Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Computer graphics processing – Graph generating
Reexamination Certificate
1998-02-26
2001-07-31
Nguyen, Phu K. (Department: 2772)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Computer graphics processing
Graph generating
Reexamination Certificate
active
06268868
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an information displaying apparatus for detecting an indicated position and/or size of an indicator on a display screen of a display unit on which information is displayed by a computer system, etc., and directly displaying the detected result on the display screen of the display unit, or for displaying the detected result on a display screen which is superimposed on the display screen of the display unit.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to spread of computer systems such as personal computers, a device, which inputs new information and gives various instructions to a computer system by indicating a display screen of a display unit where information is displayed by the computer system using a human finger or a specified indicator, is being utilized.
In the case where such information displayed on the display screen of the display unit such as a personal computer is inputted by a touching method, it is necessary to accurately detect a touched position (indicated position) on the display screen. As a method of detecting the indicated position on the display screen to be a coordinate surface, “Carol methods” (U.S. Pat. No. 4,267,443) is known. In this method, by positioning light emitting elements and light receiving elements in a frame on a front face of the display screen so that they face each other, a light matrix is provided to the front face of the display screen, and a position at which a light is blocked by a finger or pen is detected. According to such a method, high SN ratio is obtained, so it is possible to expand an application to a large-size display unit, but since resolution of detection is in proportion to an interval between the light emitting elements and light receiving elements, it is necessary to narrow the interval therebetween to improve the resolution of detection. Therefore, also in the case where a large-size screen is touched by a thin matter such as a point of a pen, when the touched position is detected accurately, there arises a problem such that a number of the light emitting elements and light receiving elements to be positioned becomes larger, and the arrangement becomes larger, and signal process becomes complicated.
In addition, another optical position detecting method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-211637 (1982). In this method, a focused light such as a laser beam is scanned angularly from outside of the display screen, an angle in which a dedicated pen exists is obtained from two timings of reflected lights from the dedicated pen having reflecting means, and the obtained angle is adapted to the principle of a triangulation so that a coordinate of a position is detected by calculation. By this method, a number of parts can be decreased greatly, and high resolution can be obtained. However, there is a problem in operability such that a dedicated reflecting pen must be used, and it is impossible to detect the position of a finger, arbitrary pen, etc.
Further, still another optical position detecting method is suggested in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-5428 (1987). In this method, a light recursive reflector is disposed at both frames of the display screen, return lights from the light recursive reflectors of the light beam which has been scanned angularly are detected, an existence angle of the finger or pen is obtained from the timing that the light beam is blocked by the finger or pen so that a coordinate of a position is detected from the obtained angle according to the principle of a triangulation. By this method, an accuracy in detection can be maintained with a number of parts being small, and a position of a finger, arbitrary pen, etc. can be also detected.
As the adaptation of the above-mentioned device, a device, which draws an image by making an indicator move on a display screen, has been already put into practice. However, in such a conventional device, it was necessary to specify a size of a point and a thickness of a line to be drawn before drawing, so it was impossible to change a thickness of one line and change it in steps during drawing. The same was applied to colors, shading, brightness, etc. Moreover, in order to erase a portion which was once drawn, it was necessary to start a so-called erasing function. Further, it was impossible to draw such an image with a writing brush dripped in the ink, namely, to express subtle blur.
The present invention is devised in view of such reasons, and it is an object to provide an information displaying apparatus which is capable of drawing various images on a display screen according to sizes of indicators detected by the indicator detector, and of drawing various images on the display screen also according to a moving velocity, moving direction, etc. of the indicators.
A first aspect of an information displaying apparatus of the invention is characterized by comprising: a display unit for displaying information on a display screen; an indicator detector for detecting a position and a size of an indicator when the indicator indicates within a predetermined area on the display screen; and display controlling means for displaying an image on the screen of the display unit according to the detected result of the indicator detector, wherein the display controlling means displays images on the display screen in different manners according to the position and/or size of the indicator detected by the indicator detector.
A second aspect of the information displaying apparatus of the invention is characterized in that the indicator detector in the first aspect includes: light recursive reflecting means provided to the outside of the predetermined area; at least two pairs of light transmitting and receiving means having light scanning means for angularly scanning a light in a surface which is substantially parallel with the predetermined area, and light receiving means for receiving a reflected light from a portion which is irradiated by the light, by the light recursive reflecting means; measuring means for measuring an range of the predetermined area formed by the indicator in which the scanning light is intercepted based on the scanning angle in the light scanning means and the receiving result of the light in the light receiving means; and calculating means for calculating a position and size of the indicator based on the measured result by the measuring means.
A third aspect of the information displaying apparatus of the invention is characterized in that the display controlling means in the first or second aspect displays points with different sizes and/or lines with different thicknesses on the display screen of the display unit according to the size of the indicator detected by the indicator detector.
A fourth aspect of the information displaying apparatus characterized in that the display controlling means in the first or second aspect displays images on the display screen of the display unit so that one of color, shading and brightness of the images is different according to the size of the indicator detected by the indicator detector.
A fifth aspect of the information displaying apparatus is characterized in that the display controlling means in the first or second aspect displays images on the display screen of the display unit by a first drawing method when the size of the indicator detected by the indicator detector is smaller than a predetermined value, and by a second drawing method when the size of the indicator exceeds the predetermined value.
A sixth aspect of the information displaying apparatus is characterized in that, in the second drawing method in the fifth aspect, an image is drawn using the same color as a background color of the display screen of the display unit.
A seventh aspect of the information displaying apparatus is characterized in that, after the second drawing method in the sixth aspect is executed, the display controlling means continues the second drawing method until the indicator is not detected by the indicator detector.
An eighth aspect of t
Abe Fumitaka
Iida Atsuo
Nakazawa Fumihiko
Sano Satoshi
Yamaguchi Nobuyasu
Armstrong Westerman Hattori McLeland & Naughton LLP
Fujitsu Limited
Nguyen Phu K.
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