JPH0250216A - Optical coordinate input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make an optical coordinate input device compact and to obtain satisfactory operability by arranging the plural light sources different in wavelength in a main body, photodetecting a reflected light, and outputting an electric signal. CONSTITUTION:Plural light sources 16 and 17 different in wavelength are built in a main body M, and beams emitted from these light sources 16 and 17, irradiate a reflection board. Then, the beams being reflected on the reflection board are made incident on the main body again. A grating is printed on the reflection board. Then, the grating in an X-axis direction absorbs the beam of one light source and the grating in a Y-axis direction absorbs the beam of the other light source. Namely, when one beam is detected in a pulse shape by a photo- detecting part 23, the main body M is just moved in the X-axis direction and when the other beam is detected, the main body is just moved in the Y-axis direction. Accordingly, the pulses of the reflected lights are counted by the electronic circuit of a circuit board 27 and moving quantity in the X-axis and Y-axis directions can be operated. Thus, the compact device of the satisfactory operability can be formed.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a coordinate input device used for computer drawing, etc., and particularly relates to an optical coordinate input device having a plurality of light sources built into its main body. It is.

[Conventional technology] Draw on the computer display.

If you frequently move the cursor to select items,
Since operating the keyboard alone is cumbersome, a coordinate input device called a "mouse" has recently been used. this"
Various types of mice have been proposed, and they are mainly divided into mechanical types and optical types. As shown in Figures 13 and 14 of the appendix, a mechanical mouse has a ball (2) rotatably attached to the bottom surface of the mouse, and a roller (3) located close to the ball (2). (4) are pivoted orthogonally to each other, and the balls (2
) are pressed against the rollers (3) and (4). When you move this mouse (1) in any direction on the desk, the ball (2)
The rollers (3) and (4) rotate as the roller rotates back and forth and left and right, and the amount of rotation divided into the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction is determined by an encoder directly connected to the rollers (3) and (4). (
6) Detected in (7).

In addition, with an optical mouse, the mouse moves on a reflective plate with grids printed on the surface of an aluminum plate, and a built-in light-receiving section detects the number of grids crossed, thereby detecting the amount of movement of the mouse. It is something.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The above-mentioned mechanical mouse (1) is widely used because it can be formed at a relatively low cost. ) wear and other failures could occur.

On the other hand, optical mice have no mechanical movement and are made entirely of electronic components, so they are quiet and less prone to malfunctions, but the drawback is that the optical system is somewhat complex and the mouse becomes larger. However, it was difficult to operate.

Therefore, a technical problem arises that must be solved in order to provide an optical coordinate input device that is small and easy to operate, and the present invention aims to solve this problem.

[Means for Solving the Problems] This invention was proposed to achieve the above object, and it moves on a reflecting plate with a grid printed on its surface, and uses a built-in light-receiving section to detect the grid. In an optical coordinate input device that detects the number of coordinates and the amount of movement of coordinates, a plurality of light sources with different wavelengths are arranged in front of a condensing lens provided on the main body, and A light receiving section is provided at the rear, and the light beam emitted from the light source is reflected by a reflecting plate, enters the main body again, passes through a condensing lens, is received by the light receiving section, and outputs an electrical signal to the circuit board. an optical coordinate input device characterized in that the light source is provided close to the optical axis of a condensing lens;
The light receiving section has a beam splitter installed obliquely with respect to the optical axis of the condensing lens, and optical sensors are installed at the rear position of the optical axis that passes through the beam splitter and at the position of the optical axis that is reflected by the beam splitter. An optical coordinate input device is provided.

[Function] The present invention has a plurality of light sources with different wavelengths built into the main body, and the light rays emitted from the secondary light source illuminate the reflecting plate,
The light beam reflected by the reflection plate enters the main body again. Here, a grating is printed on the reflecting plate, and the grating in the X-axis direction is colored with a color that absorbs the light rays from one of the light sources, and the grating in the Y-axis direction absorbs the light rays from the other light source. It is colored with absorbing colors. Therefore, when the main body is moved in any direction by rubbing against the reflector, the one ray is absorbed each time it crosses the grating in the X-axis direction, and there is no reflected light, and the other ray is in the Y-axis direction. Each time it crosses the grid, it is absorbed and no reflected light is generated. Both of the above-mentioned reflected lights entering the main body pass through the condenser lens and enter the light receiving section. Therefore, when the light receiving section detects one of the light beams in a pulsed manner, the main body is moving in the X-axis direction, and when the light receiving section detects the other light beam in a pulsed form, the main body is moving. It is moving in the Y-axis direction. Therefore, the electronic circuit of the circuit board counts the pulses of both reflected lights, calculates the amount of movement in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction, and outputs it as an electrical signal.

