Control system for pen-input type computer

• US 5,799,107 A
• Filed: 10/15/1997
• Issued: 08/25/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/1993
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Fukuchi, Kunio
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): ROBINSON, GRETA LEE
• Application Number:
  US08/950,675
• Time in Patent Office: 314 Days
• Field of Search: 382/187, 382/181, 345/156, 345/179, 395/841, 395/840, 395/827
• US Class Current: 382/181
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/10 Character recognition
• 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 30/1444 Selective acquisition, locating or processing of specific regions, e.g. highlighted text, fiducial marks or predetermined fields

Abstract

A control system for a pen-input type computer is capable of designating character kinds and character codes for each field in a screen that are registered in advance as an input field attribute of the pen-input type computer which is characteristic of each field. In this case, the combination of recognition candidates for recognizing input hand-written characters and the registered character kinds and character codes can be additionally registered. The input field attribute can be customized on the basis of the combination. Alternatively, when characters are input by moving a plurality of input pens on a screen, the control system is capable of imparting an identification code or a security level data to each input pen, so that data from the input pens can be distinguished from each other.

Claims

1. A control system for a pen-input type computer, which allows hand-written characters to be input by moving at least one input pen on a screen, and which allows said hand-written characters to be displayed on said screen;

wherein said control system comprises a designation means for designating character kinds and character codes for each of a plurality of fields constituting said screen, that are registered in advance, as an input field attribute of said pen-input type computer which is characteristic of each of said fields and which can be input to each of said fields;

wherein a combination of recognition candidates necessary for recognizing the thus input hand-written characters and the thus registered character kinds and character codes as said input field attribute can be additionally registered;

wherein said input field attribute can be customized on the basis of said combination;

wherein said designation means is constituted by a central processing unit of said pen-input type computer;

wherein said designation means is adapted to designate whether said input field attribute that is to be registered for a recognition process of said hand-written characters is a complete list, or is to be preferentially processed;

wherein, in the case in which said input field attribute is a complete list, the number of said recognition candidates is limited so as to improve the speed of said recognition process; and

wherein, in the case in which said input field attribute is to be preferentially processed, characters having a low degree of appearance are deleted from a registration list of said input field attribute, so as to curtail the size of a memory region necessary for registering said input field attribute, and also to improve the speed of said recognition process by reducing the number of said recognition candidates with the selection of recognition candidates having higher priority among all the recognition candidates.

2. A control system as set forth in claim 1, wherein an input pad used for inputting said hand-written characters is allowed to appear on the basis of said input field attribute that is to be registered for the recognition process of said hand-written characters, and at the same time, the content of said input field attribute is displayed as a software keyboard in the proximity of said input pad, so that an input operation can be arbitrarily carried out by utilizing both of said input pad and said software keyboard as input means.

3. A control system as set forth in claim 1, wherein an input pad used for inputting said hand-written characters is allowed to appear on the basis of said input field attribute that is to be registered for the recognition process of said hand-written characters, and at the same time, the content of said input field attribute is displayed as a software keyboard in the proximity of said input pad, so that an input operation can be arbitrarily carried out by utilizing both of said input pad and said software keyboard as an input means.

4. A control system as set forth in claim 1, wherein, every time when the change of an input field or an input mode for inputting hand-written characters is effected on the basis of said input field attribute registered for the recognition process of said hand-written character, said input field attribute is reported to a general-purpose software keyboard so that the change of display keys that is to be displayed on said software keyboard or the change of a shift state of said software keyboard is carried out.

5. A control system as set forth in claim 2, wherein, every time when the change of an input field or an input mode for inputting hand-written characters is effected on the basis of said input field attribute registered for the recognition process of said hand-written character, said input field attribute is reported to a general-purpose software keyboard so that the change of display keys that is to be displayed on said software keyboard or the change of a shift state of said software keyboard is carried out.

6. A control system as set forth in claim 3, wherein, every time when the change of an input field or an input mode for inputting hand-written characters is effected on the basis of said input field attribute registered for the recognition process of said hand-written character, said input field attribute is reported to a general-purpose software keyboard so that the change of display keys that is to be displayed on said software keyboard or the change of a shift state of said software keyboard is carried out.

7. A control system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said designation means is constituted by a central processing unit of said pen-input type computer.

8. A control system for a pen-input type computer, which allows hand-written characters to be input by moving a plurality of input pens on the same input plane of a screen, and which allows said hand-written characters to be displayed on said screen;

wherein said control system comprises a security means for imparting an identification code or a security level data to each of said input pens, so that input information transmitted from said input pens can be distinguished from each other; and

wherein a program for collating security level data added to pen-input data by using said input pens, with security level data related to corresponding constituent elements on said screen that are stipulated by coordinate values acquired by an input operation of said input pens, and for judging the effectiveness of said pen-input data and said input operation, is incorporated in said pen-input type computer.

9. A control system as set forth in claim 8, wherein each of said input pens is equipped with a built-in circuit for generating said identification code or said security level data, that functions as said security means, and wherein said pen-input type computer has a detection circuit for detecting said identification code or said security level data generated in said built-in circuit, in addition to another detection circuit for detecting the coordinates of said input pens.

10. A control system as set forth in claim 8, wherein a program for executing registration of said security level data is incorporated in said pen-input type computer, as an input attribute for each of screen constituent elements including menu, icon, and field, by selecting the corresponding screen constituent elements.

11. A control system as set forth in claim 8, wherein a program for executing registration of said security level data by a range of data expressed by coordinate values on said screen for displaying said hand-written characters is incorporated in said pen-input type computer.

12. An apparatus for inputting hand-written characters, comprising:

an input pad which is displayed on a screen and is used for inputting various input items corresponding to said hand-written characters by moving at least one input pen on said input pad;

a software keyboard having a plurality of keys corresponding to a plurality of characters, which is displayed on said screen and is used for inputting desired characters corresponding to said input items by selecting the corresponding keys from said software keyboard with said at least one input pen;

each of said characters corresponding to each of said input items being arranged to be displayed on said software keyboard; and

only characters related to character kinds which are necessary for inputting said input items being arranged to be displayed on said software keyboard.

13. An apparatus for inputting hand-written characters as set forth in claim 12, wherein when it is necessary to input at least one character which is not displayed on said software keyboard, said character which is not displayed on said software keyboard is input by carrying out hand-written operations for said character on said input pad.

14. An apparatus for inputting hand-written characters, comprising:

a software keyboard having a plurality of keys corresponding to a plurality of characters that are to be input, which is displayed on said screen and is used for inputting desired characters corresponding to input information by selecting the corresponding keys from said software keyboard;

each of said characters corresponding to said information being arranged to be displayed on said software keyboard; and

only character kinds related to said characters which are necessary for inputting said input information being arranged to be displayed on said software keyboard.

15. An apparatus for inputting hand-written characters, including a plurality of input pads which are displayed on a screen and are used for inputting various input items corresponding to said hand-written characters by moving a plurality of input pens on said input pads, comprising:

means for receiving an identification code sent from a given input pen and for comparing said identification code with a reference identification code stored in advance; and

means for defining a security level for said given input pen corresponding to said identification code, on the basis of a result obtained by comparing said identification code with said reference identification code, wherein one of said input pads in which said hand-written characters can be input by using said given input pen, and at least one of said input pads in which said hand-written characters cannot be input, are established in accordance with the defined security level.