Optical scanning-type touch panel
First Claim
1. An optical scanning-type touch panel in which a region of a plane specified as an object is to be touched is touched by an indicator so that information is inputted, said touch panel, comprising:
- light recurrence reflection means provided at the outside of said plane;
at least two sets of light send/receive means having light emitting means, optical scanning means for periodically scanning a light emitted from said light emitting means angularly in a plane which is substantially parallel with said plane and light receiving means for receiving a reflected light of the light scanned by said optical scanning means from said light recurrence reflection means;
comparison means for comparing a light receiving signal by each of said light receiving means with a predetermined threshold value so as to detect a cut-off timing in the case where the indicator exists within the region of said plane;
measuring means for measuring a cut-off region of a scanning light by said indicator within the region of said plane based on a scanning angle of each of said optical scanning means and the compared result of said comparison means; and
calculating means for calculating a position and size of said indicator within the region of said plane according to the measured result by said measuring means.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A recurrence reflection sheet is provided to the outside of at least three sides of a quadrilateral display screen, two light send/receive units, which includes a light scanning element for scanning a light angularly in a plane which is substantially parallel with the display screen, and a light receiving element for receiving a reflected light from the recurrence reflection sheet, are arranged on the outside of the display screen. A cut-off region due to a finger as an indicator is obtained based on an angle of a scanning light in a timing of rise and fall of the received light level of the light receiving element, and a position of the indicator is calculated according to the obtained cut-off region.
113 Citations
44 Claims
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1. An optical scanning-type touch panel in which a region of a plane specified as an object is to be touched is touched by an indicator so that information is inputted, said touch panel, comprising:
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light recurrence reflection means provided at the outside of said plane;
at least two sets of light send/receive means having light emitting means, optical scanning means for periodically scanning a light emitted from said light emitting means angularly in a plane which is substantially parallel with said plane and light receiving means for receiving a reflected light of the light scanned by said optical scanning means from said light recurrence reflection means;
comparison means for comparing a light receiving signal by each of said light receiving means with a predetermined threshold value so as to detect a cut-off timing in the case where the indicator exists within the region of said plane;
measuring means for measuring a cut-off region of a scanning light by said indicator within the region of said plane based on a scanning angle of each of said optical scanning means and the compared result of said comparison means; and
calculating means for calculating a position and size of said indicator within the region of said plane according to the measured result by said measuring means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
wherein said plane is rectangular, wherein said light recurrence reflection means is arranged on the outside of at least three sides of said plane so that its light reflecting surface is substantially perpendicular to the light scanning surface, and wherein said two sets of light send/receive means are arranged on the outside of one side of said screen where said light recurrence reflection means is not arranged. -
3. The optical scanning-type touch panel according to claim 2, wherein said plane is rectangular and said two sets of light send/receive means are arranged along one of short sides of said plane.
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4. The optical scanning-type touch panel according to claim 2, wherein a change in a reflected light amount at the end portion of said light recurrence reflection means which faces one side of said plane where said light recurrence reflection means is not arranged is a timing of start/end of optical scanning for one period on said plane.
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5. The optical scanning-type touch panel according to claim 1, further comprising indicated position calculating means for calculating an indicated position by said indicator using a specified point on the cut-off region measured by said measuring means.
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6. The optical scanning-type touch panel according to claim 5, further comprising cross section length calculating means for calculating a cross section length of said indicator based on the cut-off region measured by said measuring means and the indicated position calculated by said indicated position calculating means.
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7. The optical scanning-type touch panel according to claim 6, further comprising:
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size information storage means for storing information about size of plural types of objects;
comparison means for comparing the information about size of said indicator obtained from the cross section length calculated by said cross section length calculating means and the information about size of plural types of objects stored in said size information storage means; and
judging means for judging a type of said indicator according to the compared result of said comparison means.
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8. The optical scanning-type touch panel according to claim 1, further comprising:
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at least two light receiving elements provided in the vicinity of said plane for receiving the scanning light from said optical scanning means, wherein a timing at which said light receiving elements receive the scanning light is a timing of start/end of optical scanning on said plane.
