JPH0764691A - Pen input computer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simply remake laptop computers and desktop computers into pen input computers without newly baking the operation systems. CONSTITUTION:The device is provided with an interface circuit 22 converting the position information outputted from a display device 7 with pen input function into the format coincident with the position information outputted from an input equipment 9 and sending it to an input equipment controller 33. It is also provided with a menu memory 27b storing a menu 40 with each instruction to be inputted from an input equipment 8, menu display means displaying the menu of the menu memory the display device 7, and position character conversion means converting the position information which represents the menu instruction notation position while displaying the menu when it is inputted from the display device 7 into the character information of the corresponding instruction and sending it to an input equipment controller 10.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pen input computer capable of inputting various information by touching a touch panel covering a display screen with, for example, an input pen.
The present invention relates to a pen input computer modified from another computer such as a laptop computer or a desktop computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A pen input computer as shown in FIG. 9 has been developed as a portable computer. A display unit 2 formed of, for example, a liquid crystal display plate is attached to the upper surface of a thin B5 size case 1. And this display unit 2
The touch panel 3 is attached so as to cover the front surface of the.
By touching the touch panel 3 with the input pen 4, it is possible to input the position information of the touched position. The display unit 2, the touch panel 3, and the input pen 4 constitute a display device with a pen input function.

Such a pen input computer is mainly composed of the above-mentioned display device with a pen input function and the computer main body. The computer main body has a built-in OS (operating system) and a normal application program for controlling the input / output of data to / from the display device with pen input function, and position information input from the display device with pen input function is incorporated. Dedicated OS
And perform a predetermined information processing business.

In some cases, other types of computers such as laptop computers and desktop computers are converted into pen input computers. A pen input computer which is a modification of another type of computer is configured as shown in FIG. 10, for example.

As shown in the figure, the pen input computer 5 is composed of a display unit 7 with a pen input function, which is composed of the display unit 2, the touch panel 3 and the input pen 4, and a computer body 6. Further, in the pen input computer 5, the computer main body 6 understands character information and position information input from a keyboard 8 and a mouse 9 used in a laptop computer or a desktop computer which is a predecessor of the pen input computer 5. Keyboard controller 1 as an input device controller for converting into possible character information and position information
0 and mouse controller 11 are incorporated.

The image information output from the computer body 6 is input to the display controller 12. The display controller 12 displays the input image information on the display unit 2 of the display device 7 with a pen input function.

Further, the position information output from the display device 7 with a pen input function is converted into position information which can be understood by the computer main body 6 by the pen input controller 13 and input to the computer main body 6.

In the computer main body 6, a CPU 14 for executing various information processing is connected via a CPU bus 15 to a memory 16 for storing an OS, application programs and various data, and an IB connected to an I / O bus 17.
The C (interface bus controller) 18 and the display controller 12 are controlled.

The keyboard controller 10, the mouse controller 11 and the pen input controller 13 are connected to the I / O bus 17. When used as the pen input computer 5, the keyboard 8 and the mouse 9 are not used, so the keyboard 8 and the mouse 9 are normally separated from the connection terminals 19a and 19b.

[0010]

However, as shown in FIG.
When the computer main body incorporated in the laptop computer or the like as shown in FIG. 2 is diverted to the computer main body 6 of the pen input computer 5, there are the following problems.

That is, since the pen input controller 13 is connected to the computer main body 6 in addition to the conventional keyboard controller 10, mouse controller 11, and display controller 12, the OS set in the memory 16 of the computer main body 6 ( operating·
System) needs to be recreated.

The work of recreating the dedicated OS (operating system) requires a great deal of labor and time, and there is a problem that the conventional laptop computer or desktop computer cannot be easily converted into the pen input computer 5.

Generally, in the pen input computer 5, portability is the highest priority, so the keyboard 8
Since the mouse 9 and the like are not connected, the operator uses the input pen 4 to perform various operations. When a keyboard is used, 10 or more characters can be easily input, so the operator does not have to worry about inputting program names, file names and various command characters.

