JPH10124244A - Pen input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make the device not function in a pen use state even when an important function regarding device control is operated by mistake by connecting an indication switch to a device main body by storing a pen input means. SOLUTION: While the input pen 4 is completely stored in the device main body 1, a terminal 14 on the flank of the input pen 4 comes into contact with a terminal 15 from the pen storage part internal surface of the main body and then conductors from terminals 16 and 17 for detecting the depression of a switch 4-1 are connected to the terminal 14. Here, when the user presses the switch 4-1 of the input pen 4, a conductor 18 comes into contact with the terminals 16 and 17, which are short-circuited. When the terminals 16 and 17 are short-circuited, a terminal 15 from the pen storage part internal surface detects the conduction of an electric signal and outputs the 'ON' signal of the switch 4-1 to a central control part of the device main body to perform control regarding control over a device assigned to each switch. Consequently, even if a switch is touched by mistake at the time of handwriting input, the loss of data can be evaded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pen input device capable of pen input.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The prior art is disclosed, for example, in
No. 2830 is known. This discloses a technique in which a switch is provided on an input pen, and when the switch is pressed, an input is instructed via a cable connecting the pen and the main body.

Hereinafter, a detailed description will be given with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11.

FIG. 10 shows a tablet input device of the present invention, for example, an electromagnetic tablet device (such as an electrostatically-coupled tablet device).
It shows a configuration of 101, 201 is a tablet board, 202 is an input pen, and 2 is a tablet device.
03 is an interface circuit.

The input pen 202 is a known pen switch 30.
1, a code generation circuit 302 for generating various control information (information codes), and a switch 30 for instructing start / stop of the code generation circuit 302 by an operator operation.
3 and a display 304 for displaying the information code generated by the code generation circuit 302.

FIG. 11 shows the appearance of the input pen 202. The operator can easily set the desired information code internally by operating the switch 303 while watching the display contents of the display 304.

That is, if the information code displayed on the display 304 is not the desired information code, the operator depresses the switch 303 of the input pen 202 to turn it on.

When the switch 303 is pressed (switched on), the clock generator 401 is activated,
The reference clock signal is generated as a count valid pulse only during the period in which the switch 303 is pressed.

The clock generator 401 counts the number of generation pulses of count valid pulses, and outputs an increment signal each time a predetermined number (N) is counted. This increment signal is input to the cyclic code generator 402.

This cyclic code generator 402
Has a function of repeatedly generating various information codes in a certain order every time an increment signal is input.

In the conventional example, the cyclic code generator 402 is a counter which receives the increment signal as a clock input. Cyclic code generator 4
02 updates the information code in accordance with the increment signal, that is, at fixed time intervals during the period in which the switch 303 is pressed.

The information code is displayed on the display 304. Therefore, the operator visually checks the display 304 during the period in which the switch 303 is pressed, and determines whether or not a desired information code appears. When the desired information code appears, the operator stops pressing the switch 303.

As a result, the switch 303 returns to its original state, and is turned off. And the switch 30
Clock generator 4 according to the switch-off state of 3
01 is stopped, and the generation of the count valid pulse is stopped.

As a result, updating of the information code in the cyclic code generator 402 is stopped, and the information code generated from the cyclic code generator 402 is fixed to a desired information code.

That is, when the operator operates the switch 303 (on / off), the code generation circuit 3
02 has been set to the desired information code.

When the desired information code is set in the code generation circuit 302 in this manner, that is, when the desired information code is fixedly displayed on the display 304, the operator operates the pen switch of the input pen 202. The pen tip of 301 is pressed against a desired position on the tablet board surface 201, and the pen switch 301 is pressed down.

When the pen switch 301 of the input pen 202 is depressed, the set timing signal ST
Is generated from the input pen 202.

The set timing signal ST is input to the position information buffer 311, whereby the X and Y coordinate position information of the corresponding position on the tablet board 201 is held in the position information buffer 311 at the leading edge of the set timing signal ST. .

On the other hand, the code generation circuit 30 of the input pen 202
2 is held in the information code buffer 312. At the point in time when the desired position information is held in the position information buffer 311 at the leading edge of the set timing signal ST, it is clear that the information code held in the information code buffer 312 is the desired information code.

The set timing signal ST is also input to the transmission circuit 313.

The contents held in the position information buffer 311 and the information code buffer 312, that is, the desired position information and information code are set in the transmission circuit 313 at the timing of the trailing edge of the set timing signal ST, and the information processing is performed thereafter. The data is sent to the central processing unit 102 which is in charge.

