JP2011253221A - Handwriting input device, information display device, handwriting input processing method, control program, and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a handwriting input device in which a user can change a color of a handwritten character or a figure without requiring labor.SOLUTION: A white board system 1 in this invention includes a display 2, a touch panel 3 and an information processor 4. The information processor 4 comprises: a character detecting section 12 that specifies, from a drawn figure handwritten, a group of figures that become a color determination unit, as a unit figure; a character size determination section 13 that determines a size of the unit figure; and a character color determination section 14 that determines a color of the unit figure according to the size of the unit figure.

Description

  The present invention relates to a handwriting input device that changes (or designates) the color of a character or the like input by handwriting, and an information display device.

  Conventionally, a whiteboard system using a large display equipped with a touch panel has been used. In the whiteboard system, when a user touches a touch panel with a finger or a touch pen, a user inputs a figure (drawing figure) such as a handwritten character or symbol and displays the figure at the position. . Such a whiteboard system is useful when a user presents and explains information to a plurality of people in a presentation, a meeting, education, or the like.

  When changing the color of characters to be input to the whiteboard system, for example, the user designates the color “red” to be input before inputting characters, then draws on the touch panel, and the whiteboard system is input. There is a conventional display of red letters in red. In some cases, the input character is specified, and the color of the character is specified after the character input.

  In addition, there are the following techniques for selecting the color of a figure such as an input character or symbol.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a handwritten character reading device that inputs handwritten characters using a stylus pen having two writing units corresponding to different colors, and associates the input characters with colors according to each writing unit. Has been.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a character / graphic input device that changes the density of characters / graphics inputted by hand according to the writing pressure at the time of input. This character / graphic input device uses a tablet in which piezoelectric elements are arranged in a grid at a rate of one per pixel, and allows handwriting input with a pen.

  Patent Document 3 discloses a handwritten character input device that determines character attributes (size, color, thickness, typeface) of a character recognized from an input handwritten character in accordance with the input speed of a character handwriting. ing.

JP 61-233881 (released on October 18, 1986) JP 61-107419 A (published May 26, 1986) JP 2001-266071 A (published on September 28, 2001)

  However, in the above configuration in which the color of the character is specified before or after the character is input, an operation for specifying the color (for example, an operation of touching the color selection palette displayed on the touch panel) is required when the color is changed. Yes, especially when the whiteboard system has a large screen, it takes time to change the color.

  Similarly, the technique described in Patent Document 1 also requires an operation for changing the writing unit of the stylus pen to be used according to the color to be designated (an operation such as pressing a switch at the rear end of the stylus pen). . In addition, a dedicated pen is required to specify and input a color, and it becomes impossible to specify and input a color with a finger or the like.

  Further, even if the technique described in Patent Document 2 is applied and the color is changed according to the writing pressure, the relationship between the writing pressure and the color is not intuitive, so the user inputs characters in a desired color. It becomes difficult and is not easy to use. In addition, a special mechanical configuration for sensing the writing pressure is required, and the apparatus becomes expensive.

  In the technique described in Patent Document 3, the color or the like is changed according to the input speed of handwritten characters, but the input speed of handwritten characters varies depending on the person, and the user can change the handwritten characters to a desired color. It is difficult to adjust the input speed.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to realize a handwriting input device that allows a user to change the color of handwritten characters or figures without taking time and effort. .

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the handwriting input device according to the present invention specifies a unit graphic specifying unit that specifies a group of figures as units for determining a color from a drawing figure input by handwriting, and the unit A size determination unit that determines the size of the graphic and a color determination unit that determines the color of the unit graphic according to the size of the unit graphic are provided.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the handwriting input processing method according to the present invention is a unit graphic specifying step for specifying a group of figures, which are units for determining a color, as a unit graphic from a drawing figure input by handwriting, The method includes a size determination step for determining the size of the unit graphic, and a color determination step for determining the color of the unit graphic in accordance with the size of the unit graphic.

  Here, the unit graphic may be, for example, a single character, a character string composed of a plurality of characters, or another graphic.

  According to the above configuration, a unit graphic indicating a character or a character string or the like is specified from a drawing graphic input by handwriting, and the unit graphic is automatically set according to the size of the character or character string or the like constituting the unit graphic. The color can be determined. Therefore, the user does not need to perform a cumbersome operation for selecting a color, and the user can change (or specify) the color of the graphic by changing the size of the graphic such as a handwritten character. .

  Note that the size determination unit can determine the size of the unit graphic based on the height (vertical width), the horizontal width, or area of the unit graphic.

  Further, the unit graphic includes a plurality of sub-unit graphics composed of a group of graphics, and the unit graphic identification unit identifies a group of graphics as a sub-unit graphic from a handwritten input drawing graphic, and a plurality of the subunits A figure composed of figures is specified as the unit figure, and the size determination unit determines the size of the sub unit figure, and based on the size of the sub unit figure included in the unit figure, the size of the unit figure The structure which determines the thickness may be sufficient.

  Here, for example, the sub unit graphic indicates a character, and the unit graphic indicates a character string made up of a plurality of characters.

  According to the above configuration, the size determination unit determines the size of the unit graphic based on the size of the sub-unit graphic included in the unit graphic, and the color determination unit determines the unit graphic according to the determined size. Determine the color. Therefore, when the unit graphic indicates a character string such as a word composed of related characters, the character string can be the same color. Therefore, even when the character string includes a small kana character (abandoned kana) such as a prompt character or a lower case letter of the alphabet, it is possible to avoid the inconvenience that only the small character has a different color.

