JPH07200133A - Pen input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a pen input device which can easily and naturally be switched, over between an input and an erasure mode using a pen. CONSTITUTION:Pen tips for writing and erasure which are different in thickness, are provided at both ends of the pen 57. When a touch panel 1 is touched with a thin pen tip, the write mode is judged, and image data showing the track of the pen tip are written in an image memory 49 and displayed on a display device 53. When the touch panel 1 is touched with a thick pen tip, the erasure mode is judged and data on the track of the pen tip are erased from the data stored in the image memory 49.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pen input device,
In particular, set according to the thickness of the pen that uses the device mode.
A changeable pen input device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a pen input system has attracted attention as an input system for palmtop computers called Japanese word processors and personal digital assistants. Generally, a pen input system includes a tablet formed integrally with a display device, and moves a pen (stylus) on the tablet to input position information (coordinate information). Known methods for detecting the position of the pen on the tablet include a resistance film type, an electrostatic capacitance type, and a pressure sensitive type.

[0003]

In the conventional pen input device, switching / setting of the data input mode, the erase mode, etc. is performed by inputting a command. Therefore, for example, if you want to change a part of the figure input in the write mode, change the mode to the erase mode, erase the part you want to change, return to the input mode, and then input the data. However, there is a drawback that the operation becomes complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a pen input device capable of easily and naturally switching between an input mode and an erasing mode. Another object of the present invention is to provide a pen input device capable of switching modes depending on the thickness of the pen used.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a pen input device according to the present invention comprises a display means and first and second pointing portions having different areas, and a position on the display means is set. Position indicating means for indicating, coordinate detecting means for detecting a signal indicating coordinates of the position indicated by the position indicating means, and detection of contact of one of the first and second indicating parts with the input means Means for judging that the second mode is the first mode, and detecting that the other of the instructing parts has come into contact with the input means to judge the second mode. To do. The instruction means is, for example,
The mode which is constituted by a pen having a thin pen tip and a thick pen tip and is discriminated is, for example, a data input mode or a data erasing mode.

[0006]

According to the present invention, the pointing means is provided with different pointing portions such as a thin nib and a thick nib, and the operation mode is discriminated according to the pointing portion in contact with the display means. , The mode can be switched and set with a simple operation. For example, if it is determined that the thin pen tip is in the writing mode and the thick pen tip is in the erase mode, the pen input operation can be performed in the same manner as a normal pencil with an eraser.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the pen input device of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a pen input device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a touch panel 1 has an upper resistance film 3 and a lower resistance film 6 which are opposed to each other with a constant interval.
And a transparent protective film (not shown) for protecting them. The resistance films 3 and 6 are composed of transparent resistance films and are arranged on the screen of the display device 53, which will be described later, so that input and display can be executed on the same coordinate plane.

An electrode 5 is formed in the longitudinal direction on the upper side of the upper resistance film 3. An electrode 5 is provided on the lower side of the upper resistance film 3.
An electrode 11 is formed in parallel with. An electrode 17 is formed on the right side portion of the lower resistance film 6 so as to be orthogonal to the electrodes 5 and 11 of the upper resistance film 3. An electrode 23 is formed on the left side of the lower resistance film 6 in parallel with the electrode 17.

The a-side terminal of the switch SW1 is connected to the electrode 5 of the upper resistance film 3 via the resistor R1, and the drive voltage Vdd is applied to the electrode 5 via the resistor R1. The b-side terminal of the switch SW1 is connected to the electrode 17 of the lower resistance film 6 and applies the drive voltage Vdd. The a-side terminal of the switch SW2 is connected to the electrode 23 of the lower resistance film 6, the electrode 23 is connected to the ground voltage, and the b-side terminal is connected to the electrode 11 of the upper resistance film 3.
The electrode 11 is connected to ground voltage. The a-side terminal of the switch SW3 is connected to the electrode 23 of the lower resistance film 6, the voltage of the electrode 23 is guided to the selector 37, the b-side terminal is connected to the electrode 11 of the upper resistance film 3, and the voltage of the electrode 11 is selected. Lead to 37. The switches SW1 to SW3 are the CPU 43 described later.
The switching operation is performed in conjunction with the control of.

