JP3124886B2 - Light pen - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a light pen.
More specifically, it relates to a light pen as a writing implement for writing characters or figures, correcting the way of writing characters or figures, and inputting characters or figures, giving instructions, or displaying on a computer. The present invention relates to a light pen as an input pen for correcting how to write characters or figures.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional writing instrument, a coloring matter attached to the tip of a rod-shaped pen is applied to paper on a flat surface by applying pressure to a pen tip portion and moved on the paper for writing. However, when writing characters and figures using a conventional writing instrument, the frictional resistance generated between the pen tip and the plane on which the characters and figures are written is a constant or minute change, and when moving the pen tip, There has been a problem that the force applied in the moving direction does not change. In other words, for example, when trying to enter characters in the displayed frame, or when it is necessary to fill the inside of the frame, the pen tip tends to stick out of the frame, pen practice, etc. Even when the pen tip needs to accurately follow the example, it has been difficult to accurately follow the pen tip because the frictional resistance is constant. In addition, the input pen as an instruction or input means for the computer has a similar problem due to the property that the frictional resistance is constant.

[0003]

When the above-mentioned problem occurs, it has been necessary to rewrite the writing implement again using an eraser such as an eraser. Further, in a pen-shaped computer input device, a system that appeals to the sense of sight and hearing, such as changing the display color or issuing a warning sound when an undesired input is performed, has been generally adopted. When such a problem occurs, in addition to canceling the input or instruction by another instruction, besides JP-A-64-2
As shown in FIG. 128, there is an apparatus for correcting an undesired input, but the configuration is complicated and it has been difficult to always perform the intended correction.

Further, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-287816, grid points called grids are provided in advance, positioning is performed unconditionally, and undesired input cannot be performed. As shown in -46313, there is also disclosed an apparatus in which irregularities are previously formed on an input panel, but there is a problem that the degree of freedom of input is reduced. The idea of creating an easy-to-use computer input device by changing the force required for movement is “Tactile texture display using a multi-modal mouse” (Mikiyuki Akamatsu et al. The 8th Human Interface Symbolodium, p. 101) ~ Page 104, 1
Although this example is effective for giving instructions to a computer like a mouse in this example, it is extremely unsuitable for an operation of writing characters, The use conditions and environment were narrow and limited, such as the necessity of an iron mouse console.

Accordingly, the present invention has a limited use environment and has a relatively simple configuration, and it is possible for a user to recognize that a problem has occurred when using a pen as if the user traced the surface of an uneven surface with the pen. It is intended to automatically correct and solve the problem by giving it to the tactile sensation.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a light pen according to the present invention, comprising: a pen tip having an optical sensor for detecting an optical characteristic of an object to be detected which is divided into at least two colors; A pen-shaped base material including a pressure generating unit that generates pressure according to the optical characteristic, and a control unit that adjusts the pressure, a pen tip is attached to one end of the pen-shaped base material, The pen tip slides with respect to the pen-shaped base material according to the pressure to change the frictional resistance between the object to be detected and the pen tip.

The light pen according to the present invention described in claim 2 is
The optical sensor unit selectively detects a specific light.

[0008] The light pen according to the present invention described in claim 3 is:
A dye attachment portion is provided at the tip of the pen.

The light pen according to the present invention described in claim 4 is:
At least a part of the object to be detected is a light emitting body.

[0010]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since pressure is generated, for example, when the character deviates from the sample character when tracing the sample character, the light pen and the object are detected based on the brightness information which is an optical characteristic. And a large frictional resistance is generated between them and the writing pressure is increased, so that it is possible to forcibly trace the sample character accurately and to learn the sample character.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the frame portion can be selectively detected, even if the detected object is divided into three or more colors, the pen practice, the mark sheet and the tablet can be performed. Can be accurately and easily input into the frame.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, for example, it is possible to practice pen penmanship, practice brush writing, or paint a mark sheet. Further, by combining with the invention described in claim 2, it is possible to prevent the already-filled area from being erroneously detected.