  In addition, the size determination unit may determine the size of the unit graphic based on the size of the sub unit graphic that is input first among the sub unit graphics included in the unit graphic.

  According to the above configuration, when the unit graphic indicates a character string such as a word composed of related characters, the size of the character string is determined based on the size of the first character. Even when a small kana character is included, it is possible to avoid the disadvantage that only the small character has a different color.

  The size determination unit may determine the size of the unit graphic based on the maximum size of the sub unit graphic among the sub unit graphics included in the unit graphic.

  According to the above configuration, when the unit graphic indicates a character string such as a word composed of related characters, the size of the character string is determined based on the size of the largest character included in the character string. Therefore, for example, even if a character string starts with a small character, if the character string includes a large character, the character string can have a color corresponding to the large character.

  Further, the unit graphic specifying unit may specify the drawing graphic input by handwriting as the sub unit graphic when there is no handwritten input for the first period or longer.

  When a user inputs characters or the like by handwriting, the user may take a little time each time handwriting one character or one word.

  According to said structure, when the state without handwriting input continues beyond the 1st period, input of the character etc. in handwriting input can be confirmed. Therefore, it is possible to appropriately specify the subunit graphic indicating the character or the like and appropriately determine the size of the subunit graphic. Therefore, the size determination unit can appropriately determine the size of the unit graphic including the sub unit graphic.

  In addition, when the unit graphic specifying unit continues to be in a state where there is no handwriting input for the second period or longer, the unit graphic specifying unit sets, as a new unit graphic, a graphic composed of a sub unit graphic specified from a drawing graphic input thereafter. You may specify.

  According to said structure, when the state without handwriting input continues more than 2nd period, input of the character string etc. which consist of a related character in handwriting input can be confirmed. Therefore, a unit graphic indicating a character string or the like can be specified appropriately. Therefore, the size determination unit can appropriately determine the size of the unit graphic.

  In addition, the unit graphic specifying unit includes a first sub unit graphic included in the first unit graphic and a second sub unit graphic specified from a drawing figure input by handwriting immediately after the predetermined distance. If they are separated from each other, a graphic including the second sub-unit graphic may be specified as the second unit graphic.

  If two sub-unit graphics continuously input by hand are separated from each other to some extent, it is considered that the two characters indicated by the sub-unit graphics belong to different character strings.

  According to said structure, the character string to which the character input by handwriting belongs can be specified appropriately. That is, since the unit graphic specifying unit can appropriately specify the characters included in the character string, the color determining unit can appropriately determine the color of the character string.

  When the horizontal direction or the vertical direction is a predetermined direction, the unit graphic specifying unit determines a threshold according to the width of the first sub unit graphic in the predetermined direction, and the first sub unit graphic and If the distance from the second sub-unit graphic in the predetermined direction is equal to or greater than the threshold value, the graphic including the second sub-unit graphic may be specified as the second unit graphic.

  In general, when a large character is input by handwriting, the space between characters also increases.

  According to said structure, it can be determined whether the space | interval of the character input previously and the character input continuously is large according to the width | variety of the character etc. input previously. Therefore, when a large character is input by handwriting, the threshold value between the characters can be set large, and when a small character is input by handwriting, the threshold value between the characters can be set small.

  Moreover, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the handwriting input device according to the present invention includes a color determination unit that determines the color of the drawing figure according to the size of the drawing figure input by handwriting. .

  An information display device according to the present invention includes the handwriting input device, a handwriting input unit that receives a handwritten input from a user, and a display unit that displays the unit graphic in a color determined by the color determination unit. It is a feature.

  According to said structure, the drawing figure which the user input by handwriting can be changed into the color according to the magnitude | size of the figure which shows the character or character string etc. which were input by handwriting, and can be displayed on a display part. Therefore, the information display device can automatically change, for example, a character or the like that has been greatly written on the board to make it stand out and display it in a different color.

  The handwriting input device of the present invention may be realized by a computer. In this case, a control program that causes the computer to function as each of the above-described units and a computer-readable recording medium that records the control program are also included in the present invention. Enter the category.

  A handwriting input device according to the present invention includes a unit figure specifying unit that specifies a group of figures as a unit for determining a color from a drawing figure input by handwriting, and a size determination for determining the size of the unit figure. And a color determining unit that determines the color of the unit graphic according to the size of the unit graphic.

  The handwriting input processing method according to the present invention includes a unit figure specifying step for specifying a group of figures as a unit for determining a color from a drawing figure input by handwriting as a unit figure, and a size for determining the size of the unit figure. A determination step and a color determination step of determining a color of the unit graphic in accordance with the size of the unit graphic.

  Therefore, the user does not need to perform a cumbersome operation for selecting a color, and the user can change (or specify) the color of the graphic by changing the size of the graphic such as a handwritten character. .

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the whiteboard system of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process in the information processing apparatus of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process in the information processing apparatus of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining the example of the character color determination process in the whiteboard system of one Embodiment of this invention. (A) is a figure which shows the example of a display of the whiteboard system of one Embodiment of this invention, (b) is a figure which shows the example of a display of the whiteboard system of another modification. It is a figure explaining the example of the determination process of the character color in the whiteboard system of other embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process in the information processing apparatus of other embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process in the information processing apparatus of other embodiment of this invention.

