Electronic measuring apparatus for measuring objects of a figure or on a map

• US 5,410,494 A
• Filed: 04/08/1993
• Issued: 04/25/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/1992
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Hattori, Yoshihiro, Miyago, Makoto, Yamamoto, Yuji, Tagusa, Yasunobu, Hashimoto, Mikio
• Primary Examiner(s): Voeltz, Emanuel T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): PEESO, THOMAS R
• Application Number:
  US08/044,040
• Time in Patent Office: 747 Days
• Field of Search: 364/560, 364/564, 33/123, 395/161
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 7/003 for measuring position, not involving coordinate determination coordinate measuring G01B7/004
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 7/02 for measuring length, width or thickness G01B7/004, G01B7/12 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 7/30 for measuring angles or tapers; for testing the alignment of axes
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 7/32 for measuring areas

Abstract

An electronic measuring apparatus is placed on a drawing or other material on which a measuring object is drawn. The apparatus has a main display of a dot matrix liquid crystal display having a touch sensor. A plurality of points corresponding to the measuring object such as a graphic are entered as specific points. A calculating section calculates lengths of a straight line and a curve, an angle between two straight lines, or regional area of a region based on coordinate data of the respective specified points. The calculated results are shown on the main display. With the arrangement, the respective measurings of the length, angle, regional area, and other measuring object are carried out with ease and high accuracy. Moreover, a variety of processings such as unit conversion and scale factor conversion can be carried out only by entering respective specific data.

Claims

1. An electronic measuring apparatus comprising:

plane entering means for entering graphic data of an object to be measured by specifying a plurality of points the plane entering means including a light transmitting display having a dot matrix pattern;

graphic data generating means for generating coordinate data in response to the respective specified points within said plane entering means;

calculating means for carrying out a predetermined calculation based on the coordinate data;

display means for displaying the calculated results of said calculating means; and

graphic trace indication controlling means for controlling the display so as to display inputted data on the display based on the coordinate data corresponding to the specified points simultaneously when the graphic data is inputted by the plane entering means.

2. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said calculating means calculates a distance between the two specified points of said plane entering means.

3. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein said calculating means calculates a distance between a start point and an end point through serially specified points of said plane entering means, the distance being along the serially specified points.

4. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 2 further comprising scale factor entering means for entering specific scale factor data, wherein said calculating means calculates the conversion of the scale factor of the measuring object according to the specific scale factor data.

5. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 4 further comprising unit conversion entering means for entering specific unit conversion data, wherein said calculating means calculates the unit conversion of the measuring object according to the specific unit conversion data.

6. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein said display having a scope on which a cursor is displayed, said apparatus further comprising:

cursor operating means for moving the cursor within the scope; and

specific point setting means for setting a cursor position of the scope as the specific point.

7. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein said plane entering means includes a liquid crystal display having a touch sensor, a pressed point on said display being regarded as a specific point, and said graphic data generating means generates the coordinate data in response to the specified point.

8. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein said plane entering means includes external input entering means, and

said graphic trace indication controlling means displays a graphic connecting the specified points of said external input entering means on said display.

9. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 2 further comprising unit conversion entering means for entering specific unit conversion data, wherein said calculating means calculates the unit conversion of the measuring object according to the specific unit conversion data.

10. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 9, wherein said display having a scope on which a cursor is displayed, said apparatus further comprising:

cursor operating means for moving the cursor within the scope; and

specific point setting means for setting a cursor position of the scope as the specific point.

11. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 9, wherein said plane entering means includes a liquid crystal display having a touch sensor, a pressed point on said display being regarded as a specific point, and said graphic data generating means generates the coordinate data in response to the specified point.

12. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 9, wherein said plane entering means includes external input entering means, and

said graphic trace indication controlling means displays a graphic connecting the specified points of said external input entering means on said display.

13. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein said display having a scope on which a cursor is displayed, said apparatus further comprising:

cursor operating means for moving the cursor within the scope; and

specific point setting means for setting a cursor position of the scope as the specific point.

14. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein said plane entering means includes a liquid crystal display having a touch sensor, a pressed point on said display being regarded as a specific point, and said graphic data generating means generates the coordinate data in response to the specified point.

15. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein said plane entering means includes external input entering means, and

said graphic trace indication controlling means displays a graphic connecting the specified points of said external input entering means on said display.

16. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said calculating means calculates a distance between a start point and an end point through serially specified points of said plane entering means, the distance being along the serially specified points.

17. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 16 further comprising scale factor entering means for entering specific scale factor data, wherein said calculating means calculates the conversion of the scale factor of the measuring object according to the specific scale factor data.

18. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 16 further comprising unit conversion entering means for entering specific unit conversion data, wherein said calculating means calculates the unit conversion of the measuring object according to the specific unit conversion data.

19. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 16, wherein said display having a scope on which a cursor is displayed, said apparatus further comprising:

cursor operating means for moving the cursor within the scope; and

specific point setting means for setting a cursor position of the scope as the specific point.

20. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 16, wherein said plane entering means includes a liquid crystal display having a touch sensor, a pressed point on said display being regarded as a specific point, and said graphic data generating means generates the coordinate data in response to the specified point.

21. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 16, wherein said plane entering means includes external input entering means, and

said graphic trace indication controlling means displays a graphic connecting the specified points of said external input entering means on said display.

22. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein the display has front and back surfaces;

said display further including means for displaying an object to be measured on an item at said front surface when the item is adjacent to said back surface.

23. An electronic measuring apparatus comprising:

plane entering means for entering graphic data of an object to be measured by specifying a plurality of points the plane entering means including a light transmitting display having a dot matrix pattern;

graphic data generating means for generating coordinate data in response to the respective specified points within said plane entering means;

calculating means for calculating a regional area of a closed-loop based on the respective coordinate data corresponding to serially specified points of said plane entering means, the serially specified points defining the closed-loop; and

display means for displaying the calculated results of said calculating means; and

graphic trace indication controlling means for controlling the display so as to display inputted data on the display based on the coordinate data corresponding to the specified points simultaneously when the graphic data is inputted by the plane entering means.

24. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 23 further comprising scale factor entering means for entering specific scale factor data, wherein said calculating means calculates the conversion of the scale factor of the measuring object according to the specific scale factor data.

25. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 23 further comprising unit conversion entering means for entering specific unit conversion data, wherein said calculating means calculates the unit conversion of the measuring object according to the specific unit conversion data.

26. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 23, wherein said display having a scope on which a cursor is displayed, said apparatus further comprising:

cursor operating means for moving the cursor within the scope; and

specific point setting means for setting a cursor position of the scope as the specific point.

27. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 23, wherein said plane entering means includes a liquid crystal display having a touch sensor, a pressed point on said display being regarded as a specific point, and said graphic data generating means generates the coordinate data in response to the specified point.

28. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 23, wherein said plane entering means includes external input entering means, and

said graphic trace indication controlling means displays a graphic connecting the specified points of said external input entering means on said display.

29. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 23, wherein said calculating means calculates a diameter and a radius of a circle based on the coordinate data corresponding to the circle when the closed-loop defines the circle.

30. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 23 wherein the display has front and back surfaces;

said display further including means for displaying an object to be measured on an item at said front surface when the item is adjacent to said back surface.

31. An electronic measuring apparatus comprising:

plane entering means including a light transmitting display having a dot matrix pattern, and a scope on which a cursor is displayed;

cursor operating means for moving the cursor within the scope;

specific point setting means for setting a cursor position of the scope as the specific point;

graphic data generating means for generating coordinate data in response to the specified points;

calculating means for carrying out a predetermined calculation according to the coordinate data for each measuring;

display means for displaying the calculated results of said calculating means; and

graphic trace indication controlling means for controlling the display so as to display inputted data on the display based on the coordinate data corresponding to the specified points simultaneously when the graphic data is inputted by the plane entering means.

32. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 31, wherein said plane entering means includes a liquid crystal display having a touch sensor, a pressed point on said display being regarded as a specific point, and said graphic data generating means generates the coordinate data in response to the specified point.

33. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 31 further comprising graphic trace indication controlling means for controlling the display so as to indicate a graphic connecting the specified points.

34. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 33 further comprising:

deleting region entering means for entering specific deleting region data;

re-display entering means for entering specific re-displaying data; and

graphic changing means for deleting a predetermined region of the graphic on the display in accordance with the specific region data, and for storing the deleted graphic so as to re-display the deleted graphic based on the specific re-displaying data.

35. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 34 further comprising:

entering keys;

function keys group;

computing means for computing according to the entered data through the entering keys function keys group;

computed result indication controlling means for controlling the display so as to display the computed results of the computing on a predetermined region of the display.

36. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 33 further comprising:

entering keys;

function keys group;

computing means for computing according to the entered data through the entering keys and function keys group; and

computed result indication controlling means for controlling the display so as to display the computed results of the computing means on a predetermined region of the display.

37. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 31 wherein the display has front and back surfaces;

said display further including means for displaying an object to be measured on an item at said front surface when the item is adjacent to said back surface.

48. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 34 further comprising:

entering keys;

function keys group;

computing means for computing according to the entered data through the entering keys and function keys group; and

computed result indication controlling means for controlling the display so as to display the computed results of the computing means on a predetermined region of the display.

38. An electronic measuring apparatus comprising:

plane entering means, including a liquid crystal display having a touch sensor which is light transmitting, for entering a pressed point on said display as a specific point;

graphic data generating means for generating coordinate data in response to the specified points;

calculating means for carrying out a predetermined calculation for each measuring according to the coordinate data;

display means for displaying the calculated results of said calculating means; and

graphic trace indication controlling means for controlling the display so as to display inputted data on the display based on the coordinate data corresponding to the specified points simultaneously when the graphic data is inputted by the plane entering means.

39. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 38 further comprising graphic trace indication controlling means for controlling the display so as to indicate a graphic connecting the specified points.

40. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 38 further comprising:

entering keys;

function keys group;

computing means for computing according to the entered data through the entering keys and function keys group; and

computed result indication controlling means for controlling the display so as to display the computed results of the computing means on a predetermined region of the display.

59. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 38 further comprising:

entering keys;

function keys group;

computing means for computing according to the entered data through the entering keys and function keys group;

computed result indication controlling means for controlling the display so as to display the computed results of the computing means on a predetermined region of the display.

41. An electronic measuring apparatus comprising:

external entering means for externally entering graphic data of an object to be measured by specifying a plurality of points;

graphic data generating means for generating coordinate data in response to the specified point of said external entering means;

a display for displaying a graphic connecting the specified points of said external entering means in response to the coordinate data;

calculating means for carrying out a predetermined calculation for each measuring according to the coordinate data; and

display means for displaying the calculated results of said calculating means.

42. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 41 further comprising:

width dimension entering means for entering specific width dimension data; and

displayed line width changing means for changing a displayed line of the graphic on the display according to the specific width dimension data.

43. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 41 further comprising:

deleting region entering means for entering specific deleting region data;

re-display entering means for entering specific re-displaying data; and

graphic changing means for deleting a predetermined region of the graphic on the display in accordance with the specific deleting region data, and for storing the deleted graphic so as to re-display the deleted graphic based on the specific re-displaying data.

44. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 41 further comprising:

entering keys;

function keys group;

computing means for computing according to the entered data through the entering keys and function keys group; and

computed result indication controlling means for controlling the display so as to display the computed results of the computing means on a predetermined region of the display.

45. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 41 wherein the display has front and back surfaces;

said display further including means for displaying an object to be measured on an item at said front surface when the item is adjacent to said back surface.

46. An electronic measuring apparatus comprising:

plane entering means including a display having a scope on which a cursor is displayed;

cursor operating means for moving the cursor within the scope;

specific point setting means for setting a cursor position of the scope as the specific point;

graphic data generating means for generating coordinate data in response to the specified points;

graphic trace indication controlling means for controlling the display so as to indicate a graphic connecting the specified points;

width dimension entering means for entering specific width dimension data;

displayed line width changing means for changing a displayed line of the graphic on the display according to the specific width dimension data;

calculating means for carrying out a predetermined calculation according to the coordinate data for each measuring; and

display means for displaying the calculated results of said calculating means.

47. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 46 further comprising:

deleting region entering means for entering specific deleting region data;

re-display entering means for entering specific re-displaying data; and

graphic changing means for deleting a predetermined region of the graphic on the display in accordance with the specific deleting region data, and for storing the deleted graphic so as to re-display the deleted graphic based on the specific re-displaying data.

49. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 46 wherein the display has front and back surfaces;

said display further including means for displaying an object to be measured on an item at said front surface when the item is adjacent to said back surface.

50. An electronic measuring apparatus comprising:

plane entering means for entering graphic data of straight lines by specifying a plurality of points the plane entering means including a light transmitting display having a dot matrix pattern;

graphic data generating means for generating coordinate data in response to the specified points within said plane entering means;

calculating means for carrying out a predetermined calculation according to the coordinate data for each measuring; and

display means for displaying the calculated results of said calculating means,

wherein said calculating means calculates an angle between two straight lines, not parallel with each other, based on the coordinate data when the two straight lines are specified within the plane entering means; and

graphic trace indication controlling means for controlling the display so as to display inputted data on the display based on the coordinate data corresponding to the specified points simultaneously when the graphic data is inputted by the plane entering means.

51. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 50 further comprising angle indication instructing means for instructing which one of a maximum angle and minimum angle between the two straight lines should be displayed by the display means, wherein said calculating means calculates the angle to be displayed based on the instructions.

52. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 51 further comprising angle unit conversion entering means for entering specific angle unit conversion data, wherein said calculating means carries out the unit conversion of the calculated angle according to the specific angle unit conversion data.

53. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 50 further comprising angle unit conversion entering means for entering specific angle unit conversion data, wherein said calculating means carries out the unit conversion of the calculated angle according to the specific angle unit conversion data.

54. An electronic measuring apparatus comprising:

transparent entering means for entering graphic data of an item to be measured on an object by specifying a plurality of points;

graphic data generating means for generating coordinate data in response to the respective specified points;

calculating means for carrying out a predetermined calculation based on the coordinate data; and

display means for displaying the calculated results of said calculating means.

55. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 54 wherein said plurality points are specified within the entering means.

56. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 55 wherein said entering means includes a display.

57. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 56, wherein said display includes a scope on which a cursor is displayed.

58. The electronic measuring apparatus as set forth in claim 57 wherein said display is planer in shape.