According to the present invention, the structure of the light sensor of the light pen can be simplified.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below. Unless otherwise specified, the same reference numerals in each embodiment indicate the same members.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of the present embodiment when used for pen practice. Here, a pen tip member 10 having a built-in optical sensor unit and a rod-shaped and cylindrical pen main member 12 having a pressure generating unit 11 built therein are connected to a pen 13.
The pen 13 is connected to the pressure controller 14 via a signal line 15. The character display section 16 has a surface on which a sample is written in advance, such as paper or plastic, or a CRT,
This is a display unit composed of a liquid crystal panel, an EL panel, and the like. The base 17 is written in white, and the sample characters 18 are written in black. Here, it is not limited to black characters on a white background, and may be any combination of colors such as white on a black background or red on a green background. Also, in FIG.
Although the pressure control unit 14 is shown as a separate member and connected by a signal line 15, the present invention is not limited to this.
The pressure controller 14 may be stored in the pen 13.
Also, a wireless connection is possible instead of the signal line 15. The pressure control unit 14 is a unit that changes an output electric signal based on an input electric signal. The pressure control unit 14 includes a device that performs digital processing using a microprocessor or the like, a device such as an analog amplifier alone, or a combination thereof. Can be used.

FIG. 2 shows the internal structure of the pen 13. Here, a pressure generating unit 11 including an electromagnet 20, an iron plate 21, a spring stopper 22, and a spring 23 is provided in the pen main member 12, and a light emitting diode 24 and a photodetector for receiving light are provided in the pen tip member 10. Diode 25,
An optical sensor unit 27 including an optical fiber 26 is provided. The light emitting diode 24 and the optical fiber 26 for transmitting the light emitted from the light emitting diode 24 are provided in order to avoid a situation where the brightness cannot be measured correctly when the pen is pressed against a non-light emitting object such as paper. Yes,
This is not always necessary when the surface on which the pen tip moves is at least partly a luminous material, such as a CRT, a liquid crystal panel with a backlight, or an EL panel. Although an output line for outputting the output result of the photodiode 25 as a light receiving unit is not shown, it is in the signal line 15 in this embodiment, and is connected to the pressure control unit 14. The optical sensor unit 27 is a unit that changes an electric signal according to an optical characteristic, and a CCD (charge coupled device) or the like can be used as a light receiving unit other than the photodiode. The pressure generating unit 11 is a unit that changes a force in accordance with the strength of an electric signal, and may use, for example, an electromagnet or a piezoelectric element such as a piezo or bimorph.

Next, the operation of the pen 13 shown in FIG. 1 will be described. The user practices pen penmanship by tracing the sample character 18 shown on the character display section 16 with the pen main member 12 of the pen 13. The optical sensor unit 27 that has extracted the lightness, which is an optical feature of the character display unit 16 of the pen tip, sends it to the pressure control unit 14. The pressure controller 14 determines an appropriate pressure by a program or a circuit for generating a pressure corresponding to the pressure, and sends the determined pressure to the pressure generator 11. The pressure generating unit 11 generates pressure and displaces the pen tip.
A change in the force applied to the pen tip results in a change in the sliding friction resistance between the pen tip member 10 and the character display section 16.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of the pressure control unit 14 in the present embodiment. Here, the brightness signal from the photodiode 25 of the optical sensor unit 27 is sampled by the A / D converter 30, converted into a digital signal, and sent to the processor 31. The processor 31 executes the pressure control program 34 stored in the memory, obtains the pressure according to the relationship shown in FIG. 4A, and sends it to the D / A converter 32. The D / A converter 32 converts the digital signal into an analog signal, and drives the electromagnet 20 of the pressure generator 11 via the amplifier 33. That is, according to the output of the pressure control unit 14, the electromagnet 20
, The iron plate 21 is operated by the electromagnet 20, the pen tip member 10 attached to the tip of the iron plate 21 is slid with respect to the pen main member 12, and the frictional resistance is changed to change the tactile sensation of the user. give. In this embodiment, FIG.
As shown in (a), the pressure increases as the brightness increases, that is, as the number of white areas shifted from the sample character 18 increases. As described above, the light generated by the light emitting diode 24 is radiated onto the character display section 16 through the optical fiber 26, and the iron plate 21 corresponds to the output result of the photodiode 25 that receives the brightness information of the reflected light. Will work. The relationship between lightness and pressure is shown in FIG.
The relationship is not limited to the relationship shown in FIG. 9A, but a necessary relationship can be stored in a memory as appropriate. In this embodiment, the pressure controller 14 performs A / D conversion, calculates the pressure using the processor 31, and then performs D / A conversion to generate the pressure. However, for simplification of the circuit, FIG.
It is also possible to configure only an analog circuit of the amplifier 50 such as a simple analog amplifier as shown in FIG. Also,
The feedback control of the pressure generation makes the writing taste smoother.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the user practices writing characters by following the pen tip on the displayed line. Since the strong pressure is generated first, the user has the feeling of moving the pen along a line with a physical recess, and can learn how to run the pen tip for writing beautiful characters effective.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 6 shows the overall configuration of this embodiment when used for filling a mark sheet paper. Here, the case where the inside of the green input frame 61 on the white mark sheet 60 made of paper is painted with the black ink 62 of the paint 13 is shown.
Dye container 63 filled with black ink 62 at the tip of 3
The black ink 62 adheres to the mark sheet 60 from the pigment attaching section 64 to paint the input frame 61 black.
In addition, the pigment | dye storage part 63 is not necessarily required, It can also be comprised only by a pigment | dye adhesion part, In that case, the core of a pencil can be used as the pigment | dye adhesion part 64, for example . The pressure control unit 14 in this embodiment is configured to generate a high pressure when the input from the optical sensor unit 27 is green. The specific example is as follows.