[Embodiment 1]
The whiteboard system of the present embodiment automatically changes and displays the color of the input character according to the size of the character input by handwriting by the user. The present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an example of character color determination processing in the whiteboard system of the present embodiment. In FIG. 4, for reference, a grid whose side is a is indicated by a dotted line.

  FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating an example of determining a character color when the height y of a character handwritten by a user is larger than a threshold value a. Since the input character 20 “A” has a height greater than the threshold value a, the character color is changed to red.

  FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating an example of determining the character color when the height y of the character handwritten by the user is equal to or less than the threshold value a. In the input character string 21 “A”, the character color is changed to black because the height of each character is equal to or less than the threshold value a.

  FIG. 4C is a diagram showing an example of determining the character color of a small kana character (abandoned kana). The input character string 22 “cup” includes a small kana character 24 “” as a sounding character. The small kana character 24 “” has a character height equal to or less than the threshold value a. On the other hand, the first character 23 “K” is a character whose character height y is larger than the threshold value a. Even if the height y of the character is less than or equal to the threshold value a, such as the small kana character 24 “tsu”, if the height of the first character 23 “f” in the character string is greater than the threshold value a, it is Assuming that there is a character, the small kana character 24 “” is also changed to the same character color as the first character 23 “ka” of the character string. Therefore, the character strings 22 “cup” and “cap” are changed to red.

  A whiteboard system that performs the above-described processing will be described below.

<Whiteboard system configuration>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the whiteboard system 1 of the present embodiment. A whiteboard system (information display device) 1 includes a large display (display unit) 2 that displays information such as input characters and graphics, a touch panel (handwriting input unit) 3 disposed in front of the display 2, An information processing device (handwriting input device) 4 that processes data input from the touch panel 3 is provided. The touch panel 3 receives input by handwriting using a finger or a touch pen from a user. A drawing figure (a figure such as a character or a symbol) input by handwriting from the user through the touch panel 3 is changed (selected) in color according to the size of the drawing figure and displayed on the display 2.

  The information processing apparatus 4 includes an acquisition unit 11, a character detection unit (unit graphic specifying unit) 12, a character size determination unit (size determination unit) 13, a character color determination unit (color determination unit) 14, an image generation unit 15, and an output The unit 16 is provided. The function of each block of the information processing device 4 is realized by an arithmetic processing device (not shown) and a storage device (memory, hard disk, etc .: not shown) included in the information processing device 4.

  The acquisition unit 11 acquires handwritten input data received by the touch panel 3 every predetermined time (for example, 1/30 second). The acquired data includes the coordinates of the point drawn by the user. Further, the acquired data may include a plurality of drawn points or coordinates indicating drawn lines. A plurality of drawn points or a set of drawn lines indicates a figure drawn by the user. The acquisition unit 11 outputs the coordinates of the drawn point or line to the image generation unit 15 and the character detection unit 12.

  Based on the coordinates of the points or lines drawn by the user, which are input from the acquisition unit 11, the character detection unit 12 uses a point or line in the input graphic as an input graphic indicating a character or the like being input. Add line shapes. The figure being input includes the coordinates of the drawn point or line as data. The character detection unit 12 stores a figure being input which is a handwritten figure currently being input. The character detection unit 12 detects a character graphic for one character from an input graphic indicating a handwritten character. When a character graphic is detected, the character detection unit 12 stores the detected character graphic, that is, the coordinates of a group of points or lines indicating the detected character graphic. Further, regarding the detected character graphic, assuming that the drawing of the character by the user has been completed, the character detection unit 12 performs a portion corresponding to the detected character graphic of the input graphic (the coordinates of the point or line indicating the detected character graphic). Data) from the figure being entered. The character detection unit 12 outputs the detected character graphic (that is, the coordinates of a group of points or lines indicating the detected character graphic) to the character size determination unit 13.

  The detected character graphic does not necessarily have to be a character, and may be a graphic such as a symbol. That is, the character detection unit 12 detects a group of figures such as dots or lines as a character figure.

  The character size determination unit 13 determines the size of the character indicated by the detected character graphic. The character size determination unit 13 outputs the determination result of the character size indicated by the character graphic to the character color determination unit 14.

  The character color determination unit 14 determines the color of the character indicated by the character graphic in accordance with the size of the character indicated by the character graphic. The character color determination unit 14 outputs the character graphic and the determined character color to the image generation unit 15.

  The image generation unit 15 generates a display image to be displayed on the display 2. The image generation unit 15 stores the current state of the display image, that is, the pixel value of each pixel of the display image. The image generation unit 15 adds a point or line image to the display image based on the coordinates of the points drawn by the user input from the acquisition unit 11. The image generation unit 15 outputs the changed display image to the output unit 16. When a character graphic and its character color are input from the character color determination unit 14, the image generation unit 15 sets the color (pixel value) of the pixel corresponding to the character indicated by the character graphic in the display image to the character character. The color is changed, and the changed display image is output to the output unit 16.

  The output unit 16 outputs a display image to the display 2 and controls the display 2 to display the display image.

<Processing flow of information processing device>
2 and 3 are flowcharts showing the flow of processing in the information processing apparatus 4 of the present embodiment.

