JPH09101852A - Input equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a pen type input equipment capable of functioning individually and having excellent portability. SOLUTION: A writing part 5 is protruded from a pen type operation body 4, a pen pressure sensor 6 for the writing part 5, a GPS receiver 2, a control circuit 3, a radio transceiver 12, a battery 14, etc., are built in the body 4. When a character is written by depressing the writing part 5 to a sheet of paper or the like, the position data of the operation body 4 (writing part 5) are detected based upon a position signal received from a GPS satellite by the receiver 2 and used for input to a computer. Thus the input equipment can be used for the recognition of a handwritten character, plotting, cursor movement, etc.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an input device for inputting position data into a computer or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this type of input device, for example, a wireless pen type input device described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-74091 is known.

As shown in FIG. 4, such a pen type input device is a system composed of a pen type input device 105, a wireless input device main body 104, a personal computer main body 101 and devices associated therewith. Input device 1
The wireless position input to the personal computer main body 101 is performed by the wireless communication between the wireless communication device 05 and the wireless input device main body 104, and the problem caused by using the wire and the constraint condition of the use environment are solved.

[0004]

However, in the conventional pen type input device as described above, in addition to the pen type input device 105 as described above, it is necessary to install the wireless input device body 104 in the vicinity thereof. However, it cannot be used only with a pen-type input device, and it cannot be said that it is truly excellent in portability.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object thereof is to provide a novel input device having excellent portability.

[0006]

In order to achieve this object, an input device according to a first aspect of the present invention is provided with an operating body which is gripped by an operator, and which is provided on the operating body and receives a position signal from an artificial satellite. The receiving means and the output means for receiving the position signal received by the receiving means and outputting the position data indicating the position of the operating body. The receiving means receives the position signal from the artificial satellite, and the output means receives the position signal and outputs the position data indicating the position of the operating body. Therefore, by grasping the operating body and moving it, the operation is performed. The moving position of the body can be detected.

According to another aspect of the input device, the output device includes a transmitting device that wirelessly transmits the position data to an external device. The position data of the operating body based on the position signal from the artificial satellite is wirelessly transmitted to the external device.

According to another aspect of the input device of the present invention, a switch that is turned on by an operator is provided on the operating body, and the output means is
When the switch is turned on, it has a storage means for storing the position data of the operating body corresponding to the position signal received by the receiving means, and is configured to output the position data stored in the storage means. There is. The position data of the operating body when the switch is pressed is stored in the storage means and is output, so that it can be output to the external device after the storage is completed. Therefore, even if the user is away from the external device, he / she can input anywhere by simply carrying the operating tool.

According to another aspect of the input device of the present invention, the switch is a pointer protruding from the operating body, and the receiving means is provided in the vicinity of the pointer, so that the pointer can be moved on an arbitrary plane. If so, accurate position data can be detected. For example, it is possible to reliably input the movement locus of the pointer and the like. By storing the movement locus of the pointer, it can be applied to character recognition.

In the input device according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the pointer is composed of a writing section provided at the tip of the operating body and a writing pressure detection section for detecting writing pressure applied to the writing section. It is possible to reliably input the movement locus of the writing part while writing characters and the like on the screen.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the entire system of a wireless input device. This system is an artificial satellite 1 (hereinafter referred to as a GPS satellite) of a satellite positioning system used when accurately measuring the position on the earth.
A position signal from a computer is used to input a position to a computer. The position input to the computer is used for character recognition by, for example, selecting an item on the screen of the display device by moving a mouse cursor, drawing with CAD, or handling as handwritten input trajectory data. You can As described above, this embodiment is applicable as a position input device for a computer.

This device comprises a GPS receiver 2 (reception means) for receiving a position signal from a GPS satellite 1, a processing device 3 for receiving a position signal from the GPS receiver 2 and outputting position data, and a position. A transmitter / receiver 12 that wirelessly transmits data to a computer 11 that is an external device, and these are built in a pen-type operating body 4 that is gripped by an operator. Further, FIG. 2 shows a schematic cross section of the pen-type operating body 4. The processing device 3 and the wireless transceiver 12 constitute an output means.