As a specific example, as shown in FIG. 7, a green filter 70 is placed in front of the optical sensor unit 27. Here, for the sake of simplicity, the above-described dye storage section 63 and dye attachment section 64 are not shown. In FIG. 6, the base mark sheet 60 is white, the input frame 61 is green, the black ink 62 is black,
, And each brightness is darker in the order of white, green, and black. When these colors pass through the green filter 70, the lightness of green and black becomes the same, and the lightness becomes darker in the order of white and green (= black). As shown in FIG. 4B, the pressure control unit 14 applies a high pressure when the brightness of the input from the optical sensor unit 27 is low (green) and a high pressure when the brightness is high (white). Has a built-in circuit or program for controlling so as to generate a low pressure.
3 can be realized by using the same configuration as that shown in FIG.

As another specific example, the optical sensor 27 is
This is the case where the B sensor is used. The base mark sheet 60 is white, the input frame 61 is green, and the black ink 62 is black. The lightness of each is darker in the order of white, green, and black.
After passing through the B sensor, each lightness is white (= green) at R,
The colors become darker in the order of black, G becomes darker in the order of white and green (= black), and B becomes darker in the order of white (= green) and black. As shown in FIG. 4B, the pressure control unit 14 applies a high pressure when the green lightness of the input from the optical sensor unit 27 is low (output of G) and a high pressure when the lightness is high (R, B). 8) incorporates a circuit or a program for controlling to generate a low pressure, and the block diagram of the pressure control unit 14 is shown in FIG.
It becomes as shown in. In this case, the difference from FIG.
The point is that the converter 30 is performed for each color. By having a plurality of control circuits or making the control program variable in the pressure control unit 14, it is possible to relatively easily respond to changes in the color of the mark sheet, the color of the input frame, and the color of the pen. In this embodiment, there is an advantage that a high pressure can be generated only by the input frame.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, a strong pressure is applied to the pen tip when the pen tip tries to protrude from the frame. It has the feeling of filling the area surrounded by the frame with the part, preventing the pen tip from sticking out of the frame,
This has the effect of making it easy to completely fill the inside of the frame.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 9 shows an overall configuration of this embodiment when used for inputting a graphic to a tablet unit of a computer or information device. In FIG. 9 (a), a grid of unit length at a constant interval is displayed on the input tablet unit 90 in advance, and in FIG. 9 (b), a grid of unit length at a constant interval is displayed on the display / input integrated tablet unit 91. Is displayed. The user operates the pen 13 to input a figure. The input figure is displayed on the display device 92 or the display / input integrated tablet unit 91. In addition, the optical sensor unit 27 of the pen tip,
The pressure generator 11 and the pressure controller 14 have the same configuration as in the first embodiment.

As described above, according to this embodiment, since the user feels the same response as physically inputting a straight line and a rectangle on the unit length lattice plane, the user can easily perform the integral multiple of the unit length. There is an effect that a figure consisting of a straight line and a rectangle consisting of can be input.

