JPS5814706B2 - optical character input device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a character input device, and more particularly to a character input device that optically detects character codes.

A character input device detects and outputs the character code associated with a desired character by selecting the position where that character is displayed, and is useful for efficiently processing character information. This is the most important part.

Conventionally, this type of device detects the position coordinates of the input pen by moving the input pen to the position where the desired character is drawn, and generates the corresponding character code. Draw the character code in the same position,
There have been proposals for reading character codes when an input pen is brought close to a target character.

However, in the first method described above, the input board becomes extremely expensive because it is necessary to detect the position coordinates on the input board where the characters are written, and the position coordinates must be converted into character codes. Therefore, there are multiple configurations.

In addition, the second method requires multiple configurations for detecting barcodes, and it is difficult to manually input the barcode.
Moreover, since the characters and the barcode are written in the same position on the character card, it has various drawbacks, such as making it extremely difficult to read the characters.

The present invention has been made in order to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks.The present invention has been made to write characters on the front side of the character input board and write a bar code on the back side. The barcode written on the back side of the character input board is optically detected by bringing the light ben close to the desired character.

Hereinafter, the optical character input device according to the present invention will be explained in detail using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side view of essential parts of an embodiment of an optical character input device according to the present invention, in which numeral 1 denotes a character input board that transmits infrared rays, and this character input board 1 is, for example, white. It is made from a plastic film mixed with pigments.

On the front side A of this character input board 1, characters are drawn using ink that transmits infrared rays, such as methylene blue, and on the back side B, characters are drawn using ink that does not transmit infrared rays, such as ink containing carbon powder. A barcode B corresponding to the characters on the surface A is drawn using ink.

2 is a light source, 3 is a visible light cut filter using rhodamine B1 methyl blue, etc., and character input board 1 and light source 2
is located between.

The light source 2 and visible light cut filter 3 constitute a light source section 4 that emits only infrared rays.

5 is a light pen, and 6 is a character code generating device that detects the output signal of the light pen 5, generates a character code, and supplies this character code to a computer or the like (not shown).

Then, on the front side A of the character input board 1, for example, a
On the back side B, the main forms of characters such as kanji are written to indicate the divisions for one character, and on the back side B, for example, as shown in Figure 2b, the parts corresponding to each character division are shown in Figure 3. This is a special radial barcode that is different from general barcodes.

In other words, the character section has an annular pattern 7 composed of relatively wide lines around the character section, and a central pattern 8 filled with a relatively large diameter in the center of the section.
has.

A start address and a plurality of bits of addresses A1 to A16 set at equal intervals are distributed on this annular pattern 7, and a central pattern 8
The meaning of the code is given by a radial bar 9 connecting each address A1 to A16.

For example, the barcode shown in FIG. 2b represents "1000100101001001" in the third rotation clockwise from the start address STA.

On the other hand, the optical system of the Light Ben 5 is, for example, as shown in FIG. By arranging the optical fibers 10 and arranging the other ends of the optical fibers 10 in a straight line, a circular-linear conversion optical system is constructed.

The end of this linearly arranged optical fiber 10 is connected to a self-scanning photodiode array device 11 comprising a photodiode and its driving circuit.

For example, such a light pen 5 has a length of 1 m and a diameter of 10 m.
Eighty 0Pm optical fibers 10 are lined up and one end is made into a ring shape, and the other end is made into a straight shape and hardened with epoxy resin, and both ends are polished to form a straight end face of 51.
It is constructed by directly bonding and fixing to the optical surface of a self-scanning diode array having two pixels.

This is because the photodiode array is generally quite large in size and cannot be mounted inside the light pen 5, and an optical fiber is used to connect the character code generator 6 with the self-scanning photodiode array device 11 to the optical fiber. This is possible by connecting the

Furthermore, when 80 optical fibers 10 are used as described above, the photodiode array consists of 6.4 pixels.
The light transmitted through the book's optical fibers will be detected.

In the device configured as described above, when the light source 2 is first turned on, light including infrared rays is generated from the light source 2.

The light emitted from this light source 2 is filtered through a visible light cut filter 3.
Only visible light is blocked from passing through, and only infrared rays are irradiated onto the back side B of the character input board 1 through the visible light cut filter 3.

Therefore, the only light that passes through the character input board 1 from the back side B to the front side A is infrared rays, which is hardly perceptible to the human eye.

