JPH10133802A - Inputting pen for pen-input system terminal equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inputting pen realizing input in the dark with this input pen without equipping a terminal equipment with a back light for illuminating a liquid crystal panel. SOLUTION: A miniature bulb 8 is provided in the inputting pen 1, and when a switch 6a is turned on, the miniature bulb 8 is lit by a cell 4 set in a main body case 2. A light emitted from this miniature bulb 8 is reflected by a reflecting mirror 9, and is made to go out in the direction to the tip of the inputting pen 1 through a clear annular wall 3a. This light illuminates the input face of the terminal equipment, e.g. a liquid crystal panel. This enables viewing the input face even in the dark and proper input. Thus, the back light for a liquid crystal panel is made unnecessary, and miniaturizing and thinning of a terminal equipment is enabled, and the power consumption is reduced and the life of cell is prolonged.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a terminal device adopting a pen input method, and more particularly to an input pen for inputting.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a pen input type terminal device, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-187625,
There is a configuration in which an image sensor is arranged behind a liquid crystal panel, and light is point-irradiated to the liquid crystal panel by an input pen having a light emitting element that emits light of a specific wavelength having a high transmittance. According to the terminal device and the input pen, a pattern when light emitted from the light emitting element of the input pen passes through characters, figures, and the like on the liquid crystal panel is imaged on the image sensor, and an image signal of the image sensor is used. It is possible to make an input. Further, as another configuration of the input pen, there is a technology described in the section of the prior art of the above publication, and in particular, a light emitting element and a light receiving element are provided as an input pen of a terminal device using a liquid crystal panel. There is an apparatus in which light emitted from a light emitting element is reflected by a liquid crystal panel and is received by a light receiving element to detect the position of an input pen.

[0003]

Among such prior arts, particularly in a terminal device having a liquid crystal panel, input by an input pen is performed by touching or approaching the input pen at a desired position on the display surface of the liquid crystal panel. Need to be
Therefore, a configuration is required in which a backlight is attached to the liquid crystal panel to illuminate the liquid crystal panel so that the input person can view the display surface of the liquid crystal panel even in darkness. However,
Since the backlight is configured to illuminate the entire surface of the liquid crystal panel, it is difficult to reduce its size and its power consumption becomes large. In such a terminal device, it is not preferable to provide such a backlight because of the relationship between miniaturization and battery life. For this reason, in this type of terminal device, it is difficult to visually recognize the display screen of the liquid crystal panel in darkness, and there is a problem that it is difficult to appropriately perform an input operation using an input pen.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide an input pen capable of performing input with an input pen in the dark without providing a terminal device with a backlight for illuminating a liquid crystal panel.

[0005]

An input pen according to the present invention includes a light emitting means for illumination, and the light emitting means for illumination illuminates an input surface of a pen input type terminal device with light emitted from the input pen. Configured to obtain. The illumination light emitting means is constituted by a miniature light bulb, and is turned on by a battery built in the input pen. In addition, a configuration is provided that includes a switch for turning on and off the miniature bulb and the battery. The input pen is provided with a light emitting element that emits light for input separately from the light emitting means for illumination. Further, the light emitting means for illumination may be configured to also serve as a light emitting element for emitting input light.

[0006]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional structural view of an embodiment of the input pen 1 of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a terminal device using the input pen. As shown in FIG. 2, here, the terminal device 10 has a liquid crystal panel 12 in a casing 11 as an input surface and a display surface, and a flat optical system 13 such as a Fresnel lens is provided on the back surface of the liquid crystal panel 12. The image sensor 14 is arranged through the intermediary. Then, required characters and figures are displayed on the liquid crystal panel 12, and when these characters and figures are irradiated with light of a specific wavelength having a high transmittance, the patterns of these characters and figures are imaged by the optical system 13. Imaged on element 14,
It is assumed that the input by the input pen 1 is performed.

The input pen 1 has an elongated tubular main body case 2 and a conical pen tip 3 provided at the tip of the main body case 2. A battery 4 and a light emitting circuit 5 are built in the main body case 2, and an illumination switch 6 a is provided at a base end of the main body case 2. The pen tip 3 has a peripheral surface other than a tip formed as an annular wall 3a made of transparent resin. A light emitting element 7 is arranged at the tip, and a miniature bulb 8 and a reflecting mirror 9 are provided inside the annular wall 3a.
Is arranged. Here, light emission of the light emitting element 7 is controlled by the light emitting circuit 5 so that the light emitting element 7 can emit light of a specific wavelength having a high transmittance to the liquid crystal panel 12. The miniature bulb 8 does not include this specific wavelength.
Alternatively, a light source having a specific wavelength that emits light having a low spectral level and spectral characteristics is used. The lighting switch 6a turns on and off the electrical connection between the battery 4 and the miniature bulb 8. Here, a grip-type input switch 6b for turning on and off the electrical connection between the light emitting circuit 5 and the battery 3 or between the light emitting circuit 5 and the light emitting element 7 is provided. It is turned on by gripping with your hand.

