JP2016071789A - Input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an input device capable of efficiently feeding vibrations back to input operations of users.SOLUTION: The input device according to the present invention includes: a touch panel; a vibration generating unit causing the touch panel to vibrate parallel to an input surface of the touch panel; and vibrating means vibrating the vibration generating unit when an input operation is performed on the input surface of the touch panel, the vibration generating unit having at least one vibration generator, which is located near an edge of the touch panel so that a vibrating surface thereof is perpendicular to a line going through the center of gravity of the touch panel.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to an input device.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in input devices such as mobile devices equipped with a touch panel, feedback technology (HAPICS technology) that gives a tactile sense to a user by vibrating a vibration generator when the user touches the touch panel has attracted attention. As a vibration generator, for example, a piezo (piezoelectric) element, a shape memory alloy (for example, see International Publication No. WO2012 / 023605), an eccentric motor (ERM: Eccentric Rotating Mass), a linear vibrator (LRA: Linear Resonant Actuator), etc. Can be used.

  In such an input device, a vibration generator is disposed below the touch panel to vibrate the touch panel in the vertical direction. However, if the vibration generator is arranged in the vertical direction, the apparatus cannot be thinned.

  In addition, when the vibration generator is arranged, it may not be arranged at the center position of the touch panel due to the layout and space. In this case, the vibration amount of the touch panel is insufficient, and vibration cannot be efficiently fed back in response to a user input operation.

JP 2007-26344 A US Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0156843

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object thereof is to provide an input device capable of efficiently feeding back vibrations in response to a user input operation.

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, the present invention provides a touch panel, a vibration generating unit that vibrates the touch panel in a direction parallel to the input surface of the touch panel, and input to the input surface of the touch panel. Control means for causing the vibration generator to vibrate when an operation is performed, and the vibration generator is composed of one or more vibration generators, and the one or more vibration generators are In the vicinity of the edge of the touch panel, the vibration surface is arranged at a position orthogonal to a straight line passing through the center of gravity of the touch panel.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the touch panel has a substantially rectangular shape, and the one or more vibration generators are arranged in the vicinity of the edge other than the central position of each side of the touch panel. It is desirable that

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, it is desirable that the one or more vibration generators vibrate the touch panel via a hard member.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, it is desirable that the one or more vibration generators are disposed in contact with a convex portion formed on an edge portion of the touch panel.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, it is desirable that the one or more vibration generators are disposed in contact with a recess formed at an edge of the touch panel.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, it is desirable that the one or more vibration generators are disposed in contact with a corner portion of the touch panel.

  Also, according to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the control means displays a software keyboard on the touch panel, and when a key operation is performed on the software keyboard, the plurality of vibrations are performed for each key operation. It is desirable to vibrate different vibration generators among the generators.

  According to the present invention, there is an effect that it is possible to provide an input device capable of efficiently feeding back vibration in response to a user input operation.

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a tablet to which the input device according to the present embodiment is applied. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a tablet to which the input device according to the present embodiment is applied. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the input device according to the present embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an arrangement example 1 of the vibration generator of the vibration generating unit. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an arrangement example 2 of the vibration generator of the vibration generating unit. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an arrangement example 3 of the vibration generator of the vibration generating unit. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining an arrangement example 4 of the vibration generator of the vibration generating unit. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example in which a software keyboard is displayed on the tablet of FIG.

  Hereinafter, an input device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Although the components of the present invention are generally illustrated in the drawings herein, it can be readily understood that they may be arranged and designed in a wide variety of configurations with various configurations. Accordingly, the following more detailed description of an apparatus embodiment of the invention is not intended to limit the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims, but merely as an example of a selected embodiment of the invention. It is intended only to illustrate selected embodiments of the apparatus consistent with the present invention as set forth in the appended claims. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention may be implemented without one or more of the specific details or with other methods, components, and materials. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments. In addition, constituent elements in the following embodiments include those that can be easily assumed by those skilled in the art or that are substantially the same.

  With reference to FIG.1 and FIG.2, the schematic structure of the tablet 1 to which the input device which concerns on this Embodiment is applied is demonstrated. FIG. 1 is a front view of the tablet 1, and FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the tablet 1 is provided with a substantially rectangular touch panel 3 having a pair of long sides 3 a and short sides 3 b on the front side of a casing 1 that has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. The touch panel 3 can be composed of, for example, an LCD, a touch sensor disposed on the LCD, and a protective glass disposed on the touch sensor. In FIG. 1, directions along the long side 3a and the short side 3b of the touch panel 3 are defined as an X direction and a Y direction, respectively, and a direction perpendicular to the input surface (XY plane) of the touch panel 3 is defined as a Z direction.

