Hand Held Digitizer

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material to which a claim of copyright protection is made. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the patent and trademark office patent file or records, but reserves all other rights whatsoever.

This invention relates to digitizers for converting continuous analog two-dimensional representations of data to digital signals.

Ever since the implementation of computers in geological exploration, it has been desirable to digitize the large amounts of data that are available only in analog form, for example of a hand picked horizon on a seismic section. However, existing devices for carrying out the digitizing have been unsatisfactory. Thus, for example, the typical mouse used with personal computers is entirely inadequate for digitizing since it lacks precision.

Also, table top systems presently employed for digitizing use large, transparent grid systems and a hand-held cursor with an induction coil for creating a current in the wires of the grid. These digitizers are cumbersome and difficult to use.

In another digitizer used for digitizing seismic sections, an optical sensor slides along a steel bar having an optical strip to determine points in the Y direction along the steel bar. In the X direction (next shot point) the steel bar must be moved by hand to the next trace.

Recently, there has been produced a planimeter which utilizes a pair of wheels, each with a rotary optical encoder, oriented parallel to each other. The planimeter responds to the differential movement of the dual rotary optical encoders as the wheels follow a trace.

The inventors have developed a two dimensional digitizer that improves on prior art digitizers and may be described in one aspect as a digitizer for digitizing a trace on a two-dimensional surface, in which the surface is defined by a longitudinal Y direction and a transverse X direction, the digitizer comprising:

a frame movable over the surface;

means mounted on the frame for restraining the frame to move in the Y direction;

a cursor mounted on the frame and restrained to move in the X direction;

means mounted on the frame for detecting the position of the frame in the Y direction and for producing a first signal representative of the Y position of the frame;

means mounted on the frame or cursor for detecting the position of the cursor in the X direction and for producing a second signal representative of the X position of the cursor;

and processing means connected to the Y position detection means and the X position detection means for processing the first and second signals.

Other embodiments of the invention may be found in the claims of this patent.

There will now be described a preferred embodiment of the invention, with reference to the figures by way of example, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view schematic, partly broken away, of a digitizer according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view schematic, partly broken away, of a digitizer according to the invention;

FIG. 3 is an electrical schematic of a digitizer according to the invention;

FIG. 4 shows a close-up detail of a gripping wheel for a digitizer according to the invention;

FIG. 5a is an end view schematic of a cursor for use with a digitizer according to the invention;

FIG. 5b is a side view schematic of a cursor for use with a digitizer according to the invention;

FIG. 5c is a top view schematic of a cursor for use with a digitizer according to the invention; and

FIGS. 6a, 6b, 6c and 6d together constitute a flow chart indicating the manner of operation of the digitizer software.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, digitizer 10 includes a frame 12 preferably made of one inch by three inch aluminum tubing. The frame 12 encloses an electronic circuit board 14 and amplifier 18. The electronic circuit board 14 houses the main electrical components of the digitizer 10, as described in more detail below. Keypad 16 is attached, by any of various conventional means, to the upper surface of the frame 12, such that it is readily accessible to a person operating the frame 12 with one hand.

The digitizer 10 is restrained to move only in its longitudinal direction (defined in this patent for convenience as the Y direction) by two diamond grit wheels 22 mounted on a 1/4" steel shaft 24. The steel shaft 24 may be mounted within the frame 12 by any of various conventional means. One of the diamond grit wheels 22 is shown in more detail in FIG. 4. Each wheel 22 includes a cylindrical wheel rim 42 with a secondary raised rim 44, about 1/16" wide. The raised rim 44 is coated with diamond grit on its circumference. The diamond grit (or equivalent grit) provides for excellent gripping on, for example, a paper surface. For ease of movement, the digitizer 10 is also provided with a rear wheel 26 mounted on an axle (not shown) at the rear of the frame 12. The rear wheel 26 may also be provided with a raised rim, and is also diamond coated.