  The acquisition unit 11 acquires handwritten input data received by the touch panel 3 every predetermined time (for example, 1/30 seconds), and when there is a handwritten input by the user (Yes in S1), the image generation unit 15 Based on the coordinates of the drawn points, a black (basic color) point image is added to the display image (S2). Note that the image before the character color confirmation may be displayed in a different color (for example, gray). At this time, the image of the added point may be a point having a size corresponding to the thickness of the line set or selected in advance. The output unit 16 displays the updated display image on the display 2 (S3). The character detection unit 12 adds a point graphic to the currently input graphic based on the coordinates of the drawn point (S4). Thereafter, the process returns to S1. It should be noted that the figure being input indicates only a figure such as a character currently being input by the user, that is, the figure being input is a group of dots or lines indicating the figure such as a character currently being input by the user. Represented by coordinates. The figure being input may be represented by binary image data indicating the number of pixels of the character or figure being input and having the same number of pixels as the display image.

  When there is no handwriting input by the user (No in S1), the character detection unit 12 determines whether or not a state in which there is no handwriting input continues for a predetermined first period (for example, 5 seconds) (S5).

  If there is no handwritten input for more than 5 seconds (Yes in S5), the handwritten character to be input next is not related to the input character string (a character string different from the input character string). It is considered to be a character. That is, when handwriting input is not performed for a long period (5 seconds), it can be determined that the next input character is the first character of a character string such as a word input by the user. Therefore, the character detection unit 12 initializes a variable n (n = 0) indicating how many characters of the character string the character indicated by the character figure is (S6). Here, the character string indicates a group of a group of characters (or figures) that are successively input. Thereafter, the process returns to S1.

  When the state where there is no handwriting input does not continue for 5 seconds or more (No in S5), the character detection unit 12 determines whether or not something (such as a dot) is drawn on the currently input graphic (S7). .

  If the figure being input is blank (No in S7), that is, if nothing is drawn on the figure being input, the process returns to S1.

  When something is drawn on the figure being input (Yes in S7), the character detection unit 12 continues for a predetermined second period (for example, 1 second) where no handwriting input is present, which is shorter than the first period. It is determined whether or not there is (S8).

  When the state where there is no handwriting input does not continue for one second or more (No in S8), the process returns to S1.

  If there is no handwritten input for one second or longer (Yes in S8), the character detection unit 12 determines that the input of one character has been completed, and determines the currently input graphic as a character graphic for one character. (S9). That is, when one second elapses without handwriting input, the character detection unit 12 detects a collection of points or lines indicated by the input graphic as a character graphic for one character. The character graphic does not necessarily indicate a character but may indicate a graphic or the like, but will be described as indicating a character for convenience. In the present embodiment, the character graphic is a graphic (unit graphic) serving as a unit for determining the color of a graphic such as a character. Further, the character graphic has information on the coordinates of the character (point) in the display image. The character graphic is a graphic indicating the pixel of the detected character (a group of graphics). Note that the character graphic may be represented by binary image data having the same number of pixels as the display image.

  When the character detection unit 12 detects the character graphic, the character detection unit 12 stores the character graphic and initializes the graphic being input (erase the dots and lines) (S10). The character detection unit 12 adds 1 to the value of the variable n (n = n + 1) (S11). The value of the variable n indicates that the detected character is the nth character in the character string. Note that at the first time, the variable n is initialized (n = 0).

  The character size determination unit 13 obtains the height (vertical width) y of the character indicated by the character graphic as an index of the character size (S12). The height of the character may be obtained from the difference in height components between the coordinates of the lowest point of the character and the coordinates of the highest point.

  The character color determination unit 14 compares the height y of the character indicated by the character graphic with a predetermined height a (S13). a is a threshold value that serves as a reference for determining the color of the character.

  When the height y of the character indicated by the character graphic is greater than the predetermined height a (Yes in S13), the character color determining unit 14 determines the color of the character indicated by the character graphic to be red (S14). When n is 1, the character color determination unit 14 stores the character color of the first character of the character string.

  When the height y of the character indicated by the character graphic is equal to or less than the predetermined height a (No in S13) and the character indicated by the character graphic is the first character of the character string (No in S15), the character color The determination part 14 determines the color of the character which a character figure shows as black (S16). The character color determination unit 14 also stores the character color of the first character in the character string.

  When the character height y indicated by the character graphic is equal to or less than the predetermined height a (No in S13) and the character indicated by the character graphic is not the first character of the character string (Yes in S15), the character color The determination unit 14 determines a character color that is the same as the character color of the first character of the character string as the character color indicated by the current character graphic (S17). That is, if the character color of the first (first) character in the character string is red, the character color is red even if the subsequent character is small (y ≦ a). This makes it possible to determine the character color of a small kana character (abandoned kana) “nya” or the like for prompting characters “tsu” or stuttering based on the first character of the character string. Therefore, it is possible to avoid the inconvenience of changing only small kana characters or lowercase letters to different colors for words including small kana characters or lowercase characters such as “cup”, “cap”, “Cup”.

  After S14, S16, or S17, the image generation unit 15 changes the color of the pixel corresponding to the character indicated by the character graphic in the display image to the determined character color (S18). Thereafter, the process returns to S1.

  According to the present embodiment, for a character handwritten by a user, a character having a size smaller than the reference can be displayed in black, and a character larger than the reference can be displayed in red. When explaining to attendees at meetings or education using the whiteboard system, users (presenters) often write a large amount on important matters that they want to impress. Since the whiteboard system 1 automatically displays large letters written in red, the user does not need to perform troublesome operations to specify the character color. Items can be automatically highlighted and displayed in red.