  Various information is displayed on the LCD of the touch panel 3. The touch sensor of the touch panel 3 is a capacitive touch sensor, for example, and can perform multipoint detection and surface detection of an indicator such as a finger.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the tablet 1 has a vibration generation unit 4 that vibrates the circuit board (not shown), the touch panel 3, and the touch panel 3 in the horizontal direction A (direction parallel to the XY plane). It is stored. The housing 2 can be made of, for example, synthetic resin or aluminum.

  FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the input device according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the tablet 1 includes a touch panel 3, a vibration generation unit 4, a main controller 10, a touch panel controller 11, and a vibration controller 12.

  The touch panel 3 includes an LCD and a touch sensor disposed on the LCD. The touch panel 3 displays information such as characters, figures, and images on the LCD, and includes a finger, a stylus, a pen, and the like (hereinafter referred to as “indicator”). ”) For detecting various input operations performed on the touch sensor.

  The main controller 10 controls the overall operation of the tablet 1. The touch panel controller 11 controls the detection and driving of the touch sensor of the touch panel 3 and controls the display of the LCD of the touch panel 3 in accordance with an instruction from the main controller 10. The touch panel controller 11 detects a user touch operation on the touch sensor of the touch panel 3 and outputs the detected touch operation to the main controller 10.

  The vibration generating unit 4 is composed of one or a plurality of vibration generators, and the vibration generator vibrates the touch panel 3 in the horizontal direction (direction parallel to the XY plane as an input surface). Any vibration generator may be used as long as it generates vibration. For example, a piezoelectric (piezoelectric) element, a shape memory alloy, an eccentric motor, a linear vibrator, or the like can be used. The vibration generator can be disposed, for example, in the vicinity of the edge (long side 3 a and / or short side 3 b) of the touch panel 3 at a position where the vibration surface is orthogonal to a straight line passing through the center of gravity of the touch panel 3. This is because the amount of vibration of the touch panel 3 is increased and the touch panel 3 is vibrated efficiently even when the vibration generator cannot be disposed at the center position of each side 3a, 3b of the touch panel 3 due to layout and space. It is.

  For convenience, the touch panel 3 is provided with an LCD, a touch sensor, and a protective glass. However, the vibration generating unit 4 may be any of the LCD, the touch sensor, and the protective glass, as long as the vibration can be fed back to the user. Any one or more of them may be vibrated.

  As will be described later, in order to place the vibration surface of the vibration generator at a position orthogonal to the straight line passing through the center of gravity of the touch panel 3, the vibration generator is provided at a corner (orthogonal side) orthogonal to the straight line passing through the center of gravity of the touch panel 3. Are arranged, a hard member or a vibration reinforcing member is interposed, a concave portion is formed on the edge portion of the touch panel 3, and a convex portion is formed on the edge portion of the touch panel 3. These methods may be implemented in combination.

  The vibration controller 12 controls driving of the vibration generating unit 4 in accordance with an instruction from the main controller 10, and includes a driver circuit for sending a driving signal for vibrating the vibration generator of the vibration generating unit 4. ing.

  In the present embodiment, the touch panel controller 11 outputs a detection signal to the main controller 10 when detecting a touch operation on the input surface of the user on the touch panel 3. When the main controller 10 receives the detection signal, the main controller 10 outputs a control signal for vibrating the vibration generator of the vibration generating unit 4 to the vibration controller 12 in order to notify the user that an input operation on the input surface has been performed. . The main controller 10 controls, for example, the period, frequency, amplitude, and the like of the vibration generator of the vibration generating unit 4 by a control signal. The vibration controller 12 vibrates the touch panel 3 in the horizontal direction by vibrating the vibration generator according to the control signal. Thereby, the operator can recognize that the input surface of the touch panel 3 has been operated by the vibration of the touch panel 3.

  With reference to FIGS. 4 to 7, arrangement examples 1 to 4 of the vibration generator of the vibration generating unit 4 will be described. In the arrangement examples 1 to 4, one or a plurality of vibration generators are arranged in the vicinity of the edge other than the central position of the sides 3a and 3b of the touch panel 3.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an arrangement example 1 of the vibration generator of the vibration generating unit 4, and is a schematic plan view for explaining the vibration generators 4 a and 4 b of the touch panel 3 and the vibration generating unit 4. is there. In FIG. 4, “G” indicates the center of gravity of the touch panel 3. The example shown in FIG. 4 shows an example in which the vibration generator is disposed at a position orthogonal to a straight line passing through the center of gravity G of the touch panel 3 through a hard member. As the hard material, for example, glass, metal, ceramic, plastic, and the like can be used.