The selector 37 supplies one of the output of the switch SW3 and the voltage of the electrode 5 to the A / D converter 39. A /
The D converter 39 converts the supplied analog voltage into a digital value, and the converted value is sent to the CPU 43 via the system bus 41.
Supply to.

The CPU 43 controls the entire coordinate detecting device. The RAM 45 is a readable / writable memory that stores various data of the CPU 43 and the CPU 4
It functions as a work area for 3. The ROM 47 is a read-only memory, and stores a program for detecting the thickness of the pen, a program for setting a mode according to the thickness of the pen, and the like. The VRAM (video RAM) 49 is a bit map memory for storing display image information. The display control device 51 controls transfer of display data from the VRAM 49 to the display device 53, transfer of display data from the CPU 43 to the VRAM 49, and the like.

The display device 53 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display device, and displays graphic and character information stored in the VRAM 49. The display device 53 is arranged below the resistance films 3 and 6 to form a touch panel, and enables input and display on the same coordinate plane. The pen interface 55 is a pen 57.
Capture the touch signal from. The above components are connected by a system bus 41.

The pen (stylus) 57 is a display device 53.
The upper and lower resistance films 3 and 6 come into contact with each other at the pressing point of the pen 57. Figure 2
Indicates the shape of the pen 57. As shown in the figure, a thin (small area) nib 61 is formed at one end of the pen 57, and a thick (large area) nib 63 is formed at the other end. In this embodiment, a thin pen tip 61 is used for writing data, and a thick pen tip 63 (corresponding to the eraser of a pencil with an eraser) is used for data erasing. The thick pen tip 63 is made of a soft rubber-based elastic material and is capable of surface contact with the touch panel. A pen switch (contact switch) that notifies the pen interface 55 of a pen touch signal when the pen tips 61 and 63 are pressed is arranged in the pen 57.

Next, a method for determining the area and coordinates of the pen tip will be described with reference to FIGS. Note that FIG.
Further, in FIG. 5, the upper resistance film 3 is shown by a solid line, and the lower resistance film 6 is shown by a broken line. First, a method of determining the area of the pen tip will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, the switch S
If W1 and SW2 are set and the resistance value between the electrodes 5 and 11 is R3, as shown in the equivalent circuit of FIG.
Current flows to the ground terminal from the resistors R1 and R3. The voltage VA of the electrode 5 at this time is represented by the following equation.

VA = Vdd · R3 / (R1 + R3)

Even if one point on the touch panel is pressed by the thin pen tip 61, the voltage VA hardly changes. on the other hand,
As shown in FIG. 5, when the thick pen tip 63 presses the touch panel, the pressed upper portion resistance film 3 and the lower resistance film 6 come into surface contact. Therefore, as shown by an equivalent circuit in FIG. 6, the resistance of the upper resistance film 3 and the resistance of the lower resistance film 6 are connected in parallel. Therefore, the resistance value between the electrode 5 and the electrode 11 becomes lower than R3 (the degree of decrease depends on the area of the contact surface). Therefore, the voltage of the electrode 5 is also lower than the voltage when the thin pen tip 61 is pressed.

Therefore, by checking the voltage of the electrode 5 while applying a current to the upper resistance film 3, it is possible to determine whether the touch panel is pressed by the thin pen tip 61 or the thick pen tip 63. it can.

With a current flowing through the upper resistance film 3,
When one point on the touch panel is pressed by the thin pen tip 61, the upper resistance film 3 and the lower resistance film 6 come into contact at that point, and the voltage at that point is transmitted to the lower resistance film 6. Assuming that the input impedance of the A / D converter 39 is sufficiently high, no voltage drop occurs in the lower resistance film 6, and the voltage at the pressing position is the voltage VB.
Is supplied to the A / D converter 39 and converted into digital data. For example, the output voltage VB when the arbitrary point P1 shown in FIG. 3 is pressed is expressed by the following equation. VB = VA · y2 / (y1 + y2) VA: voltage of electrode 5, y1: distance from electrode 5 to point P1 y2: distance from electrode 11 to point P1 Therefore, the Y coordinate of point P1 is obtained by the following equation. Y = total number of display dots in Y direction · (VA-VB) / VA

Similarly, when the thick pen tip 63 presses the touch panel, the voltage VB corresponding to the Y coordinate of the center of the pressed surface is A / D converter 39 via the lower resistance film 6.
And the Y coordinate is determined using the above equation.

