JPH0830370A - Memory pen - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reproduce a handwriting with a comparatively simple program by picking up the image of the prescribed range of a medium to be recorded including the top end of a pen and the hand, fetching it in a prescribed sampling cycle, storing it and outputting it as needed. CONSTITUTION:When a power source 8 is turned on by depressing a start switch provided at a memory pen 1 and any character is written on the surface of paper, the state just under writing is detected by a pressure sensor 13, the image of the handwriting on the surface of paper is received by a telecentric lens 3 as a beam parallel to an optical axis and at a CCD area sensor 4, the images inside the view are successively picked up in the prescribed sampling cycle and converted to a handwriting signal. The data of this handwriting signal are compressed by thinning or the like at an electronic circuit and successively stored in a storage device 7. When a unit 6 composed of this storage device 7 and the power source 8 is detached from the main body of the pen and connected to an interface device 9, the stored handwriting data are passed through a reader 11 and reproduced out by a computer 10 equipped with a software for reproducing the handwriting.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a memory pen for recording characters and the like on a paper surface with a writing instrument and for storing the handwriting by itself.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a memory pen has been proposed in which characters, symbols, etc. are written with a writing tool, the handwriting is detected by using a stress sensor, an optical sensor, etc., and the detected handwriting is stored by itself. The handwriting stored in the storage pen can be reused by reading the handwriting and displaying it on the display device.

[0003]

Like the conventional memory pen, in the handwriting detection and storage using the stress sensor and the optical sensor, the signal output of both sensors is stored, and when the handwriting is reproduced, these are output. Since the signals of are combined and processed,
There was a problem that the program for reproducing handwriting became complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a memory pen effective for reproducing handwriting with a relatively simple program.

[0005]

A storage pen of the present invention includes a writing instrument for writing on a recording medium, an end of the writing instrument, and a handwriting by the writing instrument, and an image pickup device for imaging a predetermined range of the recording medium. Means, an image capturing means for capturing an image captured by the image capturing means at every predetermined sampling time, a storage device for sequentially storing the images at each sampling time, and if necessary, stored in the storage means. An image output unit for sequentially reading and outputting images, a power supply unit including a battery for driving a circuit, and a case main body for accommodating the writing instrument, the imaging unit, the image capturing unit, and the like are provided.

In this storage pen, when writing is performed on a recording medium with a writing instrument, a predetermined range of the recording medium including the tip of the writing instrument and the handwriting is imaged by the imaging means. Then, the picked-up image is taken in at a predetermined sampling period, and the time-sequential image data is stored in the storage device. The image data stored in the storage device is output via the image output means when required.

[0007]

The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the following examples. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a handwriting storage / reproduction device including a storage pen according to an embodiment of the present invention. This handwriting storage / reproduction device includes a storage pen 1 for detecting and storing handwriting, an interface device 9, and a storage pen 1.
And a computer 10 for reading and reproducing the handwriting data stored in the computer via the interface device 9.

The memory pen 1 includes a pen shaft 2 such as a ball-point pen core for writing on a paper surface, a lens 3, a CCD 4, a microcomputer 5, a storage device 7, a power supply (battery) 8, and a pen shaft 2.
Pressure sensor 1 to detect the presence or absence of contact with the sheet of paper
The unit 6 including the storage device 7 and the power source 8 is configured to be detachable from the pen body.

The unit 6 is detached from the main body of the memory pen 1,
When connected to the interface device 9, the handwriting data stored in the storage device 7 is a reading device 11 for writing data.
After that, it is taken into the computer 10. Further, the battery of the power source 8 can be charged by the charging device 12. The computer 10 is provided with software (a program) for reproducing a handwriting based on the written handwriting data, has a handwriting reproducing function as a basic function, and additionally has character recognition software, figure recognition software, and communication software. It has a character recognition function, a drawing recognition function, and a communication function.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the memory pen 1 according to the embodiment. This memory pen 1 is of a pencil type having a round bar-shaped case body 1a, and a tip portion 1b of the case body 1a is expanded to have a slightly larger diameter. A pen shaft holding plate 21 which is transparent to light is attached to the tip portion 1b of the case body 1a, and a pen shaft holder 22 for holding the pen shaft 2 is projected from the center of the pen shaft holding plate 21. The pen shaft holding plate 21, the pen shaft 2, and the pen shaft holder 22 constitute a writing means.

