JP2008299582A - System for predicting residual operation life of touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To predict the residual operation life of a touch panel so that further safe and reliable operation control of various devices using the touch panel or a system using the devices can be performed based on the prediction. <P>SOLUTION: The system includes a touch panel life prediction program which executes a task for computing [(Nl/Np)-1]×Tw, wherein Np is the operation frequency of the touch panel, Tw is the operation time of a device, and Nl is the operation life frequency of the touch panel, and a task for taking the computed value as a touch panel residual operation life Tr and giving an alarm before lapse of the time Tr. The touch panel life prediction program is automatically executed by a built-in CPU simultaneously with activation of the device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for predicting the remaining operation life of a touch panel that inputs information by touching the touch panel. More specifically, when the number of touch operations with an operation load equal to or greater than a predetermined operation load reaches the number of touch operation lifetimes. The present invention relates to a method for predicting the remaining operation life of a touch panel that is assumed to have an operation life.

  Some electronic devices such as a panel computer have a transparent touch panel on a display in order to perform input with a simple operation, and input data by touching the touch panel with a finger, a pen, or the like (Patent Document 1). reference). As an input method of this touch panel, a capacitance method, an optical method, a resistance film method, and the like are known.

  In the resistive film method, the maximum number of touch operations at the same location is defined in advance depending on the strength of the resistive film, and there is a limitation that the touch panel must be replaced when the maximum number of touch operations is performed. Even when other methods are used, an operation of pressing the touch panel with a finger is performed. Therefore, when the number of touch operations increases, there is a problem that dust and dust adhere to the touch panel and the transparency of the touch panel is lowered. When the number of touch operations reaches the specified number of touch operations, the operation life is assumed. On the other hand, a touch panel is also proposed that extends the life of the touch panel by storing the number of touch operations for each area of the touch panel and moving the area where the number of touch operations has reached the specified number on the touch panel screen to disperse the operation parts of the touch panel. (See Patent Document 2). As described above, there has been proposed a touch panel that increases its operating life (see Patent Document 3, etc.), but there has been no prediction of the operating life within the scope investigated by the present applicant.

However, even if the operating life can be increased, if the control system is constructed with various electronic devices and devices such as a panel computer using a touch panel, and the touch panel suddenly reaches its operating life, This is inconvenient for ensuring safety and reliability.
JP 2002-215304 A JP 2002-73278 A JP 2006-126853 A

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is to predict the remaining operation life before the operation life of the touch panel arrives, and from the prediction, for example, information devices and information terminals using the touch panel, and systems using these devices and terminals Is to be able to control the operation safely and with high reliability.

  (1) The touch panel remaining operation life prediction method according to the first aspect of the present invention is a method for predicting the operation life of a touch panel mounted on a device, where the device operation time is Tw and the touch performed within the device operation time Tw. The number of operations is Np, and the number of touch operation lifetimes, which is the number of times that the touch operation can be performed on the touch panel while the device is operating, before the end of the operation lifetime is Nl [(Nl / Np) -1 ] Built-in touch panel life prediction program that executes a task to calculate the equation of × Tw and a task that issues the above calculated value as the remaining operation life Tr of the touch panel and issues a warning a predetermined time before the remaining operation life Tr arrives The touch panel life prediction program is automatically executed by the apparatus built-in CPU simultaneously with the apparatus activation.

  The touch operation can include an operation with a finger key and a character input operation with a pen key.

  In the first aspect of the present invention, since the warning is issued before the remaining operating life comes, the operating life does not come unexpectedly. For example, in various devices, devices, control systems, etc. using a touch panel, Reliable precautions can be easily and accurately performed.

  One of the preferred embodiments is that one or more of the apparatus operating time Tw, the number of touch operations Np, the number of touch operation lifetimes Nl, and the remaining operation lifetime Tr of the touch panel can be automatically displayed or selected on the touch panel screen in real time. Display tasks to be included. In this aspect, the user can safely operate various devices, apparatuses, control systems, and the like using the touch panel, and can take more appropriate measures when the operating life comes.

