RU2166796C2 - Pen for entering alphanumeric and graphical information in computer - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: peripheral devices of computer for data input without keyboard. SUBSTANCE: device ShelPen III has hollow body accommodating writing element, touch sensor, and pen-to-computer coupling unit ; it also has transmitting unit and radiator; top end of writing element abuts against touch unit connected to one of inputs of pen-to-computer coupling unit; output of transmitting unit is connected to radiator; newly introduced in device is miniature video camera mounted on side surface of pen so that information being written is in its field of vision; its output is connected to input of pen-to-computer coupling unit; characters entered are identified by sequential recording of frames, their comparison to discriminate new element, and sequential comparison of character string obtained in the course of writing with specimens received in advance and placed in computer memory. EFFECT: enhanced reliability of device ; improved precision of alphanumeric and graphical information identification. 1 dwg

Description

 The invention relates to the field of peripheral devices of computers and can be used to enter handwritten and graphic information and commands into a computer without using a keyboard.

 Known devices for entering graphical, and in principle handwritten, information into a computer, which is an electronic-mechanical or electron-optical unit ("Mouse") connected by a cable to a computer, in which when it moves along the surface of a table (sheet of paper), it rolls rubberized ball and rotation of sensors associated with it, fixing the movement of the ball relative to the coordinate axes.

 The rotation of the sensors is converted into electrical signals coming through the cable to the computer and displayed on the display screen in the form of lines and / or signs. In addition, there are buttons on the unit that control the operation mode of the mouse (f. Computer Press, 1989, No. 10, p. 220).

 The disadvantage of this device is the practical impossibility of writing handwritten characters due to the large size of the ball (which, in principle, cannot be reduced), the absence of traces on paper, the inability to observe, as you write, what the ball is writing at the moment, since it is out of the field operator’s view, under the bottom of the mouse. In addition, the presence of a connecting cable interferes with the operation. This device in the manufacture of requires precision machining of mechanical parts and assemblies and therefore quite expensive.

 Also known are devices for inputting handwritten and / or graphic information and commands into a computer, which are an optoelectronic unit ("Scanner") connected to a computer, in which when moving it over a sheet surface with already (previously) written text or picture, local illumination is narrow strip of a sheet and registration of the image of this strip by a linear sequence of photoconverters.

 The presence or absence of text or contours of a pattern or letters is determined by different sizes of the light signal reflected from a sheet of paper (V. Figurnov. User experience with IBM PC. M: Intervkadro, 1990, p. 41).

 The disadvantage of this device is the complexity of its technical implementation, the inability to enter or edit handwritten text or drawing in the process of writing it.

 Known devices for inputting graphic and / or handwritten information of a tablet type, which are a tablet with a coordinate grid deposited on its surface or placed in adjacent layers near the surface, which is a mutually perpendicularly placed conductors. The movement of the pen on a sheet of paper placed on the tablet causes a closure of the sequence of electrical contacts at the intersection points of the conductors of the coordinate grid (US Pat. Japan B41-57366, G 66 F 3/03, G 06 K 11/06, publ. 05.12.89, N 6-1435).

 A similar tablet-type device has a grid of orthogonal light rays above the surface of the tablet, which a pencil or pen crosses when writing text (Japanese Application No. 63-131222, abstract published in the Russian Federation "Inventions of the World", issue 117, No. 11, 1989 - G 03 F 3/03).

 Also known is a tablet-type device containing coordinate buses and an inductive current collector in the form of a handle with an inductor connected to a computer by cable (A.S. USSR N 1506460, G 06 K 11/00, publ. 07.09.89, BI N 33).

 A disadvantage of the known devices is the need to have a tablet with a coordinate grid created in some way to determine the position of the end of the pen sensor, which records text or draws a picture on the paper located on this tablet. This limits the ability to create and operate autonomous personal computers, since it does not allow, for example, to record on any medium (notebook, notebook, notebook), but only using a tablet.

 In addition, to obtain good resolution and accuracy of handwriting reproduction, a grid with a very small pitch between conductors (buses) is required, and this leads to the complexity of manufacturing and the high cost of such devices (PenPad "Newton" costs 600 USD).

 It is also known a pen for entering ink information containing a hollow body, inside which a writing element is located, a pressure sensor and an acceleration sensor made in the form of mutually perpendicular piezoelectric plates with inertial elements located in two rows along the axis of the writing element, in the upper of which inertial elements are fixed at the lower ends of the piezoelectric plates, and the pressure sensor is made in the form of a piezoelectric plate, the plane of which is parallel to the axis of the writing element and one end of which is rigidly fixed in the housing, and d the coal is connected to a lever, one side of which is connected with the housing through a shock-absorbing element, and the other, through a spring-loaded pusher, is connected with a writing element (A.S. USSR 3811307, G 06 K 11/06, publ. 07.03.81, BI N 9) .

