Coordinate position inputting/detecting device, a method for inputting/detecting the coordinate position, and a display board system

• US 6,608,619 B2
• Filed: 08/05/2002
• Issued: 08/19/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Tanaka, Makoto, Tsuda, Kunikazu, Omura, Katsuyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Liang, Regina
• Application Number:
  US10/211,272
• Publication Number:
  US 20030006973A1
• Time in Patent Office: 379 Days
• Field of Search: 345/173, 345/175-183, 178/18.01, 178/18.03, 178/18.09
• US Class Current: 345/175
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/83 input devices, e.g. keyboards, mice or controllers thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0421 by interrupting or reflecting a light beam, e.g. optical touch-screen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance

Abstract

In the coordinate-position inputting/detecting device, the light receiving/emitting devices emit light beams spreading in a fan shape and travelling along an entry area. The light receiving/emitting devices also receive the light beam reflected by a recursive reflecting member and detect the distribution of the intensity of the received light beam. The coordinates of a position of a pointing body such as a user'"'"'s fingertip or a pen inserted in the entry area is identified using the distribution of intensity detected by the light receiving/emitting devices.

Claims

1. A coordinate-position inputting/detecting device comprising:

at least two light emitting means each for emitting light beams traveling along an entry area having a specified area;

reflecting means provided at a specified location in a peripheral section of the entry area for reflecting incident light beams emitted from each of said light emitting means back towards substantially the same respective light paths as the incident light beams;

at least two intensity-distribution detecting means each for receiving the light beams reflected by said reflecting means and for detecting the distribution of the intensity of the received light;

coordinate-value identifying means for identifying the coordinates of a blocked position where the light beam traveling along the entry area is blocked by using the distribution of intensity detected by each of said intensity-distribution detecting means;

minimum-value identifying means for identifying local minimum values of the distribution of intensity detected by each of said intensity-distribution detecting means;

storing means for storing therein at least one of the local minimum values identified by said minimum-value identifying means and the coordinates identified by said coordinate-value identifying means; and

determining means for determining the contents of an operation performed in said entry area according to a previously prepared condition and at least one of the local minimum values and the coordinates stored in said storing means,

wherein the determining means determines the contents of the operation performed in the entry area is a pointing state when a local minimum value is smaller than a first predetermined intensity threshold but larger than a second predetermined intensity threshold, said first predetermined intensity threshold being larger than said second predetermined intensity threshold.

2. A coordinate-position inputting/detecting device comprising:

at least two light emitting units each configured to emit light beams traveling along an entry area having a specified area;

a reflecting unit provided at a specified location in a peripheral section of the entry area and configured to reflect incident light beams emitted from each of said light emitting units back towards substantially the same light paths as the incident light beams;

at least two intensity-distribution detecting units each configured to receive the light beams reflected by said reflecting unit and to detect the distribution of the intensity of the received light;

a coordinate-value identifying unit configured to identify the coordinates of a blocked position where the light beam traveling along the entry area is blocked by using the distribution of intensity detected by each of said intensity-distribution detecting units;

a minimum-value identifying unit configured to identify local minimum values of the distribution of intensity detected by each of said intensity-distribution detecting units;

a memory configured to store at least one of the local minimum values identified by said minimum-value identifying unit and the coordinates identified by said coordinate-value identifying unit; and

a determining unit configured to determine the contents of an operation performed in said entry area according to a previously prepared condition and at least one of the local minimum values and the coordinates stored in said memory,

wherein the determining unit determines the contents of the operation performed in the entry area is a pointing state when a local minimum intensity value is smaller than a first predetermined intensity threshold but larger than a second predetermined intensity threshold, said first predetermined intensity threshold being larger than said second predetermined intensity threshold.

