JPH0119148B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a character information input device, and more particularly to a character information input device with a display device using a tablet.

In general, a tablet input device is used to input character information by arranging a large number of characters to be input on an input panel and instructing a desired character using an input pen. By the way, when inputting characters using such a device, it may be necessary to check whether or not the characters indicated by the pen have been input correctly, or to correct or delete characters that have been input incorrectly. Therefore, as an input signal monitor, for example,
A CRT display device is used to sequentially display input information as sentences on the display surface. Input information on this CRT display device is generally corrected by moving a cursor on the display surface and specifying a corresponding character.

On the other hand, the traditional cursor movement methods are "left",
This is performed by operating cursor control keys such as "right", "up", and "down". In such cursor control keys, the direction of cursor movement is uniformly quantized during the operation stage, so in many cases it is not possible to complete cursor movement with a single key operation. Key operations had to be repeated many times before the desired character was specified. In addition, the curved movement of the cursor does not suit the operator's sense of operation, and it takes a lot of time to judge the operating procedure to reach the target position, resulting in low work efficiency and poor operability. There was an inconvenience.

As an attempt to improve these inconveniences, a method has been proposed in which a second tablet made of a group of transparent conductors is installed on the display surface of a cathode ray tube, and an input pen is used to indicate an arbitrary position on the display surface. There is. (Special Publication No. 52-17693). However, in this method, in addition to the tablet for inputting characters, it is necessary to separately install a tablet for specifying the position of characters on the display surface, which complicates the configuration, increases the failure rate, and deteriorates over time. There is an essential drawback that the second tablet may be scratched and the data display becomes difficult to see.

Furthermore, when moving the cursor using a joystick or a light pen, the configuration is large and the circuit configuration becomes complicated.
In particular, the joystick has the disadvantage that mechanical parts are prone to failure.

The present invention has been made in view of the drawbacks of the prior art.The present invention uses a tablet as a character input board also as a cursor input section, and allows the input pen to be moved by an operator's operation from any position on the tablet as a starting point. By tracking the cursor on the display screen in response to the
To provide a character information input device capable of always freely moving a cursor in accordance with human operating sense even when a tablet is relatively small, thereby improving work efficiency and operability. That is its purpose.

According to the present invention, the tablet input device is provided with an input mode switching means that switches to and cancels the cursor mode by an external operation, and after switching the cursor mode, the coordinate data output from the tablet control circuit is changed to The above object is achieved by equipping a cursor information generating section that sequentially inputs cursor coordinate data and outputs the difference between successive cursor coordinate data as cursor movement information to a display device.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on FIGS. 1 to 6.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a tablet input device with a CRT display device according to the present invention. In the figure, a tablet input device 1 is composed of an input device main body 2, a CRT display device 3 installed at the rear of the input device main body 2, and legs 4, 4 that support the input device main body 2. . On the upper surface of the input device main body 2, there are a plurality of X,
A tablet 6 which has a Y conductor group (not shown) and is used as a character input section and has predetermined characters arranged and displayed in each segment 5, 5, . . . extending over the intersection of each conductor group; An input pen 7 whose tip is brought into contact to input data, and a keyboard 8 for setting programs and the like are provided.
The CRT display device 3 sequentially displays the characters inputted by the input pen 7 on the display surface 3A as shown in FIG. Each screen has a function of displaying a cursor indicating the character position on the displayed display surface 3A.

The keyboard 8 is provided with a cursor key 8A for switching the input mode between a character mode and a cursor mode. This cursor key 8A
is closed at the same time as the cursor key 8A is pressed and outputs a high level signal "1" as a cursor mode signal (see K2 in Fig. 4), and is opened at the same time as the cursor key 8A is released and the low level signal is output. It is designed to output a level signal.

As shown in FIG. 2, sequential scanning signals SX and SY are inputted to the X and Y conductor groups of the tablet 6 from the tablet control circuit 10. The input pen 7 is also equipped with a pen switch 7A that closes when pressed onto the tablet 6 (see pen down d. in Figure 4), and when the pen switch 7A is closed, a pen on signal (pen switch signal) is generated. A high level signal "1" is sent to the tablet control circuit 10. The tablet control circuit 10 is activated immediately upon input of the pen-on signal and starts the above-described scanning. Subsequently, when a scanning signal is applied to the segment indicated by the input pen 7 (the input pen 7 touches), this scanning signal is detected and sent to the tablet control circuit 10. This tablet control circuit 10 immediately sequentially changes the output state based on the detection signal sent from the input pen 7, and sends X, Y coordinate data related to the contact area of the input pen 7 to the processing device 9, etc. It's getting old. In addition, the tablet control circuit 1
0 controls switching of the T _STB signal when a predetermined time T ₁ has passed since the pen-on signal is input from the input pen 7 (assuming that detection of both the X and Y coordinates has been completed during this time T ₁ ). It has a function to send to the section 11.

