JP2002215309A - Rotary dial and information terminal device with the rotary dial - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize the operation, such as scrolling of page, the movement of a cursor, and the decision using a simple constitution. SOLUTION: This rotary dial, having a first dial 1 and a second dial 2 coaxially mounted and independently rotatable, has a rotary shaft 3 of the first dial 1 and the second dial 2, a support member 4 for supporting the rotary shaft 3, detecting means 5, 6 for detecting the rotational velocity and the rotating direction of the first dial 1 and the second dial 2, a casing for fixing the support member 4, a support shaft 10 mounted approximately on a center of the casing orthogonally with respect to the rotary shaft 3, a first switch 11 being pressed down by the casing inclined by the pressing-down of the first dial on the supporting shaft 10 as the center, and a second switch 12 being pressed down by the casing inclined by the pressing-down of the second dial 2 on the support shaft 10 as the center.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rotary dial used for browsing and operating the Internet and an information terminal device provided with the rotary dial.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the spread of the Internet, it has become common to browse homepages. In addition to browsing homepages, with the spread of e-mail and the like, information devices for realizing such e-mails are also available from stationary personal computers.
Information terminal devices such as rsonal digital assistants and mobile phones are becoming widespread.

[0003] Basic operations for browsing a home page with a PDA, a mobile phone, or the like include moving to select a link destination, a form button, and the like in the home page, and selecting the selected link destination, a form button, and the like. There are a decision operation and a cancel operation to decide. Further, the information terminal device described above is subject to certain restrictions in terms of physical or functional aspects of the display means and the input means due to the usage form. Therefore,
In some cases, pages that cannot be displayed on the display screen are scrolled up, down, left, and right, or a special input device is used for the operation.

[0004]

As described above, the PD
When browsing a homepage or the like in an information terminal device such as A or a mobile phone, various operations such as scrolling a screen, selecting an item, deciding an item, and canceling a selection are required.
There are restrictions on where to provide the input means and when both hands must be used when the input means is a touch pen. Therefore, a device that can perform the above operation with one finger of one hand, that is, a device that can perform various operations with simple input means has been desired. In addition, the input means is required to be easy to learn in operation and to be operable without feeling uncomfortable with existing mobile phones.

[0005]

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a rotary dial having a first dial and a second dial which are arranged coaxially and are independently rotatable. A rotating shaft for one dial and the second dial, a support member for supporting the rotating shaft, detecting means for detecting the number and direction of rotation of the first dial and the second dial; A housing for fixing the material, a support shaft disposed substantially at the center of the housing so as to be in a torsional relationship with the rotation axis, and the first dial being inclined by pressing the first dial about the support axis. Provided is a rotary dial having a first switch pressed by a housing and a second switch pressed by the housing tilted by pressing the second dial about the support shaft.

The rotary dial according to claim 1, wherein the first dial has a portion having a different outer peripheral dimension from the second dial.

[0007] Further, an information terminal device provided with a rotary dial having a first dial and a second dial which are arranged coaxially and can be independently rotated, wherein the first dial and the second dial are provided. A rotating shaft of the dial, a supporting member for supporting the rotating shaft, detecting means for detecting the number of rotations and a rotating direction of the first dial and the second dial, and a housing for fixing the supporting member. A support shaft disposed approximately at the center of the housing so as to be in a torsional relationship with the rotation shaft, and a second shaft pressed down by the first dial by pressing the first dial about the first support shaft. Provided is an information terminal device including a rotary dial having one switch and a second switch pressed by the housing that is inclined by pressing the second dial about the support shaft.

An information terminal device provided with a rotary dial according to claim 3, wherein the first dial has a portion having a different outer peripheral dimension from the second dial.

