again. On the other hand, if it is not necessary to set the origin, the process returns to step 163 and the electronic pen 10
Writing by 2 is continued. The determination as to whether or not the origin should be set can also be made by the controller 101 monitoring the coincidence between the pen tip position coordinates and the display position coordinates.
In FIG. 14, the origin setting mark is displayed almost in the center of the display 103, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the origin setting position can be a specific position on the display 103 or a specific position on the outer frame 171 of the display. FIG. 17A shows the display 1
It is a figure which shows the example which makes the corner 172 of 03 the origin setting position. Characters and figures have already been written on the center of the display, and it may be difficult to see the origin setting mark.
Therefore, when aligning, bring the pen tip to this corner position. Since the origin setting position is a corner, it is easy to align the pen tip. The origin setting position may be any of the four corners. In the case of the origin setting, the character "original setting" is made to blink on the display, and, for example, an alignment cross mark is displayed on the left side thereof.
The coordinates of the upper left corner that can be displayed and written are (, 000,000)
The coordinates of the origin setting mark are, for example, (0
020,0020). A screen clear command may be input. FIG. 17B shows the upper left part of the display, and is a diagram showing an example in which a part of the outer frame is set as the origin setting position. In this example, in order to further facilitate the alignment, a part of the outer frame 171 is cut out to form a physical space 173 into which the pen tip can be inserted, and the pen tip can be easily moved to a predetermined position from the screen. It is designed so that they can be matched. This notch location need not be a corner. FIG. 17C also shows the upper left part of the display, and is a diagram showing an example in which a part of the outer frame is set as the origin setting position. In this example, a part of the outer frame 171 is recessed, or the hole 1
The position of the pen tip is facilitated by opening 74, for example. Also in this case, the origin setting position does not have to be in the corner, and may be anywhere in the outer frame.

After the origin has been set, when characters or figures are written on the display 103 using the electronic pen 102, the position information of the pen tip is written from the electronic pen 102 to the controller 101 in a short time interval in the order of writing. Will be sent sequentially. As a result, the controller 101 can directly display the trace of the pen tip on the display 103 on the display 103 as drawing data.
That is, in reality, although the electronic pen 102 is not equipped with ink or the like, nothing is written on the display 103, but the trajectory of the pen tip is delayed by the control of the controller 101 with a time delay that is not noticeable to humans. The same drawing as is displayed on the display 103. In other words, using the electronic pen 102, the display 103
A person who writes to the electronic pen 102 is as if he were writing to the display with the ink of the pen.
And the display 103 can be used.

Next, a specific operation example of the input system according to the present invention will be described. The present input system can be used as an electronic notebook that uses the above-described electronic pen to perform writing input on a normal display in which a tablet or the like is not incorporated. Writing input is performed as follows.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a file designation screen displayed on the display at the start of writing input. On the file designation screen 201, a designation selection 202 for designating either "new creation" or "open file" is displayed. The writing input person marks “New” in the designated selection 202 with the electronic pen 102 when creating a new file, and marks “Open file” with the electronic pen 102 when opening an existing file. The existing file is stored in the storage medium inserted in the slot 104 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a case where designation is selected on the file designation screen. In this example, the “open file” of the designated selection 202 is selected and the electronic pen 10 is selected.
Marked with 2.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a template corresponding to FIG. This template is prepared for each screen, defines an area to be filled in with the electronic pen 102, and is referred to by a program in the controller 101. The main contents defined are its coordinates and size,
A drawing area, a text area, a command area for controlling the system, or the like. The template 401 of this example relates to the file designation screen 201, an area 402 is a template area corresponding to “new creation” of the designation selection 202, and an area 403 is a template area corresponding to “open file”.