  In the whiteboard system 1 according to the present embodiment, the character color determination unit 14 uses a character belonging to the same character string as a plurality of characters that are continuously drawn for a predetermined time (for example, 5 seconds). Judge that there is. Then, when there is no handwriting input for a predetermined time (5 seconds) or longer, the character color determination unit 14 determines that the character string has been input and determines that the character input thereafter is another character string. Recognize as Therefore, the whiteboard system 1 can appropriately recognize a group of characters (character string) and display the group of characters in the same character color.

  FIG. 5A is a diagram illustrating a display example of the whiteboard system 1. A grid is displayed on the touch panel 3 with dotted lines. The length of one side of the grid is the same as the reference length a for changing the color. Characters larger (higher height) than one grid cell are displayed in red, and characters that fit in the grid 1 cell are displayed in black. As described above, since the grid is provided on the touch panel 3 in the whiteboard system 1, the user can draw while confirming the size of characters displayed in different colors. Can do.

  FIG. 5B is a diagram illustrating a display example of a whiteboard system according to another modification. In this whiteboard system, characters are displayed in three different colors according to the height of the characters. That is, if the height of the character is less than the height a of the grid, the color is black, if the height of the character is higher than the height a of the grid and is 2a or less, the color is blue, and the height of the character is higher than the height 2a of the grid. If it is high, it is displayed in red and the text color is changed. As described above, a plurality of thresholds for determining the character size may be set, and the colors may be displayed in three or more stages according to the character size.

[Embodiment 2]
Another embodiment of the present invention will be described below. For convenience of explanation, members / configurations having the same functions as those in the drawings described in the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals, and detailed descriptions thereof are omitted. This embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 6 to 8.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an example of character color determination processing in the whiteboard system of the present embodiment. In FIG. 6, for reference, a grid whose side is a is indicated by a dotted line. The input character string 30 “Yoshisha” is recognized as a group of characters and includes characters whose height is greater than the threshold value a, so that the character color is changed to red. The character 31 “A” input following the character string 30 is recognized as a character belonging to another character string because the distance from the character string 30 is larger than the threshold value b, and the height of the character is equal to or less than the threshold value a. So it is converted to black.

  A whiteboard system that performs the above-described processing will be described below.

<Whiteboard system configuration>
The whiteboard system 1 of the present embodiment has the same configuration as that shown in FIG. Therefore, detailed description is omitted.

  In the present embodiment, the character detection unit 12 outputs a character string graphic indicating the character string being handwritten to the character size determination unit 13, and the character size determination unit 13 converts the character string graphic to the character color determination unit 14. Output to.

<Processing flow of information processing device>
7 and 8 are flowcharts showing the flow of processing in the information processing apparatus 4 according to the present embodiment.

  The acquisition unit 11 acquires handwritten input data received by the touch panel 3 every predetermined time (for example, 1/30 seconds), and when there is a handwritten input by the user (Yes in S31), the image generation unit 15 Based on the coordinates of the drawn point, an image of a black (basic color) point is added to the display image (S32). The output unit 16 displays the updated display image on the display 2 (S33).

  The character detection unit 12 obtains a distance x1 between the character indicated by the currently input graphic and the drawn point. For example, the character detection unit 12 sets the distance in the horizontal direction between the point of the rightmost graphic in the currently input graphic and the point input by handwriting as the distance x1. The distance between the last input point of the currently input figure and the point input by handwriting may be the distance x1, the center of the rectangle surrounding the character shown in the currently input figure, and the handwritten input The distance from the determined point may be the distance x1.

  When the distance x1 is smaller than the threshold c (No in S34), the character detection unit 12 adds a point graphic to the currently input graphic based on the coordinates of the drawn point (S35). Thereafter, the process returns to S31.

  If the distance x1 is equal to or greater than the threshold value c (Yes in S34), it is assumed that the input of the character indicated by the current input graphic is completed. That is, the character detection unit 12 determines the currently entered graphic as a character graphic for one character (S36). Here, the threshold value c may be a predetermined value, and may be set on the basis of the width of the rectangle surrounding the character shown in the currently input graphic (that is, the width in the horizontal direction of the immediately preceding character). For example, the threshold value c may be half the width of the immediately preceding character or the same length. The character detection unit 12 can obtain the threshold c by multiplying the width of the immediately preceding character by a predetermined number. The character detection unit 12 may determine the threshold c by selecting a value from a plurality of values prepared in advance according to the width of the immediately preceding character. In other words, if the distance between the previously entered handwritten character and the next handwritten input point is far away, the input of the previously entered handwritten character is treated as completed, and the current input shape Is detected as a character figure for one character. When the character detection unit 12 detects the character graphic, the character detection unit 12 stores the character graphic, initializes the input graphic (deletes the points and lines) (S37), and inputs the character graphic based on the coordinates of the drawn point. A point figure is added to the figure (S38).

  When there is no handwritten input by the user (No in S31), the character detecting unit 12 determines whether or not a state in which no handwritten input has continued for a predetermined first period (for example, 5 seconds) or longer (S39).

  If there is no handwritten input for more than 5 seconds (Yes in S39), the next input handwritten character is not related to the input character string (a character string different from the input character string). It is considered to be a character. That is, when handwriting input is not performed for a long period (5 seconds), it can be determined that the next input character is the first character of a character string such as a word input by the user. For this reason, the character detection unit 12 initializes a variable n (n = 0) indicating the number of characters in the character string of the character indicated by the character graphic, and initializes the character string graphic (erasing points and lines). (S40). Thereafter, the process returns to S31.

