Coordinates input apparatus

• US 4,886,943 A
• Filed: 01/23/1989
• Issued: 12/12/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/1988
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Tanaka, Atsushi, Kobayashi, Katsuyuki, Suzuki, Noriyuki, Mori, Shigeki, Yoshimura, Yuichiro, Kaneko, Kiyoshi, Taniishi, Shinnosuke
• Primary Examiner(s): Schreyer, Stafford D.
• Application Number:
  US07/299,440
• Time in Patent Office: 323 Days
• Field of Search: 178/18, 178/19, 340/706, 382/57, 382/13, 367/127, 367/907
• US Class Current: 178/18.04
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04186 Touch location disambiguation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0433 in which the acoustic waves are either generated by a movable member and propagated within a surface layer or propagated within a surface layer and captured by a movable member
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 367/907 Coordinate determination

Abstract

There is provided a coordinates input apparatus for detecting the coordinates of a point indicated by an instruction pen on a vibration transmitting plate made of a transparent tablet on the basis of the vibration transmission times on this plate. This apparatus comprises: a pen as vibration generating means for generating a vibration; a tablet as a vibration transmitting plate to transmit the vibration generated by the pen; vibration sensors which are arranged on the tablet and detect at a plurality of positions the vibrations transmitted by making the pen come into contact with the tablet; a microcomputer for obtaining the vibration transmission distances from the vibration transmission times of the vibrations detected by the sensors and for calculating the coordinate point on the tablet with which the pen is come into contact; an output device to output the coordinate point calculated by the microcomputer; an erroneous detection discriminating circuit to discriminate whether the coordinate point calculated is the erroneously detected coordinate point or not; and a controller for allowing a correction point calculating means to calculate and output a correction point in place of the erroneously detected coordinate point.

Claims

1. A coordinates input apparatus comprising:

vibration generating means for generating a vibration;

vibration transmitting plate for transmitting the vibration generated by said vibration generating means;

a plurality of vibration detecting means which are arranged on said vibration transmitting plate and detect at a plurality of positions the vibrations transmitted by making the vibration generating means come into contact with the vibration transmitting plate;

calculating means for obtaining vibration transmission distances from vibration transmission times of the vibrations detected by said plurality of vibration detecting means and for calculating a coordinate point on the vibration transmitting plate with which the vibration generating means was come into contact;

output means for outputting the coordinate point calculated by said calculating means;

erroneous detection discriminating means for discriminating whether the coordinate point calculated by said calculating means is an erroneously detected coordinate point or not; and

control means for controlling said output means so as not to output the coordinate point when it is discriminated by said discriminating means that the detected coordinate point is the erroneously detected coordinate point.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said vibration transmitting plate is made of a transparent material and said output means allows a display apparatus provided under said transparent material to display the coordinate point calculated by said calculating means.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said erroneous detection discriminating means has comparing means for comparing the vibration transmission distance measured by said calculating means with a vibration transmission distance which is inversely calculated from the coordinate point and discriminates the erroneous detection of the coordinate point on the basis of the result of the comparison of said comparing means.

4. A coordinates input apparatus comprising:

vibration generating means for generating a vibration;

a vibration transmitting plate for transmitting the vibration generated by said vibration generating means;

a plurality of vibration detecting means which are arranged on said vibration transmitting plate and detect at a plurality of positions the vibration transmitted by making the vibration generating means come into contact with the vibration transmitting plate;

calculating means for obtaining vibration transmission distances from vibration transmission times of the vibrations detected by said plurality of vibration detecting means and for calculating a coordinate point on the vibration transmitting plate with which the vibration generating means is come into contact;

output means for outputting the coordinate point calculated by said calculating means;

erroneous detection discriminating means for discriminating whether the coordinate point calculated by said calculating means is an erroneously detected coordinate point or not;

correction point calculating means for calculating a correction point in correspondence to that it is discriminated by said discriminating means that the coordinate point is the erroneously detected coordinate point; and

control means for allowing said output means to output the correction point in place of the discriminated coordinate point when it is discriminated by said discriminating means that the coordinate point is the erroneously detected coordinate point.

5. An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said vibration transmitting plate is made of a transparent material and said output means allows a display apparatus provided under said transparent material to display the coordinate point calculated by said calculating means.

6. An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said erroneous detection discriminating means has comparing means for comparing the vibration transmitting distance measured by said calculating means with a vibration transmission distance which is inversely calculated from the coordinate point and discriminates the erroneous detection of the coordinate point on the basis of the result of the comparison of said comparing means.

7. An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said correction point calculating means calculates the correction point from two coordinate points which are calculated by said calculating means and are located before and after the coordinate point which is discriminated by said discriminating means to be the erroneously detected coordinate point.