Patent ID: 7414617

Claim:
A coordinate input device for generating a coordinate value pointed on a coordinate detection field by a positioning tool including a user's finger and a pen which has a retroreflection member at its tip, said coordinate input device comprising: a pair of cameras positioned in an upper left position and an upper right position of a display screen of a monitor lying close to a plane extending from the display screen of the monitor and view a side face of said positioning tool in contact with said display screen to capture an image of said positioning tool within a field of view, each of said pair of cameras including infrared emitting diodes in the vicinity of an imaging lens for illuminating said coordinate detection field; a reflective outline frame formed of a member having a retroreflection and a member having a low reflectance running side by side along three sides of the display screen except a top side of the display screen so that a border line providing a sharp white and black contrast between the two members comes within the field of the two cameras, said member having the retroreflection and said member having the low reflectance being arranged at an inner and an outer position respectively from said display screen; and a control circuit which calculates the coordinate value of said positioning tool pointed within the coordinate detection field, based on video signals output from said pair of cameras, and transfers the coordinate value to a program of a computer, wherein, when said user's finger crosses said border line so as to be in contact with the display screen, the user's finger is detected based on a sharp contrast between the user's finger and the inner retroreflection member of the outline frame and, when said pen having the retroreflection member at its tip crosses said border line so as to be in contact with the display screen, the pen is detected based on a sharp contrast between the retroreflection member of the pen and the outer low reflection member of the outline frame.