Furthermore, the scanning of the tablet 6 is performed when the input pen 7 separates from the tablet 6 (when the input pen 7 is removed from the tablet 6 in FIG. 4).
When the pen switch 7A is opened, the pen switch 7A is stopped.

The switching control section 11 is connected to the tablet control circuit 1.
This is to allow coordinate data that is an output of 0 to be selectively selected as character coordinate data and cursor coordinate data. Specifically, the switching control section 11
is connected to the output side of the cursor key 8A.
It is composed of an AND circuit 14 and an AND circuit 15 connected to the output side of the cursor key 8A via an inversion circuit 13. Also, the AND
The T _STB signal from the tablet control circuit 10 is input to the circuits 14 and 15, respectively. The AND circuit 14 is connected to the cursor key 8A.
When the T _STB signal is input from the tablet control circuit 10 while the cursor mode signal is input from the cursor STB, the cursor STB instructs to read the coordinate data output from the tablet control circuit 10 as cursor coordinate data. It has a function of sending a signal to a cursor information generating section 16, which will be described later. Therefore, when the input pen 7 comes into contact with the tablet 6 in the cursor mode, the cursor
STB signal is output.

On the other hand, when the cursor key 8A is released and the input mode is switched to character mode, a high level signal "1" as a character mode signal is inputted to the AND circuit 15 from the inverting circuit 13. There is. When the T _STB signal is input from the tablet control circuit 10 while the character mode signal is input, the AND circuit 15 reads the coordinate data output from the tablet control circuit 10 as character coordinate data. It has a function of sending a character STB signal indicating this to the processing device 9. When the character STB signal is input, this processing device 9 then controls the tablet control circuit 1.
Input (read) the coordinate data output from 0 as character coordinate data (character information), perform the necessary data processing, and read this character information.
The data is sent to the CRT display device 3. As a result, the CRT display device 3 displays the characters in sequence on the display surface 3A.

The cursor information generation section 16 is connected to the switching control section 1.
This is for sequentially inputting the cursor coordinate data selected by 1 and outputting the difference between successive cursor coordinate data to the processing device 9 as cursor movement information. Specifically, of the cursor information generating section 16, for example, the cursor X information generating section 16A is connected to the gate circuit 7 as shown in FIG.
A first register 18A into which the coordinate data It consists of an arithmetic circuit 21A connected to the output side of registers 18A and 20A.

Of these, the gate circuit 17A opens the gate when the cursor STB signal is input from the switching control section 11, and at that time, the X coordinate data output from the tablet control circuit 10 is used as the first X coordinate data for the cursor. It has a function to set in the register 18A. On the other hand, gate circuit 19A
has the function of opening the gate when a gate signal is input from the arithmetic control section 22, which will be described later, and transferring the data set in the first register 18A at that time to the second register 20A. Further, the arithmetic circuit 21A has a function of subtracting the numerical value set in the second register 20A from the numerical value set in the first register 18A at this timing when the arithmetic signal is input from the arithmetic control section 22. are doing. The cursor Y information generating section 16B is also configured in exactly the same manner as the cursor X information generating section 16A described above.

The arithmetic control unit 22 includes a monostable multivibrator 23 that operates at the falling edge of the pen switch 7A.
, an AND circuit 24 connected to the output side of this monostable multivibrator 23, an R/S flip-flop 25 into which the output of the monostable multivibrator 23 is input from the S terminal, and a Q terminal of this R/S flip-flop 25. It is constituted by an AND circuit 7 which inputs the output signal and the T _STB signal sent from the tablet control circuit 10 via a delay circuit 26. The monostable multivibrator 23
has a function of outputting a pulse as a pen-off signal when the input pen 7 is detached from the tablet 6 and the output of the pen switch 7A changes from "high" to "low". Further, the AND circuit 24 includes:
The output of the cursor key 8A mentioned above is input, and the output of the AND circuit 24 is sent to the gate circuit 19A. Therefore, when the AND circuit 24 receives the pen-off signal from the monostable multivibrator 23 while receiving the cursor mode signal from the cursor key 8A, it sends this pen-off signal as a gate signal to the gate circuit 19A. Therefore, when the input pen 7 comes into contact with an arbitrary segment 5 in the cursor mode, the cursor X coordinate data related to the segment 5 is first stored in the first register 18 in the cursor X information generating section 16A.
When the input pen 7 is set to A and subsequently removed from the tablet 6, the data in the first register 18A is transferred to the second register 20A.

