JPH0432917A - Coordinate input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To freely set the size of input coordinates and to input absolute coordinates directly by performing transmission control over a progressive wave among three points which are a 1st and a 2nd reference position setting part and an operation part and measuring its propagation time, and finding XY coordinate data on an operation part which has its base line at 1st and 2nd reference positions. CONSTITUTION:The 1st reference position setting part 9 is fixed to the left upper corner part on an optional substrate and the 2nd reference setting part 10 is fixed to the right upper corner part; and an optional point in a rectangular coordinate input range which has one side between the 1st and 2nd reference positions setting parts 9 and 10 is designated by an operation part 7 to input coordinates. Then a coordinate transforming part 2 finds data on XY coordinates from the distance between the 1st and 2nd reference position setting parts, the distance between the 2nd reference position setting part and operation part, and the distance between the 1st reference position setting part and operation part which are measured with ultrasonic wave pulses by distance measurement parts 4 - 6, and supplies them to a computer 1. Consequently, an optional plane which is regarded as a base plate is usable for a coordinate input part and absolute coordinate data can be inputted directly.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (8) Field of Industrial Application This invention relates to a coordinate system that manually inputs coordinate data to a computer or the like.

(BL Conventional Technology) As a device for manually inputting coordinate data to a computer,
Tablet type coordinate input devices that can input absolute coordinate data, and so-called mouse or trackball type coordinate input devices that can input relative coordinate data are used.

The former tablet type coordinate input device embeds a large number of wiring patterns in the X and Y directions in a flat plate, and electromagnetically detects the pulses sequentially applied to each wiring pattern using a coil installed on the pen side. A so-called land tablet that obtains the X and Y coordinates, and a device that detects magnetostriction caused by the magnetic field of a permanent magnet installed on the pen side within a flat plate.
Alternatively, by installing ultrasonic receivers on two adjacent sides of a rectangular flat plate and measuring the time it takes for the ultrasonic waves output from the tip of the pen to reach the two ultrasonic receivers, There are some that are designed to obtain the X and Y coordinates of the pen tip.

The latter mouse-type or trackball-type coordinate input device is equipped with a rotation detector that independently detects the rotational direction of the ball on the Y-axis and the Y-axis, and thereby detects the relative movement direction and the direction of rotation in the X and Y coordinates. A device designed to determine the amount of movement, or a mesh-like optical pattern is formed on a flat plate, and sensors are installed to optically read this pattern independently in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction, and the output of both sensors is used to determine the amount of movement. There is one that obtains the relative movement direction and movement amount in the X and Y coordinates.

(C) Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, such conventional coordinate input devices have the following drawbacks.

In the former tablet-type coordinate input device, since the size of the tablet is constant, the size of input coordinates (input range) is limited by the size of the tablet. Also,
Of course, coordinates cannot be entered unless it is on a tablet. Although the latter mouse and trackball type coordinate input devices do not require a flat plate of a fixed size, they only allow relative coordinates to be input, and cannot directly input absolute X and Y coordinates.

An object of the present invention is to provide a coordinate input device that does not require a special flat plate of fixed dimensions, allows the size of input coordinates to be freely set, and allows direct input of absolute coordinates.

(Means for Solving Problem d1) The coordinate input device of the present invention is movably fixed to two adjacent corners in a coordinate range on a board, each of which is provided with means for transmitting a traveling wave. An operation comprising first and second reference position setting sections for setting a reference position, and means for specifying an arbitrary point on the substrate and transmitting a traveling wave between the first and second reference position setting sections. and a traveling wave propagation time measuring means for controlling the transmission of the traveling wave between the three points of the first and second reference position setting parts and the operation part, and measuring the propagation time of the traveling wave between the three points. , xy coordinate data generation means for obtaining XY coordinate data of the operating section with the base line between the first and second reference position setting sections based on the traveling wave propagation time between the three points.

