JPH09230996A - Drag mode setting method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify a hardware constitution, to reduce in price and to improve operability by generating a drag mode setting command when the distance with the positional data which is detected just before is within a fixed area after the pen-on of a pen for a tablet type coordinate input device is detected. SOLUTION: When a mode is transferred to a drag mode, the distance with the positional data detected just before is within a fixed area, that is, below a reference value A in a step 17 because the same location is continued to be pressed, and the step is returned to a step 13 without resetting a timer. Therefore after the timer overflows (a count value becomes 0) in this circular flow, a Y-decision is performed in a step 14 and a pen-on is detected, it is judged that the distance with the positional data detected just before is continuously within a fixed area for fixed time or more. When the mode is judged to be the drag mode by the judgment in this step 14, a drag mode setting command to be outputted to a personal computer is generated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pointing device which replaces a mouse, and more particularly to a drag mode setting method in a tablet type coordinate input device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the development of GUI (Graphical User Interface) environment, a mouse has been widely used as a pointing device of a computer, particularly a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a personal computer).

That is, the mouse is moved on the operation pad, and the amount of movement operation is output to the personal computer as mouse relative movement data to control the movement of the cursor displayed on the display of the personal computer. Then, while moving this cursor on the icon displayed on the display, or while moving, operate the button switch provided on the mouse to click, double-click,
An operation peculiar to the mouse, such as dragging, is performed, and the command or the like defined in the icon is input to the personal computer.

One of the commands to the personal computer by such a mouse is a drag mode setting command for setting the drag mode. Here, the drag mode is a mode in which the icon or file is copied or moved, or the size of the window displayed on the display is changed.In the case of a mouse, this drag mode setting command is It is output by moving a mouse while pressing a specific button switch (normally a left button switch in a mouse having two left and right button switches) provided on the.

That is, by such an operation, a drag mode setting command having a predetermined format and code is given to the personal computer, and the personal computer is set to the drag mode.

At this time, data representing the movement amount (position) of the mouse is also given to the personal computer. In addition, if the button switch of the mouse is released during the above operation,
A drag mode release command is given to the computer from the mouse, and the drag mode is released.

However, since it is necessary to move the mouse on the operation pad as described above, it is difficult to secure an operation space for the mouse at the carrying destination, especially in a portable PC such as a notebook PC.
In addition, the size and shape were not suitable for storage when carried with a personal computer.

Therefore, a tablet-type coordinate input device for outputting relative movement data to a personal computer or the like has been developed by utilizing the principle of a tablet instead of a mouse.

This is performed by pressing a fingertip, a position indicating pen or the like (hereinafter collectively referred to as a position indicating pen or a pen in this specification) on a flat input surface (hereinafter referred to as pen-on), and moving. The position (coordinate) data is output to a personal computer, and there are various methods such as electrostatic coupling, electromagnetic induction, and resistance contact.

As a drag mode setting method in such a tablet type coordinate input device, (1) a switch for drag mode setting is provided on the shaft portion or rear end portion of the position indicating pen, and this is manually operated when desired. A method of converting the signal of a specific format generated by doing it into a drag mode setting command similar to that in the mouse and giving it to the personal computer,
(2) A pressure switch or a pressure sensitive element for setting a drag mode is provided at the tip of the position indicating pen, and a signal of a specific format generated by applying a pressing force to the drag mode setting command is used as the drag mode setting command. Method of converting and giving to a personal computer, (3) The input surface for drag mode setting that incorporates switches and pressure sensitive elements is stacked under the input surface of the tablet type coordinate input device, and the pressing force on it is detected. A method of converting the signal of a specific format generated by the above into the drag mode setting command and giving it to the personal computer, (4) by tapping the input surface of the tablet-type coordinate input device a specific number of times with the position indicating pen There is a method in which the generated signal of a specific format is converted into the drag mode setting command and given to the personal computer.

[0011]

However, in the above methods (1) to (3), the structure (hardware configuration) of the tablet-type coordinate input device and the pen is complicated and expensive. In particular, the methods (1) and (2) require a communication means from the position indicating pen to the tablet-type coordinate input device, etc., and the hardware configuration becomes more complicated and expensive.

The method (4) has a simpler hardware structure and is less expensive than the methods (1) to (3), but has the following problems. That is, in the conventional tapping method, there is a condition that tapping must be performed twice within a predetermined time, and the two tappings must be at the same position or the second position within a predetermined distance from the first position. .

This is normal (other than drag mode operation)
If the position data indicating pen-on is missing for some reason such as noise during the pen continuous pressing movement operation of
As a result, the computer side temporarily recognizes that the pen is off, and then determines that the pen has been turned on again.
This is because it is necessary to distinguish this from the tapping operation for shifting to the drag mode.

