JPH0830391A - Pen tablet integrated with liquid crystal display - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform plotting processing while following up pen input speed on the liquid crystal tablet connected with an information processor. CONSTITUTION:This device is provided with a graphic memory(GM) 15 for converting pen coordinate information inputted from a tablet 19 to display data and storing them without passing that information through a host computer 4, and a user can select whether a GM 14 for storing the image data from the host computer is used for an image to be displayed on a liquid crystal display panel 16 or this GM 15 is used for it as needed corresponding to a pen input. As a result, by switching an image source selector 18 to the side of the GM 15 at the time of drawing plotting when pen following speed especially gets low, the pen following speed is accelerated, and more natural plotting work is enabled.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display integrated pen tablet which is used by being connected to an information processing device or the like and in which a liquid crystal display device and a pen coordinate input device are integrally formed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional liquid crystal display-integrated pen tablet of this type (hereinafter referred to as a liquid crystal tablet) is constructed, for example, as shown in FIG. That is, in FIG. 4, 4 is a host computer, 11 is a CPU that controls the entire liquid crystal tablet, 12 is a memory having a control program and a work area of the CPU 11, and 13 is a host computer via a signal line 3 in accordance with instructions from the CPU 11. An input / output control unit 14 for inputting / outputting information to / from 4 is also the CPU 11
A graphic memory (hereinafter, G memory) for storing the image dot information input by the input / output control unit 13 under the control of
M).

Reference numeral 16 is a liquid crystal display board, and 17 is a CPU 1.
Under the control of 1, read out the image dot information of GM14,
A liquid crystal display control unit for displaying on the liquid crystal display board 16, 19
Is a tablet, and 20 is a tablet control unit that controls input of coordinate information from the tablet 19 in accordance with instructions from the CPU 11.

In such a liquid crystal tablet, when the coordinate information of the tablet 19 changes, the CPU 1
1 processes this coordinate information into data to be output to the host computer 4, and sends it to the input / output control unit 13. Further, when the CPU 11 receives data from the host computer 4 via the input / output control unit 13, the CPU 11
Judges the content of the data, and if this data is image data, it converts it into image dot information and sends it to the GM 14, and stores it, and if it is other data, it controls the target control unit according to this data.

[0005]

Such a liquid crystal tablet includes RS232C, AppleTalk and ADB.
Since it is connected to the host computer by a general-purpose interface such as, communication time is required to send and receive data to and from the host computer. On the other hand, this LCD tablet itself has processing time for the tablet driver and application software, and when the amount of data transfer increases, the communication time with the host computer and the above-mentioned processing time will be added. When the pen coordinate information is input and the drawing process is performed, there is a problem that the process that follows the speed of the pen input cannot be performed.

[0006] With respect to such a problem, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-102325, there has been proposed a technique of repeatedly displaying coordinate input on a liquid crystal display panel without using a host computer only when echoing display data. However, in this technique, in the line drawing process in which the pen following speed becomes particularly slow, the data processing process is performed via the host computer. Therefore, similarly to the above-described example, the drawing process is performed promptly following the pen input speed. There is a drawback that you cannot do it. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to perform drawing processing that follows the pen input speed in a liquid crystal tablet connected to an information processing device such as a host computer.

[0007]

In order to solve such a problem, the present invention creates display data by inputting coordinate data from a pen coordinate input device in a liquid crystal tablet connected to an information processing device. Display data creation means,
A first storage unit that stores the created display data, a second storage unit that stores the display data transferred from the information processing device, and a display data of any one of the first and second storage units. The display data selecting means for selecting and the display control means for displaying the selected display data on the liquid crystal display device are provided. Further, the display data selecting means selects the display data based on the coordinate data of the specific coordinate area among the coordinate data. Further, detecting means for detecting coordinate data of a specific coordinate area in the coordinate data, transmitting means for transmitting the coordinate data detected by the detecting means to the information processing device as a display data switching request, and the transmitted display data switching request. On the other hand, a receiving means for receiving the display data switching instruction returned from the information processing apparatus is provided, and the display data is selected based on the received display data switching instruction.

[0008]

When the coordinate data from the pen coordinate input device is input, the display data created as display data and stored in the first storage means and the display data transferred from the information processing device are stored in the second storage means. At the same time, the display data of one of the first and second storage means is selected and displayed on the liquid crystal display device. As a result, the coordinate data from the pen coordinate input device can be created and displayed as display data without the intervention of the information processing device, so that it is possible to perform accurate drawing processing that follows the pen input. Further, the display data is selected based on the coordinate data of the specific coordinate area among the above coordinate data. Therefore, it is possible to select the display data to be displayed on the liquid crystal display device by a simple operation of just pointing a specific area of the pen coordinate input device with a pen or the like. Further, when the coordinate data of the specific coordinate area is detected, it is transmitted to the information processing device as a display data switching request, and the display data is selected based on the display data switching instruction returned from the information processing device in response thereto. Done. As a result, the display data can be properly selected.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, as will be described later, the liquid crystal tablet 1 controls, for example, a tablet that detects a coordinate position by an electromagnetic induction method, a liquid crystal display plate that is arranged so as to overlap the upper surface of the tablet, and the tablet and the liquid crystal display plate. It is composed of a control circuit.

