JPS5852256B2 - Interactive character/figure/symbol input/output method - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to an interactive character/graphic input/output method.

More specifically, we will introduce a flatbed type XY block and an electric field detection type input device (hereinafter referred to as a "digitizer").
This invention relates to an interactive character/figure production method in which the flat tablet of a digitizer is incorporated into the same device as the flat tablet of a digitizer forms the recording surface of a plotter.

If a device were provided that could input and output characters, figures, etc. to and from desk paper on the same surface, the work efficiency of creating charts such as train schedules and weather maps using computers would be extremely high. improves.

However, such a device has not yet been put into practical use.

Up to now, many independent input devices or output devices have been put into practical use, but when they are incorporated into the same device,
In most cases, mutual interference occurs, and it is difficult to maintain the functionality of the input or output device when used for the respective input or output devices.

As a result of extensive research into combinations of input devices and output devices that do not adversely affect each other, the inventors of the present invention have found that a combination of an electric field detection type digitizer with a flat plate tablet and a flatbed type XY plotter has improved mutual precision. It has been found that this is preferable in that it does not cause further decline.

This input/output device uses the flat tablet of the digitizer as the recording surface of the plotter, and is an extremely practical device in that the flat tablet surface serves both as an input and output surface.

However, with this device, it is difficult to achieve accurate input/output unless the coordinate axes of the digitizer tablet and plotter match perfectly, and even if the coordinate axes of the tablet and the block can be set to match, it is difficult to do so. A similar problem occurs if the paper is loaded incorrectly.

However, in order to perfectly match the coordinate axes of the tablet and the block, high precision is required in the manufacturing of the device, which not only increases costs but also makes it difficult to achieve in actual mass production.

Furthermore, it takes time and effort to place the paper on the input/output surface (tablet) without shifting, which reduces work efficiency.

The present invention has been made to solve these difficulties.

First, regarding the interactive character/graphic input/output device on which the present invention is based, we will explain the first part within the scope necessary for understanding the present invention.
This will be explained according to FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows the overall structure of the character/graphic input/output device, and FIG. 2 shows the main body of the human output section in FIG. 1.

1 represents the main body of the character/figure output section.

The main body of the human output section is composed of a flat tablet 4 placed on a box-like object 21 provided with the upper*Y8 edge of a known flatbed type XY plotter 2 (hereinafter referred to as "block 2").

The upper surface of the tablet 4 serves as an input surface as well as a recording surface.

22 is a recording pen holder of the XY plotter 2.

A group of Y-axis transmission lines is embedded in the tablet 4, which includes a group of X-axis transmission lines stretched in parallel at a predetermined interval and a group of parallel lines perpendicular to the X-axis transmission lines stretched at a predetermined interval.

The plotter 2 is connected to a known plotter control section 3, and both constitute an output section.

The tablet 4 is connected to a digitizer control section 6, and together with a pen 5 or a cursor (hereinafter referred to as "pen 5") having a built-in antenna connected to the digitizer control section 6, constitutes a digitizer as an input section.

Using an input/output device with such a configuration, characters, figures,
In order to input and output symbols, the plotter control section 3 and the digitizer control section 6 are connected to a known computer CPU.

At that time, an interface may be provided as necessary.

When a sheet of paper is fixedly placed on the tablet 4, characters, figures, and symbols are drawn on the sheet of paper with the pen 5, or a position is specified by touching a certain position on the sheet of paper with the pen 5.

The contact point position coordinates between the tablet 4 and the pen 5 are sequentially coded and output from the digitizer control section 6.

The computer CPU receives this output coordinate data group and performs necessary processing.

In order to draw plotting data that has been input to the computer from a digitizer or other input device and subjected to necessary processing on recording paper, it is passed through the computer CPU and the plotter control unit 3, and a pulse train representing the amount of pen movement of the block is generated. Based on this output signal, the recording pen is driven to draw characters, figures, and symbols on the paper.

(7) Through a series of operations, so-called man-machine dialogue becomes possible.

The operation of this device will be explained in more detail with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5.

In FIG. 3, the tablet 4 has a flat plate insulator 43 with
X consisting of a group of parallel transmission lines S arranged at a predetermined interval
An axis transmission line group 41 and a Y-axis transmission line group 42 consisting of a group of parallel lines arranged at a predetermined interval S so as to be perpendicular to the axis transmission line group 41 are embedded over the entire area of the tablet surface.

The transmission lines of the X-axis transmission line group 41 and the Y-axis transmission line group 42 are both stretched in parallel with equal intervals of approximately ICrrL, for example.

The side transmission line groups are electrically insulated from each other as shown in FIG.

A known drive circuit is connected to the base of each transmission line constituting the transmission line group 41 or 42.

