JP4752565B2 - Electronic pen form manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technology for manufacturing electronic pen forms.

  In recent years, pen-type input devices called “electronic pens” and “digital pens” have appeared (hereinafter referred to as “electronic pens” in this specification). The developed “Anoto pen” is known. Anotopen is used in a pair with dedicated paper (hereinafter referred to as “dedicated paper”) on which a predetermined dot pattern is printed. In addition to the normal ink-type pen tip, the Anoto pen is equipped with a small camera for reading the dot pattern on the dedicated paper and a data communication unit. When a user writes characters on the special paper with an anotopen or checks an image that is designed on the special paper, the small camera detects the dot pattern on the special paper as the pen moves, and the user Entry data (also referred to as “stroke data”) such as written characters and images is acquired. This entry data is transmitted from the Anotopen to a terminal device such as a nearby personal computer or mobile phone by the data communication unit. The system using this anotopen can be used as an input device in place of the keyboard, and is very easy to use for users who are reluctant to use the personal computer and keyboard described above.

  Conventionally, in order to manufacture a form for an electronic pen, offset printing is usually performed due to the problem of the dot pattern reproduction accuracy. However, electronic pen forms produced by offset printing are “duplicated”, and therefore all forms of the same design have the same dot pattern. That is, even if the electronic pen form is physically different, the electronic pen is recognized as the same electronic pen form.

  Therefore, in the conventional electronic pen form, the electronic pen cannot recognize two electronic pen forms of the same design separately, and there is a risk that data is mixed. In order to solve this problem, a method of individually identifying each electronic pen form by entering an ID, etc. is used. If you forget to enter an ID or enter an incorrect ID, who has entered it? I do not know whether it is, and data will be mixed. In addition, since the conventional electronic pen form is duplicated by offset printing, there is a problem in that it cannot cope with frequent design changes and multi-product small lots.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and to provide a separate identifiable manufacturing how the electronic pen form one by one.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for producing a form for an electronic pen for a plurality of users using a predetermined form and arranged with a dot pattern recognizable by the electronic pen, and each form has a form. A setting process for setting a user, a user area setting process for setting a part of the dot pattern in a user area, and a form for setting a part of the dot pattern different from the user area in a form area An area setting step, a user assignment step for assigning a different dot pattern for each user from the user area, a form assignment step for assigning a different dot pattern for each form from the form area, and the setting step Based on the settings, the dot pattern assigned by the form assignment step and the user assignment Extent and the disposing step and the dot pattern arranged above each form assigned, and design data relating to design corresponding to the form, the printer printing step of printing the each form by the printer and a dot pattern in which the arrangement process is arranged And have.

  According to the electronic pen form manufacturing method, the form has a plurality of forms, and different dot patterns are arranged for each form. Specifically, a dot pattern is assigned and determined from the original dot pattern area so as not to overlap for each form, and the determined dot pattern is arranged in each form. Here, the original dot pattern area is composed of a predetermined dot pattern, and each dot pattern does not overlap. In other words, the original dot pattern area is a source of dot patterns to be printed on each form by printer. Then, a dot pattern arranged on each form and a design corresponding to each form are printed on a paper medium form by a printer to produce an electronic pen form. In this way, by changing the dot pattern for each form, the electronic pen can easily recognize the form of each electronic pen form.

  In order to distinguish between normal printing and printing by a printer, normal printing is called “offset printing”, and printing by a printer is called “printer printing”.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for producing a form for an electronic pen , which is composed of a plurality of items and produces a form in which a dot pattern recognizable by an electronic pen is arranged for a plurality of users, A setting step for setting a user in a form, an item information obtaining step for obtaining item information that is information relating to items constituting each form, and a user area setting step for setting a part of the dot pattern in a user area And an item area setting step for setting a part of the dot pattern different from the user area as an item area, a user assignment step for assigning a different dot pattern for each user from the user area, From the item area, based on the item allocation step for assigning different dot patterns for each item, the setting by the setting step, and the item information And the user allocating step allocates a dot pattern, an arrangement step of arranging a dot pattern in which the items assigned process is assigned to the form, and design data relating to design corresponding to the item, the dot which the disposition process is arranged A printer printing step for printing the pattern on each of the forms by a printer.