Here, the liquid crystal tablet 1 can display the trajectory of the pen 2 by displaying a dot on the liquid crystal display plate which is directly below the position (input coordinate) designated by the pen 2. The liquid crystal tablet 1 is, for example, R
It is connected to the host computer 4 by a general-purpose interface 3 such as S232C, AppleTalk and ADB, and it is possible to perform display according to the instruction of the host computer 4 on the liquid crystal display panel regardless of the input coordinates by the input pen 2. is there. Note that one of the instructions from the host computer 4 to the liquid crystal tablet 1 is an image source selection instruction to the image source selector, which will be described later.

Next, FIG. 1 is a detailed block diagram including a control circuit of the liquid crystal tablet 1. In FIG. 1, CPU1
Reference numeral 1 controls the entire liquid crystal tablet 1, and a memory 12 stores a control program executed by the CPU 11 and secures a work area for the CPU 11. Further, the input / output control unit 13 inputs the information transmitted from the host computer 4 via the signal line 3 and outputs the information transmitted to the host computer 4 to the CPU 1
Control according to instruction 1. Here, in the input / output control unit 13, the part that controls input / output with the host computer 4 has a function that satisfies the specifications of a general-purpose interface such as RS232C and AppleTalk.

Further, a GM (graphic memory) 14,
Reference numeral 15 stores image dot information to be displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 16, and this image dot information is read by the liquid crystal display control unit 17. And the read G
As the dot information in M14 and M15, one of the image dot information of each of the GM14 (second storage unit) and the GM15 (first storage unit) is selected by the image source selector 18 and liquid crystal display is performed. It is displayed on the board 16. On the other hand, on the tablet 19, coordinate input indicating the position of the input pen 2 is performed as described above. In this case, the tablet control unit 20 controls the input of coordinate information from the tablet 19 according to the instruction of the CPU 11. In addition, a part of the coordinate information of the tablet 19 is used for selecting an image source as described later.

In addition, the CPU 11 stores the image data from the host computer 4 via the input / output control unit 13 in the GM 14, while generating the image data to be displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 16 without passing through the host computer 4.
Store in M15. Here, as the configuration of the signal line 3, it may be considered that the signal line 3 is separated into one for image data and the other data such as tablet information and image source switching information, and they are independently configured. Then, for example, the display interface of the host computer 4 is used exclusively for the image data. Further, depending on the format of the image data from the host computer 4, a configuration may be considered in which the image data is converted and directly displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 16 without being stored in the GM 14.

Next, the detailed operation of the apparatus of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Where CP
In U11, the processing following the change in the information of the tablet 19 shown in FIG. 3A and the processing following the instruction from the host computer 4 shown in FIG. 3B are executed in parallel. First, the process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3A will be described. In the initial state, the image source is selected on the host computer 4 side (step S1). Here, when the input pen 2 moves on the tablet 19, the coordinate information of the tablet 19 changes. In this case, step S
2 "coordinate information change?" Is determined to be "Y", and in the subsequent step S3, processing for processing this coordinate information as data to be output to the host computer 4 is executed. Then, in step S4, this processed data is transferred to the input / output control unit 1
3 to the host computer 4 as a result.

At this time, if the coordinate information is image source switching information, a request for switching the image source is issued to the host computer 4. Then, in response to such a switching request, an instruction to switch the image source is returned from the host computer 4 side, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. Then step S
5, the presence / absence of such an image source switching instruction from the host computer 4 indicates whether or not the image source flag described later is “ON”.
If there is no switching instruction, the process returns to step S2 and the change in the coordinate information of the tablet 19 is monitored again.

If there is an instruction to switch the image source from the host computer 4, the initial screen portion of the data (hereinafter referred to as direct image data) to be directly displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 16 without the intervention of the host computer 4 in step S6. The image dot information is converted and output to the GM 15 for storage. As a result, the image of the GM 15 is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 16. Then, in step S7, the liquid crystal display control unit 17 is instructed to switch the image source to the direct image data. In this case, it may be possible to set the range of the screen to be switched in advance.

