KR100468842B1 - Wireless information processing apparatus using supersonic waves - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an input device of an information processing device such as a computer or a communication device. According to the present invention, it has a key region, and includes a transmitter for generating an ultrasonic pulse from a key selected and pressed by a user, and a receiver for receiving the ultrasonic pulse to determine the position of the pressed key. A wireless information processing apparatus is provided.

Description

Wireless information processing apparatus using ultrasonic pulses

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an input device of an information processing device such as a computer or a communication device, and more particularly, to a wireless information processing device which transmits and receives using ultrasonic pulses.

BACKGROUND ART In general, a keyboard having character keys for inputting characters such as letters and numbers and function keys for performing various controls is used for various information processing apparatuses including personal computers. Since a conventional keyboard is used by being connected to various information processing devices by a cable, there is a problem that the cable is obstructed or is too short to be used at will.

In order to solve this problem, wireless keyboards without cables have been recently developed. As an example, FIG. 1 shows an optical wireless keyboard according to the prior art using infrared as a communication means. FIG. 1 and the description thereof are disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-0028743 filed September 30, 1999 by Alps Denki Kabushi Kaisha, Kataoka Masataka.

The optical wireless keyboard as shown in FIG. 1 is composed of a keyboard body 1 and an optical signal transmitter 2 for transmitting infrared signals disposed on the inner side thereof, and a plurality of keys are arranged on the surface of the body 1 of the keyboard. The key area 3 and the mouse function part 4 are provided. The optical wireless keyboard incorporates a plurality of maker codes determined for each maker to selectively optically control TVs, VTRs, etc. of major makers. Therefore, it is characterized by operating all as one keyboard without controlling a home appliance with a separate remote control.

The present invention provides a wireless keyboard of a new concept completely different from the conventional optical wireless keyboard described above.

An object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus capable of wirelessly exchanging signals with an information processing device by using a new communication means without using infrared rays as in the prior art.

1 is an optical wireless keyboard according to the prior art using infrared as a communication means.

2 is an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a view showing an embodiment of the present invention in detail.

4 is a diagram showing a trigonometry for calculating a position according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 illustrates unit key patterns according to an embodiment of the present invention.

* Description of symbols on the main parts of the drawings *

100: transmitter

105: key area

106: first synchronization unit

200: receiver

202: first ultrasonic receiver

204: second ultrasonic receiver

206: second synchronization unit

In order to achieve the above object, the wireless information processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a transmitter having a key area and generating an ultrasonic pulse from a key selected and pressed by a user, and a position of the pressed key by receiving the ultrasonic pulse. It includes a receiver.

As described above, the wireless information processing apparatus according to the present invention is largely divided into a transmitter and a receiver. As shown in FIG. 2, the receiver 200 may be a computer and peripheral devices, and the transmitter 100 may be a keyboard. have. Note that one embodiment of the detailed description of the present invention is limited to a computer and a keyboard thereof, but is not necessarily limited thereto, and is applicable to any information processing apparatus for determining the position of a pressed key using ultrasonic waves. I hope.

That is, the present invention according to the embodiment is characterized in that the wireless keyboard using ultrasonic waves, and the technology of determining the position of the key through the ultrasonic waves generated from the keyboard and displays the information appropriate to the position. .

3 illustrates a wireless information processing apparatus using ultrasonic waves according to an embodiment of the present invention, which illustrates a transmitter 100 that is a wireless keyboard and a receiver 200 that is part of a computer main body.

The transmitter 100 has a key area composed of a plurality of unit keys 112 and a first synchronizer 106 for generating a synchronization signal. The receiver 200 includes a second synchronizer 206 and first and second ultrasonic receivers 202 and 204.

Each of the plurality of unit keys 112 may include an electrode unit including the ground electrode 102 and the driving electrode 104, a switch unit 110 for switching the ground electrode 102 and the driving electrode 104, and an ultrasonic wave. It is composed of a polymer piezoelectric film portion 108 to.

The ground electrode 102 and the driving electrode 104 are arranged horizontally and vertically on the substrate of the transmitter 100, and are designed to be switched by the user's pressing on each unit key 112. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, two electrode specimens may be positioned to face each other at each end of the unit key 112 so as to be contacted by a user's pressing. In addition, although not shown, the two electrodes may be positioned to face each other up and down like the unit keys of the existing standard keyboard, so that the user may make vertical contact by pressing the user. In addition to the above two, the switch configuration of the two electrodes can be proposed in various ways.

The polymer piezoelectric film part 108 generating ultrasonic waves converts an electrical signal generated from contact between two electrode specimens into elastic wave energy to generate ultrasonic waves having a frequency of several kHz or more. For example, the polymer piezoelectric film unit 108 may be a polymer piezoelectric film, and may be polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polyvinylidene fluoride (PTDF), or polyvinyl fluoride (PVF).

The polymer piezoelectric film is manufactured as a polymer thin film in a few tens of micrometer units or several micrometers units by well-known molding, extrusion method and casting method. In addition, in order to have piezoelectric properties and pyroelectric properties, a high electric field is applied to the polymer thin film manufactured as described above to have piezoelectric properties.

In order to have pyroelectric properties, polarization and stretching are performed on the polymer thin film.

Polarization is a method using a high electric field, by applying metal electrodes to both sides of a polymer sample prepared in the form of a film using a molding and extrusion method to polarize under a high electric field. In addition, the stretching may be carried out at least about four times or more at about 60-100 ° C. to the prepared polymer film, so that molecular chains are oriented in the stretching direction to have a large dipole.