In the electronic pen form manufacturing method , the dot pattern indicating the item assigned by the item assignment process and the dot pattern indicating the user assigned by the user assignment process are arranged on the paper medium form as described above. Thus, it becomes possible to identify information such as items and users based on user entries. Therefore, even when the layout of items dynamically changes in the form, it is possible to easily manufacture the electronic pen form by arbitrarily arranging the dot patterns assigned by the item assignment step.

In one aspect of the electronic pen form manufacturing method , the item includes a plurality of fields, and further includes a defining step of defining a field for each item. According to this, even when the layout of items dynamically changes in each form, it is possible to easily cope with the problem by simply arranging a dot pattern in which a field is defined in advance. In other words, it is possible to easily manufacture an electronic pen form without generating a field definition for each form. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily cope with frequent design changes and multi-product small lots.

In one aspect of the electronic pen form manufacturing method , the setting step sets one user for each form. According to this, a user can be reliably identified one by one by the dot pattern assigned by the user assignment step.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a separate identifiable manufacturing how the electronic pen form one by one.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, an outline of an electronic pen used as an input device in the system of the present embodiment will be described.

[Electronic pen]
FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing how the electronic pen is used, and FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing the structure of the electronic pen. As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic pen 10 is used in combination with a dedicated paper 20 on which a dot pattern is printed. The electronic pen 10 includes a pen tip portion 17 similar to a normal ink pen, and a user writes characters on the dedicated paper 20 in the same manner as a normal ink pen.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the electronic pen 10 includes a processor 11, a memory 12, a data communication unit 13, a battery 14, an LED 15, a camera 16, and a pressure sensor 18 therein. The electronic pen 10 includes an ink cartridge (not shown) as a component similar to a normal ink pen.

  The electronic pen 10 does not convert the locus of the ink drawn on the dedicated paper 20 by the pen tip unit 17, but converts the locus coordinates of the movement of the electronic pen 10 on the dedicated paper 20 into data. While the LED 15 illuminates the vicinity of the pen tip 17 on the dedicated paper 20, the camera 16 reads the dot pattern printed on the dedicated paper 20 and converts it into data. That is, the electronic pen 10 can acquire a stroke generated when the user moves the electronic pen 10 on the dedicated paper 20 as image data or vector data.

  The pressure sensor 18 detects the pressure applied to the pen tip portion 17 when the user writes characters on the dedicated paper with the electronic pen 10, that is, the writing pressure, and supplies the detected pressure to the processor 11. The processor 11 switches the LED 15 and the camera 16 on and off based on the writing pressure data given from the pressure sensor 18. That is, when the user writes characters or the like on the dedicated paper 20 with the electronic pen 10, writing pressure is applied to the pen tip portion 17. Therefore, when the writing pressure exceeding the predetermined value is detected, it is determined that the user has started the description, and the LED 15 and the camera 16 are operated.

The camera 16 reads the dot pattern on the dedicated paper 20 and supplies the pattern data to the processor 11. The processor 11 calculates X and Y coordinates on the dedicated paper 20 from the supplied dot pattern.

The processor 11 acquires writing pressure array data and X 1 , Y coordinate data and stores them in the memory 12 in association with a time stamp (time information) while the user is described. Therefore, data corresponding to the description content of the user is stored in the memory 12 in time series. The capacity of the memory 12 can be about 1 Mbyte, for example.

  All the acquired data is held in the memory 12 until a transmission instruction is given by the user. When the user issues a transmission instruction, the data communication unit 13 transmits the data in the memory 12 to the terminal device 25 within a predetermined distance from the electronic pen 10. Basically, once a transmission instruction is given, the electronic pen 10 transmits all the data stored in the memory 12 to the terminal device 25, so that the memory 12 is cleared. Therefore, when it is desired to transmit the same information to the terminal device 25 again after transmission, the user needs to write the description on the dedicated paper 20 again. In this case, the user only has to trace characters written on the dedicated paper 20 with an ink pen.

  The electronic pen 10 itself does not include a function button such as a transmission button, and a transmission instruction and other instructions are performed by a user checking the dedicated box provided at a predetermined position on the dedicated paper 20 with the electronic pen 10. Executed. A transmission instruction is associated with the position coordinates of the dedicated box in advance. When the processor 11 receives the position coordinates of the dedicated box, the processor 11 supplies data in the memory 12 to the data communication unit 13 and transmits the data to the terminal device 25. To do. The electronic pen 10 can indicate completion of data transmission by vibration of the electronic pen.

