Electronic whiteboard

• US 7,450,109 B2
• Filed: 07/13/2004
• Issued: 11/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kirkland, Dustin C., Rodriguez, Herman, Halcrow, Michael Austin, Hall, Kylene Jo
• Primary Examiner(s): Hjerpe; Richard
• Assistant Examiner(s): Abdin; Shaheda A
• Application Number:
  US10/889,783
• Publication Number:
  US 20060012561A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,582 Days
• Field of Search: 345/30, 345/173, 345/207
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0421 by interrupting or reflecting a light beam, e.g. optical touch-screen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/235 based on user input or interaction

Abstract

An improved electronic whiteboard is provided. The improved electronic whiteboard includes a plurality of toggle switches along a vertical side for drawing vertical straight lines across the electronic whiteboard and a plurality of toggle switches along a horizontal side for drawing horizontal straight lines across the electronic whiteboard. When some or all the switches along the vertical side are turned on, vertical straight lines are drawn across the electronic whiteboard. Likewise, when some or all the switches along the horizontal side are turned on, horizontal straight lines are drawn across the electronic whiteboard. The intersections of the vertical straight lines with the horizontal straight lines form a plurality of grid cells. The electronic whiteboard contains means for determining the location of these cells.

Claims

1. An improved electronic whiteboard comprising:

a surface under which a substance with light-reflecting particles is contained;

means along a vertical side for drawing horizontal lines across the electronic whiteboard, the horizontal lines drawing means including visible light reflecting off the light-reflecting particles when turned on;

means along a horizontal side for drawing vertical lines across the electronic whiteboard, the vertical lines drawing means including visible light reflecting off the light-reflecting particles when turned on;

means for determining when a plurality of vertical lines and a plurality of horizontal lines are drawn; and

means for detecting grid cells created by the plurality of the vertically and the horizontally drawn lines.

2. The improved electronic whiteboard of claim 1 wherein information is entered within the grid cells.

3. The improved electronic whiteboard of claim 2 wherein the visible light is laser light.

4. The improved electronic whiteboard of claim 2 wherein the visible light is LED light.

5. A method of implementing grid cells across an electronic whiteboard, the electronic whiteboard including means along a vertical side for drawing horizontal lines and means along a horizontal side for drawing vertical lines across the electronic whiteboard, the method comprising:

drawing vertical lines across the electronic whiteboard using the means along the horizontal side, the means along the horizontal side including means for turning on a visible light at different locations along the horizontal side, said visible light reflecting off light-reflecting particles from a substance within the electronic whiteboard to form the vertical lines when turned on;

drawing horizontal lines across the electronic whiteboard using the means along the vertical side, the means along the vertical side including means for turning on a visible light at different locations along the vertical side, said visible light reflecting off light-reflecting particles from a substance within the electronic whiteboard to form the horizontal lines when turned on; and

detecting grid cells created by the vertically and horizontally drawn lines.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein information is entered within the grid cells.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the visible light is laser light.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the visible light is LED light.

9. An electronic whiteboard system comprising:

an electronic whiteboard having a surface under which a substance with light-reflecting particles is contained, the electronic whiteboard including;

means along a vertical side for drawing horizontal lines across the electronic whiteboard, the horizontal lines drawing means including visible light reflecting off the light-reflecting particles when turned on;

means along a horizontal side for drawing vertical lines across the electronic whiteboard, the vertical lines drawing means including visible light reflecting off the light-reflecting particles when turned on; and

means for detecting grid cells on the electronic whiteboard, the detecting means including;

at least one storage device for storing code data; and

at least one processor for processing the code data to determine when a plurality of vertical lines and a plurality of horizontal lines are drawn across the electronic whiteboard, and to detect grid cells created by the vertically and the horizontally drawn lines.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein information is entered within the grid cells.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the visible light is laser light.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the visible light is LED light.