JP2006031647A - Design supporting method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a design supporting method which can alter/correct design data with ease at a production site or consumer site as well as manage design drawing and electronic data without conflict. <P>SOLUTION: A design drawing is made by directly drawing the design drawing on a piece of paper on which data showing locations are printed with a pale color. Then the electronic data is given simultaneously and the alteration/correction on the paper can be reflected on the electronic data immediately. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

The present invention relates to a design support system that supports facilitating mechanical design, equipment design, architectural design, civil engineering design, electrical wiring design, and the like using an information processing system such as a computer. In general, it belongs to a technical field called CAD (computer aided design).
Specifically, it is possible to create a design drawing on paper using special mark paper and change / modify it. The electronic data is automatically acquired and the design electronic data is also obtained at the same time. This is a design support method.

A computer-aided design support system, a so-called CAD system, is divided into a system for designing with paper as a medium and a system for electronically performing everything and finally outputting only a design drawing on paper. In the former case, a drawing is first drawn on paper, and the completed drawing is called a special digitizer. The important points on the drawing, for example, the starting point of the basic figure such as the polyline, curve, arc, etc. The method of picking up bending points, important intermediate points, end points, and center points and inputting them electronically and the method of drawing a drawing directly on the digitizer and drawing the drawings simultaneously and electronically inputting them are divided. In the former, the drawings are corrected directly on the paper and digitized later, so that the new design and the change / correct design can be performed almost in the same way. However, drawing on paper and then digitizing it takes time and many mistakes. The method of drawing a drawing directly on a digitizer requires a digitizer for change / correction, and it is difficult to change / correct in a meeting with a production site or a customer. The system that performs everything electronically still requires an on-line computer for changing / modifying, and also requires means for outputting to paper. If you change it on paper, you must enter it into the computer later.
In CAD, the biggest problem is how to match the drawing on the paper with the electronic data in the computer, and in that sense, the method of inputting from there is always a problem.

In the design support method using a computer, the biggest problem is how to match the design drawings used in daily life with the electronic data in the computer. In particular, design changes are inevitable at production sites and meetings with customers. When a design change is made while viewing the drawing on the spot, if it is definitely not reflected in the electronic data, there will be a contradiction in design management. The method of drawing directly on the digitizer does not worry about contradiction because changes / corrections are also made on the digitizer, but a large-scale digitizer is required for meetings with production sites and customers. This does not match the actual situation in terms of cost or digitizer installation space.
Thus, there is a demand for a design support method that can manage a design drawing and its electronic data without contradiction and that can be easily changed / modified at a production site or a customer site.

Problem solving

In the present invention, drawing is performed by drawing a design drawing with an electronic pen on which a small electronic camera is mounted on the mark paper using a mark paper in which a mark whose position can be read is printed with special ink. At the same time, the problem is solved by obtaining the electronic data every moment. Similar paper is already available from ANOTO. This is mark paper on which marks representing quaternary numbers are printed at a pitch of 0.3 mm. This quaternary number is decomposed into two binary numbers, on the one hand the horizontal X position address and on the other hand the Y position address. When handwritten with an electronic pen on this paper, the handwriting can be acquired by sampling at regular intervals.
The present invention relates to a system in which a mark sheet is improved so as to be suitable for drawing and the drawing and electronic data can be easily matched. Further, the changed / modified drawing can be output as a new drawing on the mark sheet by using the XY plotter which forms a part of the present invention, and the changed / modified image can be added to the new drawing. Similarly, if the existing drawing data is similarly drawn on the mark paper by the XY plotter, it is possible to immediately shift to the method of the present invention.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention including new mark sheets will be described.

Description of one embodiment of the invention

Quaternary mark

FIG. 1 shows a quaternary mark used in the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a square of 0.4 mm × 0.4 mm is divided into 5 × 5 square lattices, and only the lattices shown in the figure are blackened. Corresponding to the quaternary number, the four grids excluding the lowermost grid in the leftmost column are blackened sequentially from the bottom, and the number of black grids is used as the mark value. These four lattices are called code lattices. By making all the five grids in the bottom row (this is called the base grid) black, the directionality of the quaternary mark is easily discriminated. A mark with all such base grids is called a black base mark. By arranging such marks in a matrix, the position and command on the paper are expressed. However, since the black base marks are arranged in the row direction, the base grid becomes a continuous black base, and is discriminated. It becomes easy. Further, if the bottom of one line is traced, a code lattice exists in the vertical direction for every five lattices, so that the boundary of the quaternary mark is easy to find.
Although the code lattice is taken at the left end here, it may be the right end. The bottom grid is black, but this can be the top grid. All of these four combinations are included in the present invention. Furthermore, the size of the quaternary mark is not necessarily a 0.4 mm square lattice. For example, a square lattice of 0.3 mm and a rectangular lattice such as 0.4 mm × 0.3 mm are also included in the present invention.

Decomposition of quaternary numbers into X and Y

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of decomposition of quaternary numbers into X and Y. This is how quaternary numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 are made to correspond to the four combinations of X and Y, 00, 01, 10, and 11, and correspondence other than that shown in FIG. 2 may be adopted. They are also included in the present invention.
When the correspondence shown in FIG. 2 is adopted, a 3 × 3 quaternary matrix is divided into an X matrix and a Y matrix shown in FIG. A quaternary matrix is referred to as a quaternary matrix, and a matrix in which quaternary marks are formed is referred to as a quaternary mark matrix (or quaternary mark matrix). Conversely, when there are X matrix and Y matrix, a quaternary matrix can be made from both.