[0009] Further, three functions including the movement of a cursor on a display screen and the vertical and horizontal scrolling of the screen are provided for the single rotation of the first dial, the single rotation of the second dial, and the first dial. And the second dial are simultaneously rotated, and one of the functions for executing and canceling the item selected by the cursor is allocated to pressing the first switch, and the other function is allocated to the second switch. An information terminal device provided with a rotary dial according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the information terminal device is assigned to depression of a switch.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A rotary dial and an information terminal device provided with the rotary dial according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the rotary dial according to the present invention. The first dial 1 and the second dial 2 are coaxially connected around the rotation shaft 3 and form a substantially oval shape by combining the two dials 1 and 2. Since both ends of the rotating shaft 3 are fixed to the housing by the support members 4, the first dial 1 and the second dial 2 can rotate independently of each other.

Further, a first encoder 5 and a second encoder 6 are provided at both ends of the rotating shaft 3, and the first encoder 5 detects the number of rotations and the direction of rotation of the first dial 1. To the microprocessor described later. In addition, the second encoder 6 controls the rotation speed of the second dial 2,
The rotation direction is detected and transmitted to a microprocessor described later.

A housing for fixing the first dial 1 and the second dial 2 described above is mounted on a support shaft 10 provided on an exterior body at right angles to the rotation shaft 3 described above, and The switch 11 and the second switch 12 are selectively pressed. Further, a support electrode 7, an encoder electrode 8, and a switch electrode 9 are provided on the exterior body.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the second encoder device 6 in FIG. Rotary axis 3 of second dial 2
Is mounted with a disk having a radial mark, and a signal obtained by processing incident light of a boiling light sensor by a sensor signal processing means is used as a rotation signal.
Specifically, the number of rotations and the direction of rotation of the dial are detected based on the number of pulses and the phase of the first encoder signal and the second encoder signal output from the two signal lines. The method of detecting the rotation of the rotary dial is not limited to the embodiment described above, and various modifications are possible. In the present embodiment, the second dial 2 has been described. However, the first dial 1 can also detect rotation with the same configuration.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a main part of an information terminal device provided with the rotary dial of FIG. A rotary dial is mounted on a substrate, and a part of an exterior material of the information terminal device is opened. A first dial 1 and a second dial 2 are operably protruded from the opening. Then, the user operates the information terminal device by rotating or pressing the protruding first dial 1 and second dial 2.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are views showing a state where the rotary dial is pressed. FIG. 4 shows a case where the second dial 2 is pressed, and FIG. 5 shows a case where the first dial is pressed. . The housing supporting the two rotary dials 1 and 2 is supported by a support shaft 10, and when the second dial 2 is pressed, the entire housing inclines to the left in the figure around the support shaft 10, When one dial 1 is depressed, the entire housing is structured to incline rightward in the figure around the support shaft 10. There are a first switch 11 and a second switch 12 on both sides of the support shaft 10, and the first switch 11 or the second switch 12 comes into contact and is turned on due to the inclination of the housing. Further, between the support shaft 10 and the first switch 11, and between the support shaft 10 and the second switch 12, a cushioning material 13 made of an elastic member such as rubber is provided.
There is a repulsive force generated when the casing is inclined, and the casing is returned to the original state when the user releases his / her finger from the rotary dial being pressed.

As described above, in the rotary dial according to the present invention, four kinds of operations by the first dial 1, the second dial 2, the first switch 11, and the second switch 12 can be realized. It is.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of an information terminal device provided with a rotary dial according to the present invention. The rotary dial includes two rotary signals on a first dial 1 and a second dial 2, a first switch 11 and a second switch 1
Since two push signals are output, there is a dial interface 20 for these signals. The dial interface 20 includes a first encoder interface 20c for the first dial 1, a second encoder interface 20d for the second dial 2, a first switch 1
1 for the first switch interface 20a, the second switch interface 20 for the second switch 12
b. At the center is a microprocessor 21 for performing the entire processing, a ROM 23, and a RAM 24. As described above, an IO interface 21 is provided to handle many interfaces, and the dial interface 20 is also connected thereto. Communication means 2
5, the memory card means 26, the display means 27, the touch panel 28, the keyboard 29, etc.
It is connected to the.