That is, if there is no restriction on the second tapping position with respect to the first tapping position,
As mentioned above, the position data indicating pen-on is missing,
If it is judged that there was a second tapping,
This is because it is impossible to distinguish whether the drag mode setting command is issued or the normal pen continuous movement operation is performed.

Therefore, there is a problem in that the tapping operation is conditioned as described above, the drag mode setting operation becomes troublesome, and the usability is deteriorated.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a drag mode setting method capable of simplifying the hardware configuration and reducing the cost and improving the usability.

[0017]

To achieve the above object, a drag mode setting method according to the present invention provides a drag generated in the tablet coordinate input device by a drag mode setting operation on the tablet coordinate input device. In a drag mode setting method of outputting a mode setting command to a computer and setting the computer in a drag mode, the drag mode setting command is constant after detecting a pen-on of a pen that indicates a position to the tablet-type coordinate input device. It is characterized in that it is generated in the tablet-type coordinate input device when the distance from the position data detected immediately before is continuously within a certain region for a time or more.

When the drag mode setting command is continued for a certain period of time after detecting the pen-on of the pen for indicating the position to the tablet-type coordinate input device, and the distance to the position data detected immediately before is within the certain region. If it is generated in the tablet-type coordinate input device, in the ordinary tablet-type coordinate input device, once the input surface of the tablet-type coordinate input device is pressed with the pen, it is left stationary for a certain time or longer. That is, the drag mode setting operation is performed.

As described above, according to the method of the present invention in which the drag mode can be set by merely pressing the pen against the input surface of the tablet-type coordinate input device and keeping it for a certain period of time,
Compared with the conventional method in which the input surface of the tablet-type coordinate input device is tapped twice within a predetermined range, the setting operation becomes easier and the usability is improved. Further, the above (1) to (3)
The hardware configuration is simplified and the price is reduced as compared with the above method.

Further, even if the position data indicating the pen-on is lost during the normal pen continuous movement operation, it is temporary and the personal computer side does not erroneously determine the drag mode.

[0021]

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

FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing an embodiment of a drag mode setting method according to the present invention. This figure 1
As shown in FIG. 1, first, in step 11, when the pressing or contact of the pen with the input surface of the tablet-type coordinate input device (proximity in the case of the non-contact type, collectively referred to as pressing in this specification) is detected, When it is determined that the pen-on is Yes (Y), the timer is set (step 12).

The set time of this timer is, for example, 500
It is set to msec to 1.5 sec, here 500 msec. This timer also counts down,
The state where the count value becomes 0 or the state where the timer is not set is called overflow. If the pen-on is determined to be No (N) in step 11, step 11 is repeated and the pen-on standby state is entered.

In step 13, the pointed position (coordinates) by pressing the pen on the input surface of the tablet type coordinate input device is detected as an absolute value.

In step 14, it is determined whether or not the timer overflows (count value is 0 or timer is not set). If the timer does not overflow, the process proceeds to step 15, and the difference between the pen pointing position detected in step 13 and the pen pointing position detected in step 13 last time, that is, the relative movement data indicating the relative movement amount is tableted in a predetermined format. Output from the type coordinate input device.

Incidentally, this step 15 outputs the relative movement data in the normal operation. When the relative movement data is 0, it is judged that the pressing position has not changed, and the relative movement data is not output. . In the first flow in which the pen-on is detected, the timer has not yet overflowed and the process proceeds to step 15, but the relative movement data is 0.
Therefore, the relative movement data is not output.

Next, the same pen-on detection as in step 11 is performed (step 16), and the pen-on is Yes.
If it is determined to be (Y), the process proceeds to step 17. During this time,
When the pen-on is released, it is determined that the normal operation is completed, No (N) is determined, the process proceeds to step 11, and the pen-on standby state is returned.

In step 17, it is determined whether or not the difference between the previously output pen pointing position and the presently output pen pointing position is less than the reference value A. This determination is to determine whether or not the pressing movement operation has been intentionally executed. If the pressing movement operation is less than the reference value A within a certain area, it is considered that the pressing position is within the detection error, and the pressing movement operation is performed. Is judged not to have been carried out.

The reference value A is obtained when the input surface of the tablet-type coordinate input device has 1024 dots in each of the X and Y directions.
For example, it is set to 2 to 3 dots, here 3 dots.

If it is determined in step 17 that the value is not less than the reference value A, it is determined that the pen continuous pressing movement operation is normal (other than the drag mode operation), and the process proceeds to step 12.
In the first processing in step 17, the difference from the previously detected pen pointing position is 0, so it is determined that it is not less than the reference value A, and the process proceeds to step 13.