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9. The optical scanning-type touch panel according to claim 1, further comprising:
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reflecting means provided in the vicinity of said plane for reflecting the scanning light from said optical scanning means towards said light receiving means, wherein a timing at which said light receiving means receives the reflected light from said reflecting means is a timing of start/end of optical scanning on said plane.
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10. The optical scanning-type touch panel according to claim 1, wherein a cross sectional shape of the light scanned by said optical scanning means is flat.
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11. The optical scanning-type touch panel according to claim 1, wherein a cross sectional shape of the light scanned by said optical scanning means is flat in a direction parallel with said plane.
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12. The optical scanning-type touch panel according to claim 1, further comprising a light shielding member for prevents the light scanned by the optical scanning means of one of said two sets of light send/receive means from entering the light receiving means of the other one of said two sets of light send/receive means.
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13. The optical scanning-type touch panel according to claim 1, further comprising received light amount control means for controlling a received light amount by the respective light receiving means of said two sets of light send/receive means to make it constant.
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14. The optical scanning-type touch panel according to claim 13, wherein said received light amount control means controls intensity of the light scanned by said optical scanning means so that a received light amount of said light receiving means becomes constant.
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15. The optical scanning-type touch panel according to claim 13, wherein said received light amount control means controls an amplification factor of a level of a light receiving signal of said light receiving means so that a received light amount of said light receiving means becomes constant.
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16. The optical scanning-type touch panel according to claim 1, further comprising:
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storage means for storing information about a received light amount in an initial state in the light receiving means of said two sets of light send/receive means; and
comparison means for comparing information about a received light amount stored in said storage means with a received light amount in said light receiving means.
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17. The optical scanning-type touch panel according to claim 1, further comprising:
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storage means for storing information about a received light amount in an initial state in the light receiving means of said two sets of light send/receive means by a digital signal;
converting means for converting the digital signal stored in said storage means into an analog signal; and
comparison means for comparing a received light amount in said light receiving means with the analog signal converted by said converting means.
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18. The optical scanning-type touch panel according to claim 1, further comprising:
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switching means for switching intensity of the light scanned by said optical scanning means between at least two steps, wherein said switching means is controlled according to a scanning angle of the light scanned by said optical scanning means.
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19. An optical scanning-type touch panel in which a region of a plane specified as an object to be touched is touched by an indicator so that information is inputted, said touch panel comprising:
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light recurrence reflection means provided at the outside of said plane;
at least two sets of light send/receive means having optical scanning means for periodically scanning a light angularly in a plane which is substantially parallel with said plane and light receiving means for receiving a reflected light of the light scanned by said optical scanning means from said light recurrence reflection means; and
measuring means for measuring a cut-off region of a scanning light in said plane which is formed by said indicator based on a scanning angle of said optical scanning means and the result of receiving light by said light receiving means, wherein said plane is rectangular, wherein said light recurrence reflection means is arranged on the outside of at least three sides of said display screen so that its light reflecting surface is substantially perpendicular to the light scanning surface, wherein said two sets of light sent/receive means are arranged on the outside of one side of said display screen where said light recurrence reflection means is not arranged, and wherein a distance d between a segment of a line connecting the centers of said two sets of light send/receive means and one side of said plane where said two sets of light send/receive means are arranged is set so as to satisfy the following equation;
- View Dependent Claims (20)
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21. An optical scanning-type touch panel in which a region of a plane specified as an object to be touched is touched by an indicator so that information is inputted, said touch panel comprising:
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light recurrence reflection means provided at the outside of said plane;
at least two sets of light send/receive means having optical scanning means for periodically scanning a light angularly in a plane which is substantially parallel with said plane and light receiving means for receiving a reflected light of the light scanned by said optical scanning means from said light recurrence reflection means; and
measuring means for measuring a cut-off region of a scanning light in said plane which is formed by said indicator based on a scanning angle of said optical scanning means and the result of receiving light by said light receiving means, wherein said plane is a quadrilateral display screen, wherein said light recurrence reflection means is arranged on the outside of at least three sides of said display screen so that its light reflecting surface is substantially perpendicular to the light scanning surface, wherein said two sets of light sent/receive means are arranged on the outside of one side of said display screen where said light recurrence reflection means is not arranged, and wherein a part or whole of said light recurrence reflection means is arranged in a sawtooth form to be more perpendicular to light projected from said two sets of light send/receive means.