Location matrix array

FIG. 4 shows the types of matrixes and their identification methods when the present invention is configured by a 3 × 3 matrix. First, the elements in the first row and the third column of the X matrix, that is, the (1,3) element set to 0 are called a position matrix or a position designation matrix. Further, the Y matrix whose (3,1) element is set to 0 is referred to as a normal position matrix and 1 is referred to as a position matrix with transmission. A command matrix in which the (1, 3) element of the X matrix is set to 1. Further, the (2,3) element is also set to 1, and the (3,3) element is set to 0 as a transmission matrix with ID. A matrix with (2,1) element being 0 and (3,3) element being 1 is a command matrix with transmission, and a matrix with 0 is a non-transmission command matrix.
An arrangement method of the 3 × 3 position matrix will be described with reference to FIG. In the description, the position matrix defines the horizontal position of the paper with the X matrix and the vertical position with the Y matrix, but this is also included in the present invention.
X matrix is lower than 3 elements (a, b, c) from the top of the first column, 3 elements (d, e, f) from the top of the second column, and (1, 3) elements of the third column These two elements (g, h) define the horizontal position. Then these are the values c + bx2 + ax2x2 = i, in the first row (a, b, c)
In the second row (d, e, f), the value f + ex2 + dx2x2 = j,
The value h + gx2 = k in the right two elements (g, h) in the third row
Stipulate that
X matrix is i + jx8 + kx8x8 = U
Will specify the horizontal position.
Similarly, a Y matrix is arranged. In the first row (a, b, c), the value c + bx2 + ax2x2 = m,
In the second row (d, e, f), the value f + ex2 + dx2x2 = n,
The value h + gx2 = p in the right two elements (g, h) excluding the (3, 1) element in the third row
, Y matrix is m + nx8 + px8x8 = V
Will specify the vertical position.

In the example of the matrix of FIG. 5, the fifth X matrix is U = 7, and the seventh is U = 63. The sixth Y matrix is V = 8. The same X matrix is arranged in the vertical direction on the paper, and the same Y matrix is arranged in the horizontal direction on the paper. Create a quaternary matrix from the X matrix and Y matrix at each position, arrange it as a quaternary mark matrix (position-designated mark matrix), make a thin printed mark paper, and handwrite on it by handwriting input. Printing uses ink containing carbon black that absorbs infrared light. Printing can be performed by a printer without printing, but the printer ink at that time also uses ink that absorbs infrared light. Such inks are known techniques and are already used in ANOTO products. Printer inks are also used in Hewlett-Packard printers commercialized in connection with ANOTO products.
Actually, the elements in which the respective elements of the quaternary matrix are replaced with quaternary marks using FIG. 1 are arranged. When arranged in a quaternary mark, since all are black bottom marks as described above, the bases are continuous in black.

Arrangement of position matrix on paper

The 3 × 3 quaternary mark position matrix by the quaternary mark is printed on the paper according to the arrangement of the X matrix and the Y matrix. When reading this with an electronic pen described later, it is necessary to make it easy to distinguish the boundaries of the matrix. Therefore, when a 3 × 3 position matrix is taken as a group, a space for just one mark is made available. A mark for this purpose is called a boundary mark, and two types of boundary marks shown in FIG. The black bottom boundary mark in FIG. 6 is used as a boundary at a position corresponding to the third row of the quaternary mark matrix, and the white boundary mark in FIG. 6 is used as the other boundary. The black bottom boundary mark is a quaternary mark of FIG. 1 in which the code lattice portion is all white, and the white boundary mark is a white portion of the entire lattice of the mark in FIG. In this way, on the sheet, the third row of the quaternary mark matrix is continuous in black in the horizontal direction between the marks. Since the boundary corresponding to the third row is connected by a black bottom boundary mark, a black striped stripe with a continuous bottom is formed. This is called a base side. Others are connected by white boundary marks, so the matrix boundary becomes clear.

FIG. 7 shows this in an actual quaternary mark matrix. In FIG. 7, the quaternary matrix shown in FIG. 3 is arranged at the upper right with quaternary marks. The third row of the quaternary mark matrix is connected to the third row of the quaternary mark matrix one by one with a black bottom boundary mark in the left direction. Thus, the base side extends in the horizontal direction. Since white boundary marks are arranged at other boundaries, the quaternary mark matrix is surrounded by white spaces, so that the matrix boundaries can be easily identified. The left end of FIG. 7 shows the third column equivalent of the upper left matrix of the four matrices shown in the lower row, and the lower end shows the first row equivalent part of the lower left and lower right matrix.

Address decryption

When printing on paper, the quaternary mark is 0.4 × 0.4 mm as an example. Then, the 3 × 3 quaternary mark matrix becomes 1.2 × 1.2 mm, and if there is information on the square portion of 1.6 × 1.6 mm including the boundary, the matrix can be decoded. The method is shown in FIG.
The case where a handwritten handwritten with an electronic pen as shown in FIG. 10 is traced on a sheet on which a 3 × 3 quaternary mark matrix is printed with the boundary mark shown in FIG. 6 sandwiched in accordance with the arrangement shown in FIG. To do. When writing is started on the paper with a 1001 pole pen, the pressure sensor 1002 on the ballpoint pen shaft senses the pressure of the pen and knows that writing has started. This is called pen down. Then, the information enters the overall control of 1003, and infrared light is generated in the light generation of 1004. The generated light irradiates a mark printed or printed out on the paper through a lens 1005. The mark that has reacted to light forms an image on the optical sensor 1006 through the lens 1005 and is converted into an electrical signal by the sensor. In the scanning control 1007, the optical sensor 1006 is scanned and the information is stored in the bit map memory 1008. All of these techniques can be done by an easy combination of known techniques.
An optical sensor 1006 has 64 × 64 pixels, and is adjusted so that a 2.4 × 2.4 mm square surface on the paper is imaged when the pen and the paper are in a vertical relationship. Then, the resolution per 1 mm is 64 / 2.4, which is about 26.7 pixels / mm. This allows the relative tilt between the electronic pen and the paper to be less than 40 degrees. That is, when the inclination is slightly less than 40 degrees, the length of 1 mm appears to spread to about 1.4 mm, so 1.4 mm is scanned with 26.7 pixels. This corresponds to imaging one side of the mark with about 7.6 pixels. One side of the code grid and the bottom grid is imaged with a little over 1.5 pixels.

