INK FILE OUTPUT METHOD, OUTPUT DEVICE, AND PROGRAM

• US 20160292500A1
• Filed: 03/29/2016
• Published: 10/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wacom Co Limited (Wacom)
• Original Assignee: Wacom Co Limited (Wacom)
• Inventors: Miura, Yoichi, Angelov, Branimir
• Granted Patent: US 10,296,787 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0382 Plural input, i.e. interface arrangements in which a plurality of input device of the same type are in communication with a PC
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03545 Pens or stylus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/1423 the instrument generating sequences of position coordinates corresponding to handwriting preprocessing or recognising digital ink G06V30/32
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/347 Sampling; Contour coding; Stroke extraction

Abstract

An ink file output method is provided, which includes: generating M (M is an integer of 1 or more) pieces of stroke data SD on the basis of event data generated as M input devices move, respectively; generating N (N is an integer of 1 or more and M or less) kinds of logical names LN (metadata) identifying the M number of input devices; generating a metadata block associating the M pieces of stroke data SD with the N kinds of logical names LN; and writing the M pieces of stroke data SD and the metadata block to an ink file.

Claims

1. A method of outputting an ink file, the method comprising:

generating M (M is an integer of 1 or more) pieces of stroke data on a basis of event data generated as M input devices move, respectively;

generating N (N is an integer of 1 or more and M or less) kinds of metadata identifying the M number of input devices;

generating a metadata block as information associating the M pieces of stroke data with the N kinds of metadata; and

writing the M pieces of stroke data and the metadata block to the ink file.

2. The method of outputting the ink file according to claim 1,

wherein the M pieces of stroke data are written to the ink file in a first format specified by an application program, from among a plurality of formats, and the metadata block is written to the ink file in a second format different from the first format.

3. The method of outputting the ink file according to claim 2,

wherein the first format is a format involving compression coding in encoding the stroke data, and

the second format is an Extensible Markup Language (XML) format.

4. The method of outputting the ink file according to claim 3,

wherein the ink file includes an ink chunk including the M pieces of stroke data encoded in the first format and a metadata chunk including the metadata block encoded in the second format.

5. The method of outputting the ink file according to claim 1,

wherein the ink file includes, as the M pieces of stroke data, one or more pieces of first stroke data each generated by a first input device and one or more pieces of second stroke data each generated by a second input device, and

the metadata block is information associating a first metadata identifying the first input device with each of the one or more pieces of first stroke data, and associating a second metadata identifying the second input device with each of the one or more pieces of second stroke data.

6. The method of outputting the ink file according to claim 5,

wherein the metadata block is information associating a first group of the one or more pieces of first stroke data with the first metadata, and associating a second group of the one or more pieces of second stroke data with the second metadata.

7. The method of outputting the ink file according to claim 6,

wherein stroke identification information that uniquely identifies a piece of stroke data is assigned to each of the one or more pieces of first stroke data and each of the one or more pieces of second stroke data,

the first group is identified by the stroke identification information assigned to each of the one or more pieces of first stroke data, and

the second group is identified by the stroke identification information assigned to each of the one or more pieces of second stroke data.

8. The method of outputting the ink file according to claim 7,

wherein one or more pieces of the stroke identification information assigned to the one or more pieces of first stroke data are data formed from consecutive numbers,

one or more pieces of the stroke identification information assigned to the one or more pieces of second stroke data are data formed from consecutive numbers,

the first group is identified by a start number and an end number of the one or more pieces of the stroke identification information assigned to the one or more pieces of first stroke data, and

the second group is identified by a start number and an end number of the one or more pieces of the stroke identification information assigned to the one or more pieces of second stroke data.

9. The method of outputting the ink file according to claim 1,

wherein the metadata is information formed by applying a determined conversion to input device identification information stored in the input device.

10. The method of outputting the ink file according to claim 9,

wherein the step of generating the metadata includes converting the input device identification information into logical identification information of a determined number of bits, and then converting the logical identification information into the metadata.

11. The method of outputting the ink file according to claim 10,

wherein the step of converting the input device identification information into the logical identification information includes a processing that depends on a type of the input device.

12. The method of outputting the ink file according to claim 11,

wherein the step of generating the metadata includes:

a first step of extracting unique information of a varying number of bits based on a format of the input device identification information, wherein the format of the input device identification information is specified according to the type of the input device, and padding the extracted unique information with a number of bits specified according to the format to thereby generate unique information of a determined number of bits; and

a second step of fixing information specifying the format to the unique information of the determined number of bits.

13. The method of outputting the ink file according to claim 12,

wherein the step of generating the metadata includes converting the input device identification information into the logical identification information after masking one or more bits in the input device identification information that distinguish a plurality of pen points from each other, wherein the one or more bits serve as identification information of the plurality of pen points.

14. The method of outputting the ink file according to claim 13,

wherein the step of generating the metadata includes adding information indicated by the one or more masked bits to the metadata.

15. The method of outputting the ink file according to claim 9,

wherein the step of generating the metadata includes using dummy data when the input device identification information cannot be obtained from the input device.

16. The method of outputting the ink file according to claim 10,

wherein the metadata is information formed by converting the logical identification information into a character string in reference to a character string table, which stores the logical identification information and the character string in association with each other.

17. The method of outputting the ink file according to claim 10,

wherein the metadata is a hash value obtained by inputting the logical identification information to a one-way function.

18. The method of outputting the ink file according to claim 10,

wherein the metadata is a Uniform Resource Name (URN) formed by adding determined information to the logical identification information.

19. The method of outputting the ink file according to claim 1,

wherein M is 2 or more,

the M pieces of stroke data each includes plural pieces of point data, and includes order information in association with each of the plural pieces of point data, and

the order information indicates relative rendering order between the plural pieces of point data stored in the M pieces of stroke data.

20. The method of outputting the ink file according to claim 19,

wherein trajectories of two pieces of stroke data generated simultaneously intersect each other.

21. A device for outputting an ink file, the device comprising:

a stroke data generator configured to generate stroke data on a basis of event data generated as an input device moves;

a metadata generator configured to generate metadata identifying the input device; and

an ink file generator configured to generate a metadata block associating the metadata with the stroke data, and to write the stroke data and the metadata block to the ink file.

22. A computer-readable tangible medium including a program which, when loaded to a computer, causes the computer to:

generate stroke data on a basis of event data generated as an input device moves;

generate metadata identifying the input device; and

generate a metadata block associating the metadata with the stroke data, and write the stroke data and the metadata block to the ink file.