  The vibration generators 4a and 4b are arranged on one side of the touch panel 3 through the substantially triangular hard members 5a and 5b so that the straight lines La and Lb passing through the center of gravity G and the vibration surfaces of the vibration generators 4a and 4b are orthogonal to each other. It is arranged in the vicinity of the short side 3b. The vibration generators 4a and 4b vibrate the touch panel 3 in the arrow Aa direction and the arrow Ab direction via the hard members 5a and 5b, respectively. When the user touches the input surface of the touch panel 3, the main controller 10 may vibrate only one of the vibration generators 4a and 4b, or may vibrate both.

  The number and arrangement positions of the vibration generators are not limited to the arrangement example 1. One or three or more vibration generators may be provided, and the vibration generator and the hard member may be disposed on the other short side 3b or long side 3a.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an arrangement example 2 of the vibration generator of the vibration generator 4, and is a schematic plan view for explaining the vibration generators 4 a and 4 b of the touch panel 3 and the vibration generator 4. is there. In the example shown in FIG. 5, in order to arrange the vibration generator at a position where the vibration surface of the vibration generator is orthogonal to a straight line passing through the center of gravity G of the touch panel 3, the touch panel 3 is replaced with the hard members 5 a and 5 b of FIG. The example which formed the convex part in the edge part of this is shown.

  The vibration generators 4a and 4b are substantially triangular convex portions formed on one short side 3b of the touch panel 3 so that the straight lines La and Lb passing through the center of gravity G and the vibration surfaces of the vibration generators 4a and 4b are orthogonal to each other. 3c and 3d are arranged in contact with the vibration surface. The vibration generators 4a and 4b cause the touch panel 3 to vibrate in the arrow Aa direction and the arrow Ab direction, respectively. When the user touches the input surface of the touch panel 3, the main controller 10 may vibrate only one of the vibration generators 4a and 4b, or may vibrate both.

  The number and arrangement positions of the vibration generators are not limited to this arrangement example 2. One or more vibration generators may be provided, and the arrangement position of the vibration generator and the formation position of the convex portion may be the other short side 3b or the long side 3a.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an arrangement example 3 of the vibration generator of the vibration generating unit 4, and is a schematic plan view for explaining the vibration generators 4 c and 4 d of the touch panel 3 and the vibration generating unit 4. is there. The example shown in FIG. 6 is an example in which the vibration generator is arranged at a corner (orthogonal side) of the touch panel 3 in order to arrange the vibration generator at a position orthogonal to a straight line passing through the center of gravity G of the touch panel 3. Show.

  The vibration generators 4c and 4d are in contact with the corner portion where the long side 3a and the short side 3b of the touch panel 3 are orthogonal so that the straight lines Lc and Ld passing through the center of gravity G and the vibration surfaces of the vibration generators 4b and 4c are orthogonal to each other. It is arranged in contact. The vibration generators 4c and 4d vibrate the touch panel 3 in the arrow Ac direction and the arrow Ad direction, respectively. When the user touches the input surface of the touch panel 3, the main controller 10 may vibrate only one of the vibration generators 4c and 4d, or may vibrate both.

  The number and arrangement positions of the vibration generators are not limited to this arrangement example 3. There may be one or more vibration generators, and the vibration generators may be arranged at other corners.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining an arrangement example 4 of the vibration generator of the vibration generating unit 4, and is a schematic plan view for explaining the vibration generators 4 e and 4 f of the touch panel 3 and the vibration generating unit 4. is there. The example shown in FIG. 7 is an example in which a recess (groove) is formed at the edge of the touch panel 3 in order to place the vibration generator at a position where the vibration surface of the vibration generator is orthogonal to a straight line passing through the center of gravity G of the touch panel 3. Is shown.

  The vibration generators 4e and 4f are substantially triangular recesses 3c formed on one long side 3a of the touch panel 3 so that the straight lines Le and Lf passing through the center of gravity G and the vibration surfaces of the vibration generators 4e and 4f are orthogonal to each other. 3d is disposed in contact with the vibration surface. The vibration generators 4e and 4f vibrate the touch panel 3 in the arrow Ae direction and the arrow Af direction, respectively. When the user touches the input surface of the touch panel 3, the main controller 10 may vibrate only one of the vibration generators 4e and 4f, or may vibrate both.

  The number and arrangement positions of the vibration generators are not limited to this arrangement example 4. One or three or more vibration generators may be provided, and the vibration generator may be arranged at the other long side 3a or short side 3b at the position where the vibration generator is disposed and the position where the recess is formed.