  If no handwritten input continues for 5 seconds or longer (No in S39), the character detection unit 12 determines whether something (such as a dot) is drawn on the currently input graphic (S41). .

  If the figure being input is blank (No in S41), that is, if nothing is drawn on the figure being input, the process returns to S31.

  When something is drawn on the figure being input (Yes in S41), the character detection unit 12 continues for a predetermined second period (for example, 1 second) in which no handwriting input is present, which is shorter than the first period. It is determined whether or not there is (S42).

  When the state where there is no handwriting input does not continue for one second or more (No in S42), the process returns to S31.

  If there is no handwritten input for one second or longer (Yes in S42), the character detection unit 12 determines that the input of one character has been completed and determines the currently input graphic as a character graphic for one character. (S43). That is, when one second elapses without handwriting input, the character detection unit 12 detects a collection of points or lines indicated by the input graphic as a character graphic for one character. When the character detection unit 12 detects the character graphic, the character detection unit 12 stores the character graphic and initializes the graphic being input (erase the dots and lines) (S44).

  After S38 or S44, the character detection unit 12 obtains a distance x2 between the character indicated by the current character graphic (the character detected by the character detection unit 12 in S36 or S43) and the character detected immediately before that. . For example, the character detection unit 12 stores information on the character (point coordinates, etc.) detected immediately before, a rectangle surrounding the character detected immediately before, and a rectangle surrounding the character indicated by the current character graphic Let the distance in the horizontal direction between be x2. The distance between the center of the rectangle surrounding the character detected immediately before and the center of the rectangle surrounding the character indicated by the current character graphic may be the distance x2, and the distance x2 is the character ( Or a character string) and a character indicating the distance between the character indicated by the current character graphic.

  If the distance x2 is greater than or equal to the threshold value b (Yes in S45), it can be determined that the character indicated by the current character graphic is the first character of a character string such as a word input by the user. That is, it can be determined that the character belongs to a character string different from the character detected immediately before. Here, the threshold value b may be a predetermined value, and may be set on the basis of the width of the rectangle surrounding the character shown in the currently input graphic (that is, the width in the horizontal direction of the immediately preceding character). For example, the threshold value b may be a half length of the width of the immediately preceding character or a double length. The character detection unit 12 can obtain the threshold value b by multiplying the width of the immediately preceding character by a predetermined number. The character detection unit 12 may determine the threshold value b by selecting a value from a plurality of values prepared in advance according to the width of the immediately preceding character. Here, threshold value b> threshold value c. In other words, if the distance between the previously entered handwritten character and the next handwritten input point is far away, the input of the previously entered handwritten character is treated as completed, and the current input shape Is detected as a character figure for one character. Therefore, the character detection unit 12 determines that the character indicated by the character graphic belongs to a new character string, and determines the current character graphic as a character string graphic indicating a group of character graphics (graphics such as a plurality of characters or symbols). And the value of the variable n is set to 1 (n = 1) (S46).

  When the distance x2 is smaller than the threshold value b (No in S45), it is considered that the character indicated by the current character graphic belongs to the character string currently being input. Therefore, the character detection unit 12 determines that the character indicated by the character graphic belongs to the currently input character string, and uses the current character graphic information (character or symbol graphic) as the character indicating the character string graphic. In addition to the column graphic, 1 is added to the value of the variable n (n = n + 1) (S47). The value of the variable n indicates that the detected character is the nth character in the character string. Note that at the first time, the variable n is initialized (n = 0). In the present embodiment, the character string graphic is a graphic (unit graphic) that is a unit for determining the color of the graphic.

  In addition, when the character detected immediately before does not exist, for example, it is possible to determine that the first input character after starting the whiteboard system is the first character of the character string. Without obtaining the distance x2, the current character graphic is stored as a character string graphic, and the value of the variable n is set to 1 (n = 1).

  After S46 or S47, the character size determination unit 13 obtains the character height y indicated by the character graphic as an index of the character size (S48). For example, the character size determination unit 13 specifies a rectangle that encloses (circumscribes) the character, and obtains the vertical width of the rectangle as the height of the character.

  When the character indicated by the character graphic is the first character of the character string (No in S49), that is, when n <2, the character color determining unit 14 determines the height y of the character indicated by the character graphic and a predetermined height. Compare with a (S50). a is a threshold value that serves as a reference for determining the color of the character.

  When the height y of the character indicated by the character graphic is greater than the predetermined height a (Yes in S50), the character color determining unit 14 determines the color of the character string to which the character indicated by the character graphic belongs to red (S51). . The character color determination unit 14 stores the character color of the character string as red.

  When the height y of the character indicated by the character graphic is equal to or less than the predetermined height a (No in S50), the character color determining unit 14 determines the color of the character string to which the character indicated by the character graphic belongs to black (S52). ). The character color determination unit 14 stores the character color of the character string as black.

  When the character indicated by the character graphic is not the first character of the character string (Yes in S49), that is, when n ≧ 2, the character color determination unit 14 determines the character of the character string to which the character indicated by the current character graphic belongs. Refer to the color.

  When the character color of the character string to which the character indicated by the current character graphic belongs is red (that is, when the height y of any character belonging to the character string being input is greater than the predetermined height a) (in S53) Yes), the character color determination unit 14 determines the color of the character string to which the character indicated by the character graphic belongs to red (S54).

