The invention relates to a device and a system intended for locating the tip of a pen on a writing board, the pen and the board being part of a writing digitising system further comprising at least two magnetic dipoles, each being coupled with a current source so as to create two distinct magnetic fields.
The invention also relates to a writing digitising system and a pen liable to be used by this system.
The invention has its application in the domain of laptops, electronic agendas, or during teleconferences when a hand-writ document must be sent in real time to several people communicating via an internet-type network.
A device exists whose function is to locate the tip of a pen, which is part of a writing digitising system comprising a digital board provided with means to convert pen positions into digital data which then are either stored into a memory located in the table, or sent by radio link to a computer which uses a processing software for decoding the digital data and yield the corresponding alphanumeric codes.
The Pen locating function is obtained, in this system, thanks to a predefined coordinate system covering the digital board surface.
The drawback of this device is that pen location can be obtained only on the table specifically designed for that purpose.
Another device, described in document WO 99/39302, involves a camera mounted on the pen and a pen motion tracking algorithm. This device is expensive and the involved algorithm is complex.
The invention intends to overcome the drawbacks of the above described prior art by means of a pen tip locating device operating on any writing board, submitted to a magnetic field generated by at least two dipoles.
According to the invention, the pen includes a first sensor intended for measuring magnetic fields produced by each one of the magnetic dipoles and a second sensor intended for measuring the inclination angle θ of the pen axis with respect to the vertical and transmission means for delivering data supplied by the said first and second sensors to a processing unit intended for computing the position of the pen tip on the surface of the writing board in terms of the measured magnetic fields values and the measured angle θ values.
According to the invention, the processing unit is provided with a software which calculates by triangulation the pen tip positions with respect to the position of each magnetic dipole.
According to the invention, the magnetic dipoles are concurrently supplied with alternating currents whose frequencies are different.
According to the invention, the magnetic dipoles are sequentially supplied with the same current, which may be a direct current or an alternating current.
According to the invention, the software is able to discriminate the magnetic fields induced by the dipoles according to the time when each dipole is power supplied.
According to the invention, the first sensor is a magnetometer, and the second sensor is an accelerometer able to measure the gravity field.
According to the invention, the pen further comprises a third sensor intended for detecting the contact of the pen tip with the writing board and for measuring the contact force of the said tip on the said board.
The process according to the invention comprises the following steps:
Moreover, the process includes a step for detecting the contact of the pen tip with the digitising board and for measuring the contact force of the tip onto the board.
Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will be detailed in the following description which is an example, in no way restrictive, of an embodiment of the invention, illustrated by the annexed figures:
The digitising system on
As it is shown on
Preferably, the magnetic dipoles 61, 62 are cylindrical coils whose cross-section is S, whose diameter is about 1 cm and whose length is about 1 cm. Each coils is made of n spires, n being typically equal to 100, wherein a current of intensity i is circulating.
Alternatively, the coils 61, 62 are supplied sequentially via the switch 32 by an alternating current whose frequency f0 is 100 kHz, the switch 32 being switched every 10 ms.
Alternatively, the coils 61, 62 are supplied with two currents whose frequencies are different.
On
In the particular case when board 2 is horizontal and pen 4 is inclined by an angle θ with respect to the vertical, the value of the projected magnetic field induced by the dipole 6i at point P is equal to:
Hmi=Hi cos θ=Mi/r3 cos θ
where
From the measured values Mi, Hmi and cos θ and the discriminated values of the fields of the two dipoles 61 and 62, one may derive the distances r1 and r2 of point P with respect to points M1 and M2, then the tip position by triangulation.
In the particular case when the writing board 2 is vertical,
Hmi=Hi sin θ=M/r3 sin θ
The same calculation yields the distances r1 and r2, then the position of pen tip with respect to points M1 and M2.
In the particular case when the board 2 is inclined by an angle of any value with respect to the horizontal:
The measured values of the magnetic field, pen axis inclination and contact force are transmitted by radio or via a link wire to the processing unit 20 which receives digital signals proportional to the magnetic field Hm1 and Hm2 as measured by the magnetometer by using the synchronism signal of the switch 32.
The dipoles 61 and 62 are located at fixed points with respect to board 2.
Following the preferred invention embodiment, the magnetometer 8 is located in the pen body, and comprises a hundred of spires. The inclinometer 10 is an accelerometer able to measure the projection of the gravity field along pen axis, the sensor 12 is a piezoelectric sensor.
The calculation of the tip position on board 2 is completed only once the contact force measured by the piezoelectric sensor 12 is larger than a predetermined threshold value. Besides, the analysis of the contact force of the tip onto the board 2 yields calligraphic information (downstrokes and lightstrokes) about handwriting. In the case of a signature recognition, this information improves recognition reliability.
According to another embodiment of the invention, the processing unit is built-in in the pen body and further comprises a memory to store the calculated sequence of pen tip positions. The pen includes an interface to transmit the recorded values later to a microcomputer.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
01 07322 | Jun 2001 | FR | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
4613866 | Blood | Sep 1986 | A |
4845503 | Adam et al. | Jul 1989 | A |
5521367 | Bard et al. | May 1996 | A |
5640170 | Anderson | Jun 1997 | A |
5708458 | Vrbanac | Jan 1998 | A |
5748110 | Sekizawa et al. | May 1998 | A |
5831601 | Vogeley et al. | Nov 1998 | A |
5902968 | Sato et al. | May 1999 | A |
6577299 | Schiller et al. | Jun 2003 | B1 |
20020134594 | Taylor et al. | Sep 2002 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20020180714 A1 | Dec 2002 | US |