FIG. 7 is a view showing an actual operation screen of the information terminal device provided with the rotary dial. Generally, when browsing a homepage, move the cursor in the screen,
The user's operation is accepted by pressing the enter key on a link, button, scroll bar, or the like. When the information terminal device is a portable type, the information terminal device may be operated by applying a stylus (touch pen) to a touch panel on a screen.

In such a portable information terminal device, the display means is often small, the number of displayable pixels is limited, and the entire page cannot be displayed on one screen. Therefore, it is necessary to display a scroll bar on the lower side or the right side of the screen and scroll the screen up, down, left and right to send.

In FIG. 7A, only the first dial 1 is turned, and the microprocessor 22 determines that the operation is a cursor movement operation, and moves only the cursor while fixing (stilling) the page surface. Do. Here, it is set so that the cursor moves to the right when the first dial 1 is rotated right, and the cursor moves to the left when the first dial 1 is rotated left. Since many cursors are not arranged in a page, priority is given to moving the cursor quickly by rotating the rotary dial relatively quickly, and is assigned to the first dial 1 having a small diameter and easy to rotate.

In FIG. 7B, only the second dial 2 is turned, and the microprocessor 22 determines that the screen is horizontally scrolled, and scrolls the page left and right while keeping the cursor fixed (still). Let it. Here, the setting is such that the screen scrolls to the left when the second dial 2 is rotated to the left, and the screen scrolls to the right when the second dial 2 is rotated to the right. Since a lot of character information is arranged in the page, generally, by turning the rotary dial relatively slowly and finely so that you can browse slowly and slowly, priority is given to scrolling the page finely, and the diameter is It is assigned to the second dial 2 which rotates large and slowly. Note that a frequently used function may be assigned to the relatively large first dial 1 and a relatively infrequently used function may be assigned to the relatively small second dial 2.

In FIG. 7 (c), the user places his / her finger on both the first dial 1 and the second dial 2 and simultaneously rotates the two rotary dials in the same direction. By rotating the two rotary dials 1 and 2 in the same direction, the microprocessor 22 determines that vertical scrolling is being performed, and scrolls the page up and down with the cursor fixed (still). Here, the screen is scrolled upward when the two rotary dials 1 and 2 are rotated left, and the screen is scrolled downward when the two rotary dials 1 and 2 are rotated right.

In FIG. 8, when the first dial 1 or the second dial 2 is pressed, the operation of "determination" and "return" is performed. By pressing the second dial 2 at that location, the second switch 12 is pressed, and the microprocessor 22 determines that the operation is "determination" and executes the operation at the location designated by the cursor. Further, when the first dial 1 is pressed, the first switch 11 is pressed, and the microprocessor 22 determines that the operation is "return" and performs the "return" operation.

As described above, in the information terminal device provided with the rotary dial according to the present invention, operations such as browsing of a home page can be performed almost only with the rotary dial, so that the information terminal device is quick and simple when the information terminal device is portable. Operation becomes possible.

FIG. 9 is a side view showing an embodiment of an information terminal device provided with a rotary dial according to the present invention. This information terminal device is a portable terminal device which has a display means on the front side and is held by the left hand. It is possible to rotate the rotary dial with the thumb of the left hand, and it is possible to move the finger back and forth by tilting the dial center line from the center line of the housing of the information terminal device, making it easy to operate. Become.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the processing operation of the microprocessor 22. First, the state of the dial is detected (S1). Next, it is checked whether the first dial is rotating (S2). If the first dial is rotating (Y in S2), it is then checked whether the second dial is rotating (S2). S3). If the second dial is also rotating (Y in S3), it is checked whether the first dial and the second dial are rotating in the same direction (S4). (Y in S4), vertical scroll processing of the screen of the display means is performed (S4).
5).

When the first dial is rotating (Y in S2) and when the second dial is not rotating (N in S3), cursor movement processing of the screen is performed (S12). . Further, when the two rotary dials are rotating (Y in S3), if the rotation directions do not match (N in S4), the process is terminated.