  The battery 14 is for supplying power to each element in the electronic pen 10, and the electronic pen 10 itself can be turned on / off by a cap (not shown) of the electronic pen, for example.

  As described above, the electronic pen 10 has a function of acquiring coordinate data and writing pressure data corresponding to characters and the like described on the dedicated paper 20 by the user and transmitting them to the nearby terminal device 25. Since the pen tip portion 17 is a normal ink pen, the content described on the dedicated paper 20 remains as an original original. That is, at the same time as describing the original paper, its contents can be digitized in the form of coordinate data in real time.

  According to the standard function of the electronic pen 10, data obtained by the electronic pen 10 is in principle in the form of coordinate data or vector data, and is not text data. However, as a standard function, the electronic pen 10 has a function of converting text into alphanumeric characters by describing it in a dedicated area provided on the dedicated paper 20.

  Also, the electronic pen 10 can hold property information (pen information and pen owner information) regarding the pen itself and its owner, and can be referred to from an application. As the pen information, a battery level, a pen ID, a pen manufacturer number, a pen software version, a subscription provider ID, and the like can be held. The pen owner information can hold nationality, language, time zone, email address, free memory capacity, name, address, fax / phone number, mobile phone number, and the like.

  In the data communication unit 13 in the above example, the electronic pen 10 is connected to the terminal device 25 by various methods such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) wireless transmission, wired transmission using a USB cable, and data transmission by contact with a terminal. It is conceivable to perform data transmission.

Next, a method for acquiring X and Y coordinate data of the contents described by the user with the electronic pen will be described. As described above, a predetermined dot pattern is printed on the dedicated paper 20. The camera 16 of the electronic pen 10 does not read the locus of ink described on the dedicated paper 20 by the user, but reads the dot pattern on the dedicated paper 20. Actually, as shown in FIG. 1, the illumination area by the LED 15 and the shooting area of the camera 16 (located in the illumination area) are deviated from the position where the pen tip portion 17 contacts the dedicated paper 20.

  The dot pattern is printed with a special ink containing carbon, and the camera 16 can recognize only the pattern with the special ink. Even if ruled lines or frames are printed on dedicated paper with inks other than dedicated ink (not including carbon), the electronic pen does not recognize them. Therefore, when creating forms such as various application forms using dedicated paper, input frames, ruled lines, cautions, etc. are printed with ink other than dedicated ink.

  In the dot pattern, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the position of each dot is associated with data. In the example of FIG. 3, the 2-bit information of 0 to 3 is displayed by shifting the dot position vertically and horizontally from the reference position (intersection of vertical and horizontal lines) of the grid. The position coordinates on the dedicated paper are determined by the combination of information expressed in this way. As illustrated in FIG. 4A, 36 dots are arranged in a grid within a range of 2 mm in length and width, and the data array (FIG. 4B) indicated by these dots is displayed on the dedicated paper. Are associated with the position coordinates. Therefore, when the camera 16 of the electronic pen 10 captures a dot pattern as shown in FIG. 4A, the processor 11 changes the data array shown in FIG. 4B based on the dot pattern data input from the camera 16. The position coordinates on the dedicated paper (that is, where the dot pattern is located on the dedicated paper) corresponding to the acquired position are calculated in real time. The minimum unit for recognizing the dot pattern is 2 mm × 2 mm, and the camera 16 takes about 100 shots per second.

  Next, the dedicated paper will be described. An example of the structure of the dedicated paper is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the dedicated paper 20 has a dot pattern 32 printed on a mount 30 and a design 34 such as a ruled line printed thereon. The mount 30 is usually paper, and the dot pattern 32 is printed with dedicated ink containing carbon as described above. Further, the design 34 is printed with normal ink or the like. The dot pattern and the design may be printed at the same time, or one of them may be printed first.

  An example of the design 34 is shown in FIG. FIG. 6 shows an example of a certain application form 36 in which a plurality of entry fields 38 and a transmission box 39 are printed. Although it is not clearly shown in FIG. 6 and will be described in detail later, a dot pattern is actually printed on the entire surface of the application form 36, and an entry box 38 and a transmission box 39 are formed on the entire surface using ordinary ink. It is printed. The user can enter the necessary items in each entry field 38 of the application form 36 using the electronic pen 10 in the same manner as a conventional application form without being aware of the dot pattern.