An example of the quaternary mark read in this way is shown inside the broken line in FIG. The matrix is read across the boundary. FIG. 8B shows the broken line broken down into X and Y matrices. Restoration is easy because the same X matrix is arranged in the vertical direction and the same Y matrix is arranged in the horizontal direction. Thus, the X and Y matrix can be restored as shown in FIG. Note that since the (3,1) element of the Y matrix is 1, this is a position matrix with transmission. Then, the address of the upper left element in the broken line can be calculated as shown in FIG. At this time, regarding the address on the sheet, the address of the upper left element of the quaternary matrix at the upper left corner is (0, 0), and the address of the diagonal boundary on the lower right side of the matrix is regarded as (3, 3). . The reason for multiplying the parenthesis by 4 in this address calculation is that the matrix including the boundary is 4 × 4.

Reading a 3x3 quaternary mark matrix

FIG. 9 shows a procedure for reading such a mark. First, the lower left cell of the 64 × 64 bitmap memory is set to the coordinates (0, 0), the right one cell is set to the coordinate (1, 0), and the vertical one cell is set to the coordinate (0, 1). To do. Then, the upper right end becomes coordinates (63, 63). The leftmost coordinate axis is referred to as X = 0 axis, the lowest coordinate axis is referred to as Y = 0 axis, and similarly, X = 63 axis and Y = 63 axis. A continuous black pixel on these axes is called a black string. Even one is a black ream. Make every pair of black reams on different axes and connect them one by one with straight lines. At that time, the address of the black string is set to the center point with an accuracy of 0.5. Among these, every pixel through which the straight line passes finds a black straight line (called a black straight line). The method is indicated by reference numerals 901 to 905 in FIG. The black line thus found corresponds to the base side. If the black line is moved down with accuracy of 0.5 at 906 and all pixels reach the white line (referred to as the white line) within 4 pixels, the direction is correct, and if not, the top and bottom are reversed. Become. When the rotation is reversed, in 907, the coordinate system is rotated so that the coordinates (63, 63) become the coordinates (0, 0). For this conversion, (i, j) may be changed to (63-i, 63-j). In 908, the white straight line is alternately raised in units of 0.5 at the left and right ends to arrive at the black straight line. The black line that arrives first becomes the black line at the bottom edge of the base side, which is called the base line. Further, it is examined whether the angle of the found base line is rotated by 45 degrees or more. This can be judged from the slope of the straight line. When it is 45 degrees or more, the X axis and the Y axis are interchanged to make it 45 degrees or less. This replacement can be done by setting (i, j) to (j, 63-i) when it is 45 degrees or more, and (i, j) is (63-j, i) when it is rising left. Good.

The base line thus found is translated upward with an accuracy of 0.5. Each time it moves, the black pixel through which this straight line passes is recorded. However, the already recorded black pixels are not recorded. If this movement is repeated 10 to 15 times, a straight line is encountered in which more than 3/4 of the pixels it traverses are black pixels. This is called a bottom straight line, and corresponds to the base of the quaternary mark on the line just one line above. Using the number of movements between the base line and the bottom line as the denominator, the fraction of the number of movements from the bottom line of the black pixel corresponding to the code lattice for three columns to the top of the vertical rise is 2 / The value of the quaternary mark is determined to be 1, 2, 3, 4 depending on which of 5, 3, 5, 4, 5 and 5/5 is close. Next, the same operation is repeated with the base line as the starting point.
When the base straight line happens to be above, it is necessary to translate downward, but this operation can also be easily inferred from the above upward operation. However, since the lower side of the base line has a lower matrix across the white boundary mark, the difference is that the number of initial parallel movements is almost twice that of the upper side.
When used for drawing a CAD drawing as in the present invention, since the electronic pen is oriented in the correct direction with respect to the paper and is almost perpendicular to the paper, this reading operation is easier than handwriting of ordinary characters. is there.

Electronic pen configuration

FIG. 10 shows a configuration of an electronic pen that manually draws on a paper on which a quaternary mark is printed or printed out. Hand drawing is performed on the paper with a 1001 ballpoint pen, and the start is grasped by a pressure sensor 1002 directly connected to the core of the ballpoint pen. When a pen-down is detected, 1002 notifies 1003 of the overall control and requests the start of control. 1003 instructs the generation of light 1004 to emit infrared light. The light emitted by 1104 is squeezed by a lens 1005 and irradiated onto the paper. When the mark is received, the black portion of the ink absorbs infrared light, and the other white portion reflects most of the infrared light. This is imaged on a 1006 optical sensor by a 1005 lens. The optical sensor is configured with high sensitivity to infrared light. In this embodiment, the optical sensor is described as a 64 × 64 matrix, but the present invention is not limited to this size. It is also included in the present invention that the black portion of the mark is printed with ink that reacts to ultraviolet light, the ultraviolet light is included in the light, and the photosensor is highly sensitive to ultraviolet light.
The scan control 1007 scans information captured by the 64 × 64 optical sensor and temporarily stores it in the corresponding 1008 bitmap memory. The quaternary mark reading 1009 reads the quaternary mark from the image data on the bitmap memory.