  (2) The touch panel remaining operation life prediction method according to the second aspect of the present invention is a method for predicting the remaining operation life of the touch panel mounted on the device, and the device operation time for a partial area or a plurality of areas of the touch panel. Tw, the number of touch operations performed during the device operation time Tw is Np, and the touch operation can be performed on the region until the operation life in the region is reached while the device is operating The number of touch operation lifetimes, which is the number of times, is set to Nl, a task for calculating the arithmetic expression of [(Nl / Np) -1] × Tw, and the calculated value as the remaining operation lifetime Tr of the touch panel in the area corresponding to the calculated value A touch panel life prediction program for executing a task that issues a warning a predetermined time before the remaining operating life Tr arrives is built in. It is characterized in that the automatic execution simultaneously with the device activated by a device embedded CPU ram.

  The touch panel may be divided into a plurality of regions so that the operating life can be predicted for each divided region.

  In the second aspect of the present invention, since the remaining operation life can be predicted for a partial area or a plurality of areas of the touch panel, an area with a short remaining operation life can be identified and the maintenance can be easily performed. Become.

  One of the preferred embodiments is that the area receiving the warning can be displayed on the touch panel by a user operation. In this aspect, since the user can confirm the warning area from the display on the touch panel, the maintenance can be more easily performed on the area having a short remaining operating life.

  One of the preferable aspects is that the warning area displayed on the touch panel can be moved to another non-warning area in the touch panel by a user operation. In this aspect, the area with the remaining operation life shorter than the other area is a screen layout area with a high operation frequency, while the unwarned area is a screen layout area with a lower operation frequency than the other areas. By moving a screen layout having a high operation frequency to an area where the remaining operation life is long, the operation life of the touch panel as a whole can be extended.

  One of the preferable aspects is that the touch operation is a touch operation with a touch operation pressure exceeding a specified touch operation pressure as one touch operation. Since the touch operation pressure differs depending on the user, it is possible to level out a single touch operation without individual differences, and to make the touch panel easier to handle.

  One preferable aspect is that when the touch operation is a touch operation with a touch operation pressure exceeding a specified excessive touch operation pressure, the touch operation is converted into one or more N touch operations. In this aspect, even if the touch operation is the same user, it may be performed with an excessive touch operation pressure, and even such a touch operation can be leveled, making the touch panel easier to handle. Can do.

  According to the present invention, the remaining operation life can be predicted before the operation life of the touch panel comes, and the safety and reliability of various devices, apparatuses, and systems using the touch panel can be improved.

  Hereinafter, a touch panel remaining operation life prediction method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows a panel computer equipped with the touch panel. An apparatus (including equipment) to which the embodiment is applied is a panel computer, but is not limited to this, and any apparatus having a touch panel on a display such as a programmable display can be applied.

  A panel computer that implements the touch panel remaining operation life prediction method will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of the panel computer, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of a liquid crystal display, a touch panel, and a backlight. However, in FIG. 2, the liquid crystal display, the touch panel, and the backlight are shown shifted in the plane direction for convenience of illustration.

  The panel computer 10 includes a CPU 12 as a control means, a memory 14 such as a RAM, a ROM, a flash ROM, and a VRAM, a power management unit 16 that manages a power source including a backlight lighting power source, a display 18 that constitutes a display means, and an operation or input. A touch panel 20 constituting the means and a communication IF 22 for controlling communication with other devices are provided. In addition to the CPU 12, a touch panel controller that controls the touch panel 20 and a display controller that controls the display of the liquid crystal display 18 may be provided by reducing the load on the CPU 12 and increasing the processing speed.

  The CPU 12 can perform various displays such as buttons on the screen of the liquid crystal display 18 using the memory 14 such as a VRAM based on the screen created by the drawing tool. On the display screen 21, display components such as buttons operated by the user are visualized. A display screen area is laid out on the display screen 21 by such display components.

  The display screen 21 on the liquid crystal display 18 can be created by a drawing tool and downloaded to the memory 14. Since the configuration of the display screen 21 is not a feature of the present invention, its details are omitted.

  The CPU 12 can input an operation position signal of the touch panel 20 from the touch panel 20 and can control the display screen 21 in response to the signal.

  The touch panel 20 is provided for inputting a touch position (input position) on the display screen 21 of the display 18, and an analog resistive touch panel or the like is preferable. The CPU 12 can recognize the touch position by converting the output voltage of the touch panel 20 into input position information.

  In accordance with the control program stored in the memory 14, the CPU 12 performs a hardware control process, a process for displaying characters and figures on the display screen 21 of the liquid crystal display 18, a process for receiving an operation input to the touch panel 20, and the like. I do.