  The area on the dedicated paper 20 can be roughly divided into two types. One is an entry area, in which the content described by the electronic pen 10 is handled as information as it is. In the example of FIG. 6, a plurality of entry fields 38 correspond to this. The other is a functional element, and when the corresponding area is checked with the electronic pen 10, actions, instructions, etc. defined in advance for the area are executed. The transmission box 39 in the example of FIG. 6 corresponds to this.

  The transmission box 39 is used when giving an instruction to transmit data stored in the electronic pen 10 to the nearby terminal device 25 as described above. When the user checks the transmission box 39 with the electronic pen 10, the electronic pen 10 reads the dot pattern in the transmission box. The pattern is associated with a transmission instruction, and the processor 11 in the electronic pen 10 issues a command to transmit data stored in the memory 12 to the data communication unit 13.

  When the user inputs necessary items to the application form 36 with the electronic pen 10, it is possible to specify from the coordinate data on the application form which item of the application form the input item is for. .

  As described above, by printing a predetermined design on the dedicated paper on which the dot pattern is printed, various application forms using the dedicated paper can be created. If the user uses the electronic pen 10 and fills in necessary items in a normal manner, the electronic data is automatically acquired.

  In the above example, the dot pattern is printed on the dedicated paper with carbon-containing ink. However, the dot pattern can be printed on ordinary paper using a printer and carbon-containing ink. Furthermore, the design on the dedicated paper can also be formed by a printer instead of printing. When dot patterns are formed on paper by a printer, different dot patterns can be formed on each sheet. Therefore, it is possible to identify and distinguish each of these sheets by the difference in the formed dot patterns.

  In the present specification, the term “printing” has a concept including not only normal printing but also printing by a printer. Further, in this specification, normal “offset printing” is not performed, but “printer printing” by a printer is performed.

  Next, transmission processing of data acquired by the electronic pen will be described with reference to FIG. The data acquired by the electronic pen 10 is mainly data of items input by the user, but usually does not include information on where the service server that is the transmission destination of the data is. Instead, information specifying the application or service related to the dedicated paper is included in the dot pattern on the dedicated paper, and the information is acquired from the dedicated paper during the user's input operation. Therefore, the terminal device 25 that has received the entry data from the electronic pen 10 first makes an inquiry to the inquiry server 26 to which service server 27 the data input to the dedicated paper should be transmitted. The inquiry server 26 has information on a corresponding service server for each dedicated paper, and in response to an inquiry from the terminal device 25, information (such as a URL) of the service server 27 that performs a service related to the dedicated paper. Reply to the terminal device 25. Then, the terminal device 25 transmits the entry data acquired from the electronic pen to the service server 27.

  In the above example, the terminal device 25, the inquiry server 26, and the service server 27 are separately configured. However, some or all of them may be configured as one device. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that a server described later also serves as the inquiry server 26 and the service server 27.

[Electronic pen form manufacturing method]
Next, the electronic pen form manufacturing method of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically illustrating the electronic pen form manufacturing method. As shown in FIG. 7, a large original dot pattern area 60 secured in advance is divided into a required size, and a dot pattern divided for each sheet of paper medium and a predetermined design are printed. Thus, the electronic pen form 62 is manufactured. For example, if the design is a design of an application form, a plurality of electronic pen forms 62 having the same design and different dot patterns are manufactured. At this time, printing is performed by a high-resolution printer capable of outputting a highly accurate design. That is, the electronic pen form 62 is manufactured not by offset printing but by printer printing by a printer. The original dot pattern area is composed of a predetermined dot pattern, and each dot pattern does not overlap. In other words, the original dot pattern area is a source of dot patterns to be printed on each form by printer.

  Thus, by making the dot pattern different for each physical form, the electronic pen 10 can recognize each electronic pen form 62 as a different one. That is, each electronic pen form 62 can be individually identified. In other words, based on the coordinate data of the stroke acquired by the electronic pen 10, not only “the type of electronic pen form (for example, application form)” but also “the user who entered the electronic pen form” is automatically selected. It becomes possible to identify. This is a huge advantage for applications that do not allow mixed data, such as hospital charts, and for applications that require a lot of effort to associate data entered in electronic pen forms with users. .

According to the electronic pen form manufacturing method of this embodiment, since all dot patterns printed on each electronic pen form are different, there is no danger of data being mixed, and data can be obtained even if the user does not enter an ID or the like. Can be easily associated with the user. In addition, because of printer printing instead of offset printing, it is possible to cope with a wide variety of small lots and sudden design changes.

  The object to be individually identified by the dot pattern is not limited to “type of electronic pen form” or “user”, but may be “thing” or the like.

[Dot pattern placement method]
Next, the dot pattern arrangement method of this embodiment will be described.

  In this specification, in order to distinguish between a paper medium form before printing the dot pattern and a form after printing the dot pattern, the former is simply “form” and the latter is “electronic pen form”. Call.

(I) First Arrangement Method First, a case where different dot patterns are arranged on all forms will be described as a first arrangement method. FIG. 8 schematically illustrates a method for arranging different dot patterns on all the forms. As shown in FIG. 8, different dot pattern pages are arranged for each paper medium. Here, a page is a unit of a dot pattern defined in advance, and is a dot pattern having a size such as “A4” or “B5”, for example. In this arrangement method, as shown in the figure, since unique dot patterns are arranged everywhere on a paper medium form, different dot patterns are arranged even for the same type of form. It is assumed that the form has a plurality of types of forms, and a corresponding form is set in advance for each form. The designs printed on the form are the same if they are the same form, and different if they are different forms. Since it is difficult to visually recognize the difference in the dot patterns, it is difficult to visually distinguish even if the dot patterns are different if they are forms for the electronic pen of the same form.

  According to this, by setting a user and a form for each form in advance, that is, by associating a dot pattern to be printed on each form with a user and a form, based on the entered data. Thus, the form and the user can be easily identified. That is, the user can simultaneously identify two types of information such as “user” and “form” simply by filling in an arbitrary place on the electronic pen form using the electronic pen 10.

  FIG. 9 shows a schematic configuration of the individual identification system 100. The individual identification system 100 shown in FIG. 9 is a system that can identify a user and a form type based on information entered by a user in an electronic pen form.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the individual identification system 100 is configured by connecting the terminal device 25 and the server 5 through the network 2. Here, one suitable example of the network 2 is the Internet. The terminal 25 is a terminal that can exchange data via the network 2 such as a PC or a mobile phone used by a user. In FIG. 9, for convenience, one terminal device 25 is included as a component, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a plurality of terminal devices 25 may be included as a component.

  The server 5 is connected to a user database (hereinafter referred to as “DB”) 6, a form DB 7 and a pattern DB 8. Here, various DBs will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10A is a diagram schematically illustrating the data structure of the user DB 6. The user DB 6 includes a user ID, a name, an address, and the like. The user ID is information for identifying each user, and the user DB 6 stores information such as the name and address of each user as user information using the user ID as a key. FIG. 10B is a diagram schematically showing the data structure of the form DB 7. The form DB 7 includes a form ID and design data. The form ID is information for identifying the form set in each form, and the form DB 7 stores design data of the design 34 corresponding to each form using the form ID as a key. FIG. 10C is a diagram schematically showing the data structure of the pattern DB 8. The pattern DB 8 includes a form ID, a user ID, and coordinate data. The coordinate data is coordinate data indicating a dot pattern arranged on the electronic pen form. Note that the coordinate data in this specification is position coordinates on the original dot pattern area 60, and is not position coordinates on the dot pattern assigned to each form. In this embodiment, since different dot patterns are arranged in all electronic pen forms, coordinate data is stored using a combination of form ID and user ID as a key. That is, even if the form ID is the same, different coordinate data is associated if the user ID is different, and different coordinate data is associated if the form ID is different even if the user ID is the same.

  In the individual identification system 100 as described above, the user enters necessary information in the electronic pen form as shown in FIG. It is assumed that a user is set in advance for each form. That is, in the pattern DB 8 as shown in FIG. 10C, it is assumed that the form and the user are associated with the dot pattern in advance. The electronic pen 10 acquires the coordinate data of the stroke corresponding to the entered content, temporarily stores it in the memory in the electronic pen 10, and transmits it to the terminal device 25. The terminal device 25 receives the coordinate data of the stroke entered by the user from the electronic pen 10 as entry information and transmits it to the server 5 through the network 2. The server 5 specifies the form ID and the user ID by referring to the pattern DB 8 as shown in FIG. 10C based on the coordinate data included in the entry information. The server 5 can recognize user information and design data by referring to the form DB 7 and the user DB 6 based on the specified form ID and user ID, respectively.