On the other hand, in order to determine the X coordinate of the pen tip, the switches SW1 and SW2 are switched to change the lower resistance film 6
A current is passed between the electrodes 17 and 27 of the. When one point on the touch panel is pressed in this state, the upper resistance film 3 and the lower resistance film 6 come into contact with each other at that point, and the voltage V at that point of the lower resistance film 6
B is transmitted to the upper resistance film 3, the electrode 11 and the switch SW
3, supplied to the A / D converter 39 via the selector 37 and converted into digital data. Since the voltage of the electrode 17 is the power supply voltage Vdd, the X coordinate value at this time is represented by the following equation. X = total number of display dots in X direction VB / Vdd

Even when the thick pen tip 63 presses the touch panel, the voltage corresponding to the X coordinate of the center of the pressed surface is transmitted to the upper resistance film 3, and the electrode 11 and the switch SW.
3, supplied to the A / D converter 39 via the selector 37, and the X coordinate is obtained using the above-mentioned formula.

Next, the operation of the pen input device having the configuration shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. By setting the handwriting input mode, the CPU 43 starts the processing shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.

First, the CPU 43 checks whether or not the pen switch of the pen 57 is on, that is, whether or not the pen 57 is in contact with the touch panel (step S).
1). If the pen switch is not on, after performing other corresponding processing (step S3), step S1
Return to.

On the other hand, if the pen switch is turned on, the power supply voltage Vdd is supplied to the contact a of the switch S1, the contact b of the switch S2 is grounded to energize the upper resistance film 3, and the contact of the switch SW3 is further connected. a is connected to the selector 37 (step S5). Next, the selector 37 is caused to select the voltage VA of the electrode 5 (step S7). Selected voltage V
A is supplied to the A / D converter 39 and converted into a digital value (step S9). The CPU 43 takes in the digital value VA via the bus 41.

The CPU 43 uses the digital value VA that has been taken in.
Is compared with the reference value RX, and if it is larger than the reference value RX, the write mode flag is set (step S13),
If it is smaller, the erase mode flag is set (step S15). The reference value RX is set to, for example, an approximately intermediate value between the voltage of the electrode 5 when the touch panel is pressed by the thin pen tip 61 and the voltage of the electrode 5 when the touch panel is pressed by the thick pen tip 63.

Next, the CPU 43 controls the selector 35 to select the output of the switch SW3, that is, the voltage VB supplied through the lower resistance film 6 (step S17).
It is converted into a digital value by the A / D converter 39 and the value is taken in (step S19). CPU43 is step 9
Voltage value VA obtained in step S19 and voltage value V obtained in step S19
The Y coordinate is calculated from B (step S21).

Next, the switches SW1, SW2 and SW3 are switched to energize the lower resistance film 6 and the upper resistance film 3 as well.
Is supplied to the selector 37 (step S2
3). Since the selector 37 is set to select the voltage VB in step S17, the voltage of the upper resistance film 3 is supplied to the A / D converter 39. The A / D converter 39 is
The supplied voltage is A / D converted (step S25).
The CPU 43 calculates the X coordinate by multiplying the ratio of the voltage value VB obtained in step S25 and the power supply voltage Vdd by the total number of dots in the X direction on the display screen (step S27).

Next, the CPU 43 checks the content of the flag set in step S13 or S15 (step S29). When the write mode flag is set, the CPU 43 sets a predetermined position based on the detected coordinates of the VRAM 49, for example, as shown in FIG.
Display data "1" is written as shown in FIG. The written data is displayed on the display device 53 via the display control device 51. As a result, dots are displayed in an overlapping manner at the position of the pen tip 61.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S29 that the erase mode flag is set, VRA
As shown in FIG. 9 at a predetermined position based on the detected coordinates of M49.
Display data “0” is written as shown in FIG. Therefore, the data written before that is cleared. Therefore, the display of the position of the pen tip 63 is erased. After that, the flow returns to step S1.