In the X, Y division of 1010, an X, Y matrix is created from the quaternary mark, and the address of the element at the upper left corner of the read quaternary mark matrix is obtained. The command matrix does not require an address, but instead interprets the X and Y matrices as commands. In the case of an ID-added transmission command matrix, an ID is defined using all elements of the Y matrix in addition to the first and second columns of the X matrix. Find the ID. 1011 determines whether the quaternary matrix read in this way is a transmission matrix with an ID, and when transmitting, first transmits the ID, then transmits the matrix stored in the input buffer of 1012 up to the oldest, Send the latest matrix to A transmission circuit 1013 is a driver for wireless transmission, and a USB control circuit for USB (Universal Serial Bus) transmission. Reference numeral 1014 denotes an image route for scanning and taking out an image formed on the optical sensor 1006 as it is as an image at 1007 for use in alignment of the XY plotter. This usage is

XY plotter alignment

(00020).
The pressure sensor 1002 is configured not only to identify two states of pen-down and pen-up, but also to identify at least three states so that it can detect that the pen pressure is further increased during the pen-down. It is also included in the present invention that the 1001 ballpoint pen is replaced with a writing means more suitable for drawing.
In FIG. 10, the ballpoint pen is positioned closest to the hand with respect to the front direction of the pen, and the optical system is placed in front of it because the ruler and ruler are placed close to the hand in drawing. The reason is that they do not interfere with the light path of the optical system. Again, the pressure sensor 1002 in FIG. 10 supports the identification of the pen pressure when the pen pressure is temporarily increased to specify the designated intermediate point shown in FIG. 14 while drawing (when the pen is already down). Configure to Such a pressure sensor that can distinguish three or more states is a known technique.

4x4 quaternary matrix

FIG. 11 shows an example of a 4 × 4 quaternary matrix. The principle of the mark paper according to the present invention has already been described with a 3 × 3 quaternary matrix. The design drawing uses not only A4 size but also large paper such as A0 size, so 3 × 3 is not in time for actual use. Use a 4x4 matrix. The position matrix and the command matrix are distinguished from each other as shown in FIG. That is, a 4 × 4 quaternary matrix X matrix in which the (1,4) element in the upper right corner is set to 0 is a position matrix, and a 1 is a command matrix. In the case of the position matrix, since it is 1188 mm on the longer side of the A0 size, it is sufficient that 4970 quaternary marks can be encoded in 2970 ways. Therefore, since there are 594 different matrices obtained by dividing the matrix by 5, the matrix is encoded with 10 bits. The remaining 5 bits can be used for error detection as redundant bits. Even if the pitch of the quaternary mark is 0.3 mm, 10-bit encoding is sufficient. Further, as shown in FIG. 11, the command matrix is classified into a transmission matrix with ID, a command matrix with transmission, and a non-transmission command matrix as in the case of 3 × 3. Further, a command matrix with ID and transmission is newly defined. In the case of the command matrix with ID and transmission, it is determined whether or not the transmission is performed with 1011 in FIG. 10, and the ID is transmitted prior to transmission, and then the information stored in the buffer is transmitted in the oldest order of storage. Send your command.
In the case of a 4 × 4 command matrix, commands other than the fourth column of the X matrix can be freely defined. That is, 12 bits for the X matrix and 16 bits for the Y matrix are the code capacity for the command. Actually, such many kinds of commands are unnecessary, so at least half of them are allocated to error correction as redundant bits. Redundancy bits for error control can also be taken for IDs such as ID-added new commands. Such error detection and error correction processing is also performed inside the electronic pen.
Even in the case of 4 × 4, for CAD, the XY plotter accommodates the pen vertically, and even with hand drawing, the pen is set up vertically, and the pen orientation is drawn relatively accurately forward, so 64 × 64 pixels is sufficient. If the quaternary mark has a density of 0.4 mm × 0.4 mm, the 4 × 4 matrix has a size of 1.6 mm × 1.6 mm. As described in 3 × 3, since a square surface of 2.4 mm × 2.4 mm is imaged on the paper, there is a margin of 50%. Of course, since it is also used for handwriting, it is possible to easily increase the number of pixels and the imaging surface by analogy. For example, the present invention includes that the pixel is 72 × 72 and the imaging surface is 30 mm × 30 mm.

Example of XY plotter with electronic pen attached

FIG. 12 shows the principle of an XY plotter with an electronic pen attached. The principle of the electronic pen holding mechanism is shown in FIG. Integrated with the Y-axis alignment mechanism shown in FIG. 12B, the electronic pen stator that fixes the electronic pen to the tip, and the stator is moved up and down to further increase the pen pressure when the pen is down. A (increase) control mechanism is attached. Pen up / down can be carried out by a known technique using a commercially available XY plotter. Pen pressure increase during pen down can be realized by easy analogy from known techniques by using two types of pressure for pressing down pen down. Since the control of the pen up / down and the pen pressure up is performed in synchronization with the pen position control, it is the same as a commercially available XY plotter that it moves in response to a command from the controller of the entire XY plotter. Therefore, a method of connecting the holding mechanism of FIG. 12A to the control device of the entire XY plotter can also be implemented by a known technique.
The entire mechanism is fixed through the central axis, and moves in the Y-axis direction by the Y-axis alignment belt. At that time, the entire belt is moved in parallel by the belt, and the two rotors are securely accommodated in the casing so as not to cause twisting. Since the belt pulls the center of the two rotors, the rotor rotates smoothly without twisting. The cross section of the case has a “U” shape, and the entire electronic pen holding mechanism rolls inside. This is only one embodiment, and a known method used in a commercially available XY plotter can be applied.

FIG. 12B is a top view showing the principle of Y-axis alignment. The belt is rotated by a pulse motor, and the electronic pen holding mechanism is moved in the Y-axis direction. FIG. 12C is a top view showing the sheet table and the X-axis alignment. In order to make it easy to adjust the absolute position of the design drawing paper, the paper base is provided with a groove according to the size of the paper, and the paper is adjusted accordingly and fixed by a paper fixing mechanism. The paper fixing mechanism may be a method of pressing the paper with a spring from above, and this also applies the method used in a commercially available apparatus. The X-axis position is controlled to the left and right using a pulse motor and a belt, as in the Y-axis, but the method used in a commercially available XY plotter can also be applied. Further, the present invention can be implemented only by changing the mounting portion of the electronic pen even in a drum-type XY plotter other than the flat bed.
An electronic pen attached to such an XY plotter reads a quaternary mark matrix printed thinly on a design drawing sheet as the XY plotter draws. In particular, as shown in FIG. 14, the pen-down point, the pen-up point, the pen pause point (normal intermediate point), the point at which the pen pressure increases and the pen pressure increases (designated intermediate point) must be read. In addition, when a command is designated prior to drawing, the command matrix is read. When a command accompanying transmission such as “command end” or “transmission” is read, all the positions or command matrices accumulated in the pen are transmitted to the host computer. The means is either wireless transmission or USB transmission of the electronic pen.
As described above, the XY plotter that is a part of the present invention differs from the conventional XY plotter in that the conventional one only draws and outputs the drawing, and the data flows in one direction, whereas the present invention draws the drawing. Data input such as the position of the drawing in the sheet and the reading of the command printed on the drawing are simultaneously progressing.