Note that in this invention, "transmission" must be understood in a broad sense, including not only transmission of traveling waves but also reception.

fe) Operation In the coordinate input device of the present invention, the first and second reference position setting sections are each provided with means for transmitting a traveling wave,
They are movably fixed to two adjacent corners in the coordinate input range on the substrate. The operating section is equipped with means for transmitting a traveling wave to and from the first and second reference position setting sections, and an arbitrary point on the substrate is designated. The traveling wave propagation time measuring means controls the transmission of the traveling wave between the three points, the first and second reference position setting sections and the operating section, and measures the propagation time of the traveling wave between the three points. Further, the XY coordinate data generation means obtains XY coordinate data of the operating section with the first and second reference positions as the base lines from the traveling wave propagation time between the three points.

With the above configuration, the coordinate input section and its range can be determined simply by placing the first and second reference position setting sections on any flat plate.

Embodiment FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a coordinate input device which is an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 9 is a first reference position setting section;
10 is a second reference position setting section, and 7 is an operation section. 1st
The reference position setting section 9 includes an ultrasonic receiver 11 that receives ultrasonic pulses transmitted from the operation section 7 and an ultrasonic transmitter 1 that transmits ultrasonic pulses to the second reference position setting section 10.
2 is provided. The second reference position setting unit 10 includes an ultrasonic receiver 14 that receives ultrasonic pulses transmitted from the operation unit 7 and an ultrasonic receiver that receives ultrasonic pulses transmitted from the first reference position setting unit 9. A container 13 is provided. On the other hand, the operation section 7 has first and second reference position setting sections 9.
- An ultrasonic transmitter 8 is provided for transmitting ultrasonic pulses to 10. In this example, the first reference position setting section 9 is fixed to the upper left corner of an arbitrary board (for example, desk, blackboard, CR7 screen), the second reference position setting section 10 is fixed to the upper right corner thereof, and the operation section 7, coordinates are input by specifying an arbitrary point within a rectangular coordinate input range having one side between the first and second reference position setting sections 9 and 10. The first and second reference position setting sections can be "fixed" to the substrate by using magnets, double-sided adhesive tape, or the like, instead of simply placing them using their own weight.

Further, in FIG. 1, the distance measuring section 4 controls the ultrasonic transmitter 12 provided in the first reference position setting section 9 and the ultrasonic receiver 13 provided in the second reference position setting section 10. An ultrasonic pulse is transmitted between the two, and the ultrasonic propagation time or the distance equivalent to that between the two is measured. In the figure, a distance measuring section 5 controls an ultrasonic receiver 14 provided in a second reference position setting section 10 and an ultrasonic transmitter 8 provided in an operating section 7 to generate ultrasonic waves between them. Measure the travel time or equivalent distance of the pulse. Furthermore, the distance measuring section 6 controls the ultrasonic receiver 11 provided in the first reference position setting section 9 and the ultrasonic transmitter 8 of the operation section, and controls the propagation time of the ultrasonic pulse between them or Measure the corresponding distance. The coordinate conversion section 2 is the distance measurement section 4
．． From the distance between the first and second reference position setting parts, the distance between the second reference position setting part and the operation part, and the distance between the first reference position setting part and the operation part, respectively measured according to 5.6. Obtain XY coordinate data and provide it to the computer 1. The distance setting section 3 sets a value corresponding to the distance between the first and second reference position setting sections 9 and 10.

Next, specific configuration examples of various ultrasonic transmitters and receivers and distance measuring units 4 and 5.6 provided in the first and second reference position setting units and operation unit shown in FIG. 1 will be explained below. Shown in Figure 2. Further, a timing chart of each signal is shown in FIG.