For a more detailed method for producing a polymer film, refer to Korean Patent Application No. 10-1998-0020433 "Polyvinylidene fluoride thin film and electret manufacturing apparatus".

The polymer piezoelectric film portion 108 prepared as described above is attached to, for example, two electrode specimens at both ends thereof through a well-known plasma surface treatment technique. The adhesion of metal materials to polymer films has been studied for a long time, and various methods have been proposed. For example, Japanese Patent No. 96-258465 "Method of Attaching Fluorinated Resin to Metal" discloses a method of attaching a metal material to PVDF.

The oscillation frequency of the polymer piezoelectric film portion 108 is determined by a preset driving current.

The first synchronization unit 106 is a light emitting diode and is located in front of the center of the transmitter 100. The output light of the first synchronizing unit 106 is received by the second synchronizing unit 206 of the receiving unit 200 and transmitted simultaneously with the generation of ultrasonic waves from the polymer piezoelectric film 108. Since there is no delay in the reception of the light in the second synchronization unit 206, it is possible to measure the generation distance l ₁ , l ₂ of the ultrasonic wave only by multiplying the speed of the received ultrasonic wave by the delay time of the received ultrasonic wave. do.

This will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4. From the following description, the receiver 200 may understand a method of determining the position from the ultrasonic waves generated by the transmitter 100 and displaying information corresponding to the position.

As described above, when the user presses any unit key 112, the ground electrode 102 and the driving electrode 104 of the unit key 112 are switched. The electrical signals generated by the switches of the two electrodes are converted into elastic wave energy by the polymer film unit 108 to generate ultrasonic waves of a specific frequency. Light is output from the first synchronization unit 106 along with the generation of the ultrasonic waves.

The first and second ultrasonic receivers 202 and 204 of the receiver 200 receive ultrasonic waves, and the second synchronizer 206 of the receiver 200 receives light. The receiver 200 measures the generation distances l ₁ and l ₂ of the ultrasonic waves by multiplying the speed of the received ultrasonic waves by the delay time of the received ultrasonic waves. The determined l ₁ and l ₂ values become the reference values for the distance of the corresponding unit key 112, that is, the y value of FIG. 4, and the coordinates (x, y), that is, the corresponding unit keys ( The location of 112 is determined.

l ₁ ² = y ² + (L / 2-x) ²

l ₂ ² = y ² + (L / 2 + x) ²

L is the distance between the first and second ultrasound receivers 202 and 204 of the receiver 200, and L / 2 is the distance between the first ultrasound receiver 202 and the origin 206 and at the origin 206, respectively. The distance between the second ultrasonic receivers 204. The distance between the origin 206 and the position 207 extending vertically down from the coordinate 112 is x. Therefore, the coordinate value 112 is calculated through the quadratic equation by the rectangular isosceles triangulation by the calculation of the already determined reference values l ₁ , l ₂ and the set distance L, thereby determining the key position. As a result, information according to the determined coordinate value is selected and displayed. The ultrasonic wave generation position is calculated by, for example, a computer, that is, a central processing unit of the receiver 200 by the above trigonometric method.

5 illustrates various unit key patterns according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As an example of the unit key pattern, the unit key 120 on the base material 114 is formed in a half moon shape, and as another example, the unit key 122 on the base material 116 is configured to generate ultrasonic waves in 360 ° directions. It is formed in a circular shape, and as another example, the unit key 124 on the base material 118 is formed in a semicircular shape. In addition, various types of unit key patterns may be proposed.

In the foregoing description of the present invention, specific embodiments have been described, but various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should not be defined by the described embodiments, but should be defined by the claims and their equivalents.

For example, although the present invention generates ultrasonic waves by piezoelectric phenomenon through polyvinylidene fluoride, it is possible to generate ultrasonic waves through electron induction phenomenon and magnetostrictive phenomenon using a specific material in addition to piezoelectric phenomenon.

In addition, although unit key patterns have been described with reference to FIG. 5, various modifications are possible, including the above-described embodiment, depending on the generation angle of the ultrasonic wave and the position of the receiver.

In addition, in an embodiment of the present invention, the computer is described as a receiving unit and an ultrasonic keyboard as a transmitting unit. However, the present invention can be applied to any information processing apparatus that generates ultrasonic waves and uses and processes them as information processing signals.

As described above, the present invention provides an information processing apparatus capable of wirelessly exchanging signals with an information processing device by using new communication means without using infrared rays as in the prior art.

Claims (4)

A transmitter having a key region and generating ultrasonic pulses from a key selected and pressed by a user; And And a receiver configured to receive the ultrasonic pulse and determine a position of the pressed key. The transmitter is a wireless keyboard, the receiver is a computer having at least two ultrasonic receivers, The key may include a ground electrode and a driving electrode which are switched to each other by a user's pressing to generate an electrical signal, and a polymer piezoelectric film unit generating an ultrasonic pulse according to the electrical signal generated by the electrode. Wireless information processing device used. delete The method of claim 1, The polymer piezoelectric film unit may be formed of any one selected from the group consisting of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polyvinylidene fluoride (PTDF), and polyvinyl fluoride (PVF). The method of claim 1, And the receiving unit receives the ultrasonic pulse generated from the transmitting unit and calculates and determines the position of the key pressed by the user by triangulation.