JPH06168064A - Data processing system using pressure sensitive tablet - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To give a warning to the user of a system so as to prevent the damage of a tablet and the malfunction of data input when an object irrespective of an input operation is loaded on the panel of the tablet in the system of a word processor and a personal computer using the pressure sensitive tablet. CONSTITUTION:A tablet control part 11 monitors a position measurement voltage signal outputted from a measurement electrode in accordance with the load of the surface of the pressure sensitive tablet 10, and releases the supply stop of a main power source 20 when the output of the position measurement voltage signal is detected at the time of stopping the supply of the main power source 20 in the system. CPU 16a starts a display control part 17 and a voice control part 18 in accordance with the detection operation of the tablet control, part 11, and executes a warning processing warning that the abnormal load occurs on the surface of the pressure sensitive tablet 10.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data processing system such as a word processor or a personal computer using a pressure sensitive tablet as an input device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in a data processing system such as a small word processor or personal computer,
A device using a pressure-sensitive tablet such as a touch panel as an input device has been developed. This input device inputs coordinate data of a position loaded by a pen or the like on the surface of the panel.

A pressure sensitive tablet, as shown in FIG.
Two transparent electrode materials 3 and 4 face each other with a gap between the transparent film substrate 1 forming the surface of the panel and the glass substrate 2 forming the bottom, and an insulating spacer (insulating dot spacer) is provided in this gap. ) 5 is provided.

Each of the transparent electrode materials 3 and 4 has a transparent electrode surface coated with a transparent conductive film, and has an X-axis electrode material (hereinafter referred to as an X-axis transparent electrode 3) and a Y-axis electrode material (hereinafter referred to as an X-axis electrode material). The Y-axis transparent electrode 4). The insulating spacer 5 prevents contact between the X-axis transparent electrode 3 and the Y-axis transparent electrode 4 during a non-input operation, and is deformed when the film substrate 1 is pressed with a pen or the like to short-circuit between the transparent electrodes 3 and 4. It is a spherical member. Below the glass substrate 2, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD) 6 for displaying a screen of a key arrangement corresponding to a keyboard is arranged. The LCD 6 constitutes a display device which is a part of the output device of the system.

The principle of such a tablet is that when the input position of the film substrate 1 is pressed by a pen or the like, the X-axis transparent electrode 3 and the Y-axis transparent electrode 4 come into contact with each other, and the X-direction coordinate corresponding to the input position is obtained. An input signal (analog voltage signal) corresponding to the Y-direction coordinate is generated. This analog signal is converted into a digital signal to detect the position information of the designated position. From the relationship between this position information and the key arrangement displayed on the LCD 6, for example, the same key input data as when the designated key input is operated can be generated.

By the way, the pressure-sensitive tablet is a system for inputting position information by detecting a slight load applied on the panel by a pen or the like as described above. Therefore, the panel is one of the important members among the constituent elements, and it is necessary to prevent a situation in which a heavy object unrelated to the input operation is applied and a load exceeding an allowable range is applied.

Such a situation is likely to occur particularly in a system using a pressure-sensitive tablet for a portable word processor or a personal computer, when an object is accidentally placed on the tablet when the system is stopped.

[0008]

In a system such as a word processor or a personal computer using a conventional pressure-sensitive tablet, the allowable range is erroneously exceeded by placing an object on the panel of the pressure-sensitive tablet when the system is stopped. A situation may occur in which a load is applied. When such a situation occurs, an erroneous input operation is executed when the system is started up, and normal data of the system is destroyed, or the panel itself is damaged or deformed.

An object of the present invention is to enable a user of the system to be warned when a system such as a word processor or a personal computer using a pressure sensitive tablet has an object unrelated to an input operation on the panel of the tablet. This is to prevent tablet damage and data entry malfunctions.

[0010]

According to the present invention, in a system such as a word processor which uses a pressure sensitive tablet as an input device, the output of the position measurement voltage signal of the pressure sensitive tablet is detected when the main power supply of the system is stopped. The system is provided with a tablet control means for releasing the supply of the main power supply from time to time and a warning means for giving a warning through the output device that an abnormal load has occurred on the surface of the pressure-sensitive tablet.

