EP0083395A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Indicator location determination interface
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
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Filing: 1982-10-05
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2002-10-05
Abstract
Abstract An interface for determining the co-ordinate location of a manually movable stylus (27) on a plane surface (26) comprises a laser beam source 10 directed onto a rotating mirror scanner (12) behind the surface. The beam is reflected by the scanner along two dihedral mirrors (18,19) at right angles and is reflected across the front of the surface to retroreflector strips (13, 15) at right angles, and back to a photodetector. The substantially constant photodetector current level is interrupted by the stylus (27) and the angular relationships derived from the timing of the interruptions. From these, the cartesian co-ordinates are determined.
Inventors
- 👤 Richard Lawrence Garwin
- 👤 James Lewis Levine
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-29 02:29
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F3/00; G06F3/01; G06F3/03; G06F3/041; G06F3/042; G06F3/0421; G06F3/0423
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 24
Claim 1
Independent Claim
96 words
1 An interface for determining the co-ordinate location of a manually movable indicator (27) on a surface (26,30), comprising means (12,17;12,64) for repeatedly sensing the position of the indicator on the surface, means for storing a series of data representative of consecutive positions of the indicator, means for indicating a termination of the sensing, and means for selecting from the stored series the data representative of one or more positions of the indicator prior to a termination indication, disregarding the data representative of one or more positions of the indicator immediately prior to the termination indication.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
96 words
1 An interface for determining the co-ordinate location of a manually movable indicator (27) on a surface (26,30), comprising means (12,17;12,64) for repeatedly sensing the position of the indicator on the surface, means for storing a series of data representative of consecutive positions of the indicator, means for indicating a termination of the sensing, and means for selecting from the stored series the data representative of one or more positions of the indicator prior to a termination indication, disregarding the data representative of one or more positions of the indicator immediately prior to the termination indication.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
17 words
2 An interface according to claim 1, in which the data storing means is a circulating memory.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
29 words
3 An interface according to claim 1 or 2, in which the selected data is from two or more consecutive positions and is averaged to determine the co-ordinate location.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
34 words
4 An interface according to any preceding claim, in which the termination indicating means is responsive to removal of the indicator from the surface during a period of a predetermined number of position sensings.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
34 words
5 An interface according to any preceding claim, in which the data storing means is responsive to application of the indicator to the surface during a period of a predetermined number of position sensings.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
33 words
6 An interface according to any preceding claim, in which the repeated sensing means includes a scanning light beam and means to detect interruption of the beam by the indicator on the surface.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
22 words
7 An interface according to any preceding claim, including means to retain and display the location of the indicator on a display.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
16 words
8 An interface according to claim 7, in which the display is a cathode ray tube.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
26 words
9 An interface according to claim 7 or 8, in which the display includes erase means responsive to a physical characteristic (29) of the indicator (27).
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
26 words
10 An interface according to any preceding claim, in which the disregarded data is that obtained during a period of 0.3 seconds prior to termination indication.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
62 words
11 An interface for determining the co-ordinate location of a manually movable indicator (27) on a surface (26,30), comprising means (12) for scanning a light beam over the surface, means (17,64) for detecting interruption of the light beam by the indicator on the surface, means for deriving angular information from such interruption, and means for determining co-ordinate information from such angular information.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
62 words
11 An interface for determining the co-ordinate location of a manually movable indicator (27) on a surface (26,30), comprising means (12) for scanning a light beam over the surface, means (17,64) for detecting interruption of the light beam by the indicator on the surface, means for deriving angular information from such interruption, and means for determining co-ordinate information from such angular information.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
26 words
12 An interface according to claim 11, in which the light beam is reflected from stationary retroreflective means (13,15) to photodetector means (17) to detect interruption.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
34 words
13 An interface according to claim 12, in which the stationary retroreflective means includes two retroreflectors inclined to each other, whereby the scanning light beam passes over the surface twice for each position determination.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
16 words
14 An interface according to claim 13, in which the two retroreflectors are at right angles.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
23 words
15 An interface according to any of claims 11 to 14, in which the light beam passes on both sides of the surface.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
18 words
16 An interface according to claim 15, in which the beam is reflected by dihedral mirror means (18,19).
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
38 words
17 An interface according to any of claims 11 to 16, in which the light beam is derived from a single light source subject to reflection to produce a scanning light beam from two separated virtual light sources.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
23 words
18 An interface according to any of claims 11 to 16, in which two light beams are used from two separated light sources.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
34 words
19 An interface according to claim 17 or 18, in which the co-ordinate information is derived from the tangential relationship of the beams from the two light sources to a fixed line or lines.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
82 words
20 An interface according to claim 17 as appendant to claim 19, in which x and y cartesian co-ordinates are developed from tangent relationship involving the angles A and A y representing respectively the angles a line through the indicator makes with the x and y axes and the specific distances along the x and y axes respectively are expressed as: and where S x and S are the specific distances of the virtual light sources along the x and y axes.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
60 words
21 An interface according to claim 18 as appendant to claim 19, in which x and y cartesian co-ordinates are tangent relationships involving the angles A 1 and A 2 representing respectively the angles made by lines through the indicator with a line joining the light sources, the sources being separated by a distance S, according to the relationships: and
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
18 words
22 An interface according to any preceding claim, in which timing is derived from the scanning light beam.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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