JPH0230525B2 - ZUMENJOHONYURYOKUSOCHI - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a graphical information input device, and particularly to a device using electromagnetic coupling.

Conventionally, for this type of graphic information input device, a phase difference detection method using electromagnetic coupling at the input position has been proposed, but the input pen requires a lead wire for reading, which impairs operability during input. There were some drawbacks. In order to improve this,
-133740 publication "Graphic information conversion device" was proposed. In the proposed graphical information input device, the tablet board has magnetic pole protrusions (ball posts) arranged in a checkered pattern on the top surface of a flat plate such as ferrite, and an X drive line and a Y sense line are arranged along the grooves between the posts. They are arranged at right angles to each other, and the input pen is a simple piece of ferrite. A drive pulse current is sequentially applied to the X drive line, and the Y
By switching the sense line and sensing,
The coordinate values of the input pen placed on the board were detected by one round of Y scanning. However, there are problems with this device due to the structure of the tablet board and input pen. In other words, the tablet substrate is made of a material such as ferrite, which has high magnetic permeability and high hardness, and it is not easy to produce and arrange the input surface in a checkered pattern using this material, and it is also difficult to increase the resolution. In order to do this, it is necessary to narrow the distance between the post-shaped input surfaces, which is also a problem that is said to be difficult to manufacture. The input pen has at least a ferromagnetic tip made of ferrite, permalloy, etc. magnetized in a predetermined direction, and when it comes into contact with the input surface protruding in a checkered pattern on the tablet board, it closes the magnet. The induced voltage in the sense line is detected by forming a line, but because of the checkered pattern, mutual interference occurs between adjacent drive line groups and sense line groups, making it difficult to obtain a good S/
There is a problem that the N ratio cannot be obtained.

In any case, the conventional method has poor operability and is not easy to manufacture, resulting in an expensive device.
Problems have arisen in that a good S/N ratio cannot be obtained and the reliability is low, and it has been desired to realize a device that can improve these problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a graphic information input device that improves the problems associated with the conventional device configuration method as described above.

According to the present invention, a tablet includes a high magnetic permeability plate provided with an input surface protruding in a grid pattern, and a group of drive lines and a group of sense lines arranged orthogonally to each other along the periphery of the input surface. The above object can be achieved by comprising a substrate and an input pen having magnetic anisotropy made of laminated thin plates with high magnetic permeability.

Next, the configuration, operation, and effects of the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings.

1A and 1B are plan views and AA sectional views showing the tablet substrate of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the structure of an input pen, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing how to input information. The graphical information input device according to the present invention is usually called a tablet and is composed of a tablet board, an input pen, and a peripheral electric circuit. This is the same as that described in ``Graphic Information Conversion Apparatus'' and is generally well known as this type of technology, so a description thereof will be omitted.

In FIG. 1a, the tablet substrate 110 is a flat plate 101 made of high magnetic permeability such as ferrite or permalloy.
Input surfaces 102 are provided that protrude in a grid pattern at equal intervals in the vertical and horizontal directions on the surface. The vertical groove 103 and the horizontal groove 104 cut into the peripheral part of the input surface 102 have X ₁ ,
A drive line group 105 consisting of m pieces of X ₂ ,...Xm,
Sense line group 10 consisting of n sentences of Y ₁ , Y ₂ ,...Yn
6 are arranged orthogonally to each other.

Drive line group 105 and sense line group 106 in FIG. 1b
In order to electrically insulate the vertical groove 103 and the horizontal groove 104, the depths of the vertical groove 103 and the horizontal groove 104 are changed to provide a step.

FIG. 2 shows the tip of the input pen 107, which is made by laminating a thin plate 108 made of a material with high magnetic permeability, such as ferrite, permalloy, or amorphous, with a spacer 109 made of a non-magnetic material inserted therein. There is. Therefore, the input pen 107 is a thin plate 108
The magnetic resistance is low in the direction along the plane of the thin plate 10.
The magnetic resistance is high in the direction perpendicular to the 8 plane.