  When the character color of the character string to which the character indicated by the current character graphic belongs is black (No in S53), the height y of the character indicated by the current character graphic is compared with the predetermined height a (S55).

  If the height y of the character indicated by the character graphic is greater than the predetermined height a (Yes in S55), the character color determination unit 14 changes the color of the character string to which the character indicated by the character graphic belongs to red (S56). . That is, the character color of characters input before the current character graphic belonging to the character string is also changed to red. For example, in the character string “one day” input by handwriting, the height of the first character “one” is not more than a predetermined height a, and the height of the second character “day” is a predetermined height a. If it is larger, the character color of the character “one” is determined to be black when the first character “one” is input. However, when the second character “day” is input, it is determined that the first character “one” is a part of a large character string (character string to be displayed in red), and the character “one” and the character “ The text color of “day” is changed to the same red color. Thereby, even when the first character is small, the character color of a group of characters can be displayed in a unified manner.

  When the height y of the character indicated by the character graphic is equal to or lower than the predetermined height a (that is, when the height y of any character belonging to the character string being input is equal to or lower than the predetermined height a) (S55) No), the character color determination unit 14 determines the color of the character string to which the character indicated by the character graphic belongs to black (S57).

  After S51, S52, S54, S56, or S57, the image generation unit 15 changes the color of the pixel corresponding to the character string indicated by the character string graphic in the display image to the determined character color (S58). Thereafter, the process returns to S31.

  The character size determination unit 13 determines the size of each character, and determines the maximum size (height) of a plurality of characters included in the character string as a character string (a group of figures serving as a unit for determining a color). ) Size (height). Then, the character color determination unit 14 may determine the character color of the character string according to the determined size of the character string. That is, the character size determination unit 13 determines the size of the character string (unit graphic) that is a unit for determining the color based on the size of the character (sub-unit graphic) that is a graphic that forms the character string. Also good.

  According to the present embodiment, the character string to which the handwritten input character belongs is recognized based on the length of the period when there is no handwritten input or the interval between the detected characters, and the character included in the character string is recognized. Depending on the size, the character color of the character string can be changed and displayed. For example, if any character included in the character string is large, the character string is displayed in a character color that matches the large character. Therefore, even when the first character of the character string is small, the color of the character string can be appropriately changed.

  Note that the height (grid height) a, threshold value b, threshold value c, and the like can be set in advance by the user.

[Other variations]
In the above example, a case where a horizontally written handwritten character is input has been described. However, in some cases, a user may input a character vertically. Therefore, the information processing apparatus may be configured so that “horizontal writing” / “vertical writing” can be selected in advance as an input mode for handwriting input. In the vertical writing mode, the character size determination unit may determine the character size based on the width in the horizontal direction of the character. In the vertical writing input mode, the character color determination unit may determine the character string to which the character belongs according to the vertical distance (interval or the like) between the character.

  Further, the character detection unit obtains a lateral distance x3 between the rightmost graphic point of the character string graphic and the handwritten input point when the handwritten input is performed, and the distance x3 is equal to or greater than a predetermined distance. If they are separated from each other, a handwritten input point and a drawing figure input after that may be recognized as a new character string.

  In the above example, the character string is specified by a period in which there is no handwriting input or the character spacing. However, a large character (height) follows a character string composed of small characters (characters having a height a or less). When a character larger than a) is input, the character detection unit may specify that the large character is a character belonging to a character string different from the previous character string. That is, the character detection unit treats the large character as the first character of the new character string. For example, the character color determination unit converts the previous character string including small characters to black, and the subsequent character string including large characters to red.

  The character size determination unit may determine the character size (character size level) based on the area of a figure such as a rectangle or a circle circumscribing the detected character. Further, the character size determination unit may determine the size of the character based on the larger one of the vertical height and the horizontal width of the character.

  In the above example, the character color determination unit determines the character color of the character string according to the maximum size of the character included in the character string, but the character color determination unit determines the character color of the character string. May be determined according to the average value, median value, or weighted average value of the size of characters included in the character string. Further, the character color determination unit may determine the character color of the character string according to the size of some characters included in the character string.

  In addition, the character detection unit may detect a handwritten character by a conventional character recognition technique. Further, the recognized handwritten character in the character graphic may be replaced with a character graphic of a predetermined font. In this case, the size of the replacement character is changed according to the size of the handwritten character.

  The information processing apparatus of the present invention can be used not only as a whiteboard system but also as a handwritten character input apparatus. For example, the output unit of the information processing apparatus may output and save an image (display image) that has been input by handwriting and has determined the character color to an external storage device, or may be output to another computer.

  Alternatively, the information processing apparatus of the present invention may recognize data of handwritten characters, replace the handwritten characters with character codes, and generate data in which each character is associated with a color attribute indicating a character color. Then, the generated data may be output to an external storage device or a computer.

  Finally, each block of the information processing apparatus 4, particularly the acquisition unit 11, the character detection unit 12, the character size determination unit 13, the character color determination unit 14, the image generation unit 15, and the output unit 16 are configured by hardware logic. Alternatively, it may be realized by software using a CPU (central processing unit) as follows.