Furthermore, if a beam splitter is provided obliquely to the optical axis of the condenser lens, the reflected light that has passed through the condenser lens is separated by the beam splitter according to its wavelength. The light beam that has passed through the beam splitter then travels straight and enters the rear optical sensor. Furthermore, the light beam reflected by the beam splitter is incident on a side optical sensor. In this way, a plurality of light beams with different wavelengths can be incident on separate optical sensors, and each optical sensor can be arranged on its respective optical axis. Therefore,
The beam diameter of the light source can be narrowed down, making the irradiation uniform and making it possible to accurately detect the grating of the reflector.

Furthermore, if the plurality of light sources having different wavelengths described above are provided close to the optical axis of the condenser lens, the angle between the light rays emitted from each light source and the optical axis of the condenser lens becomes extremely small. Therefore, even when the main body is used at a certain angle, the reflected light is reflected close to the optical axis of the condensing lens.
Since the light enters the condensing lens directly, it is possible to prevent reading errors from occurring at the light receiving section.

[Embodiment] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 12 of the attached drawings. For convenience of explanation, conventionally known configurations will also be explained at the same time.

In Fig. 1, a housing (10) is formed of synthetic resin into a cylindrical shape, and a front housing (11) is connected to the front part of the housing (00) to form a main body (M). There is. At the rear of the inner surface of the front housing Q+, there is a condensing lens supported by a lens holder (!
→ is provided, and a light source mounting board (
Yuga is fitted inside. A center hole θ→ is bored in the center of this light source mounting board (&IO), and two pairs of light beams H (+004, (r7) (r7) with different wavelengths are formed on one side of the center hole).
protrudes toward the front. In this embodiment, this light source (I[
9 uses a bare chip LED that emits infrared light with a wavelength of around 940 nm, and the light source (r?) has a wavelength of approximately 660 nm.
It uses bare-chip LEDs that emit red visible light at the front and rear. However, it should not be limited to this in particular, and if the wavelengths are different, for example, red and green bare chips LE can be used depending on the color of the vertical and horizontal grids of the reflector, which will be described later.
Use D in combination, or use yellow and blue bare chip LE.
D may be used in combination. Further, the number is not limited to two pairs, and other light emitting means may be used instead of bare chip LEDs.

As shown in FIG. It is possible to provide a reflecting mirror (I'll (Ill (In (II)) with a concave portion in the shape of do.

Also, in Fig. 1, a hollow conical front unit (A) is inserted into the front part of the front housing θ1), and a light entrance/exit G is provided at the tip of the front unit (G).
! 1) is opened, and a hemispherical lens () is fitted therein to condense the light beam from the light source (+@(r7)) and irradiate it onto a reflecting plate, which will be described later.

On the other hand, behind the condensing lens (1→, that is, the housing (
10) A light receiving section (c) is provided at the front part. As shown in FIG. 3, the light-receiving section (to) has a PD array (c) and (i) attached in a T-shape approximately at the center of the light-receiving plate.
Connected to the rear circuit board (6). This PD array (c) (1) is a photodiode equipped with an optical filter effect, and each of the PD arrays (c) (1) has four elements.
The array (g) detects only infrared light with a wavelength of about 940 nm, and the PD array (1) detects only red visible light with a wavelength of about 680 nm.

Furthermore, a bushing switch (1) (on the circuit board) (
1) is installed, and this button switch (A)
(G) The button switch (G) is turned on or off by pressing the push button (G) fitted into the housing (1) in the upper part. It is. Then, attach the lead wire of output cable 00 to the output terminal (to) of the circuit board), connect the rear end hella cap (2) of the 7% housing body (1Φ), and connect the output cable ◇ Fit the end of the flexible tube (c) that covers the rear cap (2) to the rear cap (2).

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, a top housing (B), a bottom 7, and a housing (C), each of which is molded in resin in a semi-cylindrical shape, are joined together, and a resin front cap (1 ) is fitted to form the main body (M). A circuit board (B) is housed inside the main body (M), and an optical system unit (1) is attached to the lower surface of the front part of the circuit board, and the front cap (1) is opened. It is formed so that light can be emitted or received from the opening (a).

Furthermore, a bush switch (4) is fixed on the upper surface side of the front part of the circuit board (B), and a second bush switch (41) is pressed by pressing the push buttons (41) (41) provided on the top housing (B). A switch (4 (a)) is formed to operate. Also, an IC (42) (42
), electrical components such as capacitors and resistors are attached to form an electrical circuit, and electrical signals are transmitted to the output cable (31).

Next, in FIGS. 5 and 6, the optical system unit (7
) is explained below. An upper cover (43) and a lower cover (44) each made of resin molded with a U-shaped cross section.
are joined together to form a substantially rectangular optical system unit (G), the front part of which protrudes thinly and has a lens hole (45).
is drilled, and a hemispherical lens (a) is inserted into this lens hole (45).
It is fitted. A substrate (47) is fixed behind this hemispherical lens (A), and two types of light sources (IQ@) with different wavelengths are provided in front of the substrate (47).The light sources θQ and (r' ) is exactly the same as the light source of the embodiment shown in Fig. 1. As shown in Fig. 7, this light source (+
119 (r7) in close contact with each other in the horizontal direction, and the substrate (47
) is fixed at the bottom position of the center line. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 8, the light source θI (r7) may be fixed vertically to a position below the center line of the substrate (47). Alternatively, as shown in FIGS. 9(a) and 9(c), a pair of bare chip LEDs as the light source θ is molded into one package (48
).

Referring again to FIGS. 5 and 6, a condensing lens (49) is fitted to the rear of the substrate (47), and a beam splitter (50) is further fixed to the rear position thereof. The beam splitter (50) is formed by vacuum-depositing a multilayer thin film on a glass surface, and separates and reflects specific incident light. That is, visible red light with a wavelength of about 669 nm is reflected, and infrared light with a wavelength of about 940n+a is transmitted. Here, the beam splitter (50) is installed obliquely at approximately 45 degrees with respect to the optical axis, as shown in FIG. An optical sensor (52) is fixedly installed on the side part of (5o). PD arrays (C) and (1) are fixed to the center portions of the second optical sensors (51) and (52), respectively. These PD arrays (c) and (1) are exactly the same as the PD array of the embodiment shown in FIG. Optical sensors (51) (52), to which the beam splitter (50) and PD array (c) (1) are attached! : From the light receiving section (
53) is formed.

As shown in FIG. 10, the light emitted from the light source θQ@ passes through the hemispherical lens (2) and then passes through the reflection plate (54).
). The light source (10 (r7) is a condenser lens (
49), the angle (α) between the light beam emitted from the light source (IED (r7)) and the optical axis (Ll) is extremely small. Here, the light from the light source 0O is reflected by the reflection plate (54).
The light is reflected by the hemispherical lens (A) and enters the substrate (A) again.
47), is condensed by a condensing lens (49), and reaches a beam splitter (50). On the other hand, although not shown, the light from the light source (0) also passes through a symmetrical position centering on the optical axis (Ll) and reaches the beam splitter (,5G') at the same time as the light from the light source (lfD). , when the incident light beam is infrared, the beam splitter (5
The light passes through o) and travels straight, enters the PD array (c) of the optical sensor (51) and is detected. Moreover, when the red visible light rays are incident, since the beam splitter (50) is installed obliquely at approximately 45 degrees with respect to the optical axis, the red visible rays are reflected in a direction approximately perpendicular to the incident axis. and optical sensor (52)
It is detected by entering the PD array screen. In this way, the optical system unit (to) is constructed. In addition, in the above explanation, by changing the material, quality, etc. of the beam splitter (5), it is also possible to reflect infrared rays and transmit red visible light.Also, by changing the position of the optical sensor (52), , the beam splitter (50) may be arranged at an angle of 30 degrees or some other angle with respect to the optical axis instead of 45 degrees.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11, whether the device of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 or the device of the embodiment shown in FIG. on the lens) and the reflector (5
4) and move it in an arbitrary direction to detect the amount of movement.The reflecting plate (54) has a grating formed on the surface of the aluminum plate, and a grating (55) in the X-axis direction.
(55)... is colored blue, and the grid in the Y-axis direction (
56) (56)... is colored in gray. Here, when this device is operated, the light source (+29(r
The light emitted from the reflector (54) is focused by the hemispherical lens (50) and illuminates the reflector (50).Then, as described above, when the device is moved in any direction on the reflector (54), the susceptor , the infrared rays emitted by the light source (119) are absorbed by the gray grating (56) and reflected when irradiated with the blue grating (55). The red visible light emitted by the light source (b) is absorbed by the blue grating (55) and reflected when it is irradiated with the gray grating (56). Then, as in the case of infrared light, the light enters again through the hemispherical lens (2).

In the case of the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, the light incident from the hemispherical lens passes through the center hole θ of the light source mounting board (yield), is focused by the condenser lens 0, and is focused on the light receiving section. In the light receiving section (C), among the reflected light, infrared rays are detected by the PD array (C), and red visible light is detected by the PD array (C).
Detected by array (1). On the other hand, in the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the light incident on the hemispherical lens is condensed by the condensing lens (49) in the optical system unit (a) and sent to the light receiving section (53). Light is received. As mentioned above, the beam splitter (50) of the light receiving section (53) separates the infrared rays and red visible light, and the infrared rays are sent to the PD array (c).
Red visible light is detected by the PD array (c).