The digitizer 10 is also provided with means for detecting the position of the digitizer 10 in the Y direction. In the preferred embodiment, the means for detecting the position of the frame in the Y direction includes a rotary optical encoder 28 (for example model no. HEDS 5000, readily commercially available) also mounted on the frame 12. The rotary optical encoder 28 receives the shaft 24 (the shaft 24 passes through the rotary optical encoder 28) and is responsive to the rotation of the wheel. The rotary optical encoder 28 sends a signal indicative of the amount of rotation of the wheel to integrated circuit 32 (on integrated circuit board 14) which keeps track of the position of the wheel (that is, how far the wheel has moved from an initial point in the Y direction and also which direction it has moved). The resolution in the Y direction is 0.0025 inches. The integrated circuit may be, for example, Item No. HCTL2016, which is readily commercially available. The HEDS 5000 rotary optical encoder houses its own amplifier.

While the frame 12 is constrained to move only in the Y direction, it is provided with a cursor 52 mounted on the front end of the frame 12 and the cursor 52 is restrained to move only in the X direction, perpendicular to the Y direction. The cursor 52 is preferably made of 1/8" clear plexiglass, and, in the embodiment shown, is about 10" long in the X direction.

The cursor 52 is shown in more detail in FIGS. 5a, 5b, and 5c. The cursor 52 is mounted on a set of three flanged bearings 54 (see FIGS. 1 and 2), with the upper flange 56 of I-bar 58 resting on the flanges 60 of the bearings 54. Two of the flanged bearings 54 are mounted on the frame 12, while the third is mounted on mount 40, which is itself mounted on the frame 12. The frame 12 is cut back as shown at 20 to receive the cursor 52. Mount 40 is pivotally attached to frame 12 by pivot 57 and a steel spring 59 to provide constant tension on I-bar 58.

I-bar 58 is preferably machined from a 1/4" aluminum bar and is fixed by any of several known means on the cursor plate 52. The centre section 64 of the I-bar 58 has superimposed on it, on the side facing the frame 12, a silver and black optical stripe, with predetermined, equally spaced gradations. The fineness of the gradations determines the resolution of the digitizing in the X direction. Preferably, the resolution in the x direction is at least 0.004 inches.

A knob 66, attached to the cursor 52 enables the cursor to be moved conveniently by hand across a two-dimensional paper surface, so that a cross hair 68, superimposed on one end of the cursor 52, may be moved to any chosen position over a wide range in the X direction. A second cross hair (not shown) on the other end of the cursor 52 from the cross-hair 68, may be added to extend the range of the cursor 52 in the X direction. The cross hairs are at a precise known distance apart so that either one can be used when digitizing, effectively doubling the range of the cursor in the x direction.

The digitizer 10 is provided with means for detecting the position of the cursor 52 in the X direction, which, in the preferred embodiment, includes a pair of linear optical encoders 72, each 90 degrees out of phase. The phase difference between the linear optical encoders 72 allows determination of the direction of movement of the cursor 52 to be detected. The linear optical encoders 72 may be, for example, model no. HBCS 1100, readily commercially available.

Signals indicative of the X position of the cursor 52 are provided by the pair of linear optical encoders 72 and fed to integrated circuit 34 (for example, part no. HCTL2016) through amplifier 18. Amplifier 18 is designed to convert the output of the linear encoders to a signal identical to the output format of the HEDS 5000. The integrated circuit 34 keeps track of the position of the cursor 52.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 (particularly FIG. 3), processing means 50 includes electronic circuit board 14 on which is mounted microcomputer unit 30 (for example, Motorola MC 68701 and integrated circuits 32 and 34, keyboard 36 (readily commercially available) and RS 232C interface 38.

Integrated circuit 32 receives amplified signals from the rotary optical encoder 28 and integrated circuit 34 receives amplified signals from the pair of linear optical encoders 72. These signals are fed to the microcomputer unit 30. The operation of the microcomputer unit 30 is described in more detail below. The microcomputer unit 30 is connected to a PC (not shown) through the RS 232C interface 38 (which is readily commercially available). All memory is contained in the microcomputer unit 30, and may be accessed by the PC. Once a data file has been created, the resulting data can readily be processed using any of various systems that are compatible with ASCII format. A printer or monitor (not shown) may be used to display the data in any of various formats.