  That is, the information processing apparatus 4 includes a CPU that executes instructions of a control program that realizes each function, a ROM (read only memory) that stores the program, a RAM (random access memory) that expands the program, the program, and various types A storage device (recording medium) such as a memory for storing data is provided. An object of the present invention is a recording medium on which a program code (execution format program, intermediate code program, source program) of a control program of the information processing apparatus 4 that is software that realizes the above-described functions is recorded so as to be readable by a computer. This can also be achieved by supplying the information processing apparatus 4 and reading and executing the program code recorded on the recording medium by the computer (or CPU or MPU (microprocessor unit)).

  Examples of the recording medium include a tape system such as a magnetic tape and a cassette tape, a magnetic disk such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk / hard disk, a CD-ROM (compact disc read-only memory) / MO (magneto-optical) / Disk systems including optical disks such as MD (Mini Disc) / DVD (digital versatile disk) / CD-R (CD Recordable), card systems such as IC cards (including memory cards) / optical cards, or mask ROM / EPROM ( An erasable programmable read-only memory) / EEPROM (electrically erasable and programmable read-only memory) / semiconductor memory system such as a flash ROM can be used.

  The information processing apparatus 4 may be configured to be connectable to a communication network, and the program code may be supplied via the communication network. The communication network is not particularly limited. For example, the Internet, intranet, extranet, LAN (local area network), ISDN (integrated services digital network), VAN (value-added network), CATV (community antenna television) communication. A network, a virtual private network, a telephone line network, a mobile communication network, a satellite communication network, etc. can be used. In addition, the transmission medium constituting the communication network is not particularly limited. For example, IEEE (institute of electrical and electronic engineers) 1394, USB, power line carrier, cable TV line, telephone line, ADSL (asynchronous digital subscriber loop) line Wireless such as IrDA (infrared data association) and remote control such as remote control, Bluetooth (registered trademark), 802.11 wireless, HDR (high data rate), mobile phone network, satellite line, terrestrial digital network, etc. But it is available.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope shown in the claims, and embodiments obtained by appropriately combining technical means disclosed in different embodiments. Is also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used for a whiteboard system that can perform handwriting input, a handwriting input device, and the like.

1 Whiteboard system (information display device)
2 Display (display part)
3 Touch panel (handwriting input part)
4 Information processing device (handwriting input device)
11 Acquisition part 12 Character detection part (unit figure specific part)
13 Character size determination part (size determination part)
14 Character color decision part (color decision part)
15 Image generator 16 Output unit

Claims (14)

A unit figure specifying unit for specifying a group of figures as a unit for determining a color from a drawing figure input by handwriting;
A size determination unit for determining the size of the unit graphic;
A handwriting input device comprising: a color determining unit that determines a color of the unit graphic according to a size of the unit graphic. The unit figure includes a plurality of sub-unit figures composed of a group of figures,
The unit figure specifying unit specifies a group of figures as a sub-unit figure from a drawing figure input by handwriting, specifies a figure composed of a plurality of the sub-unit figures as the unit figure,
The size determination unit determines the size of the sub unit graphic, and determines the size of the unit graphic based on the size of the sub unit graphic included in the unit graphic. The handwriting input device described in 1.   The size determination unit determines the size of the unit graphic based on the size of the sub unit graphic that is first input among the sub unit graphics included in the unit graphic. 2. The handwriting input device according to 2.   3. The size determination unit according to claim 2, wherein the size determination unit determines the size of the unit graphic based on the maximum size of the sub unit graphic among the sub unit graphics included in the unit graphic. Handwriting input device.   The unit graphic specifying unit specifies a drawing graphic input by handwriting as the sub unit graphic when a state in which there is no handwriting input for a first period or longer continues. The handwriting input device according to one item.   The unit graphic specifying unit specifies, as a new unit graphic, a figure composed of a sub unit graphic specified from a drawing graphic input after handwriting input when there is no handwriting input for the second period or longer. 6. The handwriting input device according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein:   The handwriting input device according to claim 1, wherein the unit graphic specifying unit specifies a drawing graphic input by handwriting as the unit graphic when there is no handwriting input for a first period or longer. .   The unit graphic specifying unit is configured such that a first sub unit graphic included in the first unit graphic and a second sub unit graphic specified from a drawing graphic input by handwriting immediately thereafter are separated by a predetermined distance or more. The handwriting input device according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein a graphic including the second sub-unit graphic is specified as the second unit graphic. The horizontal direction or vertical direction is a predetermined direction,
The unit graphic specifying unit determines a threshold according to the width of the first sub-unit graphic in the predetermined direction, and an interval between the first sub-unit graphic and the second sub-unit graphic in the predetermined direction is determined. The handwriting input device according to claim 8, wherein if it is equal to or more than the threshold value, a graphic including the second sub-unit graphic is specified as the second unit graphic.   A handwriting input device comprising: a color determining unit that determines a color of the drawing figure according to a size of the drawing figure input by handwriting. An information display device comprising the handwriting input device according to any one of claims 1 to 9,
A handwriting input unit that accepts handwriting input from a user;
An information display device comprising: a display unit that displays the unit graphic in a color determined by the color determination unit. A unit figure specifying step for specifying a group of figures as a unit figure from a drawing figure input by handwriting;
A size determination step for determining the size of the unit graphic;
A handwriting input processing method comprising: a color determining step for determining a color of the unit graphic in accordance with a size of the unit graphic.   A control program for causing a computer to function as the handwriting input device according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the control program causes the computer to function as each of the above-described units.   A computer-readable recording medium on which the control program according to claim 13 is recorded.

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