By executing the processes shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, in the pen input device of this embodiment, by writing characters, figures, etc. on the touch panel with the thin pen tip 61, the pen tip is stored in the image memory 49. The image data indicating the locus of is written and displayed on the display device 53, and as a result, the written characters and figures are displayed so as to overlap the written position. On the other hand, by tracing the touch panel with the thick pen tip 63, the display data of the traced portion of the stored data in the image memory 49 is erased, and the display of the traced portion of the pen tip 63 disappears. Therefore, it is possible to input and delete characters, images, etc., as if using a pencil with an eraser.

In the above embodiment, the pen tip 61
And 63 are provided with pen switches, and it is determined whether or not the pen 57 contacts the touch panel by turning this switch on or off. For example, when a coordinate value other than (0, 0) is obtained, the pen switch You may make it judge that 57 touched the touch panel. The method for determining the thickness of the pen tip is not limited to the above, and other methods can be used.
Further, in the above embodiment, the size of the pen tip is detected by detecting the voltage VA of the electrode 5, but, for example,
A pen switch may be provided for each of the pen tips 61 and 63, and which pen tip touches the touch panel may be determined by a signal from each switch, and a corresponding mode may be set. In the above embodiment, the case where the resistive thin film type touch panel is used has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. The same can be applied to a coordinate detection device of a system such as a capacitance system or an electromagnetic induction system.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the difference in the area of the pen tip touching the touch panel is detected and the corresponding mode is determined and set, the mode can be easily changed. You can select and set the mode.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a pen input device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a structure of a pen used in a pen input device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a method of determining the area and coordinates of a pen tip.

FIG. 4 is an equivalent circuit when a pen tip makes a point contact with a touch panel.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a method of determining the area and coordinates of a pen tip.

FIG. 6 is an equivalent circuit when the pen tip is in surface contact with the touch panel.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the pen input device shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the pen input device shown in FIG.

FIG. 9A is a diagram for explaining a write operation,
(B) is a diagram for explaining an erase operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Touch panel, 3 ... Upper resistance film, 5 ... Electrode, 6 ...
..Lower resistance film, 11 ... Electrode, 17 ... Electrode, 23 ... Electrode, 37 ... Selector, 39 ... A / D converter, 41 ...
System bus, 43 ... CPU, 45 ... RAM, 47 ...
・ ROM, 49 ... VRAM (video RAM), 51 ...
Display control device, 53 ... Display device, 55 ... Pen interface
Face, 57 ... Pen, 61 ... Thin nib, 63 ...
Thick pen tip, SW1 to SW3 ... Switch

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A display / input integrated touch panel, a pen for indicating an arbitrary position on the touch panel, a contact area detection unit for detecting a contact area of the pen with the touch panel, and a contact area detection unit. A pen input device, comprising means for setting an operation mode of the touch panel according to a detected value. 2. A display means and first and second indicating portions having different areas, and a position indicating means for indicating a position on the display means, and coordinates of a position indicated by the position indicating means. The coordinate detecting means for detecting a signal and one of the first and second instructing portions are detected to be in contact with the input means to determine the first mode, and the other of the instructing portions A pen input device, comprising: means for detecting that the input means is touched and determining that the input mode is the second mode. 3. The pointing means is composed of a pen having a thin pen point forming the first pointing section and a thick pen point forming the second pointing section. 2. The pen input device according to 2. 4. The pen according to claim 2, wherein the first mode is a data input mode and the second mode is a data erasing mode. Input device. 5. An image memory for storing image data, a display means for displaying the image data stored in the image memory on a screen, a thin pen tip and a thick pen tip, and a pen tip on the screen. A pen for indicating a position; a coordinate detecting means for detecting coordinates of the position indicated by the pen; a pen tip determining means for discriminating which of a thin pen tip and a thick pen tip comes into contact with the screen; The image at the coordinate position detected by the coordinate detecting means of the image memory is erased or the image at the coordinate position is detected according to the coordinates detected by the detecting means and the pen tip determined by the pen tip determining means. A pen input device comprising a control means for writing data.