The microcomputer unit 30 is not concerned with keeping track of each of the rotary optical encoders 28 and the pair of linear optical encoders 72 for each time the digitizer 10 moves. This function is handled by the integrated circuits 32 and 34. These integrated circuits 32 and 34 have built in counters and are directly connected to the encoders 28 and 72 and detect the amount the encoders move in their respective directions. All that is required for the microcomputer unit 30 to determine if the digitizer 10 has moved is simply to query integrated circuits 32 and 34 as to the current count of the encoders 28 and 72.

Upon initialization, the digitizer 10 is constantly looking for a keypress from the port from the keypad 16. As soon as one is detected, the digitizer 10 determines the current count in the X and Y directions (as described immediately above) and sends this information to the connected computer along with the value associated with the key that was pressed. All communications between the digitizer 10 and the PC (the host) is done via standard RS-232C protocol.

This action of hitting a key for every digitized point is referred to as "point mode". The digitizer 10 can also be put into a "streaming mode" whereby it will send coordinates at a specified interval. That is, it can send, for example, the X and Y coordinates every 50 counts on the Y axis. In this case, the digitizer 10 updates the PC host of the position of the digitizer 10 for about every 1/10" movement in the Y direction. The streaming mode may be set for each of the X axis, Y axis, or even for both axes concurrently, and the interval can be set to any number of counts desired. Streaming mode can also be set to send points at a programmable timed interval.

The PC host has a small set of commands that it can send to digitizer 10. These include: zeroing the counters, setting the X streaming interval and setting the Y streaming interval.

The operating software of the digitizer 10 is summarized in the flow charts in FIGS. 6a, 6b, 6c and 6d, and is listed in schedule A appearing at the end of this description. A copy of the programmer's manual which describes the commands to the digitizer 10 is also attached as part of Schedule A. A brief description of the process is as follows:

Following initialization, the digitizer 10 looks to see if any key on the keypad 16 has been pressed. If no key has been pressed, the digitizer 10 looks to see if the PC host has sent any signal. If the answer is no, the digitizer 10 returns to the initialized state in which it looks for a keypress from the keypad 16. If the host has sent something, the digitizer 10 processes the host's command (for example, setting a streaming interval).

In what follows, the X and Y boundaries are the X and Y co-ordinates that correspond to the ends of the streaming intervals on the X and Y axes. Hence the X and Y boundaries and new X and Y boundaries can be calculated internally from the present X and Y boundaries and the streaming interval.

If, after initialization, a key has been pressed on the keypad 16, the digitizer 10 checks to see if the stream key has been pressed. If the stream key has been pressed, then the microcomputer calculates boundaries for the X and Y axis and the digitizer 10 again looks to see if a key has been pressed. If a key has been pressed and it is the stream key, the digitizer 10 returns to the initialization state. If it is not the stream key, it looks for another key press. If there is no key press, the digitizer 10 checks to see if the PC host has sent something, and processes it if it has. In either case, the digitizer 10 then obtains the current count from the integrated circuits 32 and 34 and checks to see whether the counts have crossed the X boundary. If an X boundary has been crossed, the digitizer 10 calculates new X boundaries, and checks to see if a Y boundary has been crossed. If a Y boundary has been crossed, the digitizer 10 calculates new Y boundaries. Once new X and Y boundaries have been calculated, the digitizer 10 sends count values to the PC host, and looks to see if a key has been pressed, beginning the process over again.

If digitizer 10 found initially that an X boundary had not been crossed, then it checks to see if a Y boundary had been crossed. If a Y boundary had not been crossed, then the digitizer 10 looks for a key press again. If a Y boundary has been crossed, the digitizer 10 calculates new Y boundaries, and checks to see if an X boundary has been crossed. If the answer is yes, new X boundaries are calculated. Once this has been done, and in the case of there being no need to recalculate the X boundaries, count values are sent to the host, and the digitizer 10 looks again to see if a key has been pressed on the keypad 16, beginning the process over again.

In this manner, either point by point or automatic digitizing of a trace may be accomplished using a high resolution, wander free, hand held device.

It will be understood that immaterial modifications could be made to the invention described here, and these are intended to be covered by the scope of the claims that follow. ##SPC1##