A telecentric lens 3 as a telecentric lens system is arranged inside the pen shaft holding plate 21, and a CCD area sensor (imaging means) 4 is arranged adjacent to the inner end of the telecentric lens 3.
In FIG. 2, the telecentric lens 3 is drawn in a shape as shown, but this is a model representation of the optical path, not the shape of the lens itself. In this embodiment, the optical axis of the telecentric lens 3 coincides with the center axes of the pen shaft 2 and the pen shaft holder 21 (and the center axis of the case body 1), and the CCD area sensor 4 is arranged on the optical axis. ing. However, the optical axis of the telecentric lens 3 and the central axis of the writing means do not necessarily have to coincide with each other, and the tip of the pen shaft 2 (that is, the handwriting point at the moment of writing) is located in the optical detection visual field, If the point of handwriting is detected, the optical axis and the central axis may be slightly shifted.

As can be seen from FIG. 2, the pen shaft holding plate 2
1, the pen shaft 2, the pen shaft holder 22, the telecentric lens 3, and the CCD area sensor 4 are integrally fixed to the inner case 23, and the inner case 23 is illuminated inside the case body 1 by the writing pressure during writing. It can slide a little along the axial direction. By sliding the inner case 23 in the optical axis direction, the inner case 23 is moved by the writing pressure at the time of writing.
If the pressure sensor 13 is moved to the inside, it is possible to detect that the pressure sensor 13 is pressed by the inner case 23 and writing is in progress.
If the pressure sensor 13 can detect that the writing is being performed, the inner case 23 may be bent in the direction perpendicular to the optical axis (radial direction) to detect the writing.

A printed circuit board 24, on which an electronic circuit including an LSI or the like is mounted, is arranged in the case body 1, and the CCD area sensor 4 is connected to this electronic circuit so that the detected handwriting signal is taken in. Has become. On the rear portion 1c of the case body 1, a unit 6 including a storage device for storing the detected handwriting information and a battery is provided.

Further, a sensor (pressure sensor) 13 for detecting that writing is in progress is provided between the inner wall of the case body 1 and the inner case 23. This pressure sensor 13
As described above, in the present embodiment, when the inner case 23 slightly moves to the inside of the case body 1 by the writing pressure during writing, the inner case 23
It is pressed by and is detected by the pressing force. On the other hand, a start switch 26 is provided on the portion of the case body 1 located outside the pressure sensor 13, and the power of the memory pen is turned on / off by operating the start switch 26.

When using the above memory pen,
When the start switch 26 is pressed to turn on the power and the case body 1 is held and the case body 1 is tilted with respect to the paper surface 25 as shown in FIG. The pressure sensor 13 indicates that the inner case 23 slightly enters the case body 1 due to the writing pressure, and that the writing is being performed.
Is detected. Then, the handwriting, that is, the image on the paper surface 25 is represented by the telecentric lens 3 as a ray parallel to the optical axis.
And the CCD area sensor 4 converts it into a handwriting signal. This handwriting signal is data-compressed by an electronic circuit by thinning out, and is sequentially stored in the storage device 7. However, although the tip of the pen shaft 2 moves in the space away from the paper surface 25 during writing, the tip of the pen shaft 2 is moving in space or the paper surface 2
A detection signal as to whether or not the writing is being performed on the recording medium 5 is also stored in the storage device 7 at the same time as the handwriting detection signal. The detection signal indicating whether the space is moving or the handwriting is used for facilitating the reproduction when the handwriting is reproduced by the handwriting reproducing software (handwriting reproducing means) by the computer 10 shown in FIG.

Next, the handwriting storage process of the embodiment storage pen 1 will be described. It is assumed that the ball-point pen core 2 of the memory pen 1 writes a character, for example, L of the alphabet, on the paper surface. Then, the CCD area sensor 4 sequentially captures images in the visual field at a fixed sampling time. FIG.
As shown in, assuming that a first straight line with a gentle slope is drawn from the upper side of the letter L to the lower left side, and then a second straight line with a gentle slope is drawn from the lower left side to the lower right side. , Now, assuming that the position of the ball-point pen core 2 moves to P ₁ , P ₂ , ..., P ₆ , ... For each sampling time, the field of view of the CCD area sensor 4 is also S ₁ , S ₂ ,.
₆ , and the images S ₁ , S ₂ , ..., S ₆ , ... Of the same size as shown in FIG. 4 are sequentially stored in the handwriting storage device 7 as image data. As described above, the partial images having a constant size are continuously stored, and thus the handwriting as a whole is stored.