  In this way, by arranging different dot patterns for each form of paper media, two types of information such as “form” and “user” can be identified simultaneously by the user simply filling in an arbitrary place. It becomes possible. Therefore, when continuously filling in forms for electronic pens of the same form, the conventional problem that data would be mixed if the writer was not specified explicitly even though the physical paper medium changed was solved. can do.

  The object to be individually identified by the dot pattern is not limited to “form” or “user”, but may be “thing” or the like.

(Ii) Second Arrangement Method Next, as a second arrangement method, a case will be described in which the dot pattern is divided into arbitrary sizes and each is arranged on a form as a user dot pattern indicating each user ID. FIG. 11 schematically shows a method for arranging user dot patterns. A part of the acquired dot pattern is used as a user area, and as shown in FIG. 11, the dot pattern of the user area is divided and each user is assigned. Further, a part of the acquired dot pattern other than the user area is used as a form area, and each form is assigned by dividing the dot pattern of the form area as shown in FIG. For convenience, a dot pattern obtained by dividing the user area is called a user dot pattern, and a dot pattern obtained by dividing the form area is called a form dot pattern.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 11, the user dot pattern and the form dot pattern are arranged based on the user and the form set in the form in advance. Regardless of the user dot pattern, the same form dot pattern is placed on a form of the same form, and a different form dot pattern is placed on a form of a different form. Regardless of the form dot pattern, the same user dot pattern is arranged on a form of the same user, and a different user dot pattern is arranged on a form of a different user.

  According to this, since the same dot pattern is arranged on the same form instead of arranging different dot patterns on all the forms, the dot pattern can be saved compared with the above (i) the first arrangement method. can do. In other words, even if a different dot pattern cannot be secured for all forms, the present invention can be applied if the form area and the user area are secured, so the number of forms and the number of users are large. The benefits are particularly great. Further, data entered in a plurality of electronic pen forms can be easily associated with the user by the user dot pattern. That is, data used in a plurality of applications can be easily associated with the user.

  FIG. 9 shows a schematic configuration of the individual identification system 100. An individual identification system 100 shown in FIG. 9 is a system that can identify a user and a form based on information entered by a user in an electronic pen form. In addition, about the structure of the separate identification system 100, description is abbreviate | omitted for convenience about the part similar to the said (i) 1st arrangement | positioning method.

  First, the pattern DB 8 connected to the server 5 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 12 is a diagram schematically showing the data structure of the pattern DB 8. The pattern DB 8 includes a form ID, a user ID, and coordinate data. The coordinate data is coordinate data indicating a dot pattern arranged on the electronic pen form. In the present embodiment, since the form dot pattern indicating the form and the user dot pattern indicating the user are arranged in the electronic pen form, the coordinate data of the form dot pattern is determined by using the form ID as a key and the user ID as a key. The coordinate data of the user dot pattern is stored as

  In the individual identification system 100 as described above, the user enters necessary information on the electronic pen form as shown in FIG. Here, the user must make an entry in the user dot pattern area where the user dot pattern is arranged. The contents entered in the user dot pattern area can be arbitrarily set according to the design of the design, such as a signature or a check mark. The electronic pen 10 acquires the coordinate data of the stroke corresponding to the entered content, temporarily stores it in the memory in the electronic pen 10, and transmits it to the terminal device 25. The terminal device 25 receives the coordinate data of the stroke entered by the user from the electronic pen 10 as entry information and transmits it to the server 5 through the network 2. The server 5 specifies the form ID and the user ID by referring to the pattern DB 8 as shown in FIG. 12 based on the coordinate data included in the entry information. The server 5 can recognize user information and design data by referring to the form DB 7 and the user DB 6 based on the specified form ID and user ID, respectively.

  In this way, by arranging a form dot pattern and a user dot pattern respectively indicating a form and a user on a paper medium form, two types of information such as “form” and “user” are entered based on the user's entry. Can be identified.

  The object to be individually identified by the dot pattern is not limited to “form type” or “user”, but may be “thing” or the like. The user dot pattern may be printed and printed on a paper medium form at the same time as the form dot pattern. Alternatively, the user dot pattern may be printed on another form in advance and printed on the electronic dot form. It is good also as sticking to.