[0011]

In the present invention, the tablet control means monitors the position measurement voltage signal output from the measurement electrode according to the load on the surface of the pressure-sensitive tablet, and outputs the position measurement voltage signal when the main power supply of the system is stopped. When the is detected, the stop of the main power supply is released. The warning means activates the output device in response to the detection operation of the tablet control means, and warns via the output device that an abnormal load has occurred on the surface of the pressure-sensitive tablet.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a system such as a word processor or a personal computer using the pressure sensitive tablet according to the embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the present system comprises a pressure sensitive tablet 10 used as an input device, a tablet controller 11, a power switch 12 and a system body 13. The tablet 10 has a structure as shown in FIG. 3, and the X-axis transparent electrode 3 and the Y-axis transparent electrode 4 are respectively provided with X-axis.
Each measurement electrode for generating each position coordinate data of the direction and the Y direction is included.

The tablet controller 11 includes a tablet 10
The coordinate position of the input position P pressed by the pen or the like on the panel (film substrate 1) is detected based on the position measurement voltage signal output from each measurement electrode of the X-axis transparent electrode 3 and the Y-axis transparent electrode 4. . The tablet control unit 11 includes a microprocessor, and executes a monitoring process for monitoring the position measurement voltage signal and a power switch control process according to the gist of the present invention. That is, the tablet control unit 11 instructs the switching signal S to switch the supply or stop of the main power supply 20 of the system according to the on / off operation of the power switch 12.
Is output to the power supply controller 14.

The power switch 12 is a switch for controlling the supply or stop of the supply of the main power 20 of the system. The power supply control unit 14 supplies or stops the main power supply 20 of the system (dotted line) in response to the switching signal S from the tablet control unit 11.

The system main body 13 has a clock control unit 15, a main control unit 16, a display control unit 17, and a voice control unit 18 in addition to the power supply control unit 14. The clock control unit 15 is a circuit that supplies clock pulses necessary for the operation of the CPU 16a of the main control unit 16.

The main control unit 16 includes a microprocessor (CPU) 16a required for the function of a word processor or a personal computer and a ROM (read only memory) 16b storing various programs required for the operation of the CPU 16a. The ROM 16b stores in advance a warning program related to the gist of the present invention, in addition to a normal data processing program. The CPU 16a activates the warning program and executes the warning process in response to the detection signal P by the monitoring process of the tablet control unit 11.

The display control section 17 and the voice control section 18 constitute an output device of the system. The display control unit 17
The main control unit 16 controls the drive of the display unit (LCD) 6. Under the control of the main control unit 16, the voice control unit 18 drives and controls the voice output unit 19 such as a buzzer or a voice synthesis circuit.

Next, the operation of the embodiment will be described.

First, when the power switch 12 is turned on (NO in step S1), the power controller 14 supplies the main power 20 to each element such as the main controller 16 of the system body 13 and the tablet controller 11. Thereby, the system functions as, for example, a word processor (step S10).

At this time, the tablet control unit 11 detects the coordinate position of the input position pressed on the panel of the tablet 10 with a pen or the like, and outputs the input data corresponding to this coordinate position to the main control unit 16. The CPU 16a of the main control unit 16 executes data processing (document creation processing, etc.) based on the input data from the tablet control unit 11.

Next, when the power switch 12 is turned off (YES in step S1), the tablet control section 11 outputs to the power control section 14 a switching signal S instructing to stop the supply of the main power 20. In response to the switching signal S, the power supply control unit 14 stops the supply of the main power supply 20 to the system (step S2). By stopping the supply of the main power supply 20, the clock control unit 15 stops the supply of the clock pulse necessary for the operation of the CPU 16a. Therefore,
The system is disabled and is in low power mode.

When the supply of the main power source 20 is stopped, the tablet control unit 11 executes the monitoring process of the position measurement voltage signal output from each measurement electrode of the X-axis transparent electrode 3 and the Y-axis transparent electrode 4 of the tablet 10. That is, the microprocessor of the tablet control unit 11 is operated by, for example, a backup power supply (not shown), and activates the monitoring program stored in advance in the built-in ROM (step S4).