 A disadvantage of the known device is that the magnitude of the electrical signal arising in the piezoelectric element during its inertial movement during writing is comparable to the magnitude of the signal arising from the vibration of the pen on paper irregularities. Since the magnitude of the signal from the piezoelectric element is small, its additional amplification is required, and the problem of extracting a useful signal from the signal + noise mixture ("Squeaking of a pen on paper") is aggravated.

 There is another significant drawback: since the pen is placed at an angle to the surface of the paper when writing, the inertial vibrations of the piezoelectric elements in the plane of inclination of the pen and in the perpendicular occur differently, and the plane of oscillation of the piezoelectric elements lies along the axis of the pen, but the writing end of the pen oscillates in the plane paper, and not perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the pen, which determines the complex and interdependent nature of the oscillations, greatly complicating the task of deciphering and identifying written characters.

 It is also known a device for inputting handwritten characters, containing a writing element in the hollow body, piezoelectric plates located along the rod, one ends of which with electrodes located on them, connected to the output buses, are fixed in the body, as well as inertial elements associated with other ends of the piezoelectric plates . The moment the pen touches the paper is determined by the touch sensor, which is a spring-loaded contact that closes when the pen touches the surface of the paper with some force (A. S. USSR N 638988 G 06 K 9/00, publ. 25.12.78, BI N 47) .

The disadvantages of this device are the same as the previous ones:
the need to amplify a weak signal from piezoelectric plates
the presence of noise like "creak of a pen", in magnitude comparable to the useful signal and complicating the selection of the useful signal from the signal + noise mixture
the mismatch of the oscillation plane of the end of the writing element and the inertial piezoelectric sensors, which leads to a complex ambiguous dependence of the magnitude of the electric signal on the magnitude of the accelerations in mutually perpendicular planes
inertial periodic damped oscillations of the sensor mass system when changing the direction of motion, superimposed on the useful signal
and for this reason - inadequate identification of the written characters.

 The closest to the essence of the problem being solved is the ShelPen pen, which contains a hollow body, inside which there is a writing element, the inertial sensor resting on the touch sensor with its upper end, which is a surface on which a metal ring is located, which during writing moves under the action of inertia and closes sector contacts located on the inner surface of the housing with a common contact located on the surface. In the upper part of the housing are digital logic circuits for monitoring the state of contacts of the inertial element, the transmitting device and the battery for powering the electronic components of the device. The movable ring and segment contacts are connected to the input of the logic control circuit of the state of contacts of the inertial element, the output of the logic circuit is connected to the input of the transmitting device, and its output is connected to the emitter (antenna).

 The aim of the invention is to increase the reliability of the device for entering handwritten information into a computer and the accuracy of its identification.

 To achieve this goal, in the proposed device, the pen for entering handwritten information into the computer, as well as in the known one, has a hollow body, inside which a writing element is placed, with its upper end resting against the touch sensor connected to the communication device (hereinafter referred to as the unit) for communication with the computer. In the upper part inside the pen housing there is a communication unit with a computer, including a transmitting device (radio, optical or ultrasound) and a radiator, as well as a power source (battery).

 In contrast to the known device, the proposed device contains a miniature video (TV) camera placed on the side surface of the pen so that written information is in its field of vision. The output of the camcorder is connected to the input of the communication unit with the computer.

 Comparison with the prototype shows that the proposed device differs from it by the presence of a new node - a miniature video camera, so it meets the criterion of "novelty."

 Known pen-type sensors are electromechanical devices and use the inertial principle of converting pen movement to a sequence of electrical pulses to identify written characters and figures. All of them have a number of qualities that make identification difficult precisely because of the presence of mass as such in the inertial sensor, whose inertial vibrations distort the recorded pattern of the movement of the end of the “pen”.

 An optoelectronic device that allows you to enter already written information is a “scanner” that does not have inertial mechanical components and uses the principle of converting an optical signal into an electrical one. However, it is difficult to attach a scanner, even a manual one, to the pen for the purpose of registering and identifying typewriters.

 It is possible in principle (although the author has not seen anything like this) to use a standard video camera for the same purpose (entering and identifying information already written), however, like the previous device, it cannot be adapted to a pen for entering information during writing. And the price of the camcorder ...