The output from the digitizer control unit 6 causes the drive circuit to set 0 points for the transmission lines that constitute the X-axis transmission line group or the Y-axis transmission line group (for the X-axis transmission line group, for example, the lowest Regarding the transmission line group, voltages having the same frequency are sequentially applied from the transmission line (for example, the leftmost transmission line) to the other transmission line while switching.

In this case, the voltages applied to adjacent transmission lines are out of phase by a predetermined angle, for example, 900 degrees.

Therefore, a point within a unit area surrounded by adjacent transmission lines can be detected by detecting an electric field phase difference that changes in proportion to the distance from the group of transmission lines to the point.

A pen 5 is used as this detection mechanism.

The pen 5 has an antenna inside thereof, and when its tip touches an arbitrary point on the top surface of the tablet, the contact point within the above-mentioned unit area of the tablet is detected from the electric field phase.

A block diagram of the digitizer control section 6 is shown in FIG.

The digitizer control unit 6 includes an oscillator 60; Amplifier 62 connected to the antenna of pen 5; Phase detector 63 connected to amplifier 62; A/D converter 64 connected to phase detector 63.
a timing generator 65 connected to the A/D converter 64; a counter 66 connected to the timing generator 65 and sending a side leg signal to the X- or Y-axis drive control legs 611, 612; A/D converter 64 and the counter 7711 calculator 67 connected to 66; and ηn
It consists of an XY register 68 connected to a calculator 67 and outputting an X or Y coordinate value to a computer CPU.

The digitizer control section 6 having such a configuration operates the digitizer as follows, for example.

When the pen 5 contacts any point on the tablet 4, the Y-axis drive control section 612 is activated.

Thereby, the Y-axis drive control unit 612 transfers the reference phase to the leftmost reference Y-axis transmission line of the tablet (functioning as the Y-axis of the tablet coordinates) to the adjacent transmission line, for example, at the same frequency that is 90 degrees out of phase with it. The voltage is sent to the adjacent transmission line, and the voltage with a phase shift of 90° is sequentially applied.
Voltages of the same frequency and with a predetermined angular phase shift are applied to each transmission line while being switched.

A predetermined signal cannot be obtained in the area where the pen is not in contact, and the output is output from the phase detector 63. A/D converter 64
is provided to the timing generator 65 via the counter 6 for each input to the timing generator 65.
6 counts it.

The drive circuit repeats this process sequentially until it reaches the unit area that the pen 5 contacts.

When the pen is driven to a unit area that it touches, the pen detects a signal by the electric field from the unit area.

The signal is amplified by an amplifier 62, compared with a phase difference with a reference phase by a 1-phase detector, and converted into a voltage.
It is digitized by a D converter and the distance from the Y-axis transmission line within the unit area touched by the pen is detected.

Adjacent Y-axis transmission lines are set to be equally spaced, so (count number of counter 66), The distance to the unit area and the position within the unit area can be detected by the pen 5.

The signal from the A/D converter and the signal from the counter 66 are multiplied by η0 by a zero counter 67 and inputted to a data register 68 as an actual distance on YN.

The X-axis is also switched in exactly the same manner as the Y-axis, and the positions of the pen contact points on the X-axis and Y-axis are input as coordinate digital signals to the data register 68.

This data is input to the computer CPU as a digital signal.

To input characters, figures, and symbols, while the pen or cursor is in contact with the tablet to write characters, input point coordinate data repeatedly at regular intervals, and then input the characters into the calculator. A point coordinate data group is input.

Next, when using the tablet 4 as a recording surface in this apparatus, the following procedure is performed.

The XY plotter 2 in the present invention is a well-known XY plotter that receives a pulse signal and drives a recording pen on both the X and Y axes using a pulse motor or a servo motor and converts it into a linear motion. Among plotters, this type has a flat recording surface due to its structure.

The plotter control unit 3 receives data and control information necessary for driving the plotter from the computer, converts it into a predetermined signal format required by the plotter, and outputs it to the plotter 2, and is of a known type. be.

Characters entered into a computer and subjected to necessary known processing
To draw drawing data of figures and symbols on recording paper,
Any known method may be followed.

The present invention is based on the above-described interactive character/graphic/symbol input/output device.

The present invention will be explained according to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

In the above-mentioned interactive character/figure/symbol input/output device, by moving a pen along a figure drawn on a sheet of paper placed on a tablet, the corresponding input/output device inputs information to a computer, etc. via a digitizer leg. It is configured to store graphics and output the graphics stored in the electronic computer to the plotter via a plotter control section.

Therefore, if the plotter's coordinate axes and the tablet's coordinate axes do not match, the coordinate systems of the input figure and the output figure will not match, causing an inconvenience.