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22. An optical scanning-type touch panel in which a region of a plane specified as an object to be touched is touched by an indicator so that information is inputted, said touch panel, comprising:
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light recurrence reflection means provided at the outside of said plane;
at least two sets of light send/receive means having optical scanning means for periodically scanning a light angularly in a plane which is substantially parallel with said plane and light receiving means for receiving a reflected light of the light scanned by said optical scanning means from said light recurrence reflection means;
measuring means for measuring a cut-off region of a scanning light in said plane which is formed by said indicator based on a scanning angle of said optical scanning means and the result of receiving light by said light receiving means;
indicated position calculating means for calculating an indicated position by said indicator using a specified point on the cut-off region measured by said measuring means;
cross section length calculating means for calculating a cross section length of said indicated based on the cut-off region measured by said measuring means and the indicated position calculated by said indicated position calculating means;
size information storage means for storing information about size of plural types of objects;
comparison means for comparing the information about size of said indicator obtained from the cross section length calculated by said cross section length calculating means and the information about size of plural types of objects stored in said size information storage means;
judging means for judging a type of said indicator according to the compared result of said comparison means; and
invalidating means for when said indicator is judged by said judging means as an indicator other than a specified one, invalidating the cut-off region measured by said measuring means and the indicated position calculated by said indicated position calculating means.
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23. An optical scanning-type touch panel in which a region of a plane specified as an object to be touched is touched by an indicator so that information is inputted, said touch panel comprising:
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light recurrence reflection means provided at the outside of said plane;
at least two sets of light send/receive means having optical scanning means for periodically scanning a light angularly in a plane which is substantially parallel with said plane and light receiving means for receiving a reflected light of the light scanned by said optical scanning means from said light recurrence reflection means; and
measuring means for measuring a cut-off region of a scanning light in said plane which is formed by said indicator based on a scanning angle of said optical scanning means and the result of receiving light by said light receiving means, wherein a region where said indicator cannot enter is provided between said plane and said light recurrence reflection means.
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24. An optical scanning-type touch panel in which a region of a plane specified as an object to be touched is touched by an indicator so that information is inputted, said touch panel comprising:
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light recurrence reflection means provided at the outside of said plane;
at least two sets of light send/receive means having optical scanning means for periodically scanning a light angularly in a plane which is substantially parallel with said plane and light receiving means for receiving a reflected light of the light scanned by said optical scanning means from said light recurrence reflection means; and
measuring means for measuring a cut-off region of a scanning light in said plane which is formed by said indicator based on a scanning angle of said optical scanning means and the result of receiving light by said light receiving means, wherein said scanning light is a pulse light, and wherein said optical scanning means includes control means for controlling pulse emission. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27)
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28. An optical scanning-type touch panel in which a region of a plane specified as an object to be touched is touched by an indicator so that information is inputted, said touch panel comprising:
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light recurrence reflection means provided at the outside of said plane;
at least two sets of light send/receive means having optical scanning means for periodically scanning a light angularly in a plane which is substantially parallel with said plane and light receiving means for receiving a reflected light of the light scanned by said optical scanning means from said light recurrence reflection means; and
measuring means for measuring a cut-off region of a scanning light in said plane which is formed by said indicator based on a scanning angle of said optical scanning means and the result of receiving light by said light receiving means, wherein the light scanned by said optical scanning means enters directly said light receiving means without going by way of said recurrence reflection means at the start of scanning, wherein first comparison means for comparing a received light amount signal by said light receiving means with a first reference value which is comparatively large and second comparison means for comparing the received light amount signal with a second reference value which is comparatively small are provided, and wherein an output of the compared result by said first comparison means is a timing of the start of scanning. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
at least two time counting means, wherein the timing of the start of scanning which is the output of the compared result by said first comparison means is an actuating trigger of said time counting means, and said switching means is switched at the time where said time counting means counts a predetermined time.
