JP3371975B2 - Tablet device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tablet device using a resistance film.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A tablet device which is a handwriting input device of a computer includes a resistance film system, an electromagnetic induction system, a capacitance system and the like. Among them, the resistance film system has a simple structure and a low cost. Tablets using a resistance film are disclosed in, for example, JP-A-56-4885 and JP-A-59-85.
There is one disclosed in the publication such as 584. FIG. 8 shows an example of the conventional method of detecting the position of the resistance film type, which is formed by stacking the resistance film 91 and the resistance film 93 with a slight gap therebetween. In this case, a resistance film is formed on an insulating substrate (glass plate, resin sheet, etc.) by printing, coating, vapor deposition, etc., and the insulating substrates are superposed with an insulating spacer so that the resistance films face each other. . Electrodes 92a and 92b are provided on both ends of the resistance film 91, and the resistance film 93
Are provided with electrodes 94a and 94b on a pair of sides perpendicular to the electrodes 92a and 92b. When a voltage is applied between the electrodes 92a and 92b and a potential gradient is formed on the resistance film 91, when the resistance film 91 is pressed with a pen or a finger, the resistance film 91 comes into contact with the resistance film 93. At this time, the potential of the contact portion of the resistance film 91 with the resistance film 93 is set to the resistance film 93, the electrode 9
4b, read through the output terminal 96, and detect the position of one axis. To detect the position of the axis orthogonal to the position-detected axis, a voltage is applied between the electrodes 94a and 94b, and the resistance film 9
3 is formed by forming a potential gradient, and the potential of the contact portion between the resistance film 91 and the resistance film 93 is read. By alternately detecting these two orthogonal axes in time division,
The coordinates of the pressed point are detected.

[0003]

However, the above-mentioned conventional example has the following problems.

As described above, the position detection is performed by bringing the two resistive films into contact with each other at a position where they are pressed with a pen or a finger and measuring the potential of the contact site. There is no need to use a special pen as a means for indicating the position and pressing the resistive film, and it has an advantage that any writing tool such as a general writing tool or a finger can be used. However, when writing characters on the tablet with a pen and inputting them, if a part of the hand holding the pen touches the input surface of the tablet, the resistive films will contact each other, and the pen will give instructions. There is a drawback in that the potential at that position cannot be measured and a position different from the position designated by the pen is output as a detection signal. Generally, it is natural to use a pen to write letters and drawings with the pen's hand held somewhere, but in the conventional resistive film tablet, the hand floats above the input surface to write letters. I am forced to use a method with poor operability. The present invention solves such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a resistance film type tablet in which a hand holding a pen can be put on an input surface to input characters and figures.

[0005]

A tablet device according to the present invention comprises a first resistance film having electrodes at both ends and a first resistance film which is elongated in a direction intersecting with the left-right direction and has electrodes at both ends. A plurality of second resistance films arranged in parallel with each other in the left-right direction so as to face each other, coordinate calculation means for calculating coordinates of a contact portion between the first resistance film and the second resistance film, and the first resistance film and the first resistance film. A switching unit that sets information about whether the hand holding the pen that causes the contact with the two-resistance film is left or right, and the coordinates of the contact portion are coordinates to be output according to the setting state of the switching unit. And a determining means for determining whether or not.
In this case, it is preferable that the coordinate calculation means sequentially selects the plurality of second resistance films and calculates the coordinates of the contact portion on each of the second resistance films. Further, the tablet device of the present invention includes a first resistance film having electrodes at both ends, a plurality of second resistance films having electrodes at both ends and arranged to face the first resistance film, and the plurality of second resistance films. Coordinate calculation means for sequentially selecting two resistance films and calculating coordinates of the contact parts of the second resistance film and the first resistance film, and the contact parts of the contact parts according to the change in the number of contact parts within a predetermined time. And a determining unit that determines whether or not the coordinate is a coordinate to be output. In the above case, it is preferable that the facing direction of the electrodes provided on the second resistance film intersects the facing direction of the electrodes provided on the first resistance film.