3. A method for inputting/detecting coordinate-position comprising the steps of:

emitting light beams traveling along an entry area with at least two light emitting units, said entry area having a specified area;

reflecting incident light beams emitted from each of said light emitting units with a reflecting unit back towards substantially the same respective light paths as the incident light beams, said reflecting unit provided at a specified location in a peripheral section of said entry area;

receiving the light beams reflected by said reflecting unit and detecting the distribution of the intensity of the received light with at least two intensity-distribution detecting units;

identifying a position on said entry area at which the light beams traveling along the entry area are blocked with a coordinate-value identifying unit according to the distribution of the intensity of the received light detected by each of said intensity-distribution detecting units;

identifying local minimum values of the distribution of intensity detected by each of said intensity-distribution detecting units with a minimum-value identifying unit;

storing in a memory at least one of the local minimum values identified by said minimum-value identifying unit and the coordinates identified by said coordinate-value identifying unit; and

determining the contents of an operation performed in said entry area according to a previously prepared condition and at least one of the local minimum values and the coordinates stored in the storing step,

wherein the determining step determines the contents of the operation performed in the entry area is a pointing state when a local minimum value is smaller than a first predetermined intensity threshold but larger than a second predetermined intensity threshold, said first predetermined intensity threshold being larger than said second predetermined intensity threshold.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the receiving step comprises:

converging the light reflected by said reflecting step; and

outputting an electric signal according to the distribution of intensity of the converged light.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein said position identifying step comprises:

detecting dark points generated due to blocking of a light beam within said entry area according to the electric signals outputted from said outputting step; and

computing the coordinates of the light-blocked position using the position of the dark points detected by said dark point detecting step.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein said position identifying step comprises:

detecting dark points generated due to blocking of a light beam within said entry area according to the electric signal outputted from said outputting step;

storing coordinate information obtained by previously correlating the coordinates within said entry area to each combination of the dark points detected by said dark point detecting step; and

selecting the coordinates corresponding to the combination of the relative positions of the dark points detected by said dark point detecting step as the coordinates of the light-blocked position.

7. A coordinate-position inputting/detecting device comprising:

at least two light emitting means each for emitting light beams traveling along an entry area having a specified area;

reflecting means provided at a specified location in a peripheral section of the entry area for reflecting incident light beams emitted from each of said light emitting means back towards substantially the same respective light paths as the incident light beams;

at least two intensity-distribution detecting means each for receiving the light beams reflected by said reflecting means and for detecting the distribution of the intensity of the received light;

coordinate-value identifying means for identifying the coordinates of a blocked position where the light beam traveling along the entry area is blocked by using the distribution of intensity detected by each of said intensity-distribution detecting means;

minimum-value identifying means for identifying a value that represents a change in light intensity due to a touch detected by each of said intensity-distribution detecting means;

storing means for storing therein at least one of the value that represents the change in light intensity due to the touch identified by said minimum-value identifying means and the coordinates identified by said coordinate-value identifying means; and

determining means for determining the contents of an operation performed in said entry area according to a previously prepared condition and at least one of the value that represents the change in light intensity due to the touch and the coordinates stored in said storing means,

wherein the determining means determines the contents of the operation performed in the entry area is a pointing state when the value that represents the change in light intensity due to the touch is smaller than a first predetermined intensity threshold but larger than a second predetermined intensity threshold, and said first predetermined intensity threshold being larger than said second predetermined intensity threshold.

8. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 7, wherein said light emitting means forms a light beam from a light source in a fan shape and emits the fan-shaped light beam.

9. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 8, wherein one light source is provided for all of said light emitting means or one light source is provided for each of said light emitting means.

10. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 8, wherein each of said light emitting means comprises a light converging system for converging a light beam from said light source to form a fan shape light beam.

11. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 7, wherein each of the intensity-distribution detecting means comprises:

light converging means for converging the light reflected by said reflecting means; and

light-receiving means provided in the downstream side from said light converging lens for outputting an electric signal according to the distribution of intensity of the converged light.

12. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 11, wherein each of said intensity-distribution detecting means comprises a slit instead of said light converging means for leading the light reflected by said reflecting means to said light-receiving means.

13. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 11, wherein said coordinate-value identifying means comprises:

dark point detecting means for detecting dark points on said light-receiving means generated due to blocking of a light beam within said entry area according to the electric signals outputted from each of said light-receiving means; and

first computing means for computing the coordinates of the light-blocked position using the position of the dark points detected by said dark point detecting means.

14. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 13, wherein said coordinate-value identifying means further comprises:

intensity-value identifying means for identifying the light intensity values of the dark points detected by said dark point detecting means respectively according to electric signals outputted from said light-receiving means;

second computing means for computing a time differentiation of the coordinates obtained by said first computing means;

storing means for storing therein at least one of the light intensity values identified by said intensity-value identifying means, the coordinates obtained by said first computing means and the time-differentiated values obtained by said second computing means in a correlated form; and

determining means for determining the contents of an operation performed in said entry area according to the previously prepared condition and at least one of the light intensity values, coordinates and the time-differentiated values each stored in said storage means.

15. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 14, wherein said determining means uses a result of a previous determination concerning the contents of the operation as one of the conditions.

16. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 11, wherein said coordinate-value identifying means comprises:

dark point detecting means for detecting dark points on said light-receiving means generated due to blocking of a light beam within said entry area according to the electric signal outputted from each of said light-receiving means;

storing means for storing therein coordinate information obtained by previously correlating the coordinates within said entry area to each combination of the dark points detected by said dark point detecting means; and

selecting means for selecting the coordinates corresponding to the combination of the relative positions of the dark points detected by said dark point detecting means as the coordinates of the light-blocked position.

17. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 16, wherein said coordinate-value identifying means further comprises:

intensity-value identifying means for identifying the light intensity values of the dark points detected by said dark point detecting means respectively according to the electric signals outputted from said light-receiving means;

first computing means for computing a time differentiation of coordinates selected by said selecting means;

storing means for storing therein at least one of the light intensity values identified by said intensity-values identifying means, the coordinates selected by said selecting means and the time-differentiated value obtained by said first computing means in a correlated form; and

determining unit for determining the contents of an operation performed in said entry area according to the previously prepared condition and at least one of the light intensity values, coordinates and the time-differentiated values stored in said storing means.

18. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 17, wherein said determining means uses a result of a previous determination concerning the contents of the operation as one of the conditions.

19. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 7, wherein said determining means uses a result of a previous determination concerning the contents of the operation as one of the conditions.

20. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 7, wherein said entry area is formed, when the coordinate-position inputting/detecting device is to be attached in front of the display surface of a display unit, of the size that matches with the size of the display surface.

21. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 7, wherein said entry area is formed, when the coordinate-position inputting/detecting device is to be attached in front of a write-in surface for writing freehand characters and graphics, of the size that matches with the size of the write-in surface.

22. A coordinate-position inputting/detecting device comprising:

at least two light emitting units each configured to emit light beams traveling along an entry area having a specified area;

a reflecting unit provided at a specified location in a peripheral section of the entry area and configured to reflect incident light beams emitted from each of said light emitting units back towards substantially the same light paths as the incident light beams;

at least two intensity-distribution detecting units each configured to receive the light beams reflected by said reflecting unit and to detect the distribution of the intensity of the received light;

a coordinate-value identifying unit configured to identify the coordinates of a blocked position where the light beam traveling along the entry area is blocked by using the distribution of intensity detected by each of said intensity-distribution detecting units;

a minimum-value identifying unit configured to identify a value that represents a change in light intensity due to a touch detected by each of said intensity-distribution detecting units;

a memory configured to store at least one of the value that represents the change in light intensity due to the touch identified by said minimum-value identifying unit and the coordinates identified by said coordinate-value identifying unit; and

a determining unit configured to determine the contents of an operation performed in said entry area according to a previously prepared condition and at least one of the value that represents the change in light intensity due to the touch and the coordinates stored in said memory,

wherein the determining unit determines the contents of the operation performed in the entry area is a pointing state when the value that represents the charge in light intensity is smaller than a first predetermined intensity threshold but larger than a second predetermined intensity threshold, said first predetermined intensity threshold being larger than said second predetermined intensity threshold.

23. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 22, wherein said light emitting units form a light beam from a light source in a fan shape and emits the fan-shaped light beam.

24. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 23, wherein one light source is provided for all of said light emitting units or one light source is provided for each of said light emitting units.

25. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 23, wherein each of said light emitting units comprise a light converging system for converging a light beam from said light source to form a fan shape light beam.

26. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 22, wherein each of the intensity-distribution detecting units comprises:

a light converging unit configured to converge the light reflected by said reflecting unit; and

a light-receiving unit provided in the downstream side from said light converging unit and configured to output an electric signal according to the distribution of intensity of the converged light.

27. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 26, wherein each of said intensity-distribution detecting units comprise a slit instead of said light converging unit configured to lead the light reflected by said reflecting unit to said light-receiving unit.

28. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 26, wherein said coordinate-value identifying unit comprises:

a dark point detecting unit configured to detect the dark points on said light-receiving unit generated due to blocking of a light beam within said entry area according to the electric signals outputted from each of said light-receiving units; and

a first computing unit configured to compute the coordinates of the light-blocked position using the position of the dark points detected by said dark point detecting unit.

29. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 28, wherein said coordinate-value identifying unit further comprises:

an intensity-value identifying unit configured to identify the light intensity values of the dark points detected by said dark point detecting unit respectively according to electric signals outputted from said light-receiving unit;

a second computing unit configured to compute a time differentiation of the coordinates obtained by said first computing unit;

a memory configured to store therein at least one of the light intensity values identified by said intensity-value identifying unit, the coordinates obtained by said first computing unit and the time-differentiated values obtained by said second computing unit in a correlated form; and

a determining unit configured to determine the contents of an operation performed in said entry area according to the previously prepared condition and at least one of the light intensity values, coordinates and the time-differentiated values each stored in said memory.

30. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 29, wherein said determining unit uses a result of a previous determination concerning the contents of the operation as one of the conditions.

31. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 26, wherein said coordinate-value identifying unit comprises:

a dark point detecting unit configured to detect the dark points on said light-receiving unit generated due to blocking of a light beam within said entry area according to the electric signal outputted from each of said light-receiving units;

a memory configured to store therein coordinate information obtained by previously correlating the coordinates within said entry area to each combination of the dark points detected by said dark point detecting unit; and

a selecting unit configured to select the coordinates corresponding to the combination of the relative positions of the dark points detected by said dark point detecting unit as the coordinates of the light-blocked position.

32. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 31, wherein said coordinate-value identifying unit further comprises:

an intensity-value identifying unit configured to identify the light intensity values of the dark points detected by said dark point detecting unit respectively according to the electric signals outputted from said light-receiving unit;

a first computing unit configured to compute a time differentiation of coordinates selected by said selecting unit;

a memory configured to store therein at least one of the light intensity values identified by said intensity-value identifying unit, the coordinates selected by said selecting unit and the time-differentiated values obtained by said first computing unit in a correlated form; and

a determining unit configured to determine the contents of an operation performed in said entry area according to the previously prepared condition and at least one of the light intensity values, coordinates and the time-differentiated values stored in said storing unit.

33. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 32, wherein said determining unit uses a result of a previous determination concerning the contents of the operation as one of the conditions.

34. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 22, wherein said determining unit uses a result of a previous determination concerning the contents of the operation as one of the conditions.

35. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 22, wherein said entry area is formed, when the coordinate-position inputting/detecting device is to be attached in front of the display surface of a display unit, of the size that matches with the size of the display surface.

36. The coordinate-position inputting/detecting device according to claim 22, wherein said entry area is formed, when the coordinate-position inputting/detecting device is to be attached in front of a write-in surface for writing freehand characters and graphics, of the size that matches with the size of the write-in surface.