Thereafter, in step S8, the tablet 19
When the coordinate information changes, the coordinate information is processed and converted into image dot information and stored in the GM 15 in step S9, and the liquid crystal display control unit 17 is instructed to display in step S10. As a result,
The image of the GM 15 is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 16. Then, at this time, in step S11, it is determined whether or not this coordinate information is the image source switching information, and if it is not the image source switching information, the process returns to step S8 and the change in the coordinate information in the tablet 19 is monitored again. If the coordinate information is the image source switching information and the determination in step S11 is "Y", the image source flag is set to "OF" in step S12.
Then, the image source is switched to the host computer 4 side. Then, after that, the process returns to step S2 and the change in the coordinate information from the tablet 19 is monitored.

The processing in steps S4 and S5 is executed once every predetermined number of times of the loop processing in steps S8 to S11 to transmit the processed data to the host computer 4 and at the same time from the host computer 4. It is possible to determine whether or not there is an instruction to switch the image source. In addition, the data processing process in step S9 and the expansion process for converting the image dot information for GM can be selected and expanded in advance from several modes such as a line drawing process and a line erasing process by inputting coordinates. .

Next, the operation of the CPU 11 following the instruction from the host computer 4 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In step S21, it is determined whether data is received from the host computer 4 via the input / output control unit 13. When the data from the host computer 4 is received, the content of the received data is determined in step S22. If the data received from the host computer 4 is image data, a process of converting the received image data into image dot information and storing it in the GM 14 is executed in step S23.

Further, if the received data from the host computer 4 is an image source switching instruction, the image flag is set to "S" in step S24 so that the instruction can be discriminated by the processing of FIG. 3A. ON ”. If the received data from the host computer 4 is another instruction, the target control unit is controlled according to the instruction in step S25.

As described above, the means for converting the pen coordinate information input from the tablet 19 into the display data without passing through the host computer 4, the GM 15 for storing the display data converted by this means, and the liquid crystal display are provided. Since the user can select the image to be displayed on the board 16 as the GM 14 for storing the image data from the host computer 4 or the above-mentioned GM 15 by pen input as necessary, When the image source selector 18 is switched to the GM 15 side at the time of drawing drawing in which the follow-up speed becomes particularly slow, the pen follow-up speed is increased, and more natural drawing work can be performed.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, when coordinate data is input from the pen coordinate input device, it is created as display data, stored in the first storage means, and stored in the second storage means.
Since the display data transferred from the information processing device is stored in the storage means of the display device, the display data of either the first storage device or the second storage device is selected and displayed on the liquid crystal display device. The coordinate data from the coordinate input device can be created as display data and displayed on the liquid crystal display device without passing through the information processing device. Therefore, it is possible to perform an accurate drawing process following the pen input. Also,
Since the display data is selected based on the coordinate data of the specific coordinate area among the above coordinate data, the display data to the liquid crystal display device can be simply operated by pointing the specific area of the pen coordinate input device with a pen or the like. Can be selected. Also, when the coordinate data of the specific coordinate area is detected,
Since the display data switching request is transmitted to the information processing apparatus and the display data is selected based on the display data switching instruction returned from the information processing apparatus in response to the request, the display data can be appropriately selected. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram of a system to which the device of the embodiment is applied.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Liquid crystal display integrated pen tablet, 2 ... Pen, 3 ... Signal line, 4 ... Host computer, 11 ... CPU, 13 ...
Input / output control unit, 14, 15 ... Graphic memory (GM), 16 ... Liquid crystal display panel, 17 ... Liquid crystal display control unit, 18 ... Image source selector, 19 ... Tablet, 20
… Tablet control unit.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A liquid crystal display-integrated pen tablet which is connected to an information processing device such as a host computer and which is integrally formed with a liquid crystal display device and a pen coordinate input device, wherein coordinates from the pen coordinate input device are provided. Display data creating means for inputting data to create display data, first storing means for storing the created display data, and second storing means for storing display data transferred from the information processing apparatus. A display data selecting means for selecting display data of one of the first and second storage means, and a display control means for displaying the selected display data on the liquid crystal display device. Liquid crystal display integrated pen tablet. 2. The liquid crystal display integrated pen tablet according to claim 1, wherein the display data selection means selects the display data based on coordinate data of a specific coordinate area of the coordinate data. Integrated pen tablet. 3. The liquid crystal display-integrated pen tablet according to claim 2, wherein detection means for detecting coordinate data in a specific coordinate area among the coordinate data, and display data switching request for the coordinate data detected by the detection means. And a receiving means for receiving a display data switching instruction returned from the information processing device in response to the transmitted display data switching request, and the display data selecting means is a receiving means of the receiving means. A liquid crystal display-integrated pen tablet, wherein display data is selected based on the received display data switching instruction.