From the second time onward, if the operation at that time is a normal pen continuous pressing movement operation, the difference from the previous position becomes the reference value A of the constant area or more, so the routine proceeds to step 12. After proceeding to step 12, the timer is reset in step 12 each time, so that the timer is not judged to overflow in step 14, and as long as the normal pen continuous pressing movement operation is performed, step 12 Repeat ~ 17.

On the other hand, when trying to shift to the drag mode, since the same position is continuously pressed, in step 17, the distance from the position data detected immediately before is within a certain area, that is, less than the reference value A. Yes, the process returns to step 13 without resetting the timer.

Therefore, during this circulating flow, the timer overflows (count value becomes 0), and step 1
It is determined as Y in 4 and it is determined that the distance from the position data detected immediately before is within a certain area after the pen-on is detected and the pen-on is detected. Specifically, it is determined that the drag mode setting operation has been performed when the difference between the consecutive absolute positions of the pen pointing positions is within 3 dots for 500 msec after detecting the pen-on, and the process proceeds to step 18. Processing is transferred.

If it is determined in the step 14 that the drag mode is set, a drag mode setting command to be output to the personal computer is generated. This drag mode setting command is data corresponding to the output data when the left button switch of the mouse is pressed, and is data indicating that the drag mode setting operation has been performed.

In step 18, data representing that the drag mode setting operation has been performed is stored in step 14
The difference between the pen pointing position detected in step 13 immediately before the Y determination in step 13 and the current pen pointing position (relative movement data)
At the same time, it is output from the tablet-type coordinate input device in a predetermined format.

Since the pen is on as long as the drag operation is continued, it is determined that the pen is on (Y determination) in the next step 19, and the position is detected again in step 13.
That is, while the drag mode is continuing, step 12 is not performed, that is, the timer is not reset and the timer is still overflowing. Unless pen-on is released, the processing of steps 13, 14, 18, and 19 is repeated, Updates and outputs movement data. At this time, similarly, the data indicating that the drag mode setting operation has been performed is output from the tablet-type coordinate input device in a predetermined format together with the updated relative movement data.

If the pen-on is not detected in step 19 (if N is determined), it is determined that the drag mode has been canceled, and the process proceeds to step 11 to enter the pen-on standby state.

As described above, it is determined in step 17 whether the pen pointing position is within the fixed area, and in step 14 whether the pen pointing position within the fixed area is continued for a fixed time or longer. , Each is determined, but in order to distinguish from the normal operation (operation without setting the drag mode), the fixed time that is the timer set time in this case is
In a normal operation, it is a sufficiently long time compared to the time from when the pen is turned on to when the movement is started, and here it is set to 500 msec.

The fixed area is an area for discriminating the movement while pen-on is an error in position detection when the same position is pressed, and here, 3 dots / 1024 dots of the reference value A. Is. That is, position detection is assumed to be detected with an accuracy of 3/1024, and within the reference value A, it is considered that the same position is being pressed.

The specific values of the fixed time and the fixed area are set within the range of such an object, and are not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing another embodiment of the method of the present invention.

In the above-described first embodiment, when the pen-on is released after shifting to the drag mode, the drag mode is also automatically released. However, the input surface is narrow during the operation of the drag mode, and the operation can be performed several times. When trying to operate the drag mode separately, the transition operation to the drag mode must be performed again each time the pen-on is released. Therefore, in the second embodiment, even if the pen mode is temporarily released after shifting to the drag mode, the drag mode is considered to be continued if the pen mode is turned on again within a predetermined time.

In the drag mode setting method illustrated in FIG. 2, whether or not the second timer overflows between steps 13 and 14 in FIG. 1 (whether or not the second timer exceeds the set time, for example, 1 sec) is determined. A determination step 21 is inserted, and a step 22 for setting the second timer is inserted between steps 19 and 11.

In FIG. 2, a timer corresponding to the timer in FIG. 1 is referred to as a first timer for convenience of explanation.
Further, the set time t2 of the second timer is set sufficiently longer than the set time t1 of the first timer (t2 >> t1). This second timer also counts down, and the state where the count value becomes 0 or the state where the timer is not set is also the same as the first timer.

In the example of FIG. 2, when the determination result is Yes (Y) in step 14 and it is determined that the drag mode setting operation is performed, and the pen-on is not detected in step 19 (N determination). However, if the pen is turned on again within the predetermined time and the process proceeds to step 21 within the set time t2 of the second timer, it is considered that the drag mode is continuing and the process proceeds to step 18. In other words, even if the pen is once separated from the input surface of the tablet coordinate input device, if the pen is pressed again against the input surface of the tablet coordinate input device immediately thereafter, the pen will move to the tablet coordinate input device during that time. It is assumed that the input mode is kept pressed and the drag mode is maintained.

The example of FIG. 2 will be described in detail below. The example of FIG. 2 performs the same process as the example of FIG. 1 unless the second timer is set in step 22. That is, when the normal pen continuous pressing movement operation is performed, and when the pen-on is also continued after the drag mode setting operation, it is the same as the example of FIG.