In FIG. 2, 15 is an oscillation circuit that generates a carrier signal of ultrasonic pulses, and 16 is an oscillation circuit that amplifies the output of the oscillation circuit 15 to drive the ultrasonic transmitter 8 only during the period when the signal A is at the "°H°" level. The detection circuit 17 detects the received signal of the ultrasonic receiver 11 while the signal B is at the "H" level, the amplifier circuit 18 amplifies the detected signal, and the output circuit 19 detects the first reception of the ultrasonic pulse. The counter 20 starts counting when the signal A becomes "H°" and stops counting when the output circuit 19 outputs. As a result, a value corresponding to the distance between the operating section 7 and the first reference position setting section 9 shown in FIG. 1 is obtained on the counter 20. Detection circuit 21. Amplification circuit 22, output circuit 23
The circuit consisting of the detector circuit 17 and the counter 24 is
This circuit is similar to the circuit consisting of the amplifier circuit 18, the output circuit 19, and the counter 20, and calculates the distance between the operating section 7 and the second reference position setting section 10 from the received signal of the ultrasonic receiver 14. The oscillation circuit 25 oscillates a carrier signal of ultrasonic pulses, and the amplification circuit 26 amplifies the signal of the oscillation circuit 25 and drives the ultrasonic transmitter 12 only during the period when the signal C is zero. Detection circuit 27 detects the received signal of the ultrasonic receiver 13 provided in the second reference position setting section only during the period when the signal level is "H゛°° level", the amplifier circuit 28 amplifies the signal, and the output circuit 29 detects the reception of the first ultrasound pulse. The counter 30 starts counting after the signal C reaches the "H°" level, and stops counting in response to the signal from the output circuit 29. As a result, the counter 30 can detect the difference between the first and second reference position setting sections 910. A value corresponding to the distance is determined.The timing signal generation circuit 31 outputs timing signals A, B, C, and D as shown in FIG.

Next, FIG. 4 shows a processing procedure when the coordinate conversion section 2 shown in FIG. 1 is configured by a microprocessor. The coordinate conversion section 2 first receives distance setting data W from the distance setting section 3.
Read (nl). Next, distance measurement section 4.5.6 (
The counts (JCO, CI, C2) are read from the counters 30, 20, 24) in FIG. 2, respectively (n2).

Next, from these three count values CO, CI, C2, the first
The coordinate values x and y of the orthogonal coordinate system are determined using the base line between the and the second reference position setting section (n3). This coordinate transformation is
For example, this can be done using the so-called Heron's formula. After that, the coordinate data X, Y to be obtained is calculated by proportional calculation of the distance setting data W and the count value CO between the first and second reference position setting parts, and this is output (n4 → n5
). Thereafter, by repeating the processes from n2 to n5, it is possible to constantly output coordinate data corresponding to the designated position of the operating section to the computer 1.

In the above embodiment, the transmission of ultrasonic pulses between the first and second reference position setting sections and the transmission of ultrasonic pulses between the operation section and the first and second reference position setting sections are alternately performed in a time-sharing manner. However, by changing the frequency used, it is also possible to transmit and measure the distance at the same time.

In addition, in the above embodiment, ultrasonic pulses were transmitted using the substrate as a transmission medium as a method of measuring the distance between the two reference position setting sections and between the operating section and the reference position setting section. Optical pulses may also be transmitted.

(g) Effects of the Invention According to this invention, any plane that can be regarded as a substrate can be used as a coordinate input section without using a predetermined flat plate, and absolute coordinate data can be directly input to a computer etc. Furthermore, by setting the distance between the two reference position setting sections, the coordinate input range can be changed arbitrarily.

[Brief Description of the Drawings] Figure 1 is a block diagram of a coordinate input device that is an embodiment of the present invention, and Figures 2 and 3 are circuit diagrams of the main parts of the coordinate input device and waveform diagrams of each signal. be. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the coordinate conversion section shown in FIG. 1. 7-Operation unit, 9-First reference position setting unit, I〇-Second reference position setting unit, 8.12-Ultrasonic transmitter, 11.13.14-Ultrasonic receiver. Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) First and second sections movably fixed to two adjacent corners in the coordinate input range on the board, each equipped with a means for transmitting a traveling wave, and setting two reference positions.
a reference position setting section; an operation section having a means for specifying an arbitrary point on the board and transmitting a traveling wave between the first and second reference position setting sections; and first and second reference positions. a traveling wave propagation time measuring means for controlling the transmission of a traveling wave between three points, a position setting section and an operation section, and measuring the propagation time of the traveling wave between the three points; and a traveling wave propagation time between the three points. and XY coordinate data generation means for obtaining XY coordinate data of the operating section with a base line between the first and second reference position setting sections.