XY plotter alignment

The fixing position of the paper is determined by the groove of the paper base of the XY plotter, and the paper is fixed by the paper fixing mechanism shown in FIG. The commands in the command area shown in FIG. 13, the numeric commands in the drawing ID area described in FIG. 21 and the “send” command, etc. have fixed positions on the paper, and the XY plotter is the address of the preset XY plotter itself. The location is specified by the system. Therefore, it is necessary to secure a command area command, a numeric command in the drawing ID area, and a “send” command area with a size capable of absorbing a sheet alignment error.
When those areas cannot be sufficiently large on the design drawing mark paper, it is necessary to align the XY plotter paper more strictly. The cross-shaped marks at the upper left corner and the lower right corner of the mark paper of FIG. 13 are used for this purpose. In the electronic pen of FIG. 10, the signal route of 1014 directly links the scanning control of 1007 to the transmission control of 1011. This is the result of scanning the image picked up by the optical sensor 1006 of the electronic pen 1013 as an image as it is. The transmission circuit is provided for transmission. Operate the XY plotter with the human hand and bring it close to the alignment mark in the upper left corner, and step through the X and Y directions with the human hand while watching the image captured by the electronic pen. Take the electronic pen at the position of the cross. The position address obtained by reading the position matrix of the point is (A ₁ , B ₁ ), and the address of the location of the XY plotter is (X ₁ , Y ₁ ). Next, the same is repeated for the mark in the lower right corner, and the address is read as (A ₂ , B ₂ ), (X ₂ , Y ₂ ). If the position address on the sheet of the command to be matched is (A ₃ , B ₃ ), the address (X ₃ , Y ₃ ) at that position of the XY plotter is obtained as follows.
_{X 3 = X 1 + (A} 3 -A 1) (X 2 -X 1) / (A 2 -A 1)
_{Y 3 = Y 1 + (B} 3 -B 1) (Y 2 -Y 1) / (B 2 -B 1)
If the electronic pen is moved to the calculated XY plotter address (X ₃ , Y ₃ ), the command can be specified at the correct position.

Mark paper for design drawings

FIG. 13 shows an embodiment of the design drawing mark sheet. This paper is used for both drawing by hand and drawing by the XY plotter shown in FIG. Most of the paper is a drawing area. Here, the position matrix is printed very thinly. Below that is the command area. Here, basic graphic commands used for drawing are printed in characters so that they can be seen by human eyes. Each command corresponds to the command matrix shown in FIG. 15, and the corresponding command matrix is lightly printed in an area including the background of visible characters. This command matrix is printed by inserting an invalid boundary matrix consisting of only black bottom boundary marks in order to clarify the boundaries between adjacent command matrices and position matrices. Even if a part of the boundary matrix is mistakenly picked up by the electronic pen, the black bottom boundary mark is detected at a place other than the original boundary by reading the matrix shown in FIG. 8, so that it can be easily determined that it is invalid. . Since the “command end” command is frequently used, a large area is given. Below the command area is a drawing ID area. This is a part for designating a drawing ID number described in FIG. Further, horizontal and vertical straight lines intersecting the cross are printed at the upper left corner and the lower right corner of the whole, and a position matrix corresponding to the position in the paper is printed on the background. This is used to align the command area on the paper and the drawing ID area when drawing with the XY plotter.
A “send” command occupying a large area is printed at the lower right of the sheet. This background is a transmission command with ID, and this ID is used for the ID of the section or section that manages the paper and is used differently from the drawing ID. In addition, an ID is assigned to the “command end” command, but this ID is the same as the “send” command.

Other embodiments of the invention

The transmission matrix of ANOTO paper described in (00029) cannot be attached with an ID. In such a case, the drawing is simply collated with the electronic data by the drawing ID.

How to draw a drawing by hand

A method for drawing a design drawing by hand using the design drawing mark sheet shown in FIG. 13 will be described with reference to FIG. First, taking curve drawing as an example, “curve” is designated by drawing a check mark on “curve” in the command area of the drawing mark sheet. Next, whether this curve is an open curve or a closed curve is designated by “open” and “closed”. If neither is specified, "open" is assumed. When “Closed”, specify whether to “Fill”, then specify the line width and line type. If not specified, a solid line with a width of 0.5 mm is used. To draw a curve, lower the electronic pen onto the paper (pen down) and start drawing. Since this curve is handled as a spline curve connecting specified points in the computer (curve connecting specified points smoothly), an intermediate point is specified with this in mind. Even if you pen up once and draw the continuation again, it will be regarded as a series of curves. Finally, the “command end” command is designated to finish drawing the curve.
“Folded line” is similar to a curved line, but the intermediate point designation at the bending point (bending point) is performed, but the intermediate point designation at the straight line portion is not necessary. For "circumference", first specify the center and then draw the circumference. "Rectangle" is drawn from the top left corner vertex.
The design drawing is drawn in this way, but the start point, end point, intermediate point, etc. of the basic figure (represented by a command such as a broken line or a curve) that is input one after another within the computer are line widths in the X and Y directions. An area separated by the following is regarded as a neighborhood, and if the mark paper is located within that range, it is regarded as the same point. In this way, the design drawing is input. The numbers given here are for explanation only, and those with different numbers and basic figures are also part of the present invention.