  The liquid crystal display 18 displays the display screen 21 in response to the display data and is illuminated by the backlight 24 from the back.

  The touch panel 20 is disposed on the liquid crystal display 18 and transmits a signal corresponding to the coordinate value immediately below the pressed point to the CPU 12 by applying pressure (touching) with a pen tip or a fingertip. The liquid crystal display 18 has an area that is the same as or slightly smaller than the effective touch area of the touch panel 20 and has a pixel configuration in which a large number of liquid crystal pixels are arranged in a vertical and horizontal matrix.

  In the panel computer 10 having the above configuration, the embodiment is characterized in that the operation life of the touch panel 20 is predicted by the following method. In the embodiment, the remaining touch panel operation life prediction program for executing the task shown in FIG. 3 is stored in the memory 14, and the CPU 12 can execute the control operation of the operation life prediction according to the operation life prediction program. ing.

  Referring to FIG. 3, this touch panel remaining operation life prediction program has tasks 100-500.

  The apparatus operation time measurement storage task 100 measures the operation time Tw of the panel computer 10 and stores the measurement result in the nonvolatile storage area 14 a in the memory 14. The operation time of the panel computer 10 is a time during which the panel computer 10 is turned on, the CPU 12 is activated, and the touch panel 20 can be controlled from the CPU 12 or the touch panel controller.

  The non-volatile storage area 14a is an area that can hold the stored contents even when the power is turned off, and is composed of, for example, an EEPROM, a flash memory, a magnetic disk, a silicon disk, or an electrically volatile memory (SRAM, etc.). Can do. In the case where the measurement of the device operating time Tw and its storage processing are burdened on the CPU 12 and the nonvolatile storage area 14a, for example, every hour (however, for example, it can be arbitrarily changed according to the keystroke frequency of the device) Can be saved).

  The touch operation count saving task 200 counts the number of times the touch panel 20 is operated (touch operation count Np) and stores the count value in a nonvolatile storage area in the memory 14. The operation of the touch panel 20 can include a keystroke operation with a user's finger and a character input keystroke operation with a pen. When the saving process of the operation count Np of the touch panel 20 is a burden on the CPU 12 or the nonvolatile storage area 14a, it is saved every predetermined time, for example, every hour (for example, it can be arbitrarily changed according to the keystroke frequency of the device). It may be.

  The remaining operation life calculation task 300 is a calculation formula of Tr = [(Nl / Np) −1] × Tw, where Tr is the number of touch operations Np, device operation time Tw, touch operation life number Nl, and the remaining operation life of the touch panel is Tr. The remaining operation life Tr of the touch panel is calculated. The number of touch operation lifetimes Nl is determined in advance by experiments or the like. In this case, depending on the user, there are various keying modes, for example, the strength of keystroke pressure, the length of keystroke duration, and the like. In the above experiment or the like, for example, a keystroke test is performed using a machine, and the number of operation lifetimes of the touch panel 20 can be set. The remaining operation life Tr of the touch panel may be calculated every time the number of keystrokes reaches, for example, 10 times.

  The warning task 400 issues a warning with a warning time Ta as a predetermined time before the remaining operation life Tr of the touch panel obtained by the above calculation arrives, for example, one week ago, one day ago, one hour ago, or 30 minutes ago. . The warning task 400 displays a warning message on the display screen 21 a of the liquid crystal display 18. The warning task 400 stores the remaining operation life Tr of the touch panel in the remaining operation life storage area 14 b of the touch panel in the memory 14. The warning time Ta can be set on the setting screen 21c. The number of warnings and the warning time Ta can be set as appropriate by the user.

  The status check task 500 is a liquid crystal display of any one or more of the device operating time Tw, the number of touch operations Np, the number of touch operation lifetimes Nl, the remaining operation lifetime Tr of the touch panel, etc. in real time from the nonvolatile storage areas 14a and 14b. The status can be displayed automatically or selectively on the display screen 21b of the display 18.

  In the above embodiment, since the warning is issued before the predicted remaining operating life comes, the operating life does not come unexpectedly. For example, in various devices, devices, control systems, etc. using a touch panel, It is possible to easily and accurately carry out safe and reliable proactive measures.