The pen-type operating body 4 has a switch of the present invention at one end (tip) thereof, and a writing portion 5 as a pointer so that its central axis coincides with the axis of the pen-type operating body 4 and the pen-type operating body 4 is operated. It is provided so as to be movable along the axis of the body 4,
The protruding end of the writing part 5 is formed as a graphite part for printing on paper or the like, and a writing pressure sensor 6 is provided at the inner end part of the writing part 5. The writing pressure sensor 6 outputs an ON signal when the writing unit 5 is pressed against a paper or the like placed on a fixed support surface of a desk or the like, and constitutes the writing pressure detection unit of the present invention. There is. Any pen pressure sensor can be used as long as it can detect the pen pressure, and for example, a piezoelectric element or a magnetostrictive element can be used. Further, as the writing unit 5, for example, a ballpoint pen or the like can be used in addition to the above-mentioned graphite, and it is also possible to form it simply as a stylus.

The pen type operation body 4 has a receiving section 2 of a GPS receiver 2 as a receiving means so as to surround the writing section 5.
The GPS receiver 2 is provided with A, and the GPS receiver 2 receives the position signal from the GPS satellite 1 at the receiver 2A, and the processing circuit 7 determines its own position and outputs position data. still,
For the mobile body position calculation method based on the messages from the GPS receiver 2 and the GPS satellite 1, for example, see Navigati.
on Magazine, Vol.25 No2.P147-165 "The Navigation Message" or IEEE Transaction on A. E. FIG. S. p295-29
7 "Position Fixing Algorithm Fore the Low Cost GPS Receiver (A Position
Fixing Algorithm for Low Cost GPS Receiver) "and the like, and can be realized by programming these methods.

The processing device 3 comprises the processing circuit 7, a control circuit 8 and a memory (storage means) 9. The processing circuit 7 receives the position signal received by the receiver 2A of the GPS receiver 2 and outputs position data indicating the position of the receiver 2A, and the position data is stored in the memory 9. The control circuit 8 is a general one including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an I / O port, etc., and the writing pressure sensor 6 and the GPS receiver 2 are connected to the control circuit 8. , Area designation switch 13, page switching dial 10, monitor lamp 11, wireless transceiver 12
Is connected. A battery 14 for operating these circuits is built in the pen-type operating body 4.

The control circuit 8 receives the ON signal from the writing pressure sensor 6, and while the ON signal is being output,
That is, the position data while the writing unit 5 is being pressed against paper or the like is read from the processing circuit 7 and stored in the memory 9. This storage operation is performed by the page switching dial 1
The process is repeated until 0 is operated and the page is switched to another page.
The movement track actually written by the writing unit 5 is stored in the storage area of one page. This data is stored as two-dimensional image data.

The page switching dial 10 is rotatably attached to the other end of the pen type operation body 4, and the page numbers (1 to 9) and "OFF" are provided on the peripheral surface of the dial 10.
A character and a "send" character are engraved, and the pen-type operating body 4 is engraved with an index 10B for selecting the page number or the OFF character. A concavo-convex portion is formed on the rotary shaft of the page switching dial 10 in order to give a feeling of an operational click, and a spring (not shown) fixedly mounted on the pen-type operating body 4 is elastically engaged with the concavo-convex portion. An encoder for detecting the rotational position is connected to the rotary shaft of the page switching dial 10. When the page number is set to the index 10B, the encoder indicates a signal indicating the rotational position (page signal). Is output to the control circuit 8. When the OFF character is aligned with the index 10B, the power of the entire device except the memory 8 and the receiving portion of the wireless transceiver 12 is shut off, and in the case of the page number, the power of the entire device is turned on.

The wireless transmitter / receiver 12 wirelessly transmits the image data stored in the memory 9 to the external computer 11 by using infrared rays, and includes an infrared light emitting element, an infrared receiving element, a driving circuit for these elements, and an image. It is composed of a conversion circuit for converting data into an on / off signal of the infrared light emitting element, and converting an infrared on / off signal from the external computer 11 into various command signals. The control circuit 8 controls the page switching dial 10 when the signal received from the external computer 11 is an image transmission signal.
When the image transmission signal is generated by aligning the “transmission” character with the index 10B, the image data stored in the memory 8 is read and output to the wireless transceiver 12, and the image data is transmitted to the external computer 11. Radio output.