FIG. 15 shows an implementation example for realizing the commands on the paper shown in FIG. 13 as a 4 × 4 command matrix. As shown in FIG. 11, in the command matrix, the (1, 4) element in the upper right corner of the X matrix is 1. Of these, only the “command end” is attached with an ID, and the (2, 4) element and (3, 4) element of the X matrix are set to 1 in order to make transmission. Accordingly, in the X matrix of the basic graphic command matrix used in the command area of FIG. 13, the second line of the normal command is (1, 1, 1, 0) as shown in FIG. The command sets the second line to (-,-,-, 1). The Y matrix of normal commands is as shown in FIGS. 15 (b) and 15 (c). In FIG. 15B, the second row, the third row, and the fourth row are all 0, and only the first row defines a basic graphic command by i, j, k, and l shown in FIG. 15B. Further, in FIG. 15C, all the lines other than the second line are all 0, and the second line defines basic graphic commands as shown in the figure by s, t, u, v.
In FIG. 13, for example, the background of the area including the characters “curve” is an X matrix of normal commands in FIG. 15A and a Y matrix having i, j, k, and l of “curves” in FIG. A command matrix consisting of Moreover, an invalid matrix consisting only of the black bottom boundary mark is inserted at the boundary with the adjacent command matrix to indicate the boundary. The “command end” command in FIG. 13 is printed a little larger and with a frame because it is used frequently, and in the background there is an X matrix indicating “command end” and an all zero Y matrix in FIG. The composing command matrix is printed tightly. Similarly, since “transmission” in FIG. 13 is often used, it is printed with a large frame, and the transmission matrix with ID shown in FIG. 11 is printed in the background. At this time, the design drawing has a drawing ID described later, and this ID is used as an ID indicating the organization. In the design drawing drawn in this way, the end point, intermediate point, and bending point as the basic figure in the drawing are associated with the position in the sheet of FIG. Points and inflection points can be specified.

Although the case where drawing is performed by handwriting has been described above, the case where drawing is performed using the XY plotter described in FIG. 12 is almost the same. At this time, as described in FIG. 12, the sheet is aligned in the groove of the sheet table, but for the sake of accuracy, it is used for alignment printed on the upper left corner and the lower right corner of the design drawing sheet example of FIG. Use the cross mark to align. After alignment, if you draw with an XY plotter according to Fig. 14, you can use the electronic pen to send basic figure commands, numeric commands for drawing IDs, and commands such as "command end" and "send". Can be specified.

Identify important points

Among the design drawings drawn by hand drawing in the embodiment shown in FIG. 14 or drawn by the XY plotter shown in FIG. 12, for the basic figure starting with the basic figure command and ending with the “command end” command, the important points constituting the basic figure are identified. There is a need. This method will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 16 shows one method for extracting important points such as a start point, a normal intermediate point, a designated intermediate point, and an end point. The pen down is first output as a starting point. Next, the X position address and the Y position address of the drawing data are sampled at a rate of 32 points per second. If there is a pen-up in the sampling process, it is output as either an isolated point or an end point. If there is no pen-up, it is checked whether four consecutive sample points remain in the neighborhood. Here, the vicinity of the point A is an area in the range of the address where both the X address and the Y address are plus or minus by the minimum line width with the point A as the center. When it stays, it is regarded as a normal midpoint due to a pause, and when there is an increase in pen pressure, it is designated as the designated midpoint. However, if it is already output as a normal midpoint due to a temporary stop, the normal midpoint is canceled. When there is no pen pressure increase, the normal intermediate point is output if there is no normal intermediate point or specified intermediate point output. At this time, when the one stays in the vicinity for a long time, many normal intermediate point outputs are not performed.
FIG. 17 organizes the important points identified in FIG. As shown in FIG. 14, there is a possibility that pen-up occurs several times within one basic graphic command. At that time, the end point and the start point are output from FIG. 16 each time. In FIG. 17, the arrangement is made, and such an end point and a start point are combined and treated as one designated intermediate point. Further, in the case of a polygonal line command, an intermediate point other than the point (bending point) of the straight line constituting the polygonal line is not necessary. When drawing only the inflection point as the designated intermediate point, it is only necessary to use it as the inflection point. When paused during drawing, it is usually output as an intermediate point. To remove such an intermediate point, the longest straight line is taken and all intermediate points in between are canceled.
In this way, important points can be identified and extracted.

Associating design drawings with position on paper

FIG. 18 shows an example of a method for describing basic graphic commands constituting the design drawing inputted by hand drawing shown in FIG. First, information about the coordinate system and the scale of the drawing will be described, but since this is not directly related to the essence of the present invention, details will not be described. After that, in FIG. 14, first, a basic graphic command to be specified, followed by information on the line type and line width, whether it is an open graphic or a closed graphic, and if it is a closed graphic, fill (fill) or not (non-fill) is described. . These are all information designated by commands on the paper of FIG. Next, the addresses (drawing addresses) of important points constituting the basic figure are described. In the case of a straight line, the addresses of the start point and the end point, and in the case of a broken line, the addresses of the start point, all specified bending points, and end points. In the case of a curve, it is the address of the start point, all specified intermediate points, and end points. Other basic figures are as shown in FIG. Characters other than position information are outside the scope of the present invention and will not be described. For the character position, the drawing address specified during hand drawing is associated with the position on the paper.
FIG. 19 shows an example of a method for associating the address on the drawing shown in FIG. 18 with the position address on the paper shown in FIG. The relationship between the two is shown by a number in which the leftmost (most significant) digit of the identification number of the basic graphic command in FIG. 18 is 1. Next, basic graphic commands are described, and then the position addresses on the paper at the points of the drawing addresses are listed in the same order as the drawing addresses of the basic graphic commands in FIG. Thus, the drawing address in FIG. 18 is associated with the position address on the paper in FIG.
FIG. 20 shows an example of the association process for that purpose. Each time an important point of a new basic figure is received, it is checked using FIG. 19 whether there is an important point already input in the vicinity of the position address on the sheet. This is because the basic figure already inputted is already described as the basic figure command shown in FIGS. Here, the vicinity means an area in which the position on the paper is moved up, down, left, and right by the smallest line width used for drawing. If there is an important point already entered in the neighborhood, the received point matches it. If it is not near, it is newly registered in FIG. 18 and FIG. 19 as a basic graphic command having a new drawing address and position address.
When drawing with the XY plotter, the drawing is based on FIG. 18, so that the point where the drawing address matches is known, so the result of verifying the match / mismatch of the important point at the position address on the paper is confirmed on the drawing address. To do.
In this way, the design drawing is drawn as a set of basic figures.