In FIG. 3, the position information of the "file open" portion marked by the electronic pen 102 is the electronic pen 1
When it is transmitted from 02 to the controller 101, the controller 101 refers to the template 401 of FIG. 4 corresponding to the screen of FIG. 2 currently displayed on the display 103, and “Open file” is marked from the position information. Recognize that. Then, the storage medium inserted into the slot 104 is accessed, and the list of existing files stored therein is read and displayed on the display 103.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the file list display. In this example, “report”, “memo 1”, “memo 2”, “meeting minutes”, and “memo pad” are displayed as the file list display 501.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a case where designation selection is made in the file list display. In this example, “memo pad” is selected from the file list display 501 and marked with the electronic pen 102.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a template corresponding to FIG. The template 701 of this example relates to the file list display 501, the area 702 is a template area corresponding to the “report” being displayed in the list, and similarly, the area 703 corresponds to “memo 1” and the area 704. Area corresponds to “memo 2”, area 705 corresponds to “meeting minutes”, area 706
Corresponds to "notepad".

When the position information of the “memo pad” marked with the electronic pen 102 in FIG. 6 is transmitted from the electronic pen 102 to the controller 101, the controller 101 of FIG. By referring to the template 701 of FIG. 7 corresponding to the screen, it is recognized from the position information that “memo pad” is marked. Then, the storage medium inserted into the slot 104 is accessed, and the “memo pad” of the existing file stored therein is read and displayed on the display 103.

FIG. 8 is a view showing an example of the display screen of the read memo pad. The memo pad 801 in this example is the input area 8
02 and control area 803, the present invention is not limited to this. The control area 803 of this example includes displays of “drawing” and “character”. Here, when "drawing" is marked with the electronic pen 102, the drawing mode is set thereafter, and when "character" is marked, the character mode is set thereafter. In the drawing mode, characters and pictures written by the electronic pen 102 are displayed on the display 103 in a handwritten state. In character mode, electronic pen 1
The character written in 02 is converted into a character code by the pattern recognition technique and displayed on the display 103 with a font pattern corresponding to the character code.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the memo pad drawing mode screen. In this example, an example is shown in which “9th A meeting at 11 o'clock on the 11th” is input in the drawing area by the electronic pen 102 in the input area 802 of the memo pad drawing mode screen 901. Since this input is in the drawing mode, it is displayed on the display 103 in a handwritten state as it is drawn with the electronic pen 102, and when it is stored in the medium of the slot 104, it is stored as it is drawn.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the memo pad character mode screen. In this example, the memo pad character mode screen 1001
In the input area 802 of, an example of inputting “9th A meeting at 11 o'clock on the 11th” in the character mode by the electronic pen 102 is shown. Since this input is in the character mode, the character drawn by the electronic pen 102 is converted into a predetermined font pattern and displayed on the display 103. In this example, the conversion display to the font pattern is automatically performed in the order in which characters are written by the electronic pen 102, but as another method, the electronic pen 1
It is also possible for the input person to manually carry out after writing a plurality of characters by 02.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the drawing command screen. When “drawing” is marked with the electronic pen 102 in the command area 803 of FIG. 8, the drawing command 1101 of FIG. 11 is displayed in the command area 803. First, the "drawing area designation" is marked with the electronic pen 102, and then the drawing area is surrounded by the electronic pen 102 to designate the range of the drawing area. Then, "draw" is marked and drawing is started with the electronic pen 102. Drawing command 1
In 101, when "character" or "return" is marked with the electronic pen 102, the display of the command area 803 returns to FIG.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the edit command screen. When “Edit” in the control area 803 in FIG. 8 is marked with the electronic pen 102, the edit command 1201 in FIG. 12 is displayed in the control area 803.
In the edit command 1201, "range designation" is for designating the range of "cut" and "copy" to be performed. First, after marking this with the electronic pen 102, the range of “cut” or “copy” is specified by enclosing it with the electronic pen 102. After that, the electronic pen 10
By marking the place to be pasted with 2 and marking the "paste", the pasting is performed starting from the place where the "cut" or "copy" range is marked. If you mark "Return" in the edit command 1201,
The display of the command area 803 returns to the display of FIG. It should be noted that editing commands such as “range designation”, “cut”, “copy” and “paste”, or the electronic pen 10
There are various conceivable order of the range designation by 2 and FIG. 12 is an example thereof, and the present invention is not limited to this.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of the storage command screen. When “Store” in the control area 803 in FIG. 8 is marked with the electronic pen 102, the store command 1301 in FIG. 13 is displayed in the control area 803.
Here, “save overwriting” means that there is a file with the same name in the storage medium in which the file with the same name as the file currently being displayed is inserted into the slot 104.
The contents displayed in 3 are overwritten. "Save As" is to save with a new file name. The file name is specified by the electronic pen 102 in [] on the right side of the storage command 1301. Note that the character mode is set here, and the file name written by the electronic pen 102 is used after being converted into a character code.