37. A method for inputting/detecting coordinate-position comprising the steps of:

emitting light beams traveling along an entry area with at least two light emitting units, said entry area having a specified area;

reflecting incident light beams emitted from each of said light emitting units with a reflecting unit back towards substantially the same respective light paths as the incident light beams, said reflecting unit provided at a specified location in a peripheral section of said entry area;

receiving the light beams reflected by said reflecting unit and detecting the distribution of the intensity of the received light with at least two intensity-distribution detecting units;

identifying a position on said entry area at which the light beams traveling along the entry area are blocked with a coordinate-value identifying unit according to the distribution of the intensity of the received light detected by each of said intensity-distribution detecting units;

identifying a value that represents a change in light intensity due to a touch detected by each of said intensity-distribution detecting units with a minimum-value identifying unit;

storing in a memory at least one of the value that represents the change in light intensity due to the touch identified by said minimum-value identifying unit and the coordinates identified by said coordinate-value identifying unit; and

determining the contents of an operation performed in said entry area according to a previously prepared condition and at least one of the value that represents the change in light intensity due to the touch and the coordinates stored in the storing step;

wherein the determining step determines the contents of the operation performed in the entry area is a pointing state when the value that represents the change in light intensity due to the touch is smaller than a first predetermined intensity threshold but larger than a second predetermined intensity threshold, said first predetermined intensity threshold being larger than said second predetermined intensity threshold.

38. The method according to claim 37, wherein said emitting step forms a light beam from a light source in a fan shape and emits the fan-shaped light beam.

39. The method according to claim 38, wherein said emitting step forms a light beam with one light source.

40. The method according to claim 38, further comprising the step of:

converging a light beam from said light source to form a fan shape light beam.

41. The method according to claim 37, wherein the receiving step comprises:

converging the light reflected by said reflecting step; and

outputting an electric signal according to the distribution of intensity of the converged light.

42. The method according to claim 41, wherein said receiving step leads the light reflected by said reflecting step to said outputting step via a slit instead of said converging step.

43. The method according to claim 41, wherein said position identifying step comprises:

detecting dark points generated due to blocking of a light beam within said entry area according to the electric signals outputted from said outputting step; and

computing the coordinates of the light-blocked position using the position of the dark points detected by said dark point detecting step.

44. The method according to claim 43, wherein said position identifying step further comprises:

identifying the light intensity values of the dark points detected by said dark point detecting step respectively according to electric signals outputted from said outputting step;

computing a time differentiation of the coordinates obtained by said coordinate computing step;

storing at least one of the light intensity values identified by said identifying step, the coordinates obtained by said coordinate computing step and the time-differentiated values obtained by said time differentiation computing step in a correlated form; and

determining the contents of an operation performed in said entry area according to the previously prepared condition and at least one of the light intensity values, coordinates and the time-differentiated values each stored in said storing step.

45. The method according to claim 44, wherein said determining step uses a result of a previous determination concerning the contents of the operation as one of the conditions.

46. The method according to claim 43, wherein said position identifying step further comprises:

identifying the light intensity values of the dark points detected by said dark point detecting step respectively according to the electric signals outputted from said outputting step;

computing a time differentiation of coordinates selected by said selecting step;

storing at least one of the light intensity values identified by said identifying step, the coordinates selected by said selecting step and the time-differentiated values obtained by said time differentiation computing step in a correlated form; and

determining the contents of an operation performed in said entry area according to the previously prepared condition and at least one of the light intensity values, coordinates and the time-differentiated values stored in said storing step.

47. The method according to claim 46, wherein said determining step uses a result of previous determination concerning the contents of the operation as one of the conditions.

48. The method according to claim 41, wherein said position identifying step comprises:

detecting dark points generated due to blocking of a light beam within said entry area according to the electric signal outputted from said outputting step;

storing coordinate information obtained by previously correlating the coordinates within said entry area to each combination of the dark points detected by said dark point detecting step; and

selecting the coordinates corresponding to the combination of the relative positions of the dark points detected by said dark point detecting step as the coordinates of the light-blocked position.

49. The method according to claim 37, wherein said determining step uses a result of previous determination concerning the contents of the operation as one of the conditions.

50. The method according to claim 37, wherein said entry area is formed, when the coordinate-position inputting/detecting device is to be attached in front of the display surface of a display unit, of the size that matches with the size of the display surface.

51. The method according to claim 37, wherein said entry area is formed, when the coordinate-position inputting/detecting device is to be attached in front of a write-in surface for writing freehand characters and graphics, of the size that matches with the size of the write-in surface.