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30. The optical scanning-type touch panel according to claim 28, further comprising:
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at least four time counting means in which the timing of the start of scanning which is the output of the compared result by said first comparison means is an actuating trigger, wherein two of said four time counting means are stopped at a timing where the output of said second comparison means is changed from true to false, and the other two time counting means are stopped at a timing where the output of said second comparison means is changed from false to true.
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31. The optical scanning-type touch panel according to claim 30, further comprising:
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at least two time counting means for counting an interval of the timing of the start of scanning which is the output of the compared result by said first comparison means, wherein counted results by said four time counting means are corrected by the counted results by said at least two time counting means.
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32. The optical scanning-type touch panel according to claim 28, further comprising:
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four time counting means in which a timing where the output of said second comparison means is changed from false to true is an actuating trigger, wherein two of said four time counting means are stopped at a timing where the output of said second comparison means is changed from true to false, and the other two time counting means are stopped at a timing where the output of said second comparison means is changed from false to true.
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33. The optical scanning-type touch panel according to claim 32, further comprising:
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at least two time counting means for counting an interval of the timing of the start of scanning which is the output of the compared result by said first comparison means, wherein the counted results by said four time counting means are corrected by the counted result by said at least two time counting means.
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34. An optical scanning-type touch panel in which a display screen of a flat display is touched by an indicator so that information is inputted, comprising:
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light recurrence reflection means arranged to the outside of three sides of said display screen;
at least two sets of light send/receive means arranged on the outside of one side of said display screen where said light recurrence reflection means is not arranged, having light emitting means, optical scanning means for periodically scanning a light emitted from said light emitting means angularly in a plane which is substantially parallel with said display screen, and light receiving means for receiving a reflected light of the light scanned by said optical scanning means from said light recurrence reflection means;
comparison means for comparing a light receiving signal by each of said light receiving means with a predetermined threshold value so as to detect a cut-off timing in the case where the indicator exists within the region of said plane;
measuring means for measuring a cut-off region of a scanning light by said indicator within the region of said plane based on a scanning angle of each of said optical scanning means and the compared result of said comparison means; and
calculating means for calculating a position and size of said indicator within the region of said plane according to the measured result by said measuring means. - View Dependent Claims (35)
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36. An optical scanning-type touch panel in which a region of a plane specified as an object to be touched is touched by an indicator so that information is inputted, said touch panel comprising:
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light recurrence reflection means provided to the outside of said plane;
at least two sets of light send/receive means having light emitting means, optical scanning means for scanning a light emitted from said light emitting means angularly in a plane which is substantially parallel with said plane, and light receiving means for receiving a reflected light of the light scanned by said optical scanning means from said light recurrence reflection means; and
measuring means for measuring a cut-off region of a scanning light in said plane which is formed by said indicator based on a scanning angle of said optical scanning means and the result of receiving light by said light receiving means, wherein said light emitting means is arranged so that an optical axis of a light emitted therefrom intersects a scanning surface of the light of said optical scanning means, and said light receiving means is arranged so that directivity of a light received thereby intersects the scanning surface of the light of said optical scanning means.
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37. An optical scanning-type touch panel in which a region of a plane specified as an object to be touched is touched by an indicator so that information is inputted, said touch panel comprising:
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light recurrence reflection means provided to the outside of said plane;
at least two sets of light send/receive means having light emitting means, optical scanning means for scanning a light emitted from said light emitting means angularly in a plane which is substantially parallel with said plane, and light receiving means for receiving a reflected light of the light scanned by said optical-scanning means from said light recurrence reflection means; and
measuring means for measuring a cut-off region of a scanning light in said plane which is formed by said indicator based on a scanning angle of said optical scanning means and the result of receiving light by said light receiving means, wherein said light emitting means is arranged so that a path of a light emitted therefrom to said optical scanning means goes away from the edge of said plane in a portion closer to said light emitting means, and said light receiving means is arranged so that directivity of a light received thereby goes away from the edge of said plane in a portion closer to said light receiving means.