In order to solve this problem, in the present invention, if there is a current misalignment between the plotter and the tablet, or a misalignment between the paper placed on the tablet and the plotter, the misalignment is input directly into the computer and the By relatively correcting the input information to the computer in response to the discrepancy and outputting it to the plotter, it is possible to obtain exactly the same result as if the coordinate axes of both were perfectly aligned, despite the discrepancy between the two. This is what we are trying to do.

The first embodiment of the present invention will be described by taking as an example a case where the coordinate axes of the tablet and the plotter do not match when read at the time of manufacture.

After placing the paper on the tablet 4, the computer commands the plotter 2 to draw a horizontal line as shown in FIG. 5 along a horizontal line starting or ending at a predetermined position P1.

It is assumed that the horizontal line information including the point P1 on the plotter coordinates (xt, yt) is stored in the computer in advance.

In this case, P1 is set to be on the block coordinates.

Next, the above point P, and any other point P2 on the above horizontal line.
Touch the point with the tip of the pen 5, thereby as described above.

The position information of the contact point is input into a computer and stored.

Pl and 42 points are tablet coordinate data P1 (Xt
p yt), P2 (X2 + Y2).

As a result, the rotation angle between the two coordinate axes is calculated by the following formula in the Goshin machine.

Then, the deviation δ (X6 s Y□) between the origins 0 and 07 of both coordinates is calculated using the following equation.

This allows the calculator to calculate the deviation θ of both coordinate axes.

δ is stored.

The computer receives input data (X.

y), convert it to (x, y) output data (X
, Y) and output.

The data X and Y are sent from the computer to the plotter control section, converted into a predetermined signal required by the plotter, and output to the plotter.

As a result, input coordinate data with the misalignment between the plotter coordinate axes and the tablet coordinate axes corrected is output to the plotter.

When inputting/outputting simultaneously with multiple input/output devices connected to one computer, in addition to inputting/outputing by connecting other input/output devices, or inputting/outputing again on a paper that has been removed In such cases, it is preferable to mark standard coordinates on the paper.

In such a case, even if the coordinate axes of the digitizer and the block match, the misalignment of the paper coordinate axes will occur due to misplacement of the paper, resulting in the same problem as in the above case.

In this case as well, the process is carried out in the same manner as in the case described above.

The second embodiment will be described below. As mentioned above, δ and θ are stored in the computer.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6, on orthogonal coordinates (hereinafter referred to as paper surface coordinates) consisting of the ξ axis and η axis defined on the paper (Xk).

Touch the tip of the pen 5 to point P1' of Yk) and input it into the calculator.

Furthermore, on the paper, passing through the above point P1' and the paper surface coordinate ξ
The tip of the pen 5 is brought into contact with an arbitrary point P2' on a straight line parallel to the axis to input position information into the computer.

The above P1' and Pz points are based on the tablet coordinate data P1
'(X1', y1')P2'(X2', y2').

As a result, the computer calculates the rotation angle θ' between the two coordinate axes and the deviation δ (Xo', yo') between the coordinate origin α and Ok using the following formula, and stores both at specific addresses.

Input from digitizer (X.

y).

The computer performs the following calculations, converts it to paper surface coordinates (ξ), and stores it at a specific address.

・η) When paper coordinate data (ξ, η) is input,
When outputting, it must be output in the form of plotter coordinates, and the plotter must correctly draw the image on the paper.

Therefore, the computer converts the paper surface coordinates into plotter coordinates (x, y) according to the following formula and outputs the converted coordinates to the plotter.

In the first embodiment, even if there is a discrepancy between the plotter coordinates and the tablet coordinates, the same result can be obtained as when both coordinates match, but in this embodiment, Furthermore, this is an example in which even if there is a deviation in the paper plane coordinates, the same result as when they all match is obtained. The main effects of the present invention are as follows.

By using the method of the present invention, it is no longer necessary to perfectly match the coordinate axes of the digitizer tablet and plotter when manufacturing the apparatus used in the present invention, thereby eliminating difficulties in manufacturing.