Management of drawing ID numbers

FIG. 21 shows an example of a design drawing ID number management method. The ID number designation command shown in FIG. 21A is printed in the drawing ID area of FIG. This is a 6-digit number, and the numbers are arranged in the order of the upper left corner to the right and then the second line to the left first. Choose one of the numeric commands in each field, and specify the command by handwriting the number printed on it. Since the number commands shown in FIG. 21B are printed on the background of each number, the operation of writing numbers corresponds to the operation of designating the command. The boundaries of these numeric commands contain an invalid boundary matrix. The reason why the numbers are handwritten without checking the number commands is to make it possible to immediately determine the ID when viewing the drawing.
When the drawing is output by the XY plotter, the same number is written on the numeric command by the XY plotter. For this purpose, each numeric command area is widened so that the number written by the XY plotter does not deviate from the corresponding command column due to an error in placing the paper of the XY plotter. The alignment for this has been described with reference to FIG. In this case, when writing a number with an XY plotter, it is possible to check whether or not the correct area is written by reading the background command matrix, so that the ID number is not mistaken.
FIG. 21B shows the format of the numeric command. A number digit is designated by the X matrix, and the number itself is designated by the Y matrix. Even if the input order of numbers is changed, there is no mistake because there is a digit specification.
The design drawing ID number and its electronic file are collated with this ID number, and the electronic file is simultaneously changed / corrected even if the change / correction shown in FIG. 22 is performed on the design drawing. Even when the electronic file is output on paper, the XY plotter writes the drawing ID number numerically in the predetermined command area, so that no mistake occurs.
Instead of using the numeric command as shown in FIG. 21, it may be possible to simply provide an ID number entry field in which a background is printed with a position matrix, enter a number there, and recognize the number. The XY plotter also outputs the number itself, and when changing / modifying, the ID number can be collated by writing the same number in a predetermined field. This is another embodiment of the present invention.

Drawing changes / modifications

FIG. 22 illustrates an embodiment of a method for changing / modifying a design drawing. First, a basic figure to be erased and a command indicating erasure are selected from the command area on the paper shown in FIG. 13 and designated. If it is a broken line, it is the “erase broken line” command. Next, as shown in FIG. 22 (a), the end point of the basic figure to be deleted (broken line, curved line, etc.) and the bent point in the case of a broken line, and the intermediate point in the case of a curved line are placed on the bottom of the check mark. To draw. This could not be done by placing a pen over those points, but it was a check mark to make it easier to see where it was erased, but this is not an essential part of the invention. Finally, specify the command end command in the command area. The basic figure of these erase commands may be different from the designated basic figure during drawing.
FIG. 23 shows the actual erasure processing procedure. Whether the locus of the position matrix from pen down to pen up is a check mark is recognized by the procedure shown in FIG. Find end points, inflection points, etc. on the basic figure in the vicinity of the lowest position of the recognized check mark “v”.
At this time, in the case of a polygonal line command, the end point and the bending point are designated by check marks, so that it is easy to understand, but in the case of a curve, the intermediate point designated in the command is not known on the drawing. In the “Erase curve” command, the check points other than the end points are appropriately designated, and the intermediate point of which curve is identified in the computer. Since the start point and end point are specified, it is possible to identify which curve passes through the start point and end point. When there is only one curve, the curve is actually generated and it is determined whether the curve passes near the check-marked midpoint. If it has passed, it is determined that the curve is to be erased. When there are multiple curves, the above process is performed for all the curves. A curve passing through the vicinity of the designated intermediate point is an object to be erased.
The circle can be erased by specifying the center point. However, if it is easy to specify which circle is a single point on the circumference, it is acceptable.
FIG. 24 shows an example of check mark recognition. In the position matrix column from pen down to pen up, the Y position address indicated by the Y matrix continues to increase, and the check mark is recognized by starting to decrease with a small change. Here, it is assumed that the Y address is small at the top of the sheet and increases downward, and the coordinate origin is at the upper left corner of the sheet. In FIG. 23, where a check mark is supposed to be recognized, if it is identified, it is determined that it is abnormal and an abnormal action is taken. When another command is detected where the “command end” command is to be specified, an error is taken. Such abnormal treatment is beyond the scope of the present invention and will not be described here.
This can be erased. When the basic figure shown in FIG. 22B is added and drawn, the same procedure as the new hand drawing shown in FIG. 14 is taken. The association of the result also takes the procedure of FIG. 18, FIG. 19, and FIG. The result of the change / correction is as shown in FIG.