FIG. 3 shows a tablet board 110 and an input pen 10.
7 is a diagram illustrating the principle of detecting the position coordinates of the input pen 107 according to FIG. Now, attach the bottom part 111 of the input pen 107, which has been polished into a flat shape, to the tablet board 110.
Place the input pen 107 on the intersection of any drive line X ₃ 203 and sense line Y ₃ 204 of the drive line group 105 and sense line group 106 above, and stack the input pen 107 at about 45 degrees with respect to the X or Y axis. Let's say it's placed so that it's facing the right direction. A drive pulse current is sequentially applied to the drive line group 105 of X ₁ , X ₂ , ..., X _n , and the drive lines X ₃ 2
03 is in the driving state, a magnetic flux is generated in a magnetic path that passes from the protrusion A309 of the protruding input surface 102 in a direction parallel to the lamination of the input pen 107 and reaches the protrusion B310, causing the sense line Y ₃ 204 to An electromotive force E ₁ is induced. Similarly, the sense line Y ₃ 204 is caused by a magnetic path that passes from the protrusion C311 in a direction perpendicular to the stack of input pens 107 and reaches the protrusion D312.
A supervoltage E ₂ is induced. Supervoltages E ₁ and E ₂ have opposite polarity. The structure of the input pen 107 is magnetically anisotropic, and the magnetic resistance in the direction parallel to the lamination is small.
Due to the large perpendicular direction, the magnetic coupling is directional and the supervoltage E ₁ can be much larger than E ₂ . Experiments have shown that this ratio can be made quite large.

This allows the coordinates X ₃ and X ₄ to be detected.

Therefore, in the peripheral circuit described in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 133740/1983 "Graphic Information Conversion Device", the drive line group 105 is
If a drive pulse current is sequentially applied to the input pen 107 and the sense line group 106 is sequentially switched every round of X to detect the induced voltage, the coordinate value of the input pen 107 can be detected.

Furthermore, in the above description, the input pen 107 is used to indicate one coordinate point, but the input pen 107 can be made larger and the bottom 111 can be enlarged so that it can cover a large number of coordinate points at the same time. For example, it goes without saying that all the coordinate points covered by the input pen 107 can be detected in one scan, and that even figures with thick lines can be input. Further, the shape of the bottom portion 111 does not necessarily have to be rectangular.

As is clear from the above explanation with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, according to the present invention, the tablet substrate 1
Since the protrusions of the magnetic poles that form the input surface 102 of No. 10 have a checkerboard shape, the vertical grooves 103 and the horizontal grooves 104 can be formed linearly with a diamond cutter or the like, making the structure extremely easy to manufacture. Become.
Further, since it is possible to make the interval between the vertical grooves 103 and the horizontal grooves 104 narrower than when they are arranged in a checkered pattern during manufacturing, the resolution of the tablet can be increased. The input pen 107 has a laminated structure in which thin plates 108 with high magnetic permeability and spacers 109 made of non-magnetic material are alternately inserted, so that the magnetic resistance is directional and noise components from the direction perpendicular to the adjacent laminated layers are minimized. Because it is possible to reduce
The S/N ratio can be improved, resulting in a highly reliable device. In addition, in the present invention, the direction of the input pen 107 is always set at approximately 45
You have to hold it at the same time while inputting shapes, but this is similar to normal pen operation, so it can't be said to be a major drawback.

Furthermore, methods other than those described in the text may be used to impart magnetic anisotropy to the input pen 107, and each component may be modified as long as the basic operating principle, operation, effect, etc. of the present invention are featured. configuration,
It is clear that the present invention is applicable even if it is a structure.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1a is a plan view showing the tablet board of the present invention, Fig. 1b is a sectional view taken along line A-A, Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an input pen, and Fig. 3 is a figure input using the input pen. FIG. In each figure, 110 is a tablet board;
1 is a flat plate, 102 is an input surface, 103 is a vertical groove, 10
4 is a horizontal groove, 105 is a drive line group, 106 is a sense line group, 107 is an input pen, 108 is a thin plate, 109 is a spacer, 203 is a drive X ₃ , 204 is a sense line
Y ₃ , 309 is the protrusion A, 310 is the protrusion B, 3
11 is a protrusion C, 312 is a protrusion D, and 111 is a bottom.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A high permeability plate provided with an input surface protruding in a checkerboard pattern, a tablet substrate having a group of drive lines and a group of sense lines arranged orthogonally to each other along the periphery of the protrusions on the input surface, 1. An electromagnetic coupling type graphical information input device comprising: an input pen which is made of laminated magnetically permeable thin plates, has magnetic anisotropy, and inputs coordinates by touching the input surface.