Furthermore, according to the method of converting to paper surface coordinates, in addition to the above-mentioned advantages in manufacturing, it is also easy to place paper, and it is also possible to connect multiple input/output devices to the same computer and interact with it. This greatly simplifies the work of creating diagrams when multiple input or output devices are combined, or when the same sheet of paper is repeatedly input and output while being attached and detached.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 to 4 show examples of devices used in the present invention.
The figure is a block diagram showing the overall configuration, and Figure 2 is the first
A perspective view of the main body of the character/figure output unit in the figure, Figure 3a
is a partially cutaway plan view of the tablet in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a partially cutaway plan view of the tablet;
4 is a block diagram of the digitizer control leg in FIG. 1, FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a front view of FIG. 3a. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a second embodiment of the present invention. 1...Character/graphic input/output device, 2...
Flatbed digital XY block, 3...
...Plotter System (Foundation) Department, 4...Tablet,
5...Pen, 6...Digitizer control section.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A flatbed type XY plotter, which receives a predetermined input signal and provides a plotter with the necessary signals to operate the plotter, and consists of a group of parallel lines arranged in an X direction separated by a predetermined interval. A flat tablet having an X-axis transmission line group and a Y-axis transmission line group consisting of a group of parallel lines arranged at a predetermined distance apart from the X-axis transmission line group, a pen or pen with a built-in antenna whose tip can contact the top surface of the flat tablet. The cursor is sequentially moved from one side to the other using the reference transmission line as a reference for each of the X-axis transmission line or Y-axis transmission line. The frequency is the same, but it is formed by a driver circuit that sequentially switches and applies a voltage with a predetermined angle phase shift between adjacent transmission lines, the number of switching of the driver circuit, and adjacent X-axis and Y-axis transmission lines. The antenna of the pen or cursor is a flatbed type A plotter and a block control section connected thereto constitute an output section, and a flat tablet, a digitizer control section connected thereto, and a pen or cursor constitute an input section, and the flat tablet is fixedly placed on the plotter. , an interactive character/figure/symbol input/output device that uses the top surface of a flat tablet as an input surface and a recording surface.A horizontal line starting or ending at Pl on the block's XY coordinates (Xl, Yl) is drawn on the plotter by instructions from a computer. Touch the tip of the pen or cursor to the first skein Pl and any point P2 on the same horizontal line, and enter the position information (X1+y1), (X21y2) of the two points on the tablet XY coordinates into the calculator. The calculator uses the above (xt, XI), (xltyl)
, (X2.y2) Based on the information, the rotation angle θ of the plotter and tablet coordinate axes and the deviation δ between the origins (Xo, Yo
) is calculated and stored, and then a computer converts the input coordinate data from the digital restraint unit into the above θ and δ (Xo,
1. An interactive character, figure, input/output method characterized in that the input/output method is characterized in that the input/output method is characterized in that the input/output method is characterized in that the input/output method converts the characters (Yo) and outputs the converted characters to a block control unit. 2. A flatbed type XY plotter, which receives a predetermined input signal and provides the signal necessary to operate the block to the plotter, a block control section, and an X-axis transmission line group consisting of a group of parallel lines arranged at a predetermined interval. A flat tablet having a Y-axis transmission line group consisting of a group of parallel lines arranged at a predetermined interval orthogonal thereto, a pen or cursor with a built-in antenna whose tip can touch the top surface of the flat tablet, and the X-axis A driver that sequentially applies voltages to each of the transmission lines or Y-axis transmission lines from one side to the other based on the reference transmission line, while switching the voltages that have the same frequency but are sequentially shifted in phase by a predetermined angle between adjacent transmission lines. Based on the number of switching circuits and the above driver circuits, and the phase of the electric field that the antenna of the pen or cursor receives from the unit area that is in contact with the unit area formed by the adjacent X-axis transmission line and Y-axis transmission line. It consists of a digitizer control unit that detects and outputs the coordinate data of the contact point, a flatbed type XY block and a block control unit connected to it, an output unit, and a flat tablet and a block control unit connected to it. An input section is composed of a digitizer f control unit and a pen or cursor, and the flat tablet is fixedly placed on the plotter, and the top surface of the flat tablet is used as an input surface and a recording surface for interactive character, figure, and symbol input/output. In the device, a computer commands a block to draw a horizontal line starting or ending at point P1 on the XY coordinates (Xl, Yl) of the plotter, and then draws a horizontal line between point P1 and any point P2 on the same horizontal line. Touch the tip of the pen or cursor to the calculator with the above two tablets)
Input the coordinate position information (Xtyyl) and (X2.y2), and the calculator calculates (Xt - Yt ), (Xl, yl) (
x2. y2) Based on the information, calculate and store the rotation angle θ of the block and tablet coordinate axes and the deviation δ (Xo, Yo) between the origins, and then calculate and store them on the paper surface coordinates (Xk, Yk,
) and any point P2' between the point P1' and a line parallel to the X-axis of the paper, and touch the tip of the pen or cursor to the calculator to display the table 1 of the two points. -Position information on XY coordinates (X1', y1'), (X, y2')
Input the above information (XkyYk), (X1'
t 'j,'), (X2 pYz), the rotation angle θ' of the paper and tablet coordinate axes and the deviation δ (Xj + Yo) between the origins are calculated and stored, and then the calculator receives the input from the digitizer system. coordinate data to the corresponding θ
′ and δ(xg p yg ) and stored, and when outputting the stored signal to the block control unit, it is converted by the corresponding θ, θ′t, XOjYo) and (xo, yr). An interactive character/graphic input/output method featuring: