Electronic sketching device

• US 4,887,968 A
• Filed: 04/08/1988
• Issued: 12/19/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/1985
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: The Ohio Art Company
• Original Assignee: The Ohio Art Company
• Inventors: Wickstead, James C., Selden, Gerald P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Picard, Leo P.
• Application Number:
  US07/179,148
• Time in Patent Office: 620 Days
• Field of Search: 434/85, 340/709, 340/710, 340/725, 340/789, 340/791
• US Class Current: 434/85
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/0661 Making a drawing
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 9/0641 using a marker or means for drawing, e.g. pen, pencil, chalk
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 9/24 Electric games; Games using electronic circuits not otherwise provided for video games A63F13/00; computerized gaming systems G07F17/32
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04892 Arrangements for controlling cursor position based on codes indicative of cursor displacements from one discrete location to another, e.g. using cursor control keys associated to different directions or using the tab key arrangements for controlling cursor position based on coordinate signals G06F3/038
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/80 2D [Two Dimensional] animation, e.g. using sprites

Abstract

An electronic sketching device. The electronic sketching device includes a display for providing a visual representation of a sketch on a display area. The electronic sketching device also including a cursor controller for moving a cursor on the display and a sketch controller for selectively storing the placement of the cursor on the display area as a pixel to create a sketch on the display area. A storage device, which is coupled to the sketch controller, stores a plurality of sketches. The electronic sketching device also contains a sketch memory for creating and storing a sequence of sketches which is coupled to the storage device. An animater, coupled to the storage device, sketch memory and the display, causes the stored sequence of sketches to be sequentially displayed on the display.

Claims

1. A dedicated portable electronic sketching device, comprising:

display means for providing a visual representation of a sketch on a display area;

manually actuatable means for moving a cursor on the display area;

storage means for storing a plurality of sketches;

means for selectively storing in the storage means placements of the cursor on the display area as pixels for display by the display means to create a sketch on the display area, coupled to the means for moving the cursor and the storage means;

the storage means, together with the means for moving a cursor and the means for selectively storing the placements of the cursor, being adapted to modify each of the sketches by changing the pixels for display by the display means of a sketch in the storage means;

manually actuatable sketch selection means coupled to the storage means for selecting a stored sketch for display on the display area and modification by the means for moving a cursor and means for selectively storing the placements of the cursor, and for selecting a stored sketch for addition to a stored sequence of sketches;

manually actuatable sketch copying means for copying a selected stored sketch, without erasing said selected sketch from the storage means, for display in the display area and modification by the means for moving a cursor and means for selectively storing the placements of the cursor; and

animation means for creating and storing a sequence of the selected stored sketches coupled to the storage means to enable the display of said sequence of sketches on the display area, the animation means including manually actuatable addition means for adding the selected sketch to the sequence;

the display means, means for moving the cursor, storage means, means for selectively storing the placements of the cursor, sketch selection means, sketch copying means and animation means being dedicated to define a portable electronic sketching device.

2. The electronic sketching device of claim 1 wherein the display means is a liquid crystal display screen.

3. The electronic sketching device of claim 2 wherein the liquid crystal display screen is a 30×

40 pixel dot matrix liquid crystal display.

4. The electronic sketching device of claim 2 wherein the liquid crystal display screen contains a low viscosity medium speed liquid crystal and is reflectively polarized.

5. The electronic sketching device of claim 1 wherein the means for moving the cursor includes two manually actuatable movement means for moving a cursor on the screen, one of the manually actuatable movement means controlling movement of the cursor along a first axis, the other manually actuatable movement means controlling movement of the cursor along a second axis, at an angle to the first axis, whereby the cursor can be moved to any point on the display area by selective manual actuation of the first and second manually actuatable movement means.

6. The electronic sketching device of claim 5 wherein each of the manually actuatable movement means includes a knob-interrupter member having an opaque cup with slots regularly spaced about the periphery of the cup, at least one light source on one of the inside and outside of the cup and at least one detector means on the other side of the cup from the light source for detecting the light generated by the at least one light source passing through the slots in the cups as the manually actuatable knob-interrupter member is rotated, the light source and said at least one detector means together defining at least three detection elements, and control means, coupled to the at least one detector means for converting the light received by the detector means associated with the knob-interrupter members into movement instructions for the cursor.

7. The electronic sketching device of claim 1 wherein the means for selectively storing the placements of the cursor on the display includes at least one manually actuatable member for causing one of the storage of the placements of the cursor and non-storage of the placements of the cursor, and processing means coupled to the at least one manually actuatable member for implementing the selected storage or non-storage of the cursor placements.

8. The electronic sketching device of claim 7 wherein the means for selectively storing the placements of the cursor includes two manually actuatable members, one of which causes the placements of the cursor on the display area to be stored in the storage means and the other of which causes the placement of the cursor not to be stored in the storage means.

9. The electronic sketching device of claim 1 including sketch modification means for displaying on the display means a selected one of the stored sketches for modification thereof to define a further sketch.

10. The electronic sketching device of claim 1 and wherein including sketch modification means for displaying on the display means a selected one of the stored sketches for modification thereof to define a substitute sketch.

11. The electronic sketching device of claim 1 wherein the storage means includes a random access memory device.

12. The electronic sketching device of claim 1 wherein the random access memory device has a capacity of 2K bytes.

13. The electronic sketching device of claim 1 wherein the storage means is capable of storing twelve different sketches for animation purposes.

14. The electronic sketching device of claim 1 wherein the stored sequence of sketches is saved in the same storage means as is used to store the plurality of sketches.

15. The electronic sketching device of claim 1 wherein the stored sequence of sketches contains more than the total number of the individual stored sketches.

16. The electronic sketching device of claim 1 wherein the animation means include a manually actuatable member for initiating the sequential display of the stored sequence of sketches on the display means.

17. The electronic sketching device of claim 1 further comprises erasing means for selectively erasing the placement of the cursor from the sketch.

18. The electronic sketching device of claim 17 wherein the erasing means selectively erases a stored sketch.

19. The electronic sketching device of claim 17 wherein the erasing means is adapted to selectively erase the stored sequence of sketches.

20. The electronic sketching device of claim 1 further comprising power supply means for providing voltage and current required by the electronic sketching device.

21. The electronic sketching device of claim 20 wherein the power supply means include at least one battery.

22. The electronic sketching device of claim 1 further comprising a housing which contains the other elements of the electronic sketching device.

23. The electronic sketching device of claim 22 wherein the housing is adapted to be portable.

24. The electronic sketching device of claim 1 further comprising audio feedback means for producing a sound representative of at least one of movement of the cursor, storage of a sketch and the creation and storage of a sequence of the sketches.

25. An electronic sketching device, comprising:

display means for providing a visual representation of a sketch on a display area;

storage means for storing a plurality of sketches;

two independent manually actuatable movement means for moving a cursor on the display area, one of the manually actuatable movement means controlling movement of the cursor along a first axis, the other manually actuatable movement means controlling movement of the cursor along a second axis, at an angle to the first axis, whereby the cursor can be moved to any point on the display area by selective manual actuation of the first and second manual actuatable movement means;

manually actuatable user control means coupled to the storage means, the display means and the two manually actuatable movement means for selectively causing the placement of the cursor on the display area to be one of either temporarily displayed or stored and continuously displayed even after the cursor has moved, to create a sketch on the display area formed of the stored cursor placements for storage in the storage means;

manually actuatable sketch copying means for copying a selected stored sketch, without erasing said selected sketch from the storage means, for display in the display area and modification by the movement means and user control means; and

animation means coupled to the user control means and storage means for creating and storing a sequence of the sketches and including at least one manually actuatable member for selecting a stored sketch for addition to the sequence and for adding the selected sketch to the sequence of sketches.

26. The electronic sketching device of claim 25 wherein the display means comprises a liquid crystal display panel.

27. The electronic sketching device of claim 26 wherein the liquid crystal display panel is a 30×

40 pixel dot matrix liquid crystal display.

28. The electronic sketching device of claim 25 wherein the angle between the first and second axes is substantially 90°

.

29. The electronic sketching device of claim 25 wherein each of the manually actuatable movement means include a rotatably mounted knob-interrupter member, at least one light source and at least one detector together defining at least three dectection elements, each knob-interrupter member including an opaque cup portion with slots spaced about the periphery of the cup portion, a least one light source and at least one detector being on opposite sides of the slotted cup and the at least one detector being aligned with the at least one light source so that light passes through the slots in the cup portion of the knob-interrupter member to the detectors as the knob-interrupter member is rotated.

30. The electronic sketching device of claim 29 wherein there are two circumferentially spaced detectors and one light source for each knob-interrupter.

31. The electronic sketching device of claim 29 further including cursor control means coupled to the detectors for determining direction and distance along the first and second axes in response to rotation of the knob-interrupter members.

32. The electronic sketching device of claim 31 wherein the display area is rectangular to define said two axes, the diameter of the cup portions of the cursor control means associated with the larger of the two axes being greater than the diameter of the cup portion of the other cursor control means, whereby the cursor moves the entire length of each axis upon equal rotation of the cursor control means.

33. The electronic sketching device of claim 31 wherein the cursor control means, light sources and detectors are mounted on a printed circuit board.

34. The electronic sketching device of claim 29 further comprising housing means for containing the electronic sketching device.

35. The electronic sketching device of claim 34 wherein the knob-interrupter members are rotatably mounted on the housing means.

36. The electronic sketching device of claim 29 wherein the user control means includes a manually actuatable member for storing the placement of the cursor on the display area and a manually actuatable member for causing the placement of the cursor not to be stored.

37. The electronic sketching device of claim 25 further comprising housing means for containing the electronic sketching device.

38. The electronic sketching device of claim 25 further comprising tone generating means coupled to the manually actuatable movement means and the user control means for producing a sound.

39. The electronic sketching device of claim 38 wherein the tone generating means is a piezoelectric crystal.

40. The electronic sketching device of claim 39 wherein the piezoelectric crystal is mounted on the printed circuit board.

41. The electronic sketching device of claim 25 wherein the user control means includes a manually actuatable member for storing the placement of the cursor on the display area and a manually actuatable member for causing the placement of the cursor not to be stored.

42. The electronic sketching device of claim 41 wherein the user control means further comprises a manually actuatable member for erasing a placement of the cursor which has been stored.

43. The electronic sketching device of claim 25 further comprising audio feedback means coupled to the user control means and the animation means for producing an audible signal upon at least one of the movement of the cursor on the display area and the creation and storage of a sequence of the sketches.

44. An assembly for moving a cursor on a display area, comprising:

two manually actuatable members for controlling movement of the cursor along two axes separated by an angle;

two interrupter members, each of which is rigidly secured to a manually actuatable member, the interrupter members being opaque cup-shaped members with spaced slots about the periphery of the cups;

at least two light sources, at least one of which is associated with each of the interrupter members, and located at one of the inside and outside of the cups without other intervening elements;

at least one detector means associated with each of the interrupters, located on the opposite side of the cups from the at least one light source without other intervening elements, for detection of the light generated by the at least one light source passing through the slots in the cups as the manually actuatable members are rotated, the at least one light source and at least one detector means associated with each interrupter member together defining at least three detector elements; and

control means, coupled to the detector means for converting the light received by the detector means, associated with each of the manually actuatable members into movement instructions for the cursor.

45. The assembly of claim 44 wherein the detector means include two detector means for each light source.

46. The assembly of claim 44 wherein the manually actuatable members are knobs adapted to be rotated.

47. The assembly of claim 44 wherein the two axes are substantially perpendicular to each other.

48. The assembly of claim 44 wherein the light sources and detector means are mounted on a support member.

49. The assembly of claim 48 wherein the control means is mounted on the support member.

50. The device of claim 49 wherein the stored sequence of sketches contains more than the total number of the individual stored sketches.