[0022]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, a switch related to the control of the apparatus is provided on the pen so that the switch is always enabled. However, there is a possibility that a risk of losing all the work contents up to that time may occur.

According to the present invention, in order to solve such a problem, a switch is provided on the input pen, and this switch is enabled only when the main body is attached. In particular, important functions related to control of the apparatus are erroneously performed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a pen input device that does not function in a pen use state even when operated.

[0024]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pen input device, comprising: a display screen; input / output means comprising a transparent tablet on the display screen; and a pen input means for inputting to the input means. And a storage means for storing the pen input means, wherein the pen input means is provided with an instruction switch for instructing processing on the apparatus body, and the pen input means is provided with the pen input means. A pen input device characterized in that a connection means for connecting the instruction switch to the apparatus main body by being stored in the storage means is provided. The pen input device according to claim 2, wherein when the instruction switch provided on the pen input means is connected by the connection means, the processing content is a control instruction such as activation, termination, and initialization of the apparatus main body. The pen input device according to claim 1, wherein:

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the pen input device according to the first aspect, wherein the instruction switch is provided by utilizing elasticity of a clip portion of the pen input means.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pen input device, comprising: detecting means for detecting the storage of the pen input means in the storing means; and detecting the storage of the pen input means by the detecting means. The pen input device according to claim 1, wherein the pen input device displays a function.

[0027]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the embodiments shown in FIGS. The present invention is not limited by this.

FIG. 1A is a perspective view showing an external appearance of a pen input device of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is an external perspective view of the input pen.

In FIG. 1A, 1 is an input / output unit 2
And a main body cabinet unit having an infrared communication unit, a pen holding unit, and the like (not shown), and controls the input / output unit 2, an infrared communication unit, an interface, and the like in which a display unit and a transparent tablet are integrated. A power supply unit for supplying power to necessary parts such as a control circuit is built in. In particular, the input / output unit 2 will be described in detail later with reference to FIG.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a lid (lid), which is connected to the back of the main body cabinet by a hinge, rotates so as to cover the input / output unit 2, and serves to protect the input / output unit 2 when it is carried.

FIG. 1B is a perspective view of an input pen 4 for inputting characters and graphics to the input / output unit 2, and includes a switch 4-1 and a switch 4-2.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the input / output unit 2 of FIG.
A liquid crystal display unit 2-1 of a thin matrix type capable of displaying characters and a tablet 2-2 described later are shown. still,
The liquid crystal display unit 2-1 may be provided with a backlight made of an EL panel or the like on the back surface as necessary.

Reference numeral 2-2 denotes a transparent tablet having a size to cover the liquid crystal display unit 2. The transparent tablet is provided with, for example, transparent electrodes on the inner surface of two transparent sheets, and each of the electrodes is in a normal state. Small protruding spacers are regularly printed so that they do not come in contact with each other, and the transparent electrode comes in contact with the finger or pen when instructed, and the selected position can be detected by the transparent tablet 2-2. I have.

The position of the liquid crystal display 2-1 selected by the user can be detected by synchronizing the position information with the display contents displayed on the liquid crystal display 2-1. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the entire information processing apparatus of the present invention.

Since 2-1 and 2-2 are the same as the transparent tablet 2-2 described with reference to FIG.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a tablet control unit for extracting coordinate information from the transparent tablet 2-2. The tablet control unit 5 is connected to transparent electrodes provided on each transparent sheet. The coordinates of the position designated by the finger or the pen are detected by the contact between the two transparent electrodes.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a liquid crystal display circuit which stores dot positions for turning on the liquid crystal as a bit map.
Signals are sent to the common circuit 7 and the segment circuit 8 as necessary.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a central control unit for controlling input information or output information by various commands.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a switch circuit, and the input pen 4
Of the switches 4-1 and 4-2 are detected. The control lines a and b output signals from the switch 4-1 to the switch circuit 10, the control lines c and d output signals from the switch 4-2 to the switch circuit 10, and the control line e outputs the signal from the input pen 4. A detection signal indicating whether or not it is stored in the main body cabinet unit 1 is output to the central control unit 9 by short-circuiting by inserting a pen.