On the other hand, a pen-off signal is inputted from the monostable multivibrator 23 to the S terminal of the R.S flip-flop 5. Further, the output of the cursor key _8A is input to the reset priority terminal R0 of the R/S flip-flop 25. When a low level signal " ₀ " is input to the reset priority terminal R0, the RS flip-flop 25 is reset preferentially. Therefore, when the cursor mode signal is input from the cursor key 8A, the R/S flip-flop 25 is set when a pen-off signal is further input to the S terminal, and a high level signal "1" is input from the Q terminal. " is output. Further, the delay circuit 26 has a function of delaying the T _STB signal by a time T2 (this time T
(The above-mentioned data setting to the first register 18A is performed during the period 2). The output signal of this delay circuit 26 is transmitted to the AND circuit 27 when the output of the R.S flip-flop 25 is at a high level.
The signal is sent to the arithmetic circuit 21A as an arithmetic signal. This arithmetic circuit 21A is
When the calculation signal is input, the calculation described above is performed and the result is output to the processing device 9 as cursor movement information KX.

On the other hand, the cursor Y information generating section 16B in the cursor information generating section 16 also operates in exactly the same manner as the cursor X information generating section 16A described above, and has a function of outputting cursor movement information KY to the processing device 9. . This processing device 9 includes a cursor information generating section 16
If you input the cursor movement information KX, KY from
In addition to performing necessary information processing, this cursor movement information is sent to the CRT display device 3, whereby the CRT display device 3 moves the cursor on the display surface 3A in the X direction, KY, and Y direction.
Move by KY and display the specified character position.

Next, the overall operation of the above embodiment will be explained based on FIGS. 4 to 6. Here, it is assumed that the display surface 3A of the CRT display device 3 has already displayed up to the 13th character "kai" in the 8th row. At this time, the cursor is at the 14th character in the 8th line, which is the display position of the next character to be input (see FIG. 5A). First, when the operator inputs the characters ``Kai'' followed by the characters ``Shi'' (see Figure 4), if the input mode is initially set to cursor mode, release cursor key 8A and change the input mode to ``Character''. mode (see K1 in Figure 4). When this cursor key 8A is released, the output of the cursor key 8A becomes low level "0", and therefore the inverting circuit 13
A high level signal is output from. In this state, when the character "sha" on the tablet 6 is displayed and the input pen 7 is brought into contact with the segment 5 related to the coordinates 7 and 8 (see FIG. 6A), the pen-on signal is sent to the tablet control circuit 10, and the pen-on signal is sent to the tablet control circuit 10. Scanning of the tablet 6 is started immediately upon receiving the pen-on signal. When a scanning signal is applied to the tablet 5 that the input pen 7 has contacted, the scanning signal is detected by the input pen 7 and then the tablet control circuit 1
Sent to 0. Based on this detection signal, the tablet control circuit 10 sequentially changes the output state of the X coordinate and Y coordinate, and outputs the X coordinate and Y coordinate data 7 and 8 related to the contact area of the input pen 7 to the processing device 9, etc. do. Subsequently, after a time T1 has elapsed since the pen-on signal was input, the tablet control circuit 10 outputs T _STB.
The signal is sent to the switching control section 11. This switching control section 1
Since the high level signal representing the character mode is input from the inverting circuit 13 to the AND circuit 15 which inputs the T _STB signal in the AND circuit 1,
When the T _STB signal is input, the character STB signal is outputted to the processing device 9 based on the T _STB signal. Therefore, the processing device 9 converts the coordinate data 7 and 8 at the timing when the character STB signal is input into character coordinate data (character information) representing the character "sha".
and process the data. This character information is further sent to the CRT display device 3,
As a result, "sha" is displayed on the display surface 3A of the CRT display device 3 at the 14th character in the 8th row, and at the same time, the cursor automatically moves to the 15th character in the 8th row (see B in Figure 5). ). Here, the switching control section 11
Since the low level signal "0" is input from the cursor key 8A to the AND circuit 14 in the
Even if the T _STB signal is input from the tablet control circuit 10, the cursor STB signal is not output.

Next, the operator
When moving the cursor on the display surface 3A, the cursor key 8A is pressed in advance to switch the input mode to the cursor mode (see K2 in FIG. 4).
At this time, a cursor mode signal is sent from the cursor key 8A to the AND circuit 14 in the switching control section 11, the AND circuit 24 in the arithmetic control section 22, and the R.
The reset priority state of the R.S flip-flop 25 is thereby released. Then, when specifying "Autumn" in the 11th character of the 5th line displayed on the display surface 3A and changing the character (see Fig. 4), first,
The input pen 7 is brought into contact with an arbitrary segment 5 of the tablet 5, for example, the segment 5 corresponding to the coordinates 43 and 32 (see FIG. 6B). Then, as described above, the tablet control circuit 10 changes its output state and outputs the coordinate data (43, 32) to the cursor information generating section 16, etc., and subsequently sends out the T _STB signal to the switching control section 11. This switching control section 11
Among them, the AND circuit 14 has a cursor key 8
Since the cursor mode signal is input from A, when the AND circuit 14 inputs the T _STB signal,
Based on this T _STB signal, the cursor STB signal is transmitted to the gate circuits 17A and 1 in the cursor information generating section 16.
Send to 7B. When this cursor STB signal is input, the gate circuits 17A and 17B open, and cursor X coordinate data 43 and cursor Y coordinate data 32 are set in the first registers 18A and 18B, respectively.