Other embodiments of the invention

Similar to the present invention, a product that can read a handwritten handwritten with an electronic pen on a sheet on which a quaternary mark composed of mere dots is thinly printed is already available from ANOTO, Sweden. In Japan, Hitachi Maxell Co., Ltd. manufactures and sells electronic pens (ANOTO pens), and several companies, such as Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd., obtain quaternary mark paper (ANOTO paper) under license from ANOTO. The present invention can also be realized using this ANOTO pen or ANOTO paper, which forms part of the present invention.
ANOTO paper does not have a command matrix, and commands are defined at command printing positions on the paper, but can be used in the present invention because commands can be defined. In order to mount the ANOTO pen on the XY plotter, it is necessary to modify the pen mounting portion of the XY plotter. This is an easy modification. Since the alignment of the sheet depends on the accuracy of the sheet table of the XY plotter, it is necessary to increase the command area accordingly. However, drawing data drawn by the XY plotter is expressed in the computer by the basic graphic command shown in FIG. 18 or a description method similar thereto. Instead of command designation by the XY plotter, it can be transferred by software inside the computer. The XY plotter drawing software passes the basic figure command directly to the electronic pen data input control software, and then draws the basic figure. At the end of the command, instead of specifying the “command end” command, it is also handed over between the software. Since an essential part of the present invention is the association between the drawing address on the basic graphic command and the position address on the paper on which the drawing is drawn, command passing by software is also part of the present invention. In the case of ANOTO paper, since there is no ID-added command, it is not used, and the design drawing and its electronic data are collated only with the drawing ID. Further, since ANOTO cannot transmit data other than the “Send” command, all data is accumulated with the electronic pen, and when new or change / correction input is completed, it is transmitted at once, and then batch processing is performed. Therefore, only the “Send” command is large enough to absorb the sheet alignment accuracy of the XY plotter. If this is not possible, manually bring the electronic pen to the position of the “Send” command.
The input of the drawing ID can be designated by drawing the ID number in a predetermined place by the XY plotter and recognizing it by software as described in relation to FIG. Since this is also known to the software when drawing with the XY plotter, it may be transferred between the software. This also forms part of the present invention.

Effects of the present invention

The design drawings are often changed at the production site or a meeting site with a customer. If the drawing is simply changed, the drawing may be changed / modified directly with a red ballpoint pen or the like. The problem is how to change / correct the electronic data inside the CAD computer. When inputting later changes / corrections, mistakes are likely to occur, and changes are often forgotten. If the present invention is used, the change / correction is performed on the drawing on the mark sheet with the electronic pen, and therefore all electronic data of the change / correction is acquired with the electronic pen. In this way, design drawings and their electronic data can be managed centrally.
Another advantage is that the present invention can easily migrate old design data to this new CAD system. In general, the introduction of a new method necessitates reintroduction of all old data as data of a new method, which often increases the initial introduction cost. In the present invention, it is possible to shift to a new system simply by outputting an old drawing on a mark sheet with an XY plotter while performing basic figure command designation in units of basic figures. In order to make such transition easily, a basic graphic command is matched with a graphic command system used by an old drawing. A drawing is drawn on the XY plotter in units of old commands. Each time the old drawing software passes the command to the new drawing control software. In this way, the migration software is added to the drawing software for the old drawing, and it is used for command exchange with the new drawing control software. In this way, old CAD drawings can be transferred to the design support system of the present invention.

Fig. 1 Correspondence between quaternary marks and quaternary numbers Fig. 2 Decomposition of quaternary numbers into X and Y Fig. 3 X matrix and Y matrix corresponding to quaternary matrix Fig. 4 Types of position matrix and command matrix Fig. 5 3x3 Arrangement of position matrix Fig. 6 Boundary mark of 3x3 quaternary mark matrix Fig. 7 Relationship between actual quadruple marks 8 Reading of X address and Y address Fig. 9 Detection of base line Fig. 10 Configuration of electronic pen Fig. 11 Classification diagram of 4x4 quaternary matrix 12 Principle of an XY plotter with an electronic pen FIG. 13 Example of mark paper for design drawing FIG. 14 Example of hand drawing using mark paper for design drawing FIG. 15 Example of basic figure command FIG. Arrangement of important points as basic graphic commands Fig. 18 Example of basic graphic command description of design drawing Fig. 19 Drawing address on design drawing on position on paper Address Association FIG. 20 Drawing Address and Position Address Association Processing FIG. 21 Design Drawing ID Number FIG. 22 Design Drawing Change / Modification FIG. 23 Erase Processing Example FIG. 24 Check Mark Recognition Method Example

Claims (5)

A mark paper with a thin quaternary mark printed on it and an electronic camera attached to the tip so that the mark can be read so that the horizontal position (X position address) and vertical position (Y position address) can be obtained. Then, using a handwriting input device composed of an electronic circuit that reads a combination of a plurality of marks as a combination of quaternions and an electronic pen with software,
When drawing a drawing on the mark paper with the electronic pen, the drawing data is decomposed into a set of basic figures, and each basic figure is prepared in advance to specify the type with the electronic pen at the start of drawing. Basic figure commands and
When drawing a basic figure on mark paper with an electronic pen, an important point specifying means for clearly indicating the points necessary for defining the basic figure,
A design support system comprising a point on the drawing designated by the important point designating means and an associating means for associating the X and Y position addresses on the mark paper on which the point is drawn In claim 1,
To change / modify the drawing drawn on the mark paper,
An erase command group prepared in advance for designating with the electronic pen to erase in basic figure units,
An erasure graphic designating means for specifying an important point for defining the basic graphic in order to identify the basic graphic to be erased;
A design support system comprising a drawing ID number and an ID collating means for collating the electronic data. In order to make it possible to transfer the existing drawing data to the method of the present invention and output the changed / modified drawing on the mark sheet in claim 2,
Wearing the electronic pen, positioning means for the mark paper, important point designating means to clearly define points required to define the basic figure to be drawn according to the drawing, and basic figure commands required from the basic figure command group Design support system characterized by adding an XY plotter having command specifying means for selecting and specifying 3. A design support system according to claim 2, wherein the ID collating means is replaced with a drawing ID number command group prepared in advance so that the drawing ID number and its electronic data can be designated with an electronic pen on a mark sheet. 4. A design support system according to claim 3, wherein the ID collating means is replaced with a drawing ID number command group prepared in advance so that the drawing ID number and its electronic data can be designated with an electronic pen on mark paper.

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