Reference numeral 11 denotes an RTC that measures time using a clock signal (not shown), and outputs the current date and time.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a ROM, which is a program area 1 in which a program indicating the operation of the central control unit 8 is stored.
2-1; a font information area 12-2 storing a font of a character to be displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 2-1; and a switch display storage unit 12-3 storing characters / symbols representing the meaning of each switch of the input pen 4. Have.

Reference numeral 13 denotes a RAM which allows the user to input / output the input / output unit 2
It has a data storage unit 13-1 for storing various data such as texts and graphics input from the user, and a state storage unit 13-2 for storing the state of the apparatus immediately before power-off.

(Embodiment 1) Next, claims 1 to 3 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG.
(A) is an external perspective view of the device according to claims 1 to 3 of the present invention, and is a diagram when the input pen 4 is stored in the device main body.

FIG. 1B is a perspective view of the external appearance of the input pen 4, which is provided with switches 4-1 and 4-2 on the upper side of the input pen 4 when housed in the apparatus.

When the input pen 4 is stored in the main body, the terminal on the inner surface of the pen housing portion of the main body (not shown) comes into contact with the terminal on the side surface of the pen (not shown). By pressing 2, the switch circuit 10 in FIG. 3 detects the conduction between the terminal on the inner surface of the pen housing and the terminal on the side surface of the pen.

Next, a description will be given of the connection state between the above-described apparatus main body and the switch provided on the pen.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line AA 'when the input pen 4 is stored in the main body of FIG.

FIG. 1A shows a view in which the pen is not completely stored, but here, the description will be made with the pen completely stored.

At this time, the terminal 14 on the side surface of the input pen 4 comes into contact with the terminal 15 from the inner surface of the pen housing of the main body, and the terminal 14 on the side surface of the input pen 4 detects the pressing of the switch 4-1. And a conductive line from the terminal 17 (similar terminals are provided on the back, though not shown).

Here, the user operates the switch 4 of the input pen 4.
Pressing 1 causes the conductor 18 to contact the terminals 16 and 17, shorting the terminals 16 and 17. When the terminals 16 and 17 are short-circuited, the conduction of an electric signal is detected at the terminal 15 from the inner surface of the pen housing, and the "ON" signal of the switch 4-1 is output to the central control unit 9 of the apparatus main body. The control related to the control of the device assigned to is performed.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the terminal 15 from the inner surface of the pen storage section of the apparatus main body. A spring is mounted inside the terminal 15, and the normally extended spring contracts when the pen is stored, so that the main body side terminal 19 and the terminal 15 are in contact with each other, and a signal from each switch of the input pen 4 can be input.

Next, referring to FIGS. 6A and 6B, a description will be given of a structure in which a switch portion provided on the input pen is configured by using the elasticity of a clip portion of the input pen.

Here, instead of the input pen 4 of FIG. 1B, an input pen 20 with a clip of FIG. 6A is used.
In FIG. 6B, a conductive line 22 is built in the clip portion 21 of the input pen 20.

Normally, the conductive portion 22 provided in the clip portion 21 is separated from the terminal 23 by the elasticity of the clip portion 21.

By pressing the tip of the clip portion 21,
The terminal 23 located under the tip and the conductive wire 22 of the clip portion 21 come into contact with each other and short-circuit, and the conduction of an electric signal is detected by the terminal 15 from the inner surface of the pen housing. Output to the control unit 9 to perform control related to control of the main body.

By the above processing, a switch is provided on the input pen, and when the main body is mounted, this switch is electrically connected to the main body, so that the apparatus can be controlled.

(Embodiment 2) Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 7 shows a display screen of this embodiment. When the user completely stores the input pen 4 in the pen storage section of the main body, the switches of the input pen 4 of the input / output section 2 of the apparatus are displayed. Characters and symbols indicating the meaning of each switch are displayed in a place close to.

The user can know the contents of the processing performed by each switch of the input pen 4 from the characters / symbols.

Here, the switch 4-1 of the input pen 4 performs a restart process, and the switch 4-2 is turned off.
Is performed.

When the input pen 4 is removed from the main body, characters and symbols representing the meanings of the switches of the input pen 4 are deleted from the input / output unit 2.

FIG. 8 shows a terminal for detecting whether or not the input pen 4 is completely housed in the apparatus.

A pen storage switch when the input pen 4 in the main body pen storage section is completely stored in the main body is provided with a conductor 25 at a position facing 24 in FIG.
Is completely stored in the main body, both terminals of the pen storage switch 24 are short-circuited, and the main body central control section 9 detects it. By detecting the storage of the pen in the central control unit 9, control is performed such that characters and symbols corresponding to the switches stored in advance are displayed on the input / output unit 2.

