Pen input device using electrostatic coupling
US6281888A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 7, 1999 |
| Grant date | Aug 28, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 7, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F3/044
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A pen input device includes an array of receiver electrodes and a transmitter juxtaposed with the array for coupling electric signals from the transmitter to a person's hand. A person can use an ordinary writing instrument to write on a paper or other substrate that rests on the array, and the signal from the transmitter is coupled through the person's hand and writing instrument back to the array. The received signal strength is sent to a microprocessor for determining the position of the tip of the writing instrument, and the position can then be sent to a handwriting recognition algorithm to correlate pen strokes across the substrate to alpha-numeric characters. The transmitter can be separate from the receiver electrode array, or the receiver electrodes can be multiplexed such that one of the electrodes is selected to function as the transmitter.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.