The monitor lamp 11 is capable of emitting green and red light depending on the applied voltage, and is turned on by a normal light emission signal and an abnormal light emission signal from the control circuit 8 via a drive circuit. The page switching dial 10
When is switched from the "OFF" character to the page number, the control circuit 8 outputs a normal light emission signal to the drive circuit, the monitor lamp 11 emits green light, and the reception state of the position signal from the GPS satellite 1 by the GPS receiver 2 is bad. At this time, the processing circuit 7 outputs an unreceivable signal to the control circuit 8, and the control circuit 8 outputs an abnormal light emission signal to the drive circuit. For this reason GP
Monitor lamp 1 when reception from S satellite 1 is poor
The emission color of 1 switches from green to red.

Further, an area designating switch 13 is installed on the central side surface of the pen type operation body 4, and when the area designating switch 13 designates the input area of the image page designated by the page switching dial 10. Used for. When the writing portion 5 of the operating body 4 is pressed against an arbitrary point to turn on the writing pressure sensor 6 and turn on the area designation switch 13, the position data output from the processing circuit 7 at this time is the first designated point. Stored as data,
When the writing pressure sensor 6 is turned on again to turn on the area designating switch 13 by pressing the operating body 4 to an arbitrary point again, the position data from the processing circuit 7 at this time is stored as the second designated point data, Based on the first and second designated point data, a rectangular area having both designated points as diagonal vertexes is stored in the memory 9 as an input area. This input area is set as an input range when the operator inputs by handwriting, and when the operator operates (writes) the operating body 4 beyond the input area, an error sound is output. . Therefore, the operator can easily identify the input error. Note that this input area does not necessarily have to be specified, and in this case, the movement locus of the operating body 4 when the writing pressure sensor 6 is turned on is stored in the memory 9. The data of the movement locus is created as image data in which the movement locus is stored by overwriting the movement locus on the image data of the bitmap of one screen.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

When the operator sets the page switching dial 10 to a desired page, the power is turned on and the monitor lamp 11 lights up in green, and at the same time, the GPS receiver 2 is brought into a receiving state. At this time, the processing circuit 7 of the GPS receiver 2
When the position signal from the GPS satellite 1 cannot be received, the reception failure signal is output to the control circuit 8, so that the emission color of the monitor lamp 11 is changed from green to red.

After confirming that the monitor lamp 11 is lit in green, the operator sets the above-mentioned input area. For example, an input area smaller than the size of a notebook or memo paper is set.

After setting the input area, when the operator presses the writing unit 5 on a notebook or memo pad to write a character or the like, the writing pressure sensor 6 outputs an ON signal,
The position data of the writing section 5 is sequentially stored from the processing circuit 7 in the storage area of the page designated by the page switching dial 10 of the memory 9. Therefore, the handwriting data input by handwriting is stored in the memory 9.

When the input of the designated page is completed, the operator can operate the page switching dial 10 to switch to the next page and continue the input again. Further, when the input is completed, the operator may rotate the page switching dial 10 and set it to the OFF character.
At this time, the power of the apparatus is cut off, but the backup current is always supplied to the memory 9, so that the input position data is saved.

After that, when the page switching dial 10 is rotated to align the "transmission" character with the index 10B,
The image data in which the movement locus of the writing unit 5 of the operating body 4 is stored is transferred to the external computer 11 via the wireless transmitter / receiver 12.
Wirelessly transmitted to.

The external computer 11 performs predetermined processing such as character recognition based on the transmitted image data. For example, it is possible to print a sentence of handwritten characters by performing character recognition, kana-kanji conversion, etc. on a print medium using a typeface font of any typeface and size, or save it as a document file. At this time, the layout can be changed and the document can be edited. It is also possible to display or print in the graphic form as it is without performing character recognition.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

For example, in the above embodiment, only the handwriting input is performed first when the user does not have the external computer 11.
After that, the image data was sent to the external computer 11 for clear copy, layout change, etc., but when the pen input was made, the handwriting data was sent directly to the external computer 11, and the handwriting data was processed while watching the screen display. Good. In this case, it is more convenient if a mouse function is provided so that the operating body itself can operate the external computer 11.