[0006]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention are shown below.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show the structure of the resistance film corresponding to the input surface. As shown in FIG.
Electrodes 11a and 11b are provided on both sides in the axial direction. Further, the resistance films 20-1, 20-2, 20 elongated in the Y-axis direction
-3, ... Are arranged in parallel at a small interval so as to insulate each other, and the resistance films 20-1, 20-2, 20-3,
The electrodes 21a and 21b are individually provided at both ends in the Y-axis direction of. Here, the resistance films 20-1, 20-2, 20-3,
It is better to make the interval of ... As small as possible within a range where insulation is maintained, and it is generally set to 0.5 mm or less. Each resistance film 20
The widths of -1, 20-2, 20-3, ... Will be described later, but are set to about 3 mm to 1 cm. As shown in FIG. 3, the resistance film 10 is formed on the insulating substrate 15, while the resistance films 20-1, 20-2, 20-3, ...
6 to be formed. The insulating substrate 15 and the insulating substrate 16 are composed of the resistance film 10 and the resistance films 20-1, 20-2, 20-3, ...
Of the resistance film 1 formed on the insulating substrate 15 when the surfaces are faced to each other and the insulating spacers 17 are overlapped with each other and the insulating substrate 15 is pressed with a pen or a finger.
Resistive films 20-1 and 20 on the surface of the insulating substrate 16 facing 0
-2, 20-3, ...

FIG. 1 shows the entire structure of a tablet device using a resistance film having the structure described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. The electrodes 21a and 21b have electrode selection means 22 respectively.
Are connected, and the resistance films 20-1, 20-2, 20-3, ...
-Select one of them in sequence so that they can be connected to the switch 30. The X-axis and the Y-axis are alternately detected in time division to detect the designated position, and the switch is performed by the switch 30.
In the case of the X-axis, a potential gradient is formed on the resistance film 10 by the DC power supply 31, and the potential of the portion pressed by a pen or the like is passed through one of the resistance films 20-1, 20-2, 20-3, ... Then, the potential is measured by the potential measuring means 40. In the case of the Y-axis, the resistance films 20-1, 20-2, 20-
A potential gradient is formed in any of 3 and ..., and the potential of the portion pressed by a pen or the like is measured by the potential measuring means 40 via the resistance film 10. The measurement result of the potential measuring means 40 is sent to the coordinate calculating means 41, and the coordinates of the indicated position are calculated. Further, here, it is also detected whether or not the resistance films are in contact with each other by being pressed. After that, the determination means 42 determines whether or not the input is made by the pen, and when it is determined that the input is made by the pen, the result of the coordinates is output. Judgment means 42
Requires information on whether the user holds the input pen in the right hand or the left hand in calculating the position indicated by the input pen. Specify whether the holding hand is the right hand or the left hand.

The resistor 32 is necessary to prevent the potential from becoming unstable when there is no contact between the resistive films due to the pressing of the position instruction, but the resistance value is made as high as possible so as not to deteriorate the position detection accuracy. There is a need.

A specific operation of the tablet device having the above configuration will be described below.

FIG. 4A is a diagram showing a state in which the pen 50 is held in the right hand 51 and an input is performed. The right hand 51 is also on the tablet surface at the same time when the pen 50 for pointing the position touches the tablet surface. 4 (b) is shown in FIG.
It is an example showing the state of (a), and the resistance film 10 and the resistance film 20-2 are in contact with each other at the contact portion 60 by the pen 50, and at the same time, the resistance film 1 is contacted at the contact portion 61 by the right hand 51.
0 and the resistance film 20-5 are in contact with each other, and the resistance film 10 is contacted at the contact portion 62.
And the resistance film 20-6 are in contact with each other. In such a case, the contact portions 61 and 62 by the right hand 51 are unnecessary information, and it is necessary to validate only the contact portion 60 by the pen 50 and output the position. The operation will be described below by taking the case of FIG. 4 as an example.

FIG. 5 is a time chart showing the operation in one measurement period. One measurement period consists of two measurements, the X-axis measurement and the Y-axis measurement.
Done in. In the electrode selection means 22, the resistance films 20-1 and 20-2
One of 0-2, 20-3, ... Is selected. Below, on the input surface of the tablet, the resistive film 20-1
Is displayed as a region 1 and the resistance film 20-2 is displayed as a region 2.