For this reason, the operator who performs the character code input operation can only see the character matrix written on the front side A of the character input board 1, and the operator can see the character matrix and select the desired character. A character matrix is selected and the light pen 5 is brought close to the selected character matrix.

In this case, since the light pen 5 is configured to detect infrared rays as described above, when the light pen 5 is brought close to the character matrix, the light from the light source section 4 that has passed through the character input board 1 can be detected. Infrared rays will be detected, but since the back side B of the character input board 1 has a special bar code shown in FIG. The infrared rays that pass through the barcode will be transmitted in an inverted pattern (black and white reversed).

On the other hand, the light pen 5 brought close to the character input board 1 detects the infrared rays that have passed through the character input board 1 in accordance with the barcode drawn on the back side B. As mentioned above, the tip part is ring-shaped,
This annular portion needs to be positioned between the annular pattern 7 and the central pattern 8 of the barcode shown in FIG. 2b so as to cover the central pattern 8.

When the light pen 5 is operated in this manner, this infrared transmitted light is sequentially read by the self-scanning photodiode array device 11 via the optical fiber 10 and converted into an electrical signal.

For example, the bar code shown in FIG. 2b is optically detected by the light pen 5 and the output signal is converted into an electrical signal as shown in FIG. 5.

Such a signal is read out as a signal "1000100101001001" by sequentially determining a portion where the interval is extremely narrow as a start signal STA.

The above explanation is for a normal input operation in which the light pen 5 is accurately positioned with respect to the barcode on the character input board 1. 8, a signal 12 is output which is wider than the width of the par 9 signal as shown in FIG.

Therefore, if a signal having a width greater than the specified value is output, it is assumed that the input operation has been erroneous, and a display or sound is generated to prompt the user to perform the input operation again.

With this configuration, the barcode is not visible to the operator, making it easier to see the character matrix, making selection operations extremely easy, and the device also has an extremely simple configuration. .

Furthermore, when a pen is used on lie 1 with the above-mentioned configuration, there are some restrictions on its position, but since it is a self-scanning type, no restrictions are placed on the rotation angle with respect to the axis. .

Furthermore, if the area for each character is 5 x 5 mm, the conventional method shown in Figure 3 requires a resolution of 5/17 = 0.3 mm as the barcode and light pen detection characteristics, but Figure 2b When using the barcode pattern shown in , a resolution of about 5π/17=0.9 mm is sufficient.

Furthermore, the diameter r of the annular portion formed at the tip of the light pen 5 is r = where one section of the character input board 1 is dXd.
By setting it to about d/2, excellent input operability was achieved.

Furthermore, the character input board 1 that transmits infrared rays can be constructed of a translucent white film, board, or paper that is not completely opaque but sufficiently diffuses light.

In the above-described embodiment, the visible light cut filter 3 was described only in the case where it was provided close to the light source 2, but it may also be provided close to or directly attached to the back side B of the character input board 1.

As explained above, according to the optical character input device of the present invention, a barcode corresponding to a character matrix can be directly detected with a simple configuration, and this barcode is directly visible to the operator. Therefore, the character input board is extremely easy to see for the operator, and the number of inputtable characters can be easily added by simply replacing the input board, which has various excellent effects.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a main part showing an embodiment of an optical character input device according to the present invention, and FIGS. 2a and 2b are character matrix shapes drawn on the front side of the character input board 1 and bars drawn on the back side. Figure 3 shows an example of a barcode; Figure 4 shows a conventional barcode; Figure 4 shows an example of a barcode;
The figure is a side view showing the optical system of the light pen, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are diagrams showing examples of output signals of the light pen. 1...Character input board, 2...Light source, 3...Visible light cut filter, 4...Light source section, 5...Light pen, 6...Character code generator.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. On the surface of a semi-transparent substrate that transmits infrared rays, there is a letter matrix drawn with ink that can be identified by visible light and that transmits infrared rays, and on the back side, there is a radial shape that can be identified by visible light and is drawn with ink that does not transmit infrared rays. a character input board having a barcode; a light source provided on the back side of the character input board that generates light including infrared rays; and a visible light located between the light source and the character input board that transmits only infrared rays. a cut filter; and a character input board that is located on the front side of the character input board and detects a transmission pattern of infrared rays generated by the light source through the character input board and reads a barcode provided on the back side of the character input board. 1. An optical character input device comprising: a barcode reading means having a tip facing surface formed into a ring shape using a large number of optical fibers.