(Iii) Third Arrangement Method Next, as a third arrangement method, a case will be described in which a dot pattern is divided into sizes according to the purpose of use and a plurality of dot patterns are combined in an arbitrary arrangement and arranged on a form. FIG. 13 schematically illustrates a method for arranging a plurality of dot patterns in combination. A part of the acquired dot pattern is used as a user area, and the dot pattern in the user area is divided and assigned to each user as shown in FIG. Further, the acquired dot pattern other than the user area is used as the item area, and as shown in FIG. 13, the dot pattern of the item area is divided and each item is assigned. An item is a component of each electronic pen form, and which item is included in which electronic pen form is set based on design data. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the item is a predetermined “problem”. Further, as shown in FIG. 13, each item is composed of a plurality of fields, and each item is defined as a field by design data. For convenience, the dot pattern obtained by dividing the user area is called a user dot pattern, and the dot pattern obtained by dividing the item area is called an item dot pattern.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 13, a user dot pattern and one or more item dot patterns are arranged based on the user and the design data set in advance in the form. That is, when the design data is set so that problems 1 and 2 are components of the electronic pen form used by the user “Tanaka”, as shown in FIG. A person dot pattern and item dot patterns indicating “problem 1” and “problem 2” are arranged. Further, when the electronic pen form used by the user “Suzuki” is set in the design data so that the problems 2 and 3 are constituent elements, as shown in FIG. A person dot pattern and item dot patterns indicating “problem 2” and “problem 3” are arranged.

According to this, even when the layout of items dynamically changes in each form, it is possible to easily cope with this by simply arranging item dot patterns that are field-defined in advance. That is, unlike the above-mentioned (i) first arrangement method and (ii) second arrangement method, it is possible to easily manufacture an electronic pen form without generating a field definition for each form. In other words, in the case of the above (i) first arrangement method and (ii) arrangement method, field definitions must be generated according to design data for each form. Therefore, according to this embodiment , it is possible to easily deal with frequent design changes and multi-product small lots. In addition, it is possible to easily manufacture an electronic pen form composed of items according to the user.

  In the present embodiment, the electronic pen 10 is placed in the item dot pattern area in the logical item area even if the item dot pattern area in which the item dot pattern is arranged on the physical form 70 is entered. Recognize as written.

  FIG. 9 shows a schematic configuration of the individual identification system 100. The individual identification system 100 shown in FIG. 9 is a system that can identify a user and an item based on information entered by the user in the electronic pen form. In addition, about the structure of the separate identification system 100, description is abbreviate | omitted for convenience about the part similar to the said (i) 1st arrangement | positioning method. In the third arrangement method, the server 5 is connected to the form DB instead of the form DB 8.

  First, the form DB connected to the server 5 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 14A is a diagram schematically illustrating the data structure of the form DB. The form DB is composed of a form ID and design data. The form ID is information for identifying each electronic pen form, and design data is stored using the form ID as a key. Here, the design data has information regarding items constituting each form. The design data has field definitions for each item.

  Next, the pattern DB 8 connected to the server will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 14B is a diagram schematically showing the data structure of the pattern DB 8. The pattern DB 8 includes an item ID, a user ID, and coordinate data. The coordinate data is coordinate data indicating a dot pattern arranged on the electronic pen form. In the present embodiment, since the item dot pattern indicating the item and the user dot pattern indicating the user are arranged in the electronic pen form, the coordinate data of the item dot pattern using the item ID as the key and the user ID as the key The coordinate data of the user dot pattern is stored as

  In the individual identification system 100 as described above, the user enters necessary information on the electronic pen form as shown in FIG. That is, the user fills in the user dot pattern area in which the user dot pattern is arranged and the item dot pattern area in which the item dot pattern is arranged. The electronic pen 10 acquires the coordinate data of the stroke corresponding to the entered content, temporarily stores it in the memory in the electronic pen 10, and transmits it to the terminal device 25. The terminal device 25 receives the coordinate data of the stroke entered by the user from the electronic pen 10 as entry information and transmits it to the server 5 through the network 2. The server 5 can specify the item ID and the user ID by referring to the pattern DB 8 as shown in FIG. 14B based on the coordinate data included in the entry information. Further, user information and design data can be recognized by referring to the user DB 6 based on the specified user ID.