In the X-axis measurement, a potential gradient is formed in the resistance film 10 in the X-axis direction. First, the potential in the region 1 when only the resistance film 20-1 is selected by the electrode selecting means 22 is measured. Then, only the resistance film 20-2 is selected, the potential in the region 2 is measured, and the regions to be measured are sequentially switched. Then, the measurement result of the output potential in each region is obtained. When there is contact between the resistance films due to pressing, the potential of the contact portion on the resistance film 10 is read, and when there is no pressing, the output potential becomes zero. In the example of FIG. 5, a non-zero output potential occurs when regions 2, 5, and 6 are selected. Since the output potential is not 0, it can be seen that the resistance films are pressed in that area and are in contact with each other, and at the same time, the X-axis direction coordinate of the contact position between the resistance films in each pressed area is detected from the value of the output potential. it can. In the X-axis measurement, all the regions are selected once and the measurement is completed, and then the Y-axis measurement is performed.

In the Y-axis measurement, the resistance film 20-1,
A potential gradient is formed in one of 20-2, 20-3, ... In the Y-axis direction, and the potential is read through the resistance film 10.
First, only the resistance film 20-1 was selected by the electrode selection means 22 and the potential in the region 1 when the voltage was applied was measured through the resistance film 10, and then only the resistance film 20-2 was selected and the voltage was applied. In this case, the potential in the region 2 is measured, and the regions to which the voltage is applied are sequentially switched. Then, the measurement result of the output potential in each region is obtained. When there is contact between the resistance films due to pressing, the resistance films 20-1, 20-2, 20-3, ...
Of these, the potential of the contact portion in the selected resistive film region is read, and the output potential becomes 0 when there is no depression. In the example of FIG. 5, the region 2,
When 5 or 6 is selected, a non-zero output potential occurs. Since the output potential is not 0, it can be seen that the resistive films are pressed in that area and are in contact with each other, and at the same time, the Y-axis direction coordinate of the contact position between the resistive films in each pressed area is detected from the value of the output potential. it can.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the output result of the coordinate calculating means 41 based on the output from the potential measuring means 40. Resistor 3 when the position indication is not pressed for the selected area
Since the potential becomes zero due to 2, it is possible to determine whether or not the button has been pressed by providing a threshold value in the vicinity thereof. If the button is pressed, its coordinate value is calculated. Therefore, in the example of FIG. 6, it is determined that the pressing is “present” in the areas 2, 5, and 6, and the X coordinate and the Y coordinate of each pressing position in each area are calculated based on the measured potential. The other areas are determined to be "none".

The presence / absence of depression and the coordinate value are obtained for each area. Based on the result, the determination means 42 determines whether the area is depressed by the pen or touched by the hand holding the pen. The criteria used here are based on the following.

1) When the pen is held in the right hand, it is determined that the contact of the pen is located on the left side than the contact of the hand holding the pen, and when the pen is held in the left hand, the contact of the pen is located on the right side. . 2) Hand contact covers at least two areas.

3) Normally, the pen touches only one area, but it may reach two areas at the boundary of the area.

Basically, it is possible to handle pen input with a hand by using only 1), but in practical use, it is possible to consider a state with only the hand, so the criteria of 2) and 3) are supplemented. I am using. In order to satisfy 2) and 3), the resistance film 20-
The width of 1, 20-2, 20-3, ... Is 3 mm to 1 c
It is recommended to set it to about m.

FIG. 7 shows an example of the flow of this determination processing. The example shown here is for input with the pen in the right hand,
If you have a pen in your left hand, you can think left and right. First, in block 401, the process is branched depending on the number of pressed areas. If the number of pressed areas is four or more, the left three pressed areas are examined (block 40).
2), block 40 as in the case where the number of pressed areas is 3.
The process proceeds to 3. In block 403, it is determined whether or not all the three pressed areas are adjacent to each other. If all of the three pressed areas are adjacent to each other, it is determined that the hand holding the pen has touched the tablet input surface instead of inputting with the pen ( Block 413). Therefore, in this case, the coordinates are not output. If none of the three pressed areas are adjacent in block 403, the left two pressed areas are examined (block 404), and the following processing is performed in the same way as when the number of pressed areas is two.

When the number of pressed areas is 2, it is checked in block 405 whether the two areas are adjacent to each other. If they are not adjacent to each other, the area on the left side is determined to be the area input by the pen (block 411). ), And outputs the coordinate value obtained in the left pressed area. If it is determined in block 405 that the two regions are adjacent to each other, in block 406, the difference between the X-coordinate values obtained in the two regions is obtained. It is determined that it is a touch of the hand holding the object (block 413), and if it is smaller than the threshold value, it is determined that the input is a pen (block 412). This is done because there is a possibility that the pressing may extend over two areas near the boundary of the area even when inputting with the pen.