The control area 8 described above
The display of various controls included in 03 can be appropriately added and deleted as necessary, and is not limited to those shown here.

As described above, the input system according to the present invention uses an ordinary display that does not require a tablet or pad, and has a wider display area than the conventional one.
Moreover, there is an advantage that an inexpensive display that appears in large quantities can be used as it is. Further, by using the electronic pen as described above, it becomes possible to realize an electronic notebook in which writing and input can be performed on the display with the same feeling as writing on an ordinary notebook, memo pad or report paper.

[0037]

According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an input system capable of handwriting input using an electronic pen on a normal display having no tablet or pad.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an input system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a file designation screen displayed on a display when writing input is started.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a case where designation selection is performed on a file designation screen.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a template corresponding to a file designation screen.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a file list display.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a case in which designation selection is performed in a file list display.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a template corresponding to a file list display.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a read-out display screen of a memo pad.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a notepad drawing mode screen.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a memo pad character mode screen.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a drawing command screen.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of an edit command screen.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a storage command screen.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an origin setting screen.

FIG. 15 is a partial view showing an example of an electronic pen.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a flowchart when writing is performed.

17A is a diagram showing an example in which a corner of the display is the origin setting position, and FIGS. 17B and 17C are diagrams showing examples in which a part of the outer frame of the display is the origin setting position.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 controller 102 electronic pen 103 display 104 slots 105 processors 106 memory 107 control circuit 108 First interface 109 Second interface

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Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A display for displaying information, an electronic pen for sequentially outputting position information of a pen tip on the display and contact information of the pen tip, and a pen tip position coordinate and a display position coordinate on the display are substantially the same. An input system, comprising: a controller that displays information on a display based on position information of the pen tip and contact information of the pen tip transmitted from the electronic pen in a matched state. 2. The input system according to claim 1, wherein a mark for matching the pen tip position coordinates on the display with the display position coordinates is displayed on the display. 3. The input system according to claim 2, wherein the mark is displayed on the display when the pen tip is separated from the display over a predetermined distance. 4. The input according to claim 1, wherein an alignment unit for matching the pen tip position coordinates on the display with the display position coordinates is provided at a specific position on the display or its outer frame. system. 5. A character area for converting a character written by using an electronic pen into a character code for display on a display, and a drawing area for displaying without converting the character code. Item 5. The input system according to any one of items 1 to 4. 6. The input system according to claim 5, wherein a control area for performing at least one of a drawing operation, an editing operation, and a storing operation is provided on the display. 7. The controller has a template defining each area, and performs a process defined by the template corresponding to the pen tip position coordinates.
Or the input system according to item 6. 8. A controller for displaying writing information by the electronic pen on the display based on position information of the pen tip on the display and contact information of the pen tip transmitted from the electronic pen, wherein the controller on the display displays the writing information by the electronic pen. A controller that displays a mark on the display for matching the pen tip position coordinates with the display position coordinates. 9. When the writing information by the electronic pen is a character, a character mode for converting the character written on the display into a character code for display and a drawing mode for displaying without converting the character code can be selected. The controller according to claim 8, characterized in that 10. The controller according to claim 8, wherein the writing information by the electronic pen is displayed on the display with a density according to the writing pressure. 11. The controller according to claim 8, wherein the writing information by the electronic pen is displayed on the display with a thickness according to the writing pressure. 12. An information processing method of a system for inputting handwriting on a display by using an electronic pen, wherein an origin is set so as to match a pen tip position coordinate and a display position coordinate on the display in a predetermined case. An information processing method characterized by displaying a mark on a display. 13. The information processing method according to claim 12, wherein the origin of the writing input is set when the pen tip hits the origin setting mark.