51. The assembly of claim 44 wherein the light sources are an infrared source.

52. The assembly of claim 44 wherein the light sources are located inside the opaque cup-shaped members and the detectors are located outside of the cup-shaped members.

53. The assembly of claim 44 wherein the control means is a processor adapted to be coupled to a display medium on which the position of the cursor can be displayed.

54. The electronic sketching device of claim 44 wherein the display area is rectangular to define said two axes, the diameter of the cup portions of the cursor control means associated with the larger of the two axes being greater than the diameter of the cup portion of the other cursor control means, whereby the cursor moves the entire length of each axis upon equal rotation of the cursor control means.

55. An electronic sketching and animation device, comprising:

a display device for displaying sketches and animation on a display area;

manually actuatable movement means for moving a cursor on the display area;

storage means selectively coupleable to the display device for storing a plurality of sketches;

sketch control means coupled to the manually actuatable movement means and storage means for selectively storing and erasing the placements of the cursor in the storage means to create and modify a sketch visible in the display area and stored in the storage means;

manually actuatable sketch copying means for copying a selected stored sketch without erasing said selected sketch from the storage means, for display in the display area and modification by the sketch control means; and

animation means for creating and storing a sequence of selected stored sketches coupled to the storage means to enable the display of said sequence of sketches on the display area, the animation means including manually actuatable addition means for adding a sketch to the stored sequence of sketches, and a manually actuatable means for initiating the sequential display of the stored sequence of sketches on the display means.

56. The device of claim 55 wherein the animation means includes manually actuatable sketch selection means coupled to the storage means for selecting a stored sketch for display on the display area and modification by the sketch control means and for selecting a stored sketch for addition to a stored sequence of sketches, the addition means acting on sketches selected by the sketch selection means.

57. The device of claim 55 wherein the animation means is adapted so that each stored sketch may be selected more than once in the animation sequence.

58. The device of claim 57 wherein the display means is a liquid crystal display means.

59. The device of claim 58 wherein the sketch control means stores placements of the cursor on the display area as pixels and erases cursor placements by changing the stored pixels.

60. The device of claim 55 wherein the means for moving the cursor includes two manually actuatable movement means for moving a cursor on the screen, one of the manually actuatable movement means controlling movement of the cursor along a first axis, the other manually actuatable movement means controlling movement of the cursor along a second axis, at an angle to the first axis, whereby the cursor can be mvoed to any point on the display area by selective manual actuation of the first and second manually actuatable movement means.

61. The device of claim 60 wherein each of the manually actuatable movement means includes a knob-interrupter member having an opaque cup with slots regularly spaced about the periphery of the cup, at least one light source on one of the inside and outside of the cup and at least one detector means on the other side of the cup from the light source for detecting the light generated by the at least one light source passing through the slots in the cups as the manually actuatable knob-interrupter member is rotated, the light source and said at least one detector means together defining at least three detection elements, and control means, coupled to the at least one detector means for converting the light received by the detector means associated with the knob-interrupter members into movement instructions for the cursor.

62. The device of claim 55 wherein the sketch control means includes at least one manually actuatable member for causing one of the storage of the placements of the cursor and non-storage of the placements of the cursor, and processing means coupled to at least one manually actuatable member for implementing the selected storage or non-storage of the cursor placements.

63. The device of claim 55 wherein the sketch control means includes two manually actuatable members, one of which causes the placements of the cursor on the display area to be stored in the storage means and the other of which causes the placements of the cursor not to be stored in the storage means.

64. The device of claim 55 further comprising audio feedback means for producing a sound representative of at least one movement of the cursor, storage of a sketch and the creation and storage of a sequence of the sketches.

65. The device of claim 55 wherein the animation means for creating and storing a sequence of the sketches includes manually actuatable members for selecting a sketch for addition to the sequence and for adding the selected sketch to the stored sequence of sketches.