When the input pen 4 is removed from the main body, a short circuit from the pen storage switch 24 is not detected, so that the removal of the pen can be detected.

The above processing will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, it waits until the pen storage switch 24 is turned "ON" due to a short circuit in STEP1, and if the pen storage switch 24 is turned "ON", the switch 4-1 is executed in STEP2.
Is displayed on the input / output unit 2 and the STE
Similarly, at P3, a character / symbol representing the meaning of the switch 4-2 is displayed on the input / output unit 2 at a position adjacent to the switch 4-2 of the pen.

In STEP 4, it is determined whether or not the switch 4-1 has been turned "ON" by the user's pressing. If the switch 4-1 has not been turned "ON", the flow proceeds to STEP 7.
If the switch 4-1 is "ON", the entire display of the input / output unit 2 is deleted in STEP5, and the restart processing is performed in STEP6.

If the switch 4-1 is not "ON" in the judgment in STEP4, it is judged in STEP7 whether the switch 4-2 has been turned "ON" by the pressing of the user, and the switch 4-2 is set to "ON". If not "ON", STEP10
Proceed to. If the switch 4-2 is "ON", STEP
8 erases all the displays on the input / output unit 2 and turns on the power
Perform FF processing.

Also, according to the judgment of STEP7, the switch 4-2
Is not "ON", it is determined in STEP10 whether or not the pen storage switch 24 is "ON". If the pen storage switch 24 is "ON", the process returns to STEP4.

If the pen storage switch 24 is not "ON", it is determined that the pen has been removed, and the characters and symbols representing the meaning of the pen are deleted from the input / output unit 2 in STEP11.
In step 2, various other processes such as application use are performed.

With the above processing, when the pen is mounted on the main body, the meaning of the switches provided on the pen can be displayed near the switches of the input pen 4 on the input / output unit 2.

[0072]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a switch is provided on the input pen which is detachable from the main body, and by being housed in the main body, the switch provided on the pen is electrically connected to the main body. By activating the pen switch, the operability of the pen input device is improved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the pen input means is provided with a switch for instructing control of the device, so that the input when the pen is used is not transmitted to the device. Is improved.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the operability is improved by obtaining the elasticity of the switch section by the elastic force of the clip section.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the main body display unit adjacent to the switch unit provided in the pen input unit is detected by detecting the storage of the pen input unit in the storage unit by the detection unit. By displaying the function of the switch on the device, a pen input device with excellent operability can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is an external view of the present invention (apparatus main body). (B) It is an external view (pen input means) of this invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the main body input / output unit 2 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a switch section of the input pen 4;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an electrical connection portion of the switch.

FIG. 6A is an external perspective view of an input pen. (B) It is a side view of an input pen.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a display screen.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a pen storage switch that detects that a pen has been inserted into the apparatus main body.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a conventional device.

FIG. 11 is a side view of a conventional pen input device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body cabinet part 2 Input / output display part 3 Lid 4 Input pen 4-1 switch 4-2 switch 9 Central control part 11 RTC 12 ROM 13 RAM 20 Input pen 25 Input pen 101 Electromagnetic tablet device 102 Central processing device 201 Tablet board surface 202 Input pen 203 Interface circuit 301 Pen switch 302 Code generation circuit 303 Switch 304 Display 311 Position information buffer 312 Information code buffer 313 Transmission circuit 401 Clock generator 402 Cyclic code generator

Claims (4)

[Claims] A display screen; input / output means comprising a transparent tablet on the display screen; pen input means for inputting to the input means; and storage means for storing the pen input means. In the pen input device described above, the pen input means is provided with an instruction switch for instructing processing to the apparatus body, and the pen input means is stored in the storage means, whereby the instruction switch is set in the device. A pen input device provided with connection means for connecting to a main body. 2. The processing content when an instruction switch provided on said pen input means is connected by said connection means, is a control instruction for starting, ending, initializing, etc. of the apparatus main body. 2. The pen input device according to 1. 3. The pen input device according to claim 1, wherein said instruction switch is provided by utilizing the elasticity of a clip portion of said pen input means. 4. A detecting means for detecting the storage of the pen input means in the storing means, and displaying the function of the instruction switch on the display section when the detecting means detects the storage of the pen input means. The pen input device according to claim 1, wherein