 This possibility appeared in connection with recent reports (Toshiba, Japan) about the possibility of creating a video camera sensitive element on MIS structures, rather than on charge-coupled devices (CCDs), as usual, consuming an order of magnitude lower current and having much smaller sizes. This makes it possible to talk about the emergence of the possibility of creating an optoelectronic rather than electromechanical device for entering handwritten information into a computer. So far, the author has not found any information about this use of video cameras. For this reason, the proposed technical solution is not obvious and has an inventive step, since it obviously does not follow from the known technical solutions.

 The proposed technical solution is necessary for each personal computer, and in existing ones it will work in parallel with the keyboard, and in future computers it will allow you to get rid of the keyboard in general, providing a natural (handwritten) input of information into the computer. That is, it will find wide application in industry, science and technology.

 In FIG. 1 shows a general view of the handle. Here are shown: 1 - a writing element, 2 - a hollow body, 3 - a video camera, 4 - a connecting cable, 5 - a touch sensor, 6 - a communication unit with a computer, 7 - a transmitting device, 8 - a radiator (in case of radio communication - an antenna )

 A writing element 1 is installed in the hollow body of the pen 2. A miniature video camera 3 is mounted on the side surface of the pen 3. The removable upper part of the body 2 contains electronic circuits of the touch sensor 5, the communication unit with the computer 6, the transmitting device 7, and the emitter 8. The upper end of the writing pen element 1 rests on the push contact 5, which is a touch sensor. The camcorder 3 and the communication unit with the computer 6 are connected by a cable 4. The output of the transmitting device 7 is connected to the emitter 8. The power of the camcorder and the electronic components of the handle is supplied from a power source, which is recharged during interruptions from a charger located, for example, in the case a computer.

 The operation of the device. If necessary, enter text or commands into the computer, the pen is taken into the hand like a regular writing pen and writing element 1 of the text, commands or graphs is written on a sheet of plain paper. At the same time, when you press the pen, pin 5 closes, which tells the computer that the next element, line, or piece of text begins to be written. In this case, the camcorder is turned on and captures frames of video information in the field of view of the camcorder, which are transmitted to the computer's memory.

 Consider how the line is written: after the touch sensor is triggered, a timer is activated, which determines the frequency of shooting frames. As the handle moves, frames are shifted, the information in each of them is associated with the neighboring methods of correlation processing of video information (“frog eye”: new objects are added, constant details are discarded). The direction of movement of the handle is calculated by the position of the end of the line in adjacent frames.

 Now consider the spelling of the text. In this case, frame fixation sequential with a constant frequency and selection of newly appeared elements (by the same method as above), which are interpreted as letters, occur. The letter is determined by sequentially comparing the letters allocated with the samples that are stored in the computer's memory. If the subsequent character remains unidentified, it is displayed as it is.

 To configure the system for a specific user in order to determine the characteristic features of his writing, before starting work, he is invited to write with a pen a simple text such as "Quick brown fox jumps ower the lazy dog" to set the speed and features of the handwriting, span and form of writing, etc. .

 The positioning of the pen relative to the sheet of paper is made by raising the pen to a height relative to the sheet so that it is all or its upper edge falls into the field of view of the camera. Relative to the fixed edge, the position of the handle is counted.

 The device confidently works with the simplest 5 mW transmitter and direct amplification receiver at a distance of up to 10 m from the computer.

 Currently, the device is assembled in the form of a layout. A 565RU5 type dynamic memory chip with a sawn-off housing cover is used as a camera, so that the memory crystal is illuminated by light reflected from a sheet of paper. In the electronic part of the parallel interface of the device, 555 series chips are used.

 Currently, the image is being displayed on a computer screen without identifying letters. Software development is underway, and the use of well-known packages such as AUTHOR and LINGVA is expected.

 Using the proposed invention, ultimately, will get rid of the computer keyboard in general and enter information into it in a natural way - by writing it on paper with a pen.

Claims (1)

 A pen for inputting handwritten and graphic information into a computer containing a hollow body, inside which a writing element and a touch sensor are placed, a communication device with a computer containing a transmitting device and an emitter is placed in the hollow body, the writing element resting against its touch end with its upper end connected to one of the inputs of the communication device with a computer, and the output of the transmitting device is connected to the emitter, characterized in that a miniature video camera is located on the side surface of the handle, that written information falls into her field of vision, and her output is connected to the input of a communication device with a computer, while the written characters are identified by sequentially capturing frames, comparing them in order to highlight new elements and sequentially comparing the character chain obtained with the writing process, received previously and placed in the computer's memory.