  Although not referring to the drawings, a touch panel remaining operation life prediction method according to another embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this method, the touch panel is divided into a plurality of regions, and the device operating time is Tw for each region. The number of touch operations performed in the area during the device operation time Tw is Np, and the touch operation can be performed on the area until the operation life of the area is reached while the apparatus is operating. The number of touch operation lifetimes that are the number of times is set as Nl, a calculation task for calculating an arithmetic expression of [(Nl / Np) -1] × Tw, and the calculated value for each area as the remaining operation life Tr of the touch panel for each area A touch panel life prediction program for executing a warning task for issuing a warning a predetermined time before the remaining operation life Tr of the touch panel arrives is provided. Automatically executing simultaneously with the device activated by a built-in CPU program measurement.

  A display screen area is laid out by display components on the display screen below the touch panel, and depending on the layout configuration, the touch panel area corresponding to a specific layout tends to be operated more. For this reason, even if it is predicted that the operation life comes early only in some specific touch panel areas, there are cases where the operation life is sufficiently left in other touch panel areas. In such a case, rather than the entire touch panel becoming the operating life due to the arrival of the operating life of some specific touch panel areas, the touch panel is divided into a plurality of areas, and the operating life is predicted for each divided area, For an area with a near operating life, the operation life of the entire touch panel can be extended by performing maintenance such as layout change.

  In this case, it is preferable to display on the touch panel the area that received the warning by the warning task. In this way, the user can confirm the warning area from the display on the touch panel, so that the maintenance can be more easily performed on the area with a short operating life.

  In this case, the touch panel life prediction program preferably includes a moving task for moving the warning area displayed on the touch panel by the warning task to another unwarned area in the touch panel. An area with near operating life is a screen layout area with a high operation frequency, while an unwarned area is an area with a low operation frequency, so an area with a high operation frequency is unwarned and an operating life is long. By moving the screen, it is possible to extend the operating life of the touch panel without changing the screen layout that is frequently operated.

  Note that the touch operation pressure exceeding the specified touch operation pressure may be n times of touch operations. For this reason, a pressure sensor may be provided on the touch panel 20, and the sensor signal of the pressure sensor may be processed by the CPU 21 to count the number of touch panel operations Np.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a panel computer that implements a remaining touch panel operating life prediction method according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the display and the touch panel thereon. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing tasks and the like of the touch panel life prediction program.

Explanation of symbols

10 Panel computer 12 CPU
14 Memory 18 Display 20 Touch panel

Claims (5)

A method for predicting the remaining operating life of a touch panel mounted on a device,
The device operation time is Tw, the number of touch operations performed within the device operation time Tw is Np, and the number of times that the touch operation can be performed on the touch panel while the device is in operation until the operation life is reached. A task of calculating an arithmetic expression of [(Nl / Np) −1] × Tw, where Nl is the number of touch operation lifetimes,
A task that issues a warning a predetermined time before the remaining operation life Tr arrives, with the calculated value as the remaining operation life Tr of the touch panel;
Built-in touch panel life prediction program to execute
A touch panel remaining operation life prediction method, wherein the touch panel life prediction program is automatically executed simultaneously with the start-up of the apparatus by the apparatus built-in CPU.   Including one or more of the above-described apparatus operating time Tw, number of touch operations Np, number of touch operation lifetimes Nl, and remaining operation lifetime Tr of the touch panel can be automatically displayed or selected on the touch panel screen in real time. The touch panel remaining operation life prediction method according to claim 1, wherein A method for predicting the remaining operating life of a touch panel mounted on a device,
The device operating time is Tw for a part or a plurality of regions of the touch panel, the number of touch operations performed during the device operating time Tw is Np, and the operation in that region while the device is operating A task of calculating an arithmetic expression of [(Nl / Np) −1] × Tw, where Nl is the number of touch operation lifetimes that is the number of times that a touch operation can be performed on the area before the lifetime reaches,
A task that issues a warning a predetermined time before the remaining operating life Tr arrives, with the calculated value as the remaining operating life Tr of the touch panel in the area corresponding to the calculated value;
Built-in touch panel life prediction program to execute
A touch panel remaining operation life prediction method, wherein the touch panel life prediction program is automatically executed simultaneously with the start-up of the apparatus by the apparatus built-in CPU.   The touch panel remaining operation life prediction method according to claim 3, wherein the warning area can be displayed on the touch panel by a user operation.   5. The touch panel remaining operation life prediction method according to claim 4, wherein the warning area displayed on the touch panel can be moved to another non-warning area in the touch panel by a user operation.

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