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38. An optical scanning-type touch panel in which a region of a plane specified as an object to be touched is touched by an indicator so that information is inputted, said touch panel comprising:
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light recurrence reflection means provided to the vicinity of the region of said plane;
at least two sets of light send/receive means having light emitting means, optical scanning means for scanning a light emitted from said light emitting means angularly in a plane which is substantially parallel with the region of said plane, and light receiving means for receiving a reflected light of the light scanned by said optical scanning means from said light recurrence reflection means;
comparison means for comparing a light receiving signal by said light receiving means with a predetermined threshold value so as to detect a cut-off timing in the case where the indicator exists within the region of said plane;
measuring means for measuring a cut-off region of a scanning light by said indicator within the region of said plane based on a scanning angle of said optical scanning means and the compared result of said comparison means;
calculating means for calculating a position and size of said indicator within the region of said plane according to the measured result by said measuring means;
signal level detecting means for detecting a lowest level of a light receiving signal of said light receiving means;
adding means for adding a predetermined value to the signal level detected by said signal level detecting means; and
threshold value setting means for setting the add value obtained by said adding means in said comparison means as a threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (39)
said signal level detecting means detects the lowest level of the light receiving signal of said light receiving means and a lowest level of the light receiving signal in the case where said light receiving means receives a scanning light with the indicator not existing within the region of said plane, said adding means adds a value between the two levels detected by said signal level detecting means to the lowest level of the receiving signal of said light receiving means.
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40. An optical scanning-type touch panel in which a region of a plane specified as an object to be touched is touched by an indicator so that information is inputted, said touch panel comprising:
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light recurrence reflection means provided to the vicinity of the region of said plane;
at least two sets of light send/receive means having light emitting means, optical scanning means for scanning a light emitted from said light emitting means angularly in a plane which is substantially parallel with the region of said plane, and light receiving means for receiving a reflected light of the light scanned by said optical scanning means from said light recurrence reflection means;
comparison means for comparing a light receiving signal by said light receiving means with a predetermined threshold value so as to detect a cut-off timing in the case where the indicator exists within the region of said plane;
measuring means for measuring a cut-off region of a scanning light by said indicator within the region of said plane based on a scanning angle of said optical scanning means and the compared result of said comparison means;
calculating means for calculating a position and size of said indicator within the region of said plane according to the measured result by said measuring means; and
time counting means for counting a continuous time of a level of a light receiving signal of said light receiving means in the case where the indicator does not exist on said plane, wherein said measuring means measures a cut-off region in the case where the compared result of said comparison means is changed within the time counted by said time counting means. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42)
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43. An optical scanning-type touch panel in which a region of a plane specified as an object to be touched is touched by an indicator so that information is inputted, said touch panel comprising:
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light recurrence reflection means provided to the vicinity of the region of said plane;
at least two sets of light send/receive means having light emitting means, optical scanning means for scanning a light emitted from said light emitting means angularly in a plane which is substantially parallel with the region of said plane, and light receiving means for receiving a reflected light of the light scanned by said optical scanning means from said light recurrence reflection means;
comparison means for comparing a light receiving signal by said light receiving means with a predetermined threshold value so as to detect a cut-off timing in the case where the indicator exists within the region of said plane;
measuring means for measuring a cut-off region of a scanning light by said indicator within the region of said plane based on a scanning angle of said optical scanning means and the compared result of said comparison means;
calculating means for calculating a position and size of said indicator within the region of said plane according to the measured result by said measuring means; and
counting means for counting the number of times every time when said comparison means detects cut-off timings by the indicator existing on said plane, wherein said measuring means does not measure the cut-off region in the case where a counted value of said counting means is not less than two.
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44. An optical scanning-type touch panel in which a region of a plane specified as an object to be touched is touched by an indicator so that information is inputted, said touch panel comprising:
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light recurrence reflection means provided at the outside of said plane;
at least two sets of light send/receive means having optical scanning means for periodically scanning a light angularly in a plane which is substantially parallel with said plane and light receiving means for receiving a reflected light of the light scanned by said optical scanning means from said light recurrence reflection means; and
measuring means for measuring a cut-off region of a scanning light in said plane which is formed by said indicator based on a scanning angle of said optical scanning means and the result of receiving light by said light receiving means, wherein said optical scanning means is composed of a polygon mirror having three through six reflecting surfaces.
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Specification