If this is shown by the step numbers in the figure, when the normal pen continuous pressing movement operation is performed, the first flow after the pen is turned on is steps 11 → 12 → 13 →
21 → 14 → 15 → 16 → 17 → 13 → 21 → 14 → 1
The processing is performed in the order of 5 → 16, and thereafter, unless the pen-on is N determination in step 16, steps 17 → 12 → 13.
The process of → 21 → 14 → 15 → 16 is repeated, the first timer is reset every time, and the relative movement data in the normal pen continuous pressing movement is updated and output in a predetermined format.

When the operation of shifting to the drag mode is performed, the process proceeds from step 14 to step 18, and as long as the drag mode is set and the pen-on continues (the drag mode continues), steps 14 → 18 → 19 → 13. →
The same process is repeated in the order of 21 → 14 to update and output the relative movement data. At this time, the data indicating that the drag mode setting operation, which is the drag mode setting command, is output from the tablet-type coordinate input device in a predetermined format together with the updated relative movement data. This is similar to the case of the embodiment.

Next, the case where the pen-on is released during the processing in the drag mode, that is, the pen-on is not detected in step 19 (N judgment) will be described.

In this case, the second timer having the set time t2 is set in step 22, and the pen-on standby state of step 11 is entered.

In this pen-on standby state, if the pen-on is not performed for t2 hours or more, the second timer overflows and returns to the initial state. Therefore, if the input surface is next pressed and moved, the processing corresponding to the normal pen continuous pressing movement operation is executed, and if the input surface is pressed for a certain period of time and then pressed, the above-mentioned processing corresponding to the drag mode is executed. To be done.

In step 22, after the second timer is set, when the input surface is pressed again within a predetermined time in the standby state, it is determined in step 11 that the pen-on has been detected (Y determination), and steps 12 → 13 → 21. Processing proceeds.

At step 21, it is determined whether the second timer overflows (count value is 0). If the time t2 has not elapsed in step 21, that is, if the second timer has not overflowed, N
The determination is made, and the process proceeds to step 18. That is, the drag mode is not released and is maintained.
As long as the pen-on does not become N determination in 9 and the second timer does not overflow (count value is 0), the process of steps 13 → 21 → 18 → 19 → 13 is repeated,
The relative movement data is updated and output.

At this time, the data indicating that the drag mode setting operation has been performed is output from the tablet-type coordinate input device in a predetermined format together with the updated relative movement data after the drag mode setting operation described above. ,
This is the same as when pen-on continues.

While the flow is being repeated, the second
The timer overflows, and in step 21, Y
Although it is determined that t2 >> t1 is set as described above, when the second timer overflows, the first timer is already set.
The timer also overflows, a Y determination is made in step 14, and the drag mode continues. That is, step 1
Returning to step 8, as long as pen-on continues (drag mode continues), steps 14 → 18 → 19 → 13
The same process is repeated in the order of → 21 → 14, and the same process as described above is performed.

According to the example of FIG. 2, in the tablet-type coordinate input device having a narrow input surface, the pen is moved in one direction in the drag mode, but since the end of the input surface is reached midway, the pen is temporarily moved. The drag mode is not released even when the pen is moved in the one direction in the drag mode from the opposite side to the moving side again from the input surface. Therefore, it is not necessary to redo the drag mode setting,
Usability is further improved.

[0057]

As described above, according to the present invention, the drag mode setting command generated in the tablet type coordinate input device by the drag mode setting operation to the tablet type coordinate input device is transmitted to the tablet type coordinate input device. After detecting the pen-on of the pen that indicates the position to, it is generated in the tablet-type coordinate input device when the distance to the position data detected immediately before is continued for a certain period of time and is within the certain area. When the input surface of the tablet-type coordinate input device is pressed once with the pointing pen, the drag mode setting operation can be performed simply by keeping the tablet still for a certain time or more, which improves usability. The advantages are that the hardware configuration can be simplified and the price can be reduced.

[0058]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing another embodiment of the method of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 Pen-on determination step 14 Timer (first timer) overflow presence / absence determination step 16 Pen-on determination step 17 Difference between the previous designated position and the current designated position is the reference value A
Steps to determine if less than

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A drag mode setting method for outputting a drag mode setting command generated in the tablet coordinate input device to a computer by a drag mode setting operation to the tablet coordinate input device and setting the computer in the drag mode. In the drag mode setting command, after detecting the pen-on of the pen that indicates the position to the tablet-type coordinate input device, the drag mode setting command continues for a predetermined time or more, and the distance to the position data detected immediately before is within a constant region. Sometimes, the drag mode setting method is generated in a tablet-type coordinate input device.