It is checked whether the first dial is rotating (S2). If the first dial is not rotating (N in S2), it is determined whether or not the second dial is rotating. Investigation (S6), when the second dial is rotating (Y in S6), horizontal scroll processing of the screen is performed (S6).
7). Further, when the second dial is not rotating (N in S6), it is checked whether or not the switch is pressed (S8). When the switch is pressed (Y in S8),
It is determined whether the first switch on the first dial side has been pressed or the second switch on the second dial side has been pressed (S9). If the second switch has been pressed (S9) Then, the second switch is pressed (S10), and when the first switch is pressed (upward in S9), the first switch is pressed (S11). At this time, if the switch has not been pressed (N in S8), the process ends.

[0029]

As described above in detail, according to the rotary dial and the information terminal device provided with the rotary dial according to the present invention, the operations of scrolling the display screen, moving the cursor, deciding, returning, etc. are performed by one rotation. The effect can be realized by a dial, and the operation can be easily performed.

Further, not only the rotation of the dial but also a switch provided below the dial can be pressed, so that a more complicated operation can be performed.

Further, by using a combination of cylindrical rotary dials having different diameters, a rotary dial having a small diameter can be used for a function that needs to be rotated quickly, and a rotary dial having a large diameter can be used for a function that needs to be rotated slowly. By assigning a dial, both functions can be operated effectively.

Further, by assigning frequently used functions to a large rotary dial and assigning infrequently used functions to a small rotary dial, simpler operations can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing one embodiment of a rotary dial according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a second encoder device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a main part of an information terminal device provided with a rotary dial according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state in which a switch of a rotary dial according to the present invention is pressed.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a switch of a rotary dial according to the present invention is pressed.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of an information terminal device provided with a rotary dial according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an actual operation screen of an information terminal device provided with a rotary dial.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an actual operation screen of an information terminal device provided with a rotary dial.

FIG. 9 is a side view showing an embodiment of an information terminal device provided with a rotary dial according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a processing operation of a microprocessor of the rotary dial according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 1st dial 2 2nd dial 3 rotary shaft 4 support material 5 1st encoder 6 2nd encoder 7 support electrode 8 encoder electrode 9 switch electrode 10 support shaft 11 1st switch 12 2nd switch

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A rotary dial having a first dial and a second dial arranged coaxially and rotatable independently of each other, wherein a rotary shaft of the first dial and the second dial is provided. A support member that supports the rotation shaft; a detection unit that detects the number of rotations and a rotation direction of the first dial and the second dial; a housing that fixes the support member; A support shaft arranged substantially at the center of the housing so as to have a relationship; a first switch pressed by the housing tilted by pressing the first dial about the support shaft; and A second switch depressed by the housing that is inclined by pressing the second dial about a support shaft. 2. The rotary dial according to claim 1, wherein the first dial has a portion having a different outer peripheral dimension from the second dial. 3. An information terminal device comprising a rotary dial having a first dial and a second dial which are arranged coaxially and can be independently rotated, wherein the first dial and the second dial are provided. A rotating shaft of the dial, a support member that supports the rotating shaft, a detecting unit that detects the number of rotations and a rotating direction of the first dial and the second dial, and a housing that fixes the supporting member. A support shaft disposed substantially at the center of the housing so as to be in a torsional relationship with the rotation shaft; and a second shaft pressed down by the first dial centered on the first shaft with the support shaft as a center. An information terminal device comprising: a rotary dial having: one switch; and a second switch pressed by the housing that is inclined by pressing the second dial about the support shaft. 4. An information terminal device comprising a rotary dial according to claim 3, wherein said first dial has a portion having a different outer peripheral dimension from said second dial. 5. A single function of the first dial, a single function of the second dial, and a function of the first dial, the three functions including moving a cursor on a display screen and scrolling the screen vertically and horizontally. And the second dial are simultaneously rotated, and one of the functions for executing and canceling the item selected by the cursor is allocated to pressing the first switch, and the other function is allocated to the second switch. The information terminal device provided with a rotary dial according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the information terminal device is assigned to depression of a switch.