On the other hand, the T _STB signal, which is the output of the tablet control circuit 10, is further sent to the AND circuit 27 via the delay circuit 26 in the arithmetic control section 22.
At this time, since the output of the R.S flip-flop 25 is still at low level, the AND circuit 27
does not output a calculated signal.

Subsequently, when the input pen 7 is detached from the tablet 6, a pen-off signal is sent from the monostable multivibrator 23 in the arithmetic control section 22 to the AND circuit 24.
and is sent to the S terminal of the R.S flip-flop 25. Therefore, since the cursor mode signal is input to the AND circuit 24 at this time, the corresponding
The AND circuit 24 sends the gate signal to the gate circuit 19A,
Send to 19B. Therefore, the data 43, 32 in the first registers 18A, 18B are transferred to the second registers 20A, 20B, respectively. Furthermore, since the reset priority state of the R/S flip-flop 25 has been canceled by the cursor mode signal, it immediately sets when the pen-off signal is input, and outputs a high level signal "1" from the Q terminal.
Output.

Next, when the input pen 7 is brought into contact with the segment 5 related to the coordinates 39, 29 (see B in FIG. 6), the tablet control circuit 10 outputs the coordinate data 39, 29 and , sends a T _STB signal to the switching control section 11 and the calculation control section 22. The switching control section 11 that receives this T _STB signal inputs the
The cursor STB signal is sent to the cursor information generating section 16 in exactly the same manner as described above, and therefore the first
In the registers 18A and 18B, cursor X coordinate data 39 and cursor Y coordinate data 2 are stored, respectively.
9 is set. On the other hand, the T _STB signal sent to the arithmetic control section 22 is transmitted through the delay circuit 26.
It is sent to the AND circuit 27. The above-mentioned high level signal "1" is inputted to this AND circuit 27 from the R/S flip-flop 25, and therefore, the AND circuit 27 transmits the arithmetic signal delayed by T2 from the cursor STB signal to the arithmetic circuit. 21A,
21B. Therefore, for example, the arithmetic circuit 21
A subtracts the data in the second register 20A from the data in the first register 18A at the timing when the calculation signal is input, and sends the result to the processing device 9 as cursor movement information KX (=-4). on the other hand,
The arithmetic circuit 21B sends cursor movement information KY (=-3) to the processing device 9 in exactly the same manner. and,
The deep processing device 9 receives cursor movement information (-4, -
3), necessary data processing is performed, and the cursor movement information (-4, -3) is sent to the CRT display device 3. In this CRT display device 3, the cursor on the display surface 3A is moved by -4 in the X direction and -3 in the Y direction to designate "autumn" at the 11th character in the 5th row (see FIG. 5C). This allows the operator to correct the character "autumn".

Subsequently, when the input pen 7 is removed from the tablet 6, a gate signal is sent from the calculation control section 22 to the gate circuits 19A and 19B in the same manner as described above.
As a result, the data 39, 29 in the first registers 18A, 18B are transferred to the second register 20, respectively.
A, 20B. Here, the input pen 7 is further moved to the segment 5 related to the coordinates 41, 27, for example.
When brought into contact with the
The cursor on the display surface 3A is moved by +2 in the X direction and by -2 in the Y direction, and the 13th display character "Good" in the third row is designated (see D in FIG. 4 and D in FIG. 5). Thereafter, the cursor on the display screen can be moved to any displayed character position by the same operation as described above.

According to this embodiment, the tablet as a character input section can also be used as a cursor input section,
In addition, you can move the cursor from any position on the tablet as a starting point and move the cursor according to the movement of the input pen in the same way as when inputting characters. Even if the cursor is not very large compared to the entire displayed character range, the cursor can always be moved freely in a way that suits the operator's operating sense.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described in FIGS. 7 to 10.
This will be explained based on the diagram. In this second embodiment, in addition to the cursor information generation section 16 in the first embodiment described above, continuous information generation sections 31A and 31B are provided.
A second cursor information generating section 31 is provided.

This second cursor information generating section 31 is configured to control each segment even when the input pen 7 is sequentially slid to other adjacent segments 5 while in contact with the tablet 6 when the input mode is the cursor mode. Sequentially input the cursor coordinate data X, Y related to step 5, and use the difference (i.e. ±1) between the preceding and following cursor coordinate data as cursor movement information.
This is for outputting to the processing device 9A as Kx and Ky. The operation of the tablet control circuit 10 for driving and controlling the tablet 6 will now be described in detail. First, when the input pen 7 is brought into contact with the tablet 6, scanning of the tablet 6 is started by the action of the tablet control circuit 10, as described above. When a scanning signal is applied to the segment 5 corresponding to the contact area of the input pen 7, this scanning signal is detected and sent to the tablet control circuit 10, and the segment 5 specified by the input pen 7 is detected. The coordinate data of is output. Next, while keeping the input pen 7 in contact with the tablet 6, slide it to the adjacent segment 5 (see S in Figure 10). Since the tablet 6 is still being scanned, the input pen 7 will be moved to the segment 5 after the slide. A scanning signal is also applied to the input pen 7, and this scanning signal is detected by the input pen 7. Therefore, the output state of the tablet control circuit 10 changes, and new coordinate data regarding the segment 5 after sliding is output. However, the T _STB signal is 1 after the input pen 7 is brought into contact with the tablet 6 and before it is slid.
It will only be output once.