Next, an example of reproduction of a handwriting stored as image data in the embodiment storage pen 1 will be described. FIG.
Image S _1, S ₂ of, ..., S _6, ... it is also part handwriting, reads it from the storage device 7 of the writing device 1, may be displayed on the display unit of the computer 10. However, even if the partial image shown in FIG. 4 is read out and displayed as it is, it is difficult for the user to recognize what character it is. After all, the user
I want to reproduce the exact handwriting that I wrote with a writing instrument. The handwriting reproducing device uses the images S ₁ , ..., Stored in the storage device 7.
By effectively using S ₆ , ..., Characters, figures, etc. as they are written are reproduced.

The reproduction processing in the handwriting reproduction device is a "cell",
Using the concepts of “act”, “scene”, and “page”,
By constructing a hierarchical structure, accurate reproduction is performed. Here, the simplest reproduction processing by "cell" will be described. The “cell” is a partial image composed of fixed-length pixels, and is a basic smallest unit image. S _1, S ₂ shown in FIG. 4, ..., S _6, ... corresponds to this. Another example of a specific image of one cell is shown in FIG.

The term "act" refers to an image formed by superimposing a series of cells that are temporally continuous. Here, a series of cells means a series of cells that are as large as possible as long as the positional relationship between consecutive cells is known, that is, the relative position with respect to the immediately preceding cell is known. A "scene" is an image composed of a plurality of acts whose positional relationship is clear. As described above, which represents a semantic unity, when the positional relationship between consecutive cells is not known, those cells become a part of separate acts. However, there are cases where the positional relationship between these acts is known, and such acts are summarized as a scene.

A "page" is an image representing a unit of work composed of a series of scenes that are temporally continuous, and is called a page. The scenes that make up one page have no overlap. The page break is explicitly given by the user. To reproduce a handwriting with cells, the first read cell (for example, S ₁ ) and the cells that exist in the front, back, left, and right of that cell are extracted to match the image, and the cell that matches the first cell is matched. Overlap at the position (for example, S
₁ and S ₂ ) It is a composite image. Next, the composite image and the cell images in the vicinity thereof are sequentially compared, and if a partial match is found, the cell image of this time is superimposed on the composite images up to that point to form a new composite image. While the read neighboring cell image and the composite image can be matched, the composite image is enlarged as one act. Eventually, if there is no composite image, that is, the part where the match between the act and the next cell is obtained, the previous composite image is acted as 1 and the match is made while checking the match with the cell image to be read from the next time onwards. While the image can be taken, the images are continuously combined to build the next act.

FIG. 6 is a partial sectional view showing a memory pen according to another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment memory pen, the case body 31 has a grip portion 31a, an open lid portion 31b, and a tip portion 31c.
The grip 31a and the tip 31c are bent. The tip portion 31c is provided with a pen shaft holder 33 that holds the pen shaft 32, and the pen shaft holder 33 is held by a pen shaft holding plate 34. Furthermore, the grip 3
A CCD 36 is provided at the tip of 1a, and C
A lens system 37 is provided between the CD 36 and the pen shaft holding plate 34 of the tip portion 31c. In addition, in the grip portion 31a,
Although not shown, a microcomputer for controlling handwriting detection, a storage device for storing the detected handwriting as electronic information, and a battery are also provided. Also, the grip portion 31a
A pressure sensor 38 is provided inside the tip of the pen to detect whether or not the pen shaft 32 is writing.

This memory pen has the CCD 36 and the lens system 37 on the surface of the recording surface 35 even when the gripper 31a is tilted and held in the same manner as a writer holds an ordinary pen.
Since it is parallel to, the handwriting can be captured relatively accurately with little distortion.

[0023]

According to the present invention, a predetermined range of a recording medium including a handwriting is picked up by an image pickup means, and the image is taken in every predetermined sampling period and sequentially stored in a storage device. It is possible to obtain a memory pen that is small in size and convenient for reproducing handwriting.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a handwriting / memory reproduction device including a memory pen according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the memory pen according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a handwriting detection and storage method using a CCD of the storage pen of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of individual images stored in each sampling cycle in the storage pen according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an actual example of a partial image (cell) for reproducing a handwriting.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a storage pen according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Pen axis 3 Lens 4 CCD area sensor 5 Microcomputer 7 Storage device

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A writing instrument for writing on a recording medium, a tip of the writing instrument, and a handwriting by the writing instrument,
An image pickup means for picking up a predetermined range of the recording medium; an image fetching means for fetching an image picked up by the image pickup means at a predetermined sampling time; and a storage device for sequentially storing the image at the sampling time, A case for accommodating the image output means for sequentially reading out and outputting the images stored in the storage device, the power source section including the battery for driving the circuit, the writing instrument, the imaging means, the image capturing means, etc. A memory pen having a main body and. 2. The storage pen according to claim 1, wherein the storage device and / or the power supply unit is detachably attached to the case body.