Since the system is stopped, the panel of the tablet 10 is not normally loaded with a pen or the like. Therefore, the tablet 10
For example, when an object is placed on the panel, a load is applied by the object, and a position measurement voltage signal is output from each measurement electrode of the X-axis transparent electrode 3 and the Y-axis transparent electrode 4 of the tablet 10. .

When the tablet control unit 11 detects the position measurement voltage signal from the tablet 10 by the monitoring process (YES in step S5), it outputs the switching signal S instructing the supply of the main power supply 20 to the power supply control unit 14. As a result, the power supply control unit 14 executes the supply of the main power supply 20 (step S6).

When the main power supply 20 is supplied, the clock controller 15 supplies the clock pulse necessary for the operation of the CPU 16a. Furthermore, the tablet control unit 11 outputs a detection signal P indicating that an abnormal load has occurred on the panel of the tablet 10 to the CPU 16a (step S).
7).

The CPU 16a is activated in response to the supply of the main power source 20 and the clock pulse and activates the warning program in response to the input of the detection signal P (step S8).
The CPU 16a executes the warning process, and causes the display control unit 17 and the voice control unit 18 to execute the warning operation (step S
9). That is, the display control unit 17 displays a warning on the screen of the LCD 6 attached to the lower side of the tablet 10.
Further, the voice control unit 18 drives and controls the voice output unit 19 to generate a warning sound.

In this way, when the supply of the main power supply 20 is stopped, the output of the position measurement voltage signal from the tablet 10 is monitored, and when the position measurement voltage signal is detected, the main power supply 2 is detected.
The supply of 0 is executed. Further, the CPU 16a is instructed that an abnormal load has occurred on the panel of the tablet 10. The CPU 16a executes a process of warning that an abnormal load is applied to the panel.

Therefore, when the system is stopped, it can be recognized that an object is erroneously placed on the panel of the tablet 10 and a load is applied to the panel. As a result, it is possible to prevent a situation in which an object accidentally placed on the panel is removed, the tablet 10 is damaged, or a data input malfunction occurs when the system is activated.

[0031]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, in a system such as a word processor or a personal computer using a pressure-sensitive tablet, a situation in which an object is placed on the panel of the pressure-sensitive tablet and a load is applied. A user of the system can be alerted when an error occurs. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent a situation where the tablet is damaged or a data input malfunction occurs when the system is started.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a system using a pressure-sensitive tablet according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the structure of a conventional pressure-sensitive tablet.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Tablet, 11 ... Tablet control unit, 12 ... Power switch, 14 ... Power control unit, 16 ... Main control unit,
16a ... CPU.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Eiji Okazawa 2-9 Suehiro-cho, Ome-shi, Tokyo Toshiba Personal System Engineering Stock Association In-house

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A data processing system having a pressure-sensitive tablet as an input device and having an output device in combination with the pressure-sensitive tablet, comprising: measuring electrodes of the pressure-sensitive tablet depending on a load on a surface of the pressure-sensitive tablet; A tablet control unit that monitors the output position measurement voltage signal and releases the stop of the main power supply when the output of the position measurement voltage signal is detected when the main power supply of the system is stopped, and a tablet control unit of the tablet control unit. A pressure-sensitive tablet, comprising: a warning unit that activates the output device in response to a detection operation and warns via the output device that an abnormal load has occurred on the surface of the pressure-sensitive tablet. Data processing system used. 2. A data processing system having a pressure-sensitive tablet as an input device and having an output device combined with the pressure-sensitive tablet, wherein supply control of a main power supply of the system is executed according to ON / OFF operation of a power switch. And a power control means for controlling the position measurement voltage signal output from the measurement electrode of the pressure-sensitive tablet when the supply of the main power is stopped by the power control means. A tablet control unit that releases the stop of the main power supply when an output is detected, and a system that is set to a low power consumption mode when the main power supply is stopped by the power control unit to detect the tablet control unit. The low power consumption mode is accordingly released to control the output device, and the surface of the pressure-sensitive tablet A data processing system using a pressure-sensitive tablet, comprising: a system control unit that warns that an abnormal load has occurred in the output device via the output device.