As shown in FIG. 9, the continuous information generating section 31A has a continuous change detecting circuit 32A that inputs the LSB data of the X coordinate data output from the tablet control circuit 10, and a continuous change detecting circuit 32A that inputs the T _STB signal from the S terminal. Then, from the R terminal, the monostable multivibrator 2
RS flip-flop 33A which inputs the pen-off signal which is the output of 3 (see FIG. 8), and an AND circuit 34A which inputs the output of the continuous change detection circuit 32A, the Q terminal output of the RS flip-flop 33A, and the cursor mode signal. , a latch circuit 35A that inputs the X coordinate data as cursor X coordinate data, and an adder 36A and a subtracter 37A connected in parallel to the output side of this latch circuit.
and comparison circuits 40A and 41A connected to the output sides of the adder 36A and subtracter 37A via latch circuits 38A and 39A, respectively. Of these, the comparison circuits 40A and 41A are further configured to receive cursor X coordinate data from the latch circuit 35A. Further, the continuous change STB signal which is the output of the AND circuit 34A and the cursor STB signal which is the output of the switching control section 11 are inputted to each of the latch circuits 35A, 38A and 39A via an OR circuit 42A. It's summery.

The comparison circuits 40A and 41A are AND
A continuously changing STB signal, which is the output of the circuit 34A, is input.

The continuous change detection circuit 32A detects that the LSB data of the X coordinate data expressed in binary code is "1".
→ "0" or "0" → "1", it has a function of outputting a high level signal "1" having a predetermined pulse width as a detection signal. Here, if the X coordinate changes by "+1" or "-1", the LSB of the coordinate data expressed in binary code
always changes from "1" to "0" or from "0" to "1", so the input pen 7 is slid from one segment 5 to the adjacent segment 5 and the X coordinate changes by ±1.
If the position changes by this amount, the position change due to this slide will be detected. Further, the pulse width of the detection signal is such that the signal output ends before time T1 elapses after the input pen 7 is brought into contact with the tablet 6 and the pen-on signal is output.

On the other hand, the R/S flip-flop 33A is set when the T _STB signal is input from the tablet control circuit 10 and outputs a high level signal "1" from the Q terminal, and is reset when the pen-off signal is input from the monostable multivibrator 23. It has a function of outputting a low level signal "0" from the Q terminal. Therefore, the AND circuit 34A detects the detection signal that is the output of the continuous change detection circuit 32A only when the cursor mode signal is input from the cursor key 8A and the output of the R.S flip-flop 33A is at a high level. Continuous change
Output as STB signal. Therefore, in the character mode, the output state of the tablet control circuit 10 changes, and therefore the continuous change detection circuit 3
Even if a detection signal is output from 2A, the AND circuit 32
The continuous change STB signal is not output from A, and even in the cursor mode, the input pen 7
When it comes into contact with the tablet 6, the output of the detection signal ends before the T _STB signal is input and the R/S flip-flop 33A is set, so the continuously changing STB signal is output from the AND circuit 34A as well. It is becoming less common to do so.

When the cursor STB signal or the continuously changing STB signal is input through the OR circuit 42A, the latch circuit 35A latches the input data as cursor coordinate data at the rising timing of these signals, and outputs the adder 36A and subtracter 37A. The signal is also sent to comparison circuits 40A and 41A. Moreover, this adder 36A and subtracter 37A
have the function of adding and subtracting 1 to input data, respectively, and the results of these operations are sent to the latch circuits 38A and 39A. And these latch circuits 38A and 39A
When the cursor STB signal or the continuously changing STB signal is inputted through the OR circuit 42A, the input data is latched at the falling timing of these signals and sent to the comparison circuits 40A and 41A, respectively. Of these, the comparison circuit 40A has a function of detecting whether or not the data has changed by +1 when the input pen 7 is slid to the adjacent segment 5 and the cursor X coordinate data changes. . That is, the comparator circuit 40A receives input from the latch circuit 38A of the cursor X coordinate data before the change by +1, and the comparator circuit 40A receives the cursor X coordinate data after the change sent from the latch circuit 35A. The X coordinate data and the data input from the latch circuit 38A are
While the continuously changing STB signal is being input from the AND circuit 34A, a comparison is made, and when the two match, a matching pulse as cursor movement information Kx (+1) is input to the processing device 9A. On the other hand, on the contrary, the comparison circuit 41A has a function of detecting whether or not the data has changed by -1 when a change occurs in the cursor X coordinate data, and is exactly the same as the comparison circuit 40A. Then, when the changed cursor X coordinate data matches the data before the change sent from the latch circuit 39A minus 1, it is output to the processing device 9A as cursor movement information Kx (-1). When the processing device 9A receives the cursor movement information Kx (+1) or Kx (-1), it performs necessary data processing and sends this cursor movement information to the CRT display device 3. In step 3, the cursor on the display screen is moved by +1 or -1 in the X direction.