When the number of pressed areas is 1, the following two states can be considered. One is input with the pen when the hand is not touched, and the other is the case where the number of pressed areas is temporarily 1 at the moment when the hand is put on the tablet input surface or released. In order to make this distinction, processing is performed in blocks 407 to 409. The number of pressed areas is 2 to 1 within a predetermined time
If it becomes 0 after 0, it is judged that the attached hand is released (block 414) and the coordinates are not output. Further, when the number of pressed areas changes from 0 to 1 through 2 within a predetermined time, it may be the moment when the hand holding the pen comes into contact, so when the number of pressed areas reaches 2, block 4
The process proceeds to 05 and is performed in the same manner as when the number of pressed areas is 2. When the number of pressed areas is 1 and the above two cases are not satisfied, it is determined that the pressing is only input by the pen, and the coordinates obtained in the pressed area are output. Block 4
The value of the predetermined time used in 08 and 409 is about 0.1 sec.
The following level is appropriate. If the value of the predetermined time is further increased, erroneous determinations such as when the user slowly touches the hand are lessened, but the response becomes slow when the input is performed by pressing only the pen without touching the hand.

When the number of pressed areas is 0, there is no input, and no coordinates are output (block 410).

When the example of FIG. 6 is applied to this determination processing shown in FIG. 7, the result is as follows. Here, the region 1 is located on the leftmost side, and the region 2 is located on the right side according to the regions 2, 3 ... Press "Yes" in Figure 6
Areas are areas 2, 5, and 6, and the number of pressed areas is 3. Therefore, in the processing of FIG.
Go to 3. Regions 5 and 6 are adjacent but region 2 is region 5
Since it is not adjacent to Y6, proceed to block 404,
Let's look at the two left pressed areas (here areas 2 and 5) and proceed to block 405. Where regions 2 and 5
Are not adjacent to each other, the process proceeds to block 411, where it is determined that the left region, region 2, is the region where the pen input has been performed, and the coordinate values obtained in region 2 are output.

[0025]

As described above, according to the tablet device of the present invention, even if the pen and the hand holding the pen touch the tablet input surface at the same time, they are discriminated and only the coordinates input by the pen are output. be able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a resistance film portion of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a resistance film portion of the example.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing how the resistance films contact each other when inputting with a hand.

FIG. 5 is a time chart showing the measurement operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of an output of a coordinate calculation means 41.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing an example of processing in the determination means 42.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Resistive film 11a, 11b ... Electrodes 20 ... Resistive film 21a, 21b ... Electrodes 22 ... Electrode selection means 31 ... DC power supply 40 ... Potential measuring means 41 ... Coordinate calculation means 42 ... Judgment means 43 ... Left / right switching means

Continued front page       (56) Reference JP-A-4-160621 (JP, A)                 JP-A-61-193228 (JP, A)                 JP-A-2-300815 (JP, A)                 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-155021 (JP, A)                 JP-A-2-268317 (JP, A)                 Actual Kaihei 3-121438 (JP, U)

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A first resistance film having electrodes on both ends,It is formed in a slender shape in the direction intersecting the left-right direction, and electrodes are formed on both ends.
With Facing the first resistance filmLeft and right
Parallel to each otherA plurality of second resistance films arranged, The coordinates of the contact portion between the first resistance film and the second resistance film are
Coordinate calculation means for calculating,Contact between the first resistance film and the second resistance film
Set information about whether the hand holding the pen is on the left or right
Switching means, Depending on the setting state of the switching means, The aboveOf contact areaCoordinate
Determination means for determining whether is a coordinate to be output, Tablet device having. 2. The tablet device according to claim 1.
The coordinate calculation means sequentially selects the second resistance film.
Of the contact portion of each of the second resistance films.
A tablet device characterized by calculating coordinates . 3. A first resistance film having electrodes at both ends and electrodes at both ends, which are arranged to face the first resistance film.
A plurality of second resistance films and the second resistance film are sequentially selected, and each of the second resistance films is selected.
Coordinates for calculating the coordinates of the contact portion between the film and the first resistance film
Depending on the calculation means and the change in the number of the contact parts within a predetermined time, the contact
Determine whether the coordinates of the touched part are the coordinates to be output
A tablet device comprising: a determination unit . 4. The tab according to any one of claims 1 to 3.
In a ret device, an electrode provided on the second resistance film
Is opposite to the electrodes provided on the first resistance film.
A tablet device characterized by intersecting directions .