According to the input pen having this configuration, when the illumination switch 6a is turned on, the battery 4 and the miniature bulb 8 are electrically connected, and the miniature bulb 8 is turned on. The lighting light of the miniature bulb 8 is reflected by the reflecting mirror 9 in the circumferential direction, and the transparent resin annular wall 3 is formed.
a, and is refracted or diffused and emitted toward the tip of the input pen 1. When the battery 3, the light emitting circuit 5, and the light emitting element 7 are electrically connected by the grip type input switch 6b, the light emitting element 7 emits light, and light of a specific wavelength is emitted in a convergent state.

Therefore, when the terminal device 10 shown in FIG. 2 is used in darkness or the like, the illumination switch 6a of the input pen 1 is turned on and the tip of the input pen 1 is
If the posture is such that the input is made toward the miniature bulb 8, the light emitted from the miniature bulb 8 is applied to the surface of the liquid crystal panel 12, so that the liquid crystal panel 12 is illuminated by the light from the miniature bulb 8, Characters and figures displayed on the panel 12 can be visually recognized. Then, by turning on the input switch 6b with the tip of the input pen 1 facing the desired character or figure, light of a specific wavelength emitted by the light emitting element 7 is projected on these characters or figures. And the image is picked up by the imaging element 14 behind, and these inputs are realized. In this case, since the light of the miniature bulb 8 does not include light of a specific wavelength or has a low level, there is no possibility that input is performed simply by performing illumination.

As described above, in the present invention, since the input pen 1 is provided with the miniature bulb 8 as a light source for illuminating the liquid crystal panel 12, it can be used in the dark even in a terminal device having no backlight. It becomes possible. As a result, the size and weight of the terminal device can be reduced, the power consumption of the terminal device can be reduced, and the life of the terminal device can be extended. Further, since the liquid crystal panel 12 is illuminated by the illumination on the input pen 1 side, the miniature bulb 8 of the input pen 1 is used only when input is performed.
, The operation can be simplified as compared with the case where the liquid crystal panel itself is illuminated, the illumination time can be shortened, and the power consumption of the battery can be reduced in this aspect as well.

Here, in the above-described embodiment, the input pen is configured to include a light emitting element that emits light for input and a miniature bulb for illumination. The light may be diffused and used for illumination. In this case, a light emitting element that emits a relatively large amount of light is used, and a part of the emitted light is diffused by a diffusion plate or the like to illuminate the liquid crystal panel. Also, the light level when projected onto the liquid crystal panel is reduced so that no input is made by the diffused illumination light.

Further, even when a miniature bulb is used as in the above-described embodiment, the configuration of the pen tip of the input pen is not limited to the shape and structure of the above-described embodiment. By cutting the light obliquely and emitting the light of the miniature bulb from the cut surface, the light emission range is limited to eliminate the light heading around the input pen, so that more efficient illumination can be performed. It is also possible.
Furthermore, the switch is not limited to the position of the above-described embodiment, and any configuration can be adopted as long as the switch does not cause an erroneous operation in handling when carrying the input pen.

[0013]

As described above, according to the present invention, the input pen is provided with the light emitting means for illumination, and the light emitted from the light emitting means illuminates the input surface of the terminal device such as a liquid crystal panel. Accordingly, the input surface can be visually recognized without providing a backlight on the liquid crystal panel, and input can be performed in darkness. Accordingly, the size and weight of the terminal device can be reduced, the power consumption of the terminal device can be reduced, and the battery life of the terminal device can be prolonged. In addition, since the liquid crystal panel is illuminated by an operation on the input pen side, illumination only at the time of input can be realized by a simple operation, and the illumination time can be reduced to further reduce power consumption.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an embodiment of an input pen according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of an example of a terminal device using the input pen of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Input pen 4 Battery 5 Light emitting circuit 6a Illumination switch 6b Input switch 7 Light emitting element 8 Mini bulb 10 Terminal device 12 Liquid crystal panel 13 Optical system 14 Image sensor

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An input pen for designating a required portion of an input surface of a terminal device and performing an input, wherein the input pen includes a light emitting unit for illumination, and the light emitting unit for illumination includes light emitted from the input pen. An input pen for a pen input type terminal device, characterized in that the input surface of the terminal device can be illuminated. 2. The input pen according to claim 1, wherein the illumination light emitting means is constituted by a miniature bulb and is turned on by a battery built in the input pen. 3. The input pen according to claim 2, further comprising a switch for turning on and off between the miniature bulb and the battery. 4. The input pen according to claim 1, wherein the input pen includes a light emitting element that emits light for input separately from the light emitting means for illumination. 5. The input pen according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting means for illumination also serves as a light emitting element which emits light for input.