Further, the continuously changing STB signal which is the output of the AND circuit 34A is combined with the cursor STB signal.
The signal is input as a gate signal to the gate circuit 17A in the cursor X information generating section 16A via the OR circuit 43A.

On the other hand, the continuous information generating section 31B is configured in exactly the same way as the continuous change generating section 31A, and therefore, when the input pen 7 is slid to the adjacent segment 5, the cursor Y coordinate is When the data changes by ±1, this is detected and the cursor movement information Ky (+1) or Ky
(-1) to the processing device 9A.

The other constituent parts are constructed exactly the same as in the first embodiment.

Next, the overall operation of the second embodiment configured as described above will be explained based on FIGS. 10 to 12.

First, the input mode is character mode (the cursor key 8A is released), and the output state of the tablet control circuit 10 is coordinate data 6, 7.
Further, it is assumed that up to the 13th character in the 8th row has already been displayed on the display surface 3A of the CRT display device 3 (see FIG. 5A). Now, if you want to input the character "sha" (see Figure 10), move the input pen 7 to the tablet 6.
It is brought into contact with the segment 5 corresponding to the upper coordinates 7 and 8 (see A in FIG. 6). Then, as described above, the tablet control circuit changes the output state to coordinate data 7 and 8. At this time, since the output state of the tablet control circuit 10 increases by 1 for both the X and Y coordinate data, the continuous change detection circuits 32A and 32B
(One of them is not shown. The same applies hereafter.) However, as mentioned above, since the low level signal "0" is input to the AND circuits 34A and 34B, a continuously changing STB signal is output. is prevented. Next, from the tablet control circuit 10
The T _STB signal is sent to the switching control section 11. A high level signal representing the character mode is inputted to the AND circuit 15 in the switching control section 11 via the inverting circuit 13.
When the T _STB signal is input to 5, the AND circuit 15 outputs a character STB signal to the processing device 9A. below,
As in the first embodiment, data processing is performed by the processing device 9A, and the character "sha" is displayed on the CRT display device 3 at the 14th character in the 8th row.

Next, a case in which the operator uses the tablet 6 to move the cursor on the display surface 3A will be described.

In this case, the operator first presses the cursor key 8A to switch the input mode to character mode (see K2 in FIG. 10). At this time, a cursor mode signal is sent from the cursor key 8A to the AND circuits 14, 24, 34A, 34B and the R, S flip-flop 25, thereby canceling the reset priority state of the R/S flip-flop 25. When specifying the 9th character of the 4th line displayed on the display screen 3A (see Figure 10,
), first select any segment 5 of tablet 5,
For example, the input pen 7 is brought into contact with the segment 5 corresponding to the coordinates 26 and 18 (see FIG. 12). Then,
As mentioned above, the tablet control circuit 10 changes its output state and outputs the coordinate data 26, 18.
At this time, the coordinate data changes from 7 to 26 by an odd number, so the continuous change detection circuit 32A outputs a detection signal. But as mentioned above
R/S flip-flop 33 to AND circuit 34A
Since the detection signal output ends before the high level signal "1" is input from A, the AND
The circuit 34A does not output a continuously changing STB signal.
Subsequently, when the T _STB signal is output from the tablet control circuit 10 to the switching control section 11, the switching control section 1
1 operates in exactly the same manner as in the first embodiment described above, and outputs a cursor STB signal to the cursor X and Y information generating sections 16A and 16B. For this reason, cursor
Cursor X coordinate data 26,
0 [Cursor Y coordinate data 18 is set. Further, the cursor STB signal is inputted to the latch circuits 35A, 38A, and 39A via, for example, an OR circuit 42A of the continuous information generating section 31A. Therefore, the latch circuit 35A
The input data is latched as the cursor X coordinate data 26 at the rising timing of the STB signal, and the adder 36A, subtracter 37A, and comparison circuit 40
A, send to 41A. Therefore, the adder 36A and the subtracter 37A apply +1 and -1 to the input data, and send the data 27 and 25, respectively, to the latch circuit 38.
A, output to 39A. These latch circuits 38A and 39A latch the input data at the falling timing of the cursor STB signal and send it to the comparison circuits 40A and 41A, respectively. By the way, at this time, the continuously changing STB signal is not output to the comparison circuits 40A, 41A as described above, and therefore, the comparison circuits 40A, 41A do not perform a comparison operation. On the other hand, the R.S flip-flop 33A is set when the T _STB signal is input from the tablet control circuit 10. The above is
The same applies to the continuous information generating section 31B.