However, in the pen input computer, the input device is only the input pen 4. In some cases, a character recognition function is added to the pen input controller 13, but it is very difficult to surely quickly input a complicated command character, a program name, or a file name using the input pen 4.

Therefore, in the pen input computer, various command characters, program names and file names described above are displayed on the display screen of the display unit 2 and selected by the input pen 4.

However, in order to display a menu on the display unit 2 and select it with the input pen 4, program names, file names and various command characters which have been conventionally input using the keyboard are set in the computer body 6. It is necessary to change the OS and application programs related to the selected job. Therefore, the application programs for various jobs used in the conventional laptop computer or desktop computer cannot be used as they are in the pen input computer and must be changed for the pen input computer.

It takes a great deal of labor and time to change the OS and application programs to select the program and input various commands. The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and displays a menu in which various commands are written regardless of the computer main body,
By converting the position information of the command displayed in this menu into the character information of the regular command and inputting it to the existing input device controller, the conventional wrapping can be performed without changing the OS or application program of the computer main body. An object is to provide a pen input computer which can be easily manufactured from a top computer or a desktop computer.

[0018]

In order to solve the above problems, a pen input computer of the present invention sends character information and position information input from a computer main body and a detachably provided input device to the computer main body. Input device controller for display, pen input function display device that outputs position information input by touch operation on the touch panel that covers the display screen, and image information output from the computer main unit is displayed on the pen input function display device The display controller includes a display controller and an interface circuit that converts the position information output from the display device with a pen input function into a format that matches the position information output from the input device and sends the converted format to the input device controller.

Further, for the interface circuit, a menu memory for storing a menu in which each command to be input from the input device is stored, and menu display means for displaying the menu of the menu memory on the display device with a pen input function. When the position information indicating the command notation position of the menu is input from the display device with pen input function while the menu is displayed, the position information is converted to character information of the command and sent to the input device controller. Character conversion means is added.

Further, in another invention, menu setting means for registering a command in a menu memory according to an external operation is added to the interface circuit. Further, in another invention, the menu setting means described above is configured to be performed based on a registration command from an input device in a mounted state.

[0021]

In the pen input computer thus constructed, the position information output from the display device with pen input function is input to the interface circuit. The interface circuit converts the input position information from the display device with a pen input function into the same format as the position information of the mouse or the like and sends it to the input device controller.

Therefore, the computer main body can process the position information input from the display device with a pen input function, which is input through the input device controller, as the original position information from the input device such as a mouse.

Characters of commands that should be originally input from an input device such as a keyboard are displayed in a menu format on a display device with a pen input function. This menu is displayed by the interface circuit regardless of the display command from the computer.

Then, when the operator designates the position of an arbitrary command character displayed on the menu with, for example, an input pen, this position information is converted into character information indicating the command character,
It is sent to the input device controller. Therefore, the OS or application program of the computer main body recognizes this command character as a regular command character coming from the keyboard.

As a result, since it is not necessary to connect a pen input controller dedicated to the display device with a pen input function to the computer main body, the pen can be used as it is without modifying the OS incorporated in the conventional laptop computer or desktop computer. It can be used as the OS of the input computer.

Further, in another invention, since the operator can arbitrarily change the setting of each command to be set in the menu memory, the user of this pen input computer can set the contents of the application program which he / she sets in this pen input computer. The setting can be arbitrarily changed according to.

Further, in another invention, since the original input device such as a keyboard can be used when setting each command in the menu memory described above, the work efficiency of setting the command in the menu memory can be greatly improved.

[0028]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the schematic arrangement of the pen input computer of the embodiment. The same parts as those of the conventional pen input computer 5 shown in FIG. 10 are designated by the same reference numerals. Therefore, detailed description of the overlapping portions is omitted.
The external view of the pen input computer is the same as the external view shown in FIG.

In the pen input computer 20, like the conventional pen input computer 5 shown in FIG. 10, for example, a computer main body 6, a keyboard controller 10, a mouse controller 11, which is incorporated in a laptop computer or a desktop computer, A display controller 12 is incorporated. Further, in the pen input computer 20, a display device with a pen input function 7, a menu mode switch 21, an interface circuit 22, a pen input control circuit 23 and the like are incorporated.

Further, a keyboard 8 and a mouse 9 can be connected to the connection terminals 19a and 19b provided on the side surface of the case 1. The connection terminals 19a and 19b are connected to the interface circuit 22 housed inside.

The computer main body 6 is incorporated in, for example, a laptop computer or a desktop computer as described above. In the memory 16 of the computer body 6, the keyboard controller 1
0, mouse controller 11 and display controller 12
An OS (operating system) that controls input / output information to and from is incorporated.

Character information a and position information b are input from the interface circuit 22 to the keyboard controller 10 and the mouse controller 11 instead of the keyboard 8 and the mouse 9. When the keyboard 8 and the mouse 9 are connected to the connection terminals 19a and 19b, the interface circuit 22 receives the character information a ₁ and the position information b ₁ from the keyboard 8 and the mouse 9.

The image information c output from the computer body 6 is input to the display controller 12. The display controller 12 sends the image information c ₁ to the interface circuit 22. The interface circuit 22 processes the image information c ₁ into image data c ₂ and sends it to the display device 7 with a pen input function.

The position information b ₂ output from the display device 7 with a pen input function is converted into a format understandable by the interface circuit 22 by the pen input control circuit 23 and input to the interface circuit 22.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the interface circuit 22. This interface circuit 22
Is a kind of computer. Internal bus 24
In contrast, a CPU 25 for executing various information processing, a ROM 26 for storing various control programs, a RAM 27a for temporarily storing various variable data, a non-volatile storage unit 27b for storing menu images, and a video RAM (VRAM) 29a are provided. The display control circuit (1) 28a to which the image information c ₁ is input from the display controller 12 and the video RAM (VRA)
M) 29b is connected to the display control circuit (2) 28b or the like to which the menu image from the non-volatile storage unit 27b is input. An image data synthesizing circuit 26 is connected to each of the display control circuits 28a and 28b.

Further, the internal bus 24 is connected to the connection terminal 19b.
An input circuit (2) 30 for taking in the positional information b ₁ of the mouse 9 inputted via the input circuit (1) 31 for taking in the character information a ₁ of the keyboard 8 inputted through the connection terminal 19a;
Output circuit (2) 32 for sending character information a to the keyboard controller 10, position information b to the mouse controller 11
An output circuit (1) 33 for transmitting the information, an input circuit (3) 34 for taking in the position information b ₂ input from the display device 7 with a pen input function through the pen input control circuit 23, and the I / O of the computer body 6 A bus interface 35 connected to the O-bus 17 and an input circuit (4) 37 for taking in the mode switching information from the menu mode switch 21 are connected.

The bus interface 35 is used only when the computer body 6 has a built-in OS to which the controller of the display device 7 with a pen input function can be connected. Therefore, when the computer main body of the laptop computer or the desktop computer is used as it is, the bus interface 35 is not used.

Nonvolatile storage unit 2 as menu memory
A menu image 40 in which a plurality of command characters 40a are written is stored in 7b, for example, as shown in FIG. 3 (b). The display control circuit 28b uses the nonvolatile storage unit 27b.
The menu image 40 stored in the video RAM 29b is read and stored in the video RAM 29b. And the computer body 6
When it becomes necessary to input a command for the command, the image data of the menu image 40 stored in the video RAM 29b is read and sent to the next image data synthesizing circuit 36.