Therefore, each time the main body (M) moves on the reflection plate (54) in the X-axis direction and crosses the gray grid (56), the PD
The array (c) detects the reflected infrared light, and moves on the reflector plate (54) in the Y-axis direction to detect the blue grating (55).
The PD array (1) detects the reflected light of red visible light each time it crosses. Then, the pulses of the reflected light are counted in the electric circuit () or (b) on the circuit board, and
The amount of movement in the axial direction and the Y-axis direction is calculated and output as an electrical signal from the output cable 01).

Here, as shown in Fig. 12, the main body is tilted and the optical axis (
A case where the angle formed by Ll) and the reflecting plate (54) becomes a certain angle (β0) will be explained. The light from the light source (10) is reflected by the reflector (54) and then enters the hemispherical lens (a) again.At this time, in the conventional type, the reflected light spreads and enters the condenser lens (4g) directly. However, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the light source 00 or (rt)
Since the angle (α) between the optical axis (I, 1) and (49).Therefore, no diffuse reflection occurs and the PD
The detection operation in array (c) (1) can be performed reliably. Moreover, the beam splitter (50) separates the infrared rays and the red visible rays, and makes them incident on the separately provided optical sensors (51) and (52), respectively. Therefore, each sensor (51) (52) can be placed on the respective optical axis, and the beam diameter of the light source QQ(rt) can be narrowed down. Therefore, the luminous intensity at the center and periphery of the beam becomes uniform, and the gratings (55) (56) of the reflector (54)
can be detected accurately.

Although the embodiments of this invention have the configuration described above, various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of this invention, and it is natural that this invention extends to such modifications. be.

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed in the above embodiments, the present invention provides a plurality of light sources with different wavelengths within the main body, and the light rays emitted from the light sources are reflected by the reflector and are reflected back into the main body. Light enters and is received by the light receiving section. Therefore, if the grating of the reflector plate is colored vertically and horizontally, and colored with a color that absorbs each of the light sources, the reflected light becomes pulsed and is detected by the light receiving section.

Furthermore, by providing the light sources close to the optical axis of the condenser lens, the angle between the light rays emitted from each light source and the optical axis of the condenser lens becomes extremely small.

Therefore, even when the main body is used at a certain angle, the reflected light directly enters the condensing lens, so it is possible to prevent reading errors in the light receiving section from occurring.

Furthermore, by installing a beam splitter obliquely to the optical axis of the condenser lens, multiple light beams with different wavelengths can be incident on separate optical sensors, and each optical sensor can be placed on its own optical axis. . Therefore, the beam diameter of the light source can be narrowed down,
The irradiation becomes uniform and it is possible to accurately detect the grating of the reflector.

In this way, it is possible to form an optical coordinate input device that is extremely compact and has good operability, and furthermore, it is an invention that has various effects such as reducing reading errors and improving reliability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 12 show an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional side view of an optical coordinate input device, FIG. 2 is a front view of main parts of a light source mounting plate, and FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway longitudinal side view of the optical coordinate input device, FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional side view of the optical system unit, and FIG.
7 is a front view of the main part showing a state where the light source is attached to the board, FIG. 8 is a front view of the main part which is a modification of FIG. 7, and FIG. is a front view of the main part which is a modification of Fig. 7, Fig. 9 (c) is a side view of the main part, Figs. 10 and 12 are explanatory diagrams showing the path of reflected light, and Fig. 11 is a FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing the device and a reflector. FIGS. 13 and 14 show a conventional mechanical mouse, respectively; FIG. 13 is a perspective view, and FIG. 14 is a bottom view. Yes. 0→(49)...Condensing lens (IED('s)
...Light source (c) (53) ... Light receiving part
@(b)...Circuit board (50)...
Beam splitter (51) (52)... Optical sensor (54)... Reflector plate (55) (5[i)...
... Lattice (M) ... Main body (Ll)
...Optical axis of condensing lens Fig. 7 A7 Fig. 8 Fig. 9 Fig. 10

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) An optical coordinate input device that moves on a reflective plate with a grid printed on its surface, detects the number of grids crossed by a built-in light receiving section, and detects the amount of coordinate movement. A plurality of light sources with different wavelengths are arranged in front of a condensing lens provided, and a light receiving section is provided behind the condensing lens, and the light rays emitted from the light sources are reflected by a reflection plate and are reflected back to the main body. 1. An optical coordinate input device, characterized in that the optical coordinate input device is formed so that light enters the interior, passes through a condensing lens, is received by the light receiving section, and is outputted as an electrical signal to a circuit board. (2) The optical coordinate input device according to claim (1), wherein the light source is provided close to the optical axis of the condenser lens. (3) The light receiving section has a beam splitter installed obliquely with respect to the optical axis of the condensing lens, and the beam splitter is arranged at an angle to the optical axis that passes through the beam splitter, and to the position of the optical axis that is reflected by the beam splitter. Claim (1) formed by providing an optical sensor
) optical coordinate input device.