Then, when the input pen 7 is detached from the tablet 6, the data 26 and 18 in the first registers 18A and 18B are transferred to the second registers 20A and 20B, respectively, in exactly the same manner as described above, and the data 26 and 18 are transferred to the second registers 20A and 20B, respectively. Flip-flop 33A, 33B
The pen-off signal is input, and thus the R.S flip-flops 33A and 33B are reset.

Next, when the input pen 7 is brought into contact with the segment 5 related to the coordinates 20 and 14 (see FIGS. 10 and 12), the tablet control circuit 1
0 changes the output state and outputs coordinate data 20, 14. At this time, the X and Y coordinate data are each 26
The continuous change detection circuits 32A and 32B do not output a detection signal. Subsequently, when _the T _STB signal is output from the tablet control circuit 10, the cursor STB is
The signals are for the cursor X, Y information generating sections 16A, 16
Output to B. Therefore, the first register 18
X, Y coordinate data 2 for cursor in A, 18B
0 and 14 are set. Next, the arithmetic control section 22, which has received the T _STB signal, sends out arithmetic signals to the arithmetic circuits 21A and 21B. Therefore, the calculation circuits 21A and 21B perform predetermined calculations and use the results as cursor movement information KX (=-6) [KY (=-4)]
The data is sent to the processing device 9A. The processing device 9A inputs the cursor movement information (-6, -4), performs data processing, and sends the cursor movement information (-6, -4) to the CRT display device 3. In device 3,
The cursor on the display surface 3A is moved by -6 in the X direction and -4 in the Y direction to specify and display the 9th character "KI" in the 4th row (see A in FIG. 11).

Also in this case, since the cursor STB signal is sent to the continuous information generating sections 31A and 31B, the cursor X and Y coordinate data 20 and 14 are latched by the latch circuits 35A and 35B, and devices 36A, 36B, subtractor 37A,
37B, latch circuits 38A, 38B, and latch circuits 39A, 39B operate in the same manner as described above, and at the same time data 21, 19 are sent to comparison circuits 40A, 40B, data 15, 19 are sent to comparison circuits 41A, 41B.
13 will be sent. Further, the R.S flip-flops 33A and 33B are set again by inputting the T _STB signal.

Here, the operator further moves the cursor displayed on the display screen to another character position, for example 4.
If you want to specify the 10th character "node" on the line, hold the input pen 7 in contact with the tablet 6 and select the coordinates 20, 14.
slide from segment 5 to segment 5 of 21 and 24 (see FIGS. 10 and 12).
Then, the output state of the tablet control circuit 10 changes to coordinate data 21, 14, and the X coordinate data becomes 1.
only increases. Then, the continuous change detection circuit 32A
sends a detection signal that detects a positional change due to the sliding of the input pen 7 to the AND circuit 3A. this
The AND circuit 31A receives a high level signal "1" from the cursor key 8A indicating the cursor mode.
Since the high level signal "1" is input from the R/S flip-flop 33A, the AND circuit 34A continuously changes the signal based on the detection signal.
Outputs STB signal. This continuously changing STB signal is
The latch circuit 35A,
38A and 39A, and also sent to the comparison circuits 40A and 41A. Therefore, first, due to the action of the latch circuit 35A, a continuous change occurs.
At the rising timing of the STB signal, the cursor X coordinate data 21 after sliding is latched, and the data is output to the adder 36A, subtracter 37A, and comparison circuits 40A and 41A. Subsequently, the comparison circuits 40A and 41A each perform the continuous change.
This is the output data of the latch circuits 38A and 39A while the STB signal is being input. The data 21 and 19 obtained by performing the cursor X coordinate data 20±1 before sliding are compared with the output data 21 of the latch circuit 35A. And the comparison circuit 40
Since both of A match, cursor movement information K _X
A coincidence pulse as (+1) is output to the processing device 9A. This processing device 9A processes cursor movement information
When K _X (+1) is input, necessary data processing is performed and this cursor movement information is sent to the CRT display device 3. Therefore, the CRT display device 3 moves the cursor on the display surface 3A in the
Move by 1 to specify the character "clause" (see B in Figure 11). Subsequently, at the falling timing of the continuous change STB signal, data 22, which is added to the post-slide cursor X coordinate data 21 by +1 and -1, is added.
20 are latched by latch circuits 38A and 39A, respectively, and sent to comparison circuits 40A and 41A, respectively, as the next data to be compared.

On the other hand, the continuously changing STB signal is
A is input to the gate circuit 17A as a gate signal. Therefore, the first register 18
The cursor X coordinate data 21 is set in A.

