JPH07261906A - Pen input type data processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To plot various shapes of diagrams and characters on display screen by decoding the position of a pen position sensor based on the signal fetched from this sensor and also decoding an intermittent pattern that is formed by detection to decide the thickness of the lines which are shown on a flat panel. CONSTITUTION:A lower (mobile) electrode 3 is provided on the extended axis of a pen, and a fixed electrode 5 is provided on the axis of the pen and opposite to the electrode 3. A conductive rubber 4 is provided between both electrodes 3 and 5 as a pressure sensor. And, a pen position sensor is put on a flat panel display screen. The radio waves are intermittently outputted from the pen point 1 in plural types of patterns and based on the output signal of the pressure sensor to which the writing pressure of the point 1 is transmitted in coupling to the point 1, and the position of the pen position sensor is decoded by the signal fetched by the sensor and an intermittent pattern which is formed by detection is also decoded. Thus, the thickness of the lines displayed on a flat panel can be decided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pen input type data processing device, and more particularly to a technique which is effectively applied to a device using a flat panel as a display device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The pen pressure of a pen tip is controlled by a switch to be turned on / off, a radio wave output from the pen tip is captured by a pen tip position detecting sensor, and a line corresponding to the trajectory of the pen tip is obtained by the position information. There is a pen input computer that draws figures and letters. Regarding such a pen computer, there is, for example, "Nikkei Electronics", pages 161-166, published on May 10, 1993 by Nikkei McGraw-Hill.

[0003]

The conventional pen input method can draw only a simple diagram because it has only a function of drawing a diagram. The inventor of the present application considered to add a pressure detection function to the pen input device and to specify the thickness of the line to be displayed based on the pressure detection function so that a diagram of various expressions can be drawn.

An object of the present invention is to provide a pen input type data processing device capable of drawing a diagram of various expressions by a simple operation. The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

[0005]

The outline of a typical one of the inventions disclosed in the present application will be briefly described as follows. That is, a pen position detection sensor is provided so as to overlap with the flat panel display screen, and a plurality of radio wave outputs output from the pen tip based on the output signal of the pressure sensor that transmits the pen pressure applied to the pen tip in cooperation with the pen tip. It is carried out intermittently according to the pattern of the kind, and the position thereof is detected by the signal captured by the pen position detection sensor, and the thickness of the line displayed on the flat panel by decoding the intermittent pattern formed by the detection. To decide.

[0006]

According to the above means, a plurality of types of lines can be drawn in correspondence with the pen pressure of the pen input device, so that lines of various expressions can be drawn on the surface of the paper with a writing brush. Drawings and letters can be drawn on the display screen.

[0007]

1 is a schematic sectional view of an embodiment of a pen input device according to the present invention. The pen input device of this embodiment is used in a pen input type microcomputer as described later.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a pen tip, and the shaft of the pen extends as it is to provide a lower electrode 3. That is, the pen tip is not particularly limited, but its surface is covered with a relatively soft synthetic resin or the like which will not scratch the display screen of the liquid crystal display panel as described later. The shaft including the pen tip 1 plays a role of an antenna, so to speak, and the transmission coil 2 is provided around the shaft. An umbrella-shaped electrode mounting portion is provided on the other end side of the shaft, and the electrode 3 is mounted on the upper surface thereof. As described above, the electrode 3 is a movable electrode that moves up and down on the axis according to the change Δh in the height of the pen tip according to the movement (writing pressure) of the pen tip. A fixed electrode 5 is provided on the shaft of the pen so as to face the movable electrode 3.

Between the movable electrode 3 and the fixed electrode 5,
A conductive rubber 4 as a pressure sensor is provided. That is,
A conductive rubber is sandwiched between the two electrodes 3 and 5. Although the conductive rubber 4 is not particularly limited, it is made of a mixture of carbon and silicon rubber, and the compression ratio linearly changes in proportion to the load as shown in the characteristic diagram (A) of FIG. As shown in (B), the compression ratio has a non-linear characteristic, and the resistance value decreases in an inverse ratio.

Both electrodes 3 and 5 are connected to a pen controller 6 by wiring. This pen controller 6
It is also connected to the transmitting coil 2 and driven by the pen controller 6 to output a signal in the form of a radio wave from the pen tip. That is, as described below, the pen controller 6
Detects the pen pressure of the pen tip and causes the pen tip to output a radio wave modulated by a signal formed thereby.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the pen input device according to the present invention. The conductive rubber 4 is used as the variable resistor R2 and is connected in series with the fixed resistor R1 to form a voltage dividing circuit for the power supply voltage or the like. The resistor R2 forms a divided voltage that decreases as the resistance value of the resistor R2 decreases as the writing pressure increases. The voltage signal thus formed is input to the analog / digital conversion circuit ADC of the controller 6 and replaced with a digital value.

The digital signal is supplied to the comparator CMP and compared with a plurality of predetermined reference values, and a plurality of writing pressures are determined. Although not particularly limited, if it is smaller than the first reference value, it is determined that the pen tip is not in contact with the display screen. If it is between the first reference and the second reference value having a writing pressure higher than that, it is determined as the first writing pressure. If it is between the second reference value and the third reference value having a higher writing pressure than that, it is determined that the writing pressure is the second writing pressure. When it is larger than the third reference value, it is determined that the writing pressure is the third writing pressure.

The timing control circuit, in addition to the oscillation signal output in the form of radio waves, divides the frequency to form a timing signal having a frequency sufficiently lower than the oscillation signal. The timing signal is input to the counter circuit CNT to form a reference timing signal.

The comparator CMP compares the writing pressure information determined by comparison with a plurality of types of standards as described above with the timing signal formed by the counter circuit CNT, and writes writing pressure information consisting of binary data. Is also replaced with a time-series timing pulse. The switch SW is controlled by this timing pulse to generate the oscillation circuit OS.
The oscillation signal formed by C is intermittently sent to the transmission coil 2. That is, the comparator modulates the oscillation signal of the oscillation circuit OSC with the timing pulse and outputs it as a radio wave.

FIG. 4 is a waveform diagram for explaining the operation of the above controller. In the figure, a waveform example and a display example of the corresponding line are also drawn. As shown in (B), when the first to third writing pressures are detected, a radio wave corresponding to the oscillation signal of the oscillation signal OSC indicating that the pen tip is in contact with the display screen in a unit of a fixed time. Is output for a certain period. Thereafter, when the first writing pressure assigned 4 bits of the data to set timing to have binary weights from 2 ⁰ to 2 ^3, so as to described below in response to such data Such intermittent radio waves are transmitted.

For example, in the case of the above-mentioned first writing pressure, the above-mentioned 4
If the bit data is defined as 0000, the radio wave output is stopped at the timing of the bit corresponding to 0 assigned to each bit.
In the above data, the output of the radio wave is stopped for a time corresponding to the timing of 4 bits. After that, radio waves are output for a certain period to indicate that the pen tip is in contact with the display screen. The display on the display screen corresponding to such a signal from the pen input device is a thin line as shown in (A).

In the case of the second writing pressure, the 4-bit data is defined as 1001, for example. At the timing assigned to each bit, the radio wave output is stopped at the portion corresponding to 0 in the same manner as described above, so the radio wave output is stopped for the time corresponding to the intermediate 2-bit timing. After that, radio waves are output for a certain period to indicate that the pen tip is in contact with the display screen. The display on the display screen corresponding to such a signal from the pen input device is a medium-thick line as shown in FIG.

In the case of the second writing pressure, the 4-bit data is defined as 0100, for example. At the timing assigned to each bit, the radio wave output is stopped at the portion corresponding to 0 in the same manner as above, so the radio wave output is divided into the time corresponding to the timing of the first 1 bit and the timing of the 3rd and 4th bits. Is stopped. After that, radio waves are output for a certain period to indicate that the pen tip is in contact with the display screen. The display on the display screen corresponding to such a signal from the pen input device is a bold line as shown in (A).

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a pen input type data processing apparatus according to the present invention.

In this embodiment, a liquid crystal display device is used as a flat panel display device. A pen position detecting sensor is provided on the back side so as to overlap with the liquid crystal display device. In the electromagnetic system as in the above embodiment, this pen position detecting sensor is composed of a tablet provided with a rectangular coil which acts as a loop antenna in the X and Y directions of the display screen. With this loop antenna, the strength of the received radio wave is decimated and the position information specified by the X and Y coordinates is obtained.

The output of the pen position detecting sensor of this embodiment is input to the position detecting device and the X of the pen tip as described above is input.
In addition to the position information consisting of the Y coordinate and the Y coordinate, the received electric wave is detected to determine the intermittent output pattern. Is divided into two times, it is determined like the third writing pressure.

The position information and the writing pressure information are sent to the display control device, and line information corresponding to the pen tip locus and the writing pressure is written in the frame memory provided therein in the form of dots. Then, in synchronization with the display timing of the liquid crystal display device, the fume memory is read and a diagram is drawn on the display screen.

Although not particularly limited, the display control device includes:
It is connected to a microcomputer system MCU including a central processing unit (microprocessor) for data processing and a memory circuit to process data including a diagram by the above pen input. The pen input device may be used for pattern recognition of written characters and inputting characters in addition to drawing a line drawing. In this case, the character input mode may be designated to stop the function of changing the line thickness due to the writing pressure as described above, and the characters may all be input with lines having the same thickness.

The operational effects obtained from the above embodiment are as follows. That is, (1) a pen position detection sensor is provided so as to be overlapped with the flat panel display screen, and the pen pressure is output from the pen tip based on the output signal of the pressure sensor which transmits the writing pressure applied to the pen tip in cooperation with the pen tip. The electric wave output is intermittently performed by a plurality of types of patterns, and the position captured by the signal detected by the pen position detection sensor and the intermittent pattern formed by the detection are decoded and displayed on the flat panel. By determining the thickness of the line, it is possible to draw diagrams and characters of various expressions on the display screen in the same way as writing a line with a brush on the paper corresponding to the pen pressure of the pen input device. The effect is obtained.

(2) As a pressure sensor, a first electrode connected to a pen tip and movable in response to writing pressure,
A conductive rubber is provided between the first fixed electrode and the opposing second fixed electrode, and an output signal is formed by utilizing a change in the resistance value of the conductive rubber between the first and second electrodes. As a result, it is possible to obtain a lightweight and durable pen input device.

(3) A liquid crystal display device is used as the flat panel display device, and a large number of rectangular coils provided corresponding to the X axis and the Y axis of the display screen are used as a pen position detection sensor by an electromagnetic method. By performing position detection, the pen input device can transmit position information and writing pressure information with a simple configuration that intermittently outputs radio waves in response to detected writing pressure. The effect of becoming

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiments, the invention of the present application is not limited to the embodiments and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Needless to say. For example, as a piezoelectric sensor that forms an electric signal corresponding to writing pressure, a semiconductor piezoelectric sensor that uses the piezo effect is used, a change in the resistance value of conductive rubber is used, or rubber is used as a dielectric. It is possible to adopt various embodiments such as one utilizing a change in electrostatic capacitance value which is inversely proportional to the distance between both electrodes.

In FIG. 3, a reference voltage corresponding to a plurality of types of writing pressure is directly discriminated by a plurality of window comparators in place of the analog / digital conversion circuit ADC, and the output is used to perform the same modulation as described above to obtain a radio wave. May be output. This modulation method may be one that intermittently outputs a radio wave with a binary weight by the timing signal as described above, or one that frequency-modulates the carrier frequency and outputs it. That is, the oscillation frequency of the oscillation circuit OSC itself may be changed in a plurality of ways by the writing pressure, and the position detection device may perform frequency discrimination to demodulate the writing pressure information. The type of line thickness may be two or four or more in addition to three as in the above embodiment.

The liquid crystal display device may be of a simple matrix type or an active matrix type of TFT (thin film transistor). In addition, any flat panel display device can be used as long as it can transmit the electric wave from the pen tip to the position detecting sensor provided on the back surface side as described above. Then, in addition to the electromagnetic method of outputting and receiving radio waves as described above, electrodes divided by X and Y are formed of an ITO film on a transparent glass substrate to increase the coupling capacitance between the pen and the ITO film. Alternatively, a dielectric method may be used in which an AC signal of about 100 KHz applied through the position is calculated and calculated from the voltage ratio appearing on each electrode.

The present invention is applicable to a pen input type personal computer, such as a microcomputer such as a so-called electronic notebook, as well as a pen input type data such as a digitizer for performing dedicated data processing only for inputting position and writing pressure. It can be widely used for processing equipment.

[0031]

The effects obtained by the typical ones of the inventions disclosed in the present application will be briefly described as follows. That is, a pen position detection sensor is provided so as to overlap with the flat panel display screen, and a plurality of radio wave outputs output from the pen tip based on the output signal of the pressure sensor that transmits the pen pressure applied to the pen tip in cooperation with the pen tip. It is carried out intermittently according to the pattern of the kind, and the position thereof is detected by the signal captured by the pen position detection sensor, and the thickness of the line displayed on the flat panel by decoding the intermittent pattern formed by the detection. By determining, it is possible to draw a diagram and characters of various expressions on the display screen in the same manner as drawing a line with a writing brush on the paper corresponding to the pen pressure of the pen input device.

As a pressure sensor, a conductive material is provided between a first electrode connected to a pen tip and movable according to writing pressure, and a second fixed electrode facing the first electrode. By using rubber and forming the output signal by utilizing the change in the resistance value of the conductive rubber between the first and second electrodes, it is possible to obtain a lightweight and durable pen input device. can get.

A liquid crystal display device is used as the flat panel display device, and an X on the display screen is used as a pen position detection sensor.
By using a large number of rectangular coils provided corresponding to the Y-axis and the Y-axis to perform position detection by an electromagnetic method, the pen input device outputs radio waves according to the detected pen pressure. With a simple configuration of performing intermittently, position information and writing pressure information can be transmitted.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing an embodiment of a pen input device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a characteristic diagram for explaining a piezoelectric sensor used in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a pen input device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a waveform diagram for explaining an example of the operation of the pen input device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram showing an embodiment of a pen-input type data processing device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Nib, 2 ... Oscillation coil, 3 ... Movable electrode, 4 ... Conductive rubber, 5 ... Fixed electrode, 6 ... Pen controller, ADC ...
Analog / digital conversion circuit, CMP ... Comparator, TC ... Timing control circuit, CNT ... Counter circuit, OSC ... Oscillation circuit, SW ... Switch, R2 ... Variable resistance, R1 ... Fixed resistance, MCU ... Microcomputer.

Front page continued (72) Inventor Yoshiyuki Tsukizaki 3300 Hayano, Mobara-shi, Chiba Hitachi, Ltd. Electronic Device Division

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An output of a flat panel display device, a pen position detection sensor which is provided so as to be overlapped with the display screen and detects an electric wave output from a pen tip, and an output of a pressure sensor which transmits a writing pressure applied to the pen tip. A pen input device in which the output output from the pen tip is changed by a plurality of types of patterns by a control signal formed based on the signal, the position information by the signal captured by the pen position detection sensor, and detection. And a controller for determining the thickness of a line displayed on the flat panel by decoding the formed signal. 2. The pressure sensor is provided between a first electrode, which is connected to a pen tip and is movable in response to the writing pressure, and a second fixed electrode facing the first electrode. 2. The pen input method data according to claim 1, wherein the pen input method data is formed by using a conductive rubber provided in the first electrode and the output signal is formed by utilizing a change in the resistance value of the conductive rubber between the first and second electrodes. Processing equipment. 3. The flat panel display device is a liquid crystal display device, and the pen position detection sensor includes a large number of rectangular coils provided corresponding to the X axis and the Y axis of the display screen. The pen input data processing device according to claim 1 or 2.