Further, the display control circuit 28a temporarily stores the image information c ₁ input from the display controller 12 in the video RAM 29a. And this video ram 29a
The image data for one screen stored in is read and sent to the next image data synthesizing circuit 36. There are various kinds of image information c ₁ transmitted from the computer body 6, but for example, there is a menu selection image 41 having a plurality of windows 41a shown in FIG. In this menu selection image 41, the operator inputs an instruction character using the input device such as the keyboard 8 at the “<” mark 41b position of each window 41a, so that the computer 6 receives the corresponding instruction. Understand things

Of course, in the image information c ₁ from the computer body 6, there are many normal display images other than the menu selection image 41. Image data combining circuit 36 each display control circuit 28a, and synthesizes the image data input from 28b, sends a final image data c ₂ to the pen input-capable display device 7. For example, the display control circuit 2
When the menu selection image 41 shown in FIG. 3A is input from 8a and the menu image 40 shown in FIG. 3B is input from the display control circuit 28b, the image data synthesizing circuit 3
6 performs image synthesis on them to obtain a synthesized image 42 shown in FIG. In this composite image 42, the menu image 40 is superimposed on the window 41a.

When the normal normal image data other than the menu selection image 41 is output from the display control circuit 28a, the menu image 40 is not output from the display control circuit 28b. Therefore, the menu control image is output from the display control circuit 28a. The generated normal image data passes through the image data synthesizing circuit 36, and is directly sent to the display device 7 with a pen input function as the image data c ₂ .

The CPU 25 of the interface circuit 22
Is configured to execute a process of transmitting the character information or the position information input from each input circuit to the keyboard controller 10 or the mouse controller 11 according to the flowchart of FIG.

When the flow chart is started and the menu mode switch 21 is in a mode other than the menu registration mode in P1, when the character information a ₁ is input from the input circuit (1) 31 in P2, this character information a ₁ Since it is the character information a ₁ input from the keyboard 8, it is sent to the keyboard controller 10 as the character information a via the output circuit (2) 32 as it is at P3.

[0044] At P4, when the position information b ₁ from the input circuit (2) 30 is input, since the positional information b ₁ is the position information b ₁ input from the mouse 9, as an output circuit at P5 (1) The position information b is sent to the mouse controller 11 via 33.

When the position information b ₂ is input from the input circuit (3) 34 in P6, the process proceeds to P7 and the pen input process shown in FIG. 5 is performed. When the pen input process of FIG. 5 is started, in P8, if the information input from the input circuit (3) 34 is normal position information b ₂ , it is converted into a format that the mouse controller 11 can understand and the output circuit is output.
(1) Send to the mouse controller 11 via 33 (P9).

In P10, the input circuit (3) 34
If the information input from is the position information b ₂ and the menu selection mode is set in the input force circuit (4) 37, the process proceeds to P11 to execute the position character conversion process related to the command.

That is, the display control circuit 28b is activated to send the image data of the menu image 40 of the video RAM 29b to the image data synthesizing circuit 36. At this point, the image data of the menu selection image 41 shown in FIG.
Since it has been transmitted to the composite image 42 shown in FIG.
Is displayed on the display unit 2 of the display device 7 with a pen input function.

When the operator uses the input pen 4 to specify one command character 40b indicated by the arrow in the composite image 42 in FIG. 6B, the position information b ₂ of the written position of this command character 40b is displayed. It is input to the interface circuit 22 via the input circuit (3) 34.

Then, the input position information b ₂ is converted into character information a indicating the command character written in the corresponding position and sent to the keyboard controller 10 via the output circuit (2) 32. The character information a has the same format as the character information a ₁ output from the keyboard 8 so that the keyboard controller 10 can understand it.

The computer main body 6 transmits the command characters input from the keyboard controller 10 to the original keyboard 8
The image information c of the command character indicating that the command is received is sent to the display controller 12 when it is determined that the command character is a normal command character input from. As a result, the corresponding command character 43 is
Through the display control circuit 28a and the image data synthesizing circuit 6, as shown in FIG.
It is displayed at the ">" mark 41b position of 1a. And
The computer main body 6 executes the corresponding instruction.

The operator selects the corresponding command character 43 on the display screen.
It is possible to confirm that the relevant command has been input to the computer main body 6 by looking at. Then, for example, when a dedicated OS to which the pen input controller of the display device with a pen input function 7 can be connected is incorporated in the computer body 6, as described above, the I / O bus is directly connected via the bus interface 35. Since it is possible to send the position information b ₂ from the display device 7 with a pen input function to the display device 17, the use / non-use of the bus interface 35 is determined in P12 according to the operator's instruction. When it is used, the position information b ₂ input from the input circuit (3) 34 is sent to the I / O bus 17 via the bus interface 35 (P13).

Next, in P1 of FIG. 4, the input circuit (4)
If the menu registration mode is set in 37, P
At 14, the menu registration work shown in FIG. 7 is performed. At the time of executing this menu registration work, the operation of the display control circuit 28a is stopped and the image information c ₁ from the computer main body 6 is cut off.

Then, the display control circuit 28b is activated,
As shown in FIG. 8C, the menu image 40 stored in the non-volatile storage unit 27b and the list 44 of the alphabet characters of A to Z are displayed on the display device 7 with a pen input function. In the initial state, the command character 4 is displayed in the menu image 40.
9a is not registered. Then, as shown in FIG. 8A, a new area in which the command character 40a is not yet registered is designated by the arrow 45.

In this state, when the character information a _{1 of the} command character is input from the keyboard 8 through the input circuit (1) 31 (P15), the corresponding command character is indicated by the arrow 45 as shown in FIG. 8B. Is registered in the new area designated by (P16).

Further, in P17, when the combination position information b ₂ is input from the display device 7 with a pen input function through the input circuit (3) 34, this combination position information b ₂ is the alphabetic character list 44. It is determined that it is a combination of the command characters selected from the above, the command character corresponding to this combination position information b ₂ is reproduced, and the corresponding command character is displayed in FIG.
The new area is designated by the arrow 45 as shown in (P18).

In P19, when the combination position information b ₁ is input from the mouse 9 through the input circuit (2) 30, the combination position information b ₁ is the alphabetic character list 44.
Judging that it is a combination of command characters selected from
The command character corresponding to the combination position information b ₁ is reproduced, and the command character is registered in the new area designated by the arrow 45 as shown in FIG. 8B (P20).

The menu image 40 in which each command character 40a is registered in each area by such registration processing is stored again in the non-volatile storage section 27b. In the pen input computer 20 configured as described above, the position information b ₂ output from the display device 7 with a pen input function is converted into the same format as the position information b ₁ output from the mouse 9 and is converted to the mouse controller 11. Sent out. The mouse controller 11 sends the position information b ₁ from the mouse 9 and the position information b ₂ from the display device 7 with a pen input function to the I / O bus 17 as the same kind of position information.

Further, when the operator inputs various commands, as shown in FIG. 6B, each window 41a of the menu selection image 41 output from the computer main body 6 is displayed.
A composite image 42 is displayed in which the menu image 40 in which each command character 40a to be input is written is overlaid.

When the operator designates the command character 40a to be executed from among the displayed command characters 40a with the input pen 4, the position information b ₂ of the described position of the command 40a is displayed on the keyboard 8 by the interface circuit 22. To the keyboard controller 10 converted into the character information a having the same format as the character information a ₁ indicating the command character from. The keyboard controller 10 sends the character information a ₁ from the keyboard 8 and the position information b ₂ from the display device 7 with a pen input function to the I / O bus 17 as the same kind of character information a.

Therefore, even an OS or application program created on the premise that various command characters, program names and file names are key-in from the keyboard 8 can easily input these information.

As a result, when the bus interface 35 is not used, only the information from the keyboard controller 10 and the mouse controller 11 is input to the I / O bus 17 of the computer body 6, so that it is incorporated in the memory of the computer body 6. The operating system is the keyboard 8 and mouse 9 that are the predecessors of this pen input computer.
It is possible to use the OS and application programs installed in a laptop computer or desktop computer on the premise that the OS is used.

As described above, even if the laptop computer or the desktop computer is remodeled into the pen input computer, it is not necessary to recreate the OS, so that the laptop computer or the desktop computer can be easily converted into the pen input computer.

If the keyboard 8 and the mouse 9 are connected to the connection terminals 19a and 19b attached to the side surface of the case 1, the laptop computer before modification can be used when the pen input computer 21 is used in an office or the like. Or keyboard 8 as on a desktop computer
It is possible to input a large amount of data from or to improve the operation work efficiency by using the mouse 9.

By using the keyboard 8 when registering each command character 40a in the menu image 40, the setting work efficiency can be greatly improved. Since the OS is common and the compatibility of the application program between the laptop computer or desktop computer before the modification and the pen input computer after the modification can be ensured, the range of use of the pen input computer 21 can be greatly expanded.

[0065]

As described above, in the present invention,
A menu in which various commands are written is displayed regardless of the computer itself, and the position information of the command characters displayed in this menu is converted into the character information of regular commands and input to a conventional input device controller. ing. Therefore, a conventional laptop computer or desktop computer can be easily converted into a pen input computer without changing the OS or application program of the computer main body.

Further, since the OS is common, the application program of the conventional laptop computer or desktop computer can be applied to the pen input computer of the present invention as it is, and the range of application as the pen input computer can be greatly expanded. Further, when registering each command character on the menu screen, the work efficiency of the registration work can be greatly improved by connecting a keyboard.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an interface circuit incorporated in a pen input computer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a pen input computer according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a menu image stored in an interface circuit of an example pen input computer and a menu selection image transmitted from the computer main body.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the interface circuit in the computer of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the operation of the same interface circuit.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a menu selection image displayed on the display device with a pen input function of the computer of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the interface circuit in the computer of the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a display screen at the time of command character registration in the computer of the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an external view of a general pen input computer.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a conventional pen input computer.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Case, 2 ... Display unit, 3 ... Touch panel, 4 ... Input pen, 6 ... Computer main body, 7 ... Display device with pen input function, 8 ... Keyboard, 9 ... Mouse, 10 ... Keyboard controller, 11 ... Mouse controller, 12 ... Display controller, 14 ... CPU, 16 ... Memory, 20 ... Pen input computer, 21 ... Menu mode switch,
22 ... Interface circuit, 23 ... Pen input control circuit,
27b ... Non-volatile storage section, 28a, 28b ... Display control circuit, 29a, 29b ... Video RAM, 30, 31, 34,
37 ... Input circuit, 32, 33 ... Output circuit, 35 ... Bus interface, 36 ... Image data composition circuit, 40 ... Menu image, 41 ... Menu selection image.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Minoru Mizobuchi 1st in Toshiba Fuchu, Tokyo Fuchu-shi, Tokyo Inside the Fuchu factory, Toshiba (72) Inventor Eiichi Igari 1st in Toshiba Fuchu, Tokyo, inside the Fuchu factory, Toshiba (72) Inventor Toshinori Nakano 1 Toshiba Town, Fuchu City, Tokyo Inside the Fuchu Factory, Toshiba Corporation

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A computer main body, an input device controller for sending character information and position information input from a detachably provided input device to the computer main body, and inputting by touch operation on a touch panel covering a display screen. A display device with a pen input function for outputting the positional information, a display controller for displaying the image information output from the computer body on the display device with a pen input function, and a display device for outputting the pen input function. A pen input computer provided with an interface circuit for converting position information into a format that matches the position information output from the input device and sending the format to the input device controller, wherein the interface circuit receives input from the input device. A menu memo that stores a menu that describes each command that should be And menu display means for displaying the menu of the menu memory on the display device with pen input function, and position information indicating the command notation position of the menu from the display device with pen input function when the menu is displayed. A pen input computer having position / character conversion means for converting this position information into character information of a corresponding command and sending it to the input device controller when input. 2. The pen input computer according to claim 1, wherein the interface circuit has menu setting means for registering the command in the menu memory according to an external operation. 3. The pen input computer according to claim 2, wherein the menu setting means is performed based on a registration command from the input device in a mounted state.