In this embodiment, the input is limited to an integral multiple of the unit length, but the input is not limited to this. That is, as shown in FIGS. 10 (a), (b), and (c), when input to a grid at arbitrary intervals is required, when input to a polar coordinate plane is required, Regardless of whether input is required, in the input tablet unit 90, as shown in FIGS. 10A, 10B, and 10C in which an input frame is drawn on the input tablet unit 90. 10 (a), 10 (b), and 10 (b) in the display / input integrated
This can be dealt with by displaying as shown in FIG.

(Embodiment 4) FIG. 11 shows the overall configuration of this embodiment when characters are input in a frame to a tablet unit of a computer or information device. FIG. 11A shows a case where characters are input in the frame of the input tablet unit 90, and FIG.
1 shows a case where a character is input in the frame of 1. The input characters are displayed on the display device 92 or the display / input integrated tablet unit 9.
1 is displayed. The optical sensor unit 27 of the pen point, the pressure generating unit 11, and the pressure control unit 14 have the same configuration as in the first embodiment. Here, the inside 110 of the frame is displayed in white, and the frame line 111 is displayed in black. The pressure control unit 14 generates a weak pressure when the brightness of the input from the optical sensor unit 27 is high (white), and generates a strong pressure when the brightness of the input from the optical sensor unit 27 is low (black). Built-in program. The display-input integrated tablet unit 91 receives the input stroke 112
Is displayed, but the lightness of the stroke 112 is set lower than the lightness of the frame display so that the pen tip does not feel the same pressure as the frame when moving over the stroke already input. The block diagram of the pressure control unit 14 of the present embodiment has the same configuration as that of FIG. When the color of the stroke 112 is set to a color different from that of the frame line 111 instead of lowering the brightness of the display, the same operation as in the second embodiment may be performed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, a strong pressure is applied to the pen tip when the pen tip attempts to protrude from the frame. There is an effect that the user feels as if he / she is writing a character on a surface surrounded by a frame having a portion, and can prevent the frame from protruding.

[0029]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to appeal to the user's tactile sense by changing the force generated in the pen tip moving direction according to the optical characteristics of the pen input object, Pen practice, mark sheet input, or erroneous input to the information device terminal can be prevented or appropriate input can be facilitated.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to more accurately and easily input an object detected and displayed in three or more colors. Input into the frame can be performed accurately and easily.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, for example, it is possible to practice pen penmanship or brush writing, or to fill a mark sheet. Further, by combining with the present invention described in claim 2, it is possible to prevent erroneous detection of the already filled area.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the structure of the light sensor section of the light pen can be simplified, so that the light pen can be reduced in weight.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of the present invention according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an internal structure of the pen according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the present invention according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a relationship between lightness and pressure according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is another block diagram of the present invention according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an entire configuration of the present invention according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an internal structure of a pen according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the present invention according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of the present invention according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 10A is a diagram illustrating a display when input to a grid at an arbitrary interval is required according to the third embodiment. FIG. 14B is a diagram illustrating a display when input to a polar coordinate plane is required according to the third embodiment. FIG. 14C is a diagram illustrating a display when an input to an arbitrary curve is required according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of the present invention according to a fourth embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 pen tip member 11 pressure generating section 12 pen main member 13 pen 14 pressure control section 15 signal line 16 character display section 17 base 18 sample character 20 electromagnet 21 iron plate 22 spring stopper 23 spring 24 light emitting diode 25 photodiode 26 optical fiber 27 optical sensor Unit 30 A / D converter 31 processor 32 D / A converter 33 amplifier 34 pressure control program

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A pen tip having an optical sensor unit for detecting an optical characteristic of an object to be detected divided into at least two colors, and a pressure generating unit for generating a pressure according to the optical characteristic. A pen-shaped base material; and a control unit for adjusting the pressure, wherein a pen tip is attached to one end of the pen-shaped base material, and the pen tip is slid on the pen-shaped base material according to the pressure. A light pen that moves to change the frictional resistance between the object to be detected and the tip of the pen. 2. The light pen according to claim 1, wherein the light sensor unit selectively detects a specific light. 3. The light pen according to claim 1, wherein a dye attachment portion is provided at the tip of the pen. 4. The light pen according to claim 1, wherein at least a part of the object to be detected is a light emitting body.