  In this way, by disposing item dot patterns and user dot patterns that indicate items and users, respectively, on paper forms, information such as “items” and “users” can be identified based on user entries. It becomes possible to do. Therefore, even when the layout of items dynamically changes in a form, an electronic pen form can be easily manufactured by arranging arbitrary item dot patterns. Further, by arranging the item dot pattern in which the field is defined in advance, it is possible to save the trouble of defining the field for each form.

  In addition, the electronic pen form can be manufactured by performing printer printing of the dot patterns arranged by the arrangement methods (i) to (iii).

  Further, the object to be individually identified by the dot pattern is not limited to “form type” or “user”, but may be “thing” or the like.

  The arrangement methods (i) to (iii) can be arbitrarily used depending on the number of objects to be unique such as forms and users.

According to this embodiment , since each form can be identified individually, it is possible to prevent data from being mixed. Furthermore, by using the dot pattern as an ID, it is possible to reliably associate the data entry person or the like. Further, according to the above (ii) second arrangement method and (iii) third arrangement method, the dot pattern can be used efficiently. Furthermore, according to the above (iii) third arrangement method, it is possible to save time and labor for defining the field each time by arranging the dot patterns defined in advance in the form and arranging them in the form.

Thus, according to this embodiment, it is possible to provide a separate identifiable manufacturing how the electronic pen form one by one.

It is a figure which shows the usage pattern of an electronic pen typically. It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of an electronic pen. It is a figure explaining the expression method of the information by the dot pattern printed on the exclusive paper. It is an example of a dot pattern and the information corresponding to it. The structure of a form composed of dedicated paper is shown. An example of an electronic pen form is shown. The figure which illustrates typically the electronic pen form manufacturing method is shown. The figure which illustrates typically the method of arrange | positioning a different dot pattern to all the forms is shown. 1 shows a schematic configuration of an individual identification system. It is a figure which shows typically the data structure of various DB. The figure which illustrates typically the method of arrange | positioning a user dot pattern is shown. It is a figure which shows typically the data structure of pattern DB. The figure which illustrates typically the method of arrange | positioning combining a several dot pattern is shown. It is a figure which shows typically the data structure of form DB and pattern DB.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 2 ... Network 10 ... Electronic pen 11 ... Processor 12 ... Memory 13 ... Data communication unit 14 ... Battery 25 ... Terminal device 26 ... Inquiry server 27 ... Service server 100 ... Individual identification system

Claims (4)

An electronic pen form manufacturing method for manufacturing a form for a plurality of users using a predetermined form and arranging a dot pattern that can be recognized by an electronic pen,
Setting process to set form and user for each form,
A user area setting step for setting a part of the dot pattern in a user area;
A form area setting step for setting a part of the dot pattern different from the user area in the form area;
From the user area, a user assignment step of assigning a different dot pattern for each user,
From the form area, a form assignment step for assigning a different dot pattern for each form,
Arranging the dot pattern assigned by the form assigning step and the dot pattern assigned by the user assigning step on each form based on the setting by the setting step;
An electronic pen form manufacturing method comprising: a printer printing step of printing design data relating to a design corresponding to the form and the dot pattern arranged in the placement step on each form by a printer. An electronic pen form manufacturing method comprising a plurality of items and manufacturing a form in which a dot pattern that can be recognized by an electronic pen is arranged for a plurality of users,
A setting process for setting a user for each form;
An item information acquisition step for acquiring item information which is information relating to items constituting each form;
A user area setting step for setting a part of the dot pattern in a user area;
An item area setting step for setting a part of the dot pattern different from the user area in the item area;
From the user area, a user assignment step of assigning a different dot pattern for each user,
From the item area, an item assignment step for assigning a different dot pattern for each item,
Based on the setting by the setting step and the item information, the dot pattern assigned by the user assignment step and the placement step of arranging the dot pattern assigned by the item assignment step on the form,
A printer printing step of printing design data on the design corresponding to the item and the dot pattern arranged in the arrangement step on each form by a printer;
A method for producing a form for an electronic pen, comprising: The item is composed of a plurality of fields,
The electronic pen form manufacturing method according to claim 2 , further comprising a definition step of defining a field for each item. It said setting step, an electronic pen for document production method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that to set the one user in each form.

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