Here, when the input pen 7 is slid while in contact with the tablet 6, the pen switch 7A
remains on, and therefore the T _STB signal is not sent out even though the output state of the tablet control circuit 10 changes as described above. Therefore, the switching control section 11 does not output the cursor STB signal, and the calculation control section 22 does not output the calculation signal. In the case where the input pen 7 is further sequentially slid to the adjacent segment 5, the cursor movement information KX or Ky is sequentially input to the processing device 9A and the display surface 3A of the CRT display device 3 is input in exactly the same manner. The cursor is displayed moving, drawing a trajectory substantially the same as the trajectory of the input pen 7.

Apart from this, the coordinates 21, 14 of the tablet 6
When the input pen 7 is removed from the tablet 6 after sliding to the tablet 6 (see FIG. 10), the gate circuit 19A,
A gate signal is sent to 19B, so that the first
The data 21, 14 of the registers 18A, 18B are transferred to the second registers 20A, 20B, respectively. Furthermore, the R.S. flip-flop 33A,
Since the pen-off signal is input to 33B, the corresponding R・S
Flip-flops 33A and 33B are reset. Thereafter, the cursor on the display screen can be moved to any character position by the same operation as described above.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, in addition to achieving the same effects as the first embodiment, it is also possible to continuously move the cursor on the display screen while keeping the input pen in contact with the tablet. Therefore, character positions on the display surface can be designated or changed more quickly.

In the second embodiment, the cursor information generating section 16 may be omitted, and the cursor mode may be canceled in the same way as pen-up after switching to the cursor mode. In this case, move the cursor to a predetermined character position by sliding the input pen while it is in contact with the tablet, and then remove the input pen from the tablet to automatically cancel the cursor mode, making it more efficient. You can perform input operations. Further, when the cursor movement information is large and the cursor is specified outside the display screen, the cursor is fixedly displayed at the edge of the display screen, or it may be displayed in a leaping manner on the opposite side of the display screen.

As described above, according to the present invention, the tablet serving as a character input board is also used as a cursor input section, and the cursor on the display surface is moved starting from an arbitrary position on the tablet and corresponding to the movement of the input pen by the operator's operation. Therefore, with a simple configuration, even if the tablet is relatively small, the cursor can always be moved freely in a way that matches the human operating sense, improving work efficiency and operability. Therefore, it is possible to provide a character information input device that can improve the performance of characters.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 is a schematic perspective view showing a tablet input device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the specific configuration of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a detailed block diagram showing the F3 portion of FIG. 4 to 6 are explanatory diagrams of the operation of FIG. 2, FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the specific configuration of the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 8 is a detailed diagram showing the F8 portion of FIG. 7. Block diagram, Figure 9 is the 7th
A detailed block diagram showing a portion F9 in the figure, and FIGS. 10 to 12 are explanatory diagrams of the operation of FIG. 7, respectively. 3... CRT display device, 6... Tablet, 7... Input pen, 10... Tablet control circuit, 11... Switching control section forming the main part of input mode switching means, 16, 31... Cursor information generating section , 32A, 32B...continuous change detection circuit as slide detection means, 40A, 40B, 41A,
41B... Comparison circuit forming the main part of the cursor information generating section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A tablet having a plurality of conductor groups arranged in a grid pattern to which sequential scanning pulses are applied, and predetermined characters arranged and displayed on each intersection of these conductor groups; an input pen that detects the scanning pulse as a position signal by bringing it into contact with a tablet; a tablet control circuit that outputs coordinate data related to the contact area of the input pen based on the detection signal of the input pen; In a character information input device equipped with a display device that sequentially displays characters, etc. corresponding to coordinate data sent from a circuit on a display screen and also displays a cursor, switching to and canceling the cursor mode is possible by external operation. an input mode switching means for performing the input mode, and
After switching the cursor mode, the coordinate data output from the tablet control circuit each time the input pen contacts the tablet is sequentially input as cursor coordinate data, and the difference between successive cursor coordinate data is used as cursor movement information. A character information input device characterized by being equipped with a cursor information generating section that outputs to a display device. 2. A tablet having a plurality of conductor groups arranged in a grid pattern to which sequential scanning pulses are applied, and predetermined characters arranged and displayed on each intersection of these conductor groups, and being brought into contact with this tablet. an input pen that detects the scanning pulse as a position signal; a tablet control circuit that outputs coordinate data related to the contact area of the input pen based on the detection signal of the input pen; and coordinate data sent from the tablet control circuit. In a character information input device equipped with a display device that sequentially arranges and displays characters, etc. corresponding to a cursor on a display screen and also displays a cursor, an input mode switching means for switching to and canceling a cursor mode by an external operation. and a slide detection means for detecting a change in the position of the input pen due to the slide of the input pen on the tablet, and further includes coordinate data or coordinate data outputted from the tablet control circuit each time the input pen comes into contact with the tablet in the cursor mode state. Based on the detection signal of the slide detection means, the coordinate data output from the tablet control circuit when the position changes due to the slide of the input pen is sequentially inputted as cursor coordinate data, and the difference between successive cursor coordinate data is calculated. A character information input device comprising a cursor information generating section that outputs cursor movement information to the display device.