Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US7050048?oq=6377161
Timestamp: 2018-03-17 20:47:25
Document Index: 669079458

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 6', 'art 7', 'art 6', 'art 7', 'art 81', 'art 83', 'art 84', 'art 81', 'art 85']

US7050048B2 - Coordinate input and detection device and information display and input apparatus - Google Patents
US7050048B2
US7050048B2 US10670368 US67036803A US7050048B2 US 7050048 B2 US7050048 B2 US 7050048B2 US 10670368 US10670368 US 10670368 US 67036803 A US67036803 A US 67036803A US 7050048 B2 US7050048 B2 US 7050048B2
US10670368
US20040061689A1 (en )
This application is a divisional application of parent U.S. application Ser. No. 09/813,991, filed on Mar. 22, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,654,007, which claims priority to JP 2000-096991, filed on Mar. 31, 2000, the contents of both which are incorporated by reference.
The above objects of the present invention are also achieved by an information display and input apparatus including an information display unit including a display for displaying a variety of information, and a coordinate input and detection device, which device includes: a touch panel including a surface, the touch panel serving as the display of the information display unit; a plurality of light emitting units projecting light beams traveling parallel to the surface of the touch panel over a predetermined region of the touch panel, each of the light beams being a parallel beam having a uniform thickness in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the touch panel and having a sector shape in a direction parallel to the surface of the touch panel; a reflective member provided on a peripheral portion of the touch panel to reflect the light beams toward first optical paths through which the respective light beams travel to reach the reflective member; a plurality of intensity distribution detection units receiving the respective light beams reflected by the reflective member to detect intensity distributions of the light beams; a coordinate detection unit detecting a coordinate value of a position where the light beams are interrupted based on the intensity distributions; and a plurality of filters disposed in respective second optical paths in directions perpendicular to directions in which the respective lights beams travel, the second optical paths being optical paths through which the respective light beams reflected by the reflective member travel to reach the respective intensity distribution detection units, the filters having transmission rates varying with respect to positions within the filters.
According to FIG. 3, the coordinate input and detection device includes the touch panel 10 and a pair of the optical units 1L and 1R each provided slantwise on a corresponding corner portion of the bottom side of the touch panel 10. Each of the optical units 1L and 1R includes an optical system including a light source 3, a CCD 13, a half mirror 11, cylindrical lenses 9 a through 9 c, a condenser lens (image formation lens) 12, and a filter 4. The light source 3 and the cylindrical lenses 9 a through 9 c form a light emitting part 6, and the CCD 13 and the condenser lens 12 form a light receiving part 7.
FIG. 2 is basically a view from an X-Z plane. However, a part framed by a double dot chain line a, which is a diagram viewing the light emitting part 6 in a direction indicated by arrow A from an X-Y plane, and a part framed by a double dot chain line b, which is a diagram viewing the light receiving part 7 in a direction indicated by arrow B from an Y-Z plane, are also shown in FIG. 2 for convenience of graphical representation.
FIG. 7 is a diagram for illustrating a peak point. For instance, if the sector-shaped light beam formed of the lights L1, L2, L3, . . . , Ln-1, Ln, . . . , and Lm projected from the optical unit 1L has the nth light Ln interrupted by the indicator P such as a finger or a pen, the nth light Ln never reaches the retroreflective sheet 2. Therefore, since the nth light Ln is never detected by the CCD 13L of the optical unit 1L, a point of weak optical intensity (dark point) is generated in a position in the optical detector array of the CCD 13L at a distance DnL from a center C thereof. Hereinafter, this position is referred to as a position DnL. As a result, a peak point of a lowered level appears in the waveform of the intensity distribution of the light beam outputted from the CCD 13L. Similarly, with respect to the optical unit 1R, a dark point is generated in a position DnR in the optical detector array of the CCD 13R, and consequently, a peak point of a lowered level appears in the waveform of the intensity distribution of the light beam outputted from the CCD 13R.
When the positions of the peak points are detected from the first and second waveform data by the peak detectors 25L and 25R, respectively, the x-y computing element 29 computes the coordinate value (x, y) of the position of the indicator P that causes the peak points to appear in the first and second waveform data.
By employing θnL obtained from the formula (1) and θnR obtained from the formula (2), an angle θL formed between the light Ln of the optical unit 1L shown in FIG. 8 and the bottom side (X-axial) of the touch panel 10, and an angle θR formed between the light Rn of the optical unit 1R and the bottom side (X-axial) of the touch panel 10 can be computed from the following formulas.
As shown in FIG. 8, if a point on the panel surface 10 a of the touch panel 10 of the coordinate input and detection device is indicated by the indicator P such as a finger or a pen, the lights Ln and Rn projected respectively from the optical units 1L and 1R are interrupted by the indicator P so as to be prevented from reaching the retroreflective sheet 2. Therefore, the lights Ln and Rn are never detected by the CCDs 13L and 13R of the optical units 1L and 1R, respectively.
According to the multimedia board 80, when information is freely written to or an indication is freely provided on the screen of the flat panel 81 a by means of a finger or a pen, the as-written information or information corresponding to the indication can be displayed on the projector-like large screen of the board part 81, and the information or the indication can be inputted to a computer housed in the computer housing part 83. Further, a sharp color image based on data from the computer or reproduced image data from a video deck housed in the video deck housing part 84 can be displayed on the large screen of the board part 81. In addition, information displayed on the screen can be printed out on sheets of paper from a printer housed in the printer housing part 85.
a plurality of intensity distribution detection units receiving the respective light beams reflected by said reflective member to detect intensity distributions of the light beams; and
2. An information display and input apparatus comprising:
a coordinate input and detection device, the device comprising:
3. A coordinate input and detection device comprising;
a plurality of intensity distribution detection means for receiving the respective light beams reflected by said reflective means to detect intensity distributions of the light beams; and
a plurality of filter means disposed in respective second optical paths in directions perpendicular to directions in which the respective light beams travel, the second optical paths being optical paths through which the respective light beams reflected by said reflective means travel to reach said respective intensity distribution detection means, said filter means having transmission rates varying with respect to positions within said filter meats.
US10670368 2000-03-31 2003-09-26 Coordinate input and detection device and information display and input apparatus Active 2021-12-12 US7050048B2 (en)
US09813991 US6654007B2 (en) 2000-03-31 2001-03-22 Coordinate input and detection device and information display and input apparatus
US09813991 Division US6654007B2 (en) 2000-03-31 2001-03-22 Coordinate input and detection device and information display and input apparatus
US20040061689A1 true US20040061689A1 (en) 2004-04-01
US7050048B2 true US7050048B2 (en) 2006-05-23
JP2678231B2 (en) 1986-02-18 1997-11-17 キヤロル タツチ インコ−ポレ−テツド Light blocking detector