JP2007280316A - Touch panel input device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate input with an input device having a transparent touch panel over a display. <P>SOLUTION: The input device having a transparent touch panel over a display comprises means for detecting finger approach, and when a finger approaches the touch panel, zooms in on the current display. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an input device including a touch panel.

  There is an in-vehicle navigation device that receives input from an operator via a transparent touch panel provided on the front surface of a display screen (see Non-Patent Document 1).

JPO Standard Technology Collection “Navigation Device User Interface” Main Category: 4-C Touch Panel

  However, if the display of the candidate to be touched displayed on the display screen is small, it is difficult to touch the candidate accurately.

  An object of the present invention is to facilitate input in an input device including a touch panel.

  In order to solve the above problems, an input device according to the present invention includes a display, a transparent touch panel disposed on the front surface of the display, an approach detection unit that detects an approach of an object to the touch panel, and the approach detection unit. And display control means for enlarging and displaying at least a part of the contents being displayed on the display when the approach of the object is detected.

  The display control means may enlarge and display a display object displayed as an option on the display.

  The approach detection means may detect the position of an object approaching the touch panel. The display control means may enlarge and display at least a part of the contents being displayed on the display in accordance with the position of the object detected by the approach detection means.

  Further, the display control means may enlarge the display content in the vicinity of the display content being displayed on the display corresponding to the detected position of the object, and display the periphery as it is.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows an external configuration of an in-vehicle information device to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied. This apparatus includes a navigation unit 10, a display 21 that displays a map, a switch unit 22 that receives input from a user, a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver that outputs the current position of a vehicle, a CD, a DVD, and the like. And an external storage device 40 that reads map information and the like stored in the recording medium.

  The navigation unit 10 reads map data from the external storage device 40 in response to an operation from the switch unit 22, and displays the map on the display 21 together with the position information obtained from the GPS receiver 30.

  FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the navigation unit 10. The navigation unit 10 includes a user operation analysis unit 11, a storage unit 12, a navigation processing unit 13, a current position calculation unit 14, and a display processing unit 15.

  The user operation analysis unit 11 receives a request from the user input via the switch unit 22, analyzes the request content, and sets each unit of the navigation unit 10 so that processing corresponding to the request content is executed. Control.

  The storage unit 12 stores the route searched by the navigation processing unit 13. In addition, the movement trajectory of the vehicle obtained from the current position calculation unit 14 is accumulated.

  The navigation processing unit 13 searches for a route from the current position to the destination. Further, information for route guidance is generated using the searched route, and route guidance is performed via the display 21 using the information.

  The current position calculation unit 14 calculates the current position by map matching from the output from the GPS receiver 30 and the map data stored in the external storage device 40.

  The display processing unit 15 generates a command for display on the display 21 and sends the command to the display 21. For example, the map data in the area where display is required is received from the external storage device 40, and the roads, other map components, the current location, the destination, and the arrow for the guide route are specified with the specified scale and drawing method. A map drawing command is generated so as to draw the mark. Then, the generated command is transmitted to the display 21.

  The navigation unit 10 includes a CPU and a memory such as a ROM and a RAM that store programs and data. 2 is achieved by the CPU executing a program loaded in the memory.

  Returning to FIG. The display 21 is a thin display such as a liquid crystal display.

  FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the switch unit 22.

  As shown in the figure, the switch unit 22 is disposed on the front surface of the display 21. The switch unit 22 includes a switch unit substrate 222 having a square opening. A touch panel 221 is installed on the switch unit substrate 222.

  The touch panel 221 is configured to transmit display content on the display 21. When touched by a finger, the touch panel 221 outputs coordinates on the panel at the touched position. As the touch panel 221, a touch panel that uses capacitance or a touch panel that uses a change in resistance value can be used.

  The switch unit substrate 222 has a light emitting diode (LED) 223 and a photodiode (photo detector: PD) that receives light emitted from the light emitting diode in order to detect the approach of a finger (object) to touch the touch panel 21. ) 224 is arranged.

  FIG. 4 is a plan view of the switch unit substrate 222. In FIG. 4, the case 225 that covers the switch substrate 222 is omitted.

  As shown in the drawing, the light emitting diode 223 and the photodiode 224 are opposed to each other in an array in both the horizontal direction and the vertical direction toward the inside of the rectangular opening of the switch unit substrate 222. The reason for arranging in this way is to obtain the position of the finger when the finger approaches.

  (Description of Operation) Next, the operation of the in-vehicle information device configured as described above will be described.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing performed when the in-vehicle information device displays information on the display 21.

  First, the user operation analysis unit 11 monitors the approach of a finger. Specifically, the approach of the finger is determined based on whether any one of the photodiodes 224 is in a state where it does not receive the light from the light emitting diode 223 (S110).

  When the approach of the finger is detected (Yes in S110), the user operation analysis unit 11 obtains the position of the finger (S120). The position of the finger can be determined according to which light-emitting diode 223 is blocked from light. For example, in the example of FIG. 4, when the light of the light emitting diodes X4 and Y5 is blocked, it can be determined that the finger is at the intersection of the emission direction of the light emitting diode X4 and the emission direction of the light emitting diode Y4.

  Next, the user operation analysis unit 11 instructs the display processing unit 15 to enlarge and display the currently displayed display content. Receiving this, the display processing unit 15 enlarges and displays the currently displayed display content (S130).

  FIG. 6A is a display example of the screen 500 before the finger approaches. As illustrated, a menu including a plurality of options 520 is displayed together with a map 530.

  In this state, when the approach of the finger is detected, the display processing unit 15 enlarges and displays the option 520a as shown in FIG. In the figure, P indicates the position of the approaching finger. In this embodiment, the enlarged display is performed with the finger position P as the center. Further, the option 520a that can be a candidate to be touched is extracted and displayed in an enlarged manner, and other information (map 530) that is not a candidate to be touched is displayed as it is without being enlarged. The options may be displayed as text or may be displayed as icons such as symbols and figures.

  The touch panel 221 sends the coordinate information to the navigation unit 10 when touched by a finger. The user operation analysis unit 11 determines which option 520 has been selected from the coordinate position, and instructs each functional unit to execute processing of the selected content.

  Returning to FIG. When the display content (displayed object) is enlarged and displayed by the approach of the finger, the user operation analysis unit 11 determines whether or not the approach of the finger is still being detected (S140). When the approach of the finger is being detected (Yes in S140), the enlarged display is continued.

  On the other hand, when the approach of the finger is no longer detected, that is, when the photodiode 224 receives the light blocked by the finger (No in S140), the user operation analysis unit 11 enlarges the display content. The display processing unit 15 is instructed to end the display and return to the original display state. In response to this, the display processing unit 15 returns the display state of the display content to the original state. In FIG. 6, the display state returns to (A).

  Then, the user operation analysis unit 11 returns to S110 and again monitors the approach of the finger.

  As above, the process when the user's finger approaches the touch panel 221 when information is displayed on the display 21 has been described.

  Note that the display contents may be enlarged as follows.

  For example, in the example of FIG. 6, all of the options are enlarged and displayed. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and only the options (menu items) corresponding to the finger position are enlarged and the other options are displayed as they are. Also good. Further, instead of enlarging the display as it is, only the menu item at the finger position P may be displayed thicker than the other menu items.

  FIG. 7 shows an example in which the entire displayed content is enlarged around the position P of the approaching finger. As shown in the figure, the display processing unit 15 enlarges and displays the background map information 430 together with the option 520 that is a candidate to be touched (FIG. 7B).

  FIG. 8 shows a case where a map is being displayed when setting a destination. In this case, the entire map is a candidate to be selected, and when the approach of a finger is detected, the map is enlarged and displayed with the position P of the approaching finger as the center. As shown in the figure, the display processing unit 15 enlarges and displays the map around the position P of the approaching finger (FIG. 8B).

  Similarly, FIG. 9 shows an example in which when the approach of a finger is detected during the display of the map, the currently displayed map is partially enlarged and displayed around the position P of the approaching finger. As shown in the figure, the display processing unit 15 partially enlarges and displays the map 535 around the position P of the approaching finger (FIG. 9B). In this way, peripheral portions that are not enlarged are displayed at the same time, so it is obvious at a glance which portion is currently enlarged.

  Which of these enlargement methods is used for enlargement display may be determined in advance, or may be set in response to a request from a user.

  The embodiment of the present invention has been described above.

  According to the embodiment, in an input device including a transparent touch panel on a display, input is facilitated even when the original display object (such as an icon) is small.

  In addition, the display is not enlarged from the beginning, but is enlarged by the approach of a finger, so that the amount of information to be displayed is not reduced.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

  For example, the method of detecting the approach of a finger is not limited to the method described in the above embodiment. Any method that can detect a finger (object) approaching the touch panel may be used. For example, the approach of a finger may be detected by an infrared sensor.

  Moreover, although the said embodiment demonstrated the case where the switch unit 22 provided in the front surface of the display 21 was provided as an input device, it has other input devices, such as a keyboard, a joystick, a remote control, and a voice input device simultaneously. May be.

  Moreover, although the example which applied this invention to the vehicle-mounted navigation apparatus was demonstrated, this invention can be applied to navigation apparatuses other than vehicle-mounted. The present invention can also be applied to information output devices such as audio devices and broadcast output devices other than navigation devices.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an in-vehicle information device. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the navigation unit. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the switch unit. FIG. 4 is a plan view of the switch unit. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the operation flow. FIG. 6 is an example of transition of the display screen. FIG. 7 is an example of transition of the display screen. FIG. 8 is an example of transition of the display screen. FIG. 9 is an example of transition of the display screen.

Explanation of symbols

10 ... Navigation unit,
21 ... Display, 22 ... Switch unit,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 30 ... GPS receiver 40 ... External memory | storage device 11 ... User operation analysis part, 12 ... Memory | storage part, 13 ... Navigation apparatus, 14 ... Current position calculation part, 15 ... Display processing part

Claims (5)

An input device,
Display,
A transmissive touch panel disposed in front of the display;
An approach detecting means for detecting the approach of the object to the touch panel; and a display control means for enlarging and displaying at least a part of the contents being displayed on the display when the approach detecting means detects the approach of the object. Characteristic input device. In claim 1,
The display control means includes
Extract information to be selected from the information displayed on the display,
An input device that displays an enlarged display of extracted information. In claim 1,
The display control means includes
An input device that enlarges and displays a display object displayed as an option on the display. An input device,
Display,
A transmissive touch panel disposed in front of the display;
An approach detection means for detecting a position of an object approaching the touch panel; and a display control means for enlarging and displaying at least a part of the content being displayed on the display in accordance with the position of the object detected by the approach detection means. An input device characterized by that. In claim 4,
The display control means includes
An input device characterized in that the display content in the vicinity of the display content being displayed on the display corresponding to the detected position of the object is enlarged and the display content in the vicinity thereof is displayed as it is.

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