To add a mouse function to the operating body 4, the following procedure may be performed. That is, the writing unit 5 of the operating body 4 may be pressed against a printing paper or the like and moved in a desired direction. When the writing unit 5 is pressed against the paper, the writing pressure sensor 6 is turned on, and the position data at this time is output from the processing circuit 7. Therefore, the position indicated by this position data is set as the movement start point, and after a predetermined time (writing ), Again reading the position data from the processing circuit 7,
With this position as the movement destination point, the relative movement direction and movement distance of the movement destination point with respect to the movement start point may be calculated and transmitted to the external computer 11. The external computer 11 controls the movement of the cursor based on the data of the relative movement direction and the movement distance, as is well known in the cursor movement control using a mouse. Here, as the click switch, the area designating switch 13 provided on the pen type operating body 4 can be used. When the area designating switch 13 is turned on, a click signal is wirelessly transmitted to the external computer 11 together with the data of the relative movement direction and the movement distance, so that selection and execution of items can be supported on the display screen.

As a further modification, a pen type operating body 4
From the computer to the external computer 11 was wireless,
It may be wired transmission or may be transmitted via a communication satellite.

Alternatively, an erase function for partially erasing the once input data may be provided. For example, a program is designed so that a circle closed by the writing unit 5 is drawn while the area designating switch 13 is pressed (the writing pressure sensor 6 is naturally turned on), and the handwriting information enclosed in the drawing is canceled. You can do it with

[0034]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the input device has the receiving means and the output means built in the operating body, the receiving means receives the position signal from the artificial satellite, and the output means receives the position signal and the operating body. Since the position data indicating the position of is output, the moving position of the operating body can be detected only by gripping the operating body and moving it. Therefore, it is excellent in portability, does not require an auxiliary device for input, and can perform input work anytime and anywhere as long as it can receive the position signal from the artificial satellite.

In the input device according to the second aspect, since the output means has the transmitting means for wirelessly transmitting the position data to the external device, a wire is not required when transmitting the position data to the external device, and the usability is improved. Will get better.

According to another aspect of the input device of the present invention, a switch that is turned on by an operator is provided on the operating body, and the output means is
When the switch is turned on, it has a storage means for storing the position data of the operating body corresponding to the position signal received by the receiving means, and is configured to output the position data stored in the storage means. There is. The position data of the operating body when the switch is pressed is stored in the storage means and is output, so that it can be output to the external device after the storage is completed. Therefore, even if the user is away from the external device, he / she can input anywhere by simply carrying the operating tool.

According to another aspect of the input device of the present invention, the switch is a pointer protruding from the operating body, and the receiving means is provided in the vicinity of the pointer, so that the pointer can be moved on an arbitrary plane. If so, accurate position data can be detected. For example, it is possible to reliably input the movement locus of the pointer and the like. By storing the movement locus of the pointer, it can be applied to, for example, character recognition.

In the input device according to the fifth aspect, since the pointer is composed of a writing section provided at the tip of the operating body and a writing pressure detecting section for detecting writing pressure applied to the writing section, paper or the like is used. It is possible to surely input the movement locus of the writing part while writing characters on the screen.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an entire wireless pen-type input device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a pen-type operating body.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of a conventional pen-type input device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 GPS satellite 2 GPS receiver 3 Processing device 4 Pen type operating body 5 Writing unit 6 Writing pressure sensor 7 Processing circuit 8 Control circuit 9 Memory 10 Page switching dial 11 External computer 12 Radio transmitter / receiver 13 Area designation switch 14 Battery

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An operating body grasped by an operator, a receiving means provided on the operating body for receiving a position signal from an artificial satellite, and the operating body which receives the position signal received by the receiving means. And an output means for outputting position data indicating the position of the input device. 2. The input device according to claim 1, wherein the output unit includes a transmission unit that wirelessly transmits the position data to an external device. 3. A switch that is turned on by an operator is provided on the operating body, and the output means stores the position data of the operating body corresponding to the position signal received by the receiving means when the switch is turned on. 3. The input device according to claim 1, wherein the input device is configured to output the position data stored in the storage unit. 4. The input device according to claim 3, wherein the switch is a pointer protruding from the operating body, and the receiving means is provided in the vicinity of the pointer. 5. The pointer is composed of a writing section provided at the tip of the operating body and a writing pressure detecting section for detecting writing pressure applied to the writing section. Input device described.