  The above-described arrangement examples 1 to 4 may be performed alone or in combination.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example in which the software keyboard 100 is displayed on the tablet 1 of FIG. In FIG. 8, the touch panel controller 11 displays a software keyboard 100 on the touch panel 3 under the control of the main controller 10. The tablet 1 in FIG. 8 includes at least two vibration generators (two vibration generators shown in the examples of the above arrangement examples 1 to 4).

  With the software keyboard 100, key input can be performed by a touch operation on the keyboard displayed on the screen. Generally, a software keyboard has a problem that when the keyboard is continuously pressed, the vibration feedback of the vibration generator cannot catch up and is difficult to understand. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the main controller 10 controls the touch panel controller 11 to vibrate different vibration generators for successive keystroke inputs. For example, the main controller 10 may alternately vibrate the vibration generators 4 a and 4 b in response to a key input of the software keyboard 100.

  For example, when the keys “w”, “r”, “i”, “t”, and “e” are continuously input on the software keyboard 100, the main controller 10 uses the vibration generator 4a. The vibration generator 4b, the vibration generator 4a, the vibration generator 4b, and the vibration generator 4a may be vibrated in this order. For example, when the interval between the previous key input and the current key input is shorter than a predetermined time, the main controller 10 may vibrate a vibration generator different from the vibration generator that was vibrated last time. For example, the main controller 10 vibrates the vibration generator 4a when “w” is input, and vibrates the vibration generator 4b when “r” is input within a predetermined time from the input of “w”. You may let them.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the touch panel 3, the vibration generating unit 4 that vibrates the touch panel 3 in a direction parallel to the input surface of the touch panel 3, and the input operation to the input surface of the touch panel 3 are performed. A main controller 10 and a touch panel controller 11 that vibrate the vibration generator 4 when performed, and the vibration generator 4 includes one or more vibration generators, and generates one or more vibrations. Since the vibration plane is arranged near the edge of the touch panel 3 at a position orthogonal to a straight line passing through the center of gravity of the touch panel 3, vibration is efficiently fed back to the user's input operation. It is possible to provide an input device that can be used.

  In addition, the touch panel 3 has a substantially rectangular shape, and one or a plurality of vibration generators are arranged in the vicinity of the edge other than the central position of each side of the touch panel 3. Even when the vibration generator cannot be arranged at the center position of each side, the touch panel 3 can be vibrated efficiently.

  Further, the vibration generator is disposed in contact with the corner (orthogonal side), disposed with a hard member or a vibration reinforcing member interposed, or disposed in contact with the recess formed in the edge of the touch panel 3. Since the vibration surface of the vibration generator is arranged at a position perpendicular to the straight line passing through the center of gravity of the touch panel 3, the vibration is generated with a simple configuration. Can be placed.

  Further, the main controller 10 displays the software keyboard 100 on the touch panel 3, and when a key operation is performed on the software keyboard 100, a different vibration generator among a plurality of vibration generators is provided for each key operation. Since it is made to vibrate, it becomes possible to give a suitable vibration feedback to a user, without producing a delay of vibration feedback with respect to continuous key input.

  In the above embodiment, a tablet is exemplified as an input device. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and other devices including a touch panel, such as a smartphone, a notebook PC, a mobile phone terminal, etc. It can be applied to other input devices.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Tablet 2 Housing | casing 3 Touch panel 3a Long side 3b Short side 3c, 3d Convex part 3e, 3f Concave part 4 Vibration generating part 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, 4e, 4f Vibration generator 5a, 5b Hard member 10 Main controller 11 Touch panel Controller 12 Vibration controller 100 Software keyboard G Center of gravity La, Lb, Lc, Ld, Le, Lf Straight line

Claims (7)

A touch panel;
A vibration generator that vibrates the touch panel in a direction parallel to the input surface of the touch panel;
Control means for vibrating the vibration generating unit when an input operation to the input surface of the touch panel is performed;
With
The vibration generator is composed of one or a plurality of vibration generators,
The input device is characterized in that the one or more vibration generators are arranged in the vicinity of the edge of the touch panel at a position where the vibration surface is orthogonal to a straight line passing through the center of gravity of the touch panel.   2. The touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the touch panel has a substantially square shape, and the one or more vibration generators are arranged in the vicinity of the edge other than the center position of each side of the touch panel. The input device described.   The input device according to claim 1, wherein the one or more vibration generators vibrate the touch panel through a hard member.   The input device according to claim 1, wherein the one or more vibration generators are disposed in contact with a convex portion formed at an edge portion of the touch panel.   The input device according to claim 1, wherein the one or more vibration generators are disposed in contact with a recess formed in an edge of the touch panel.   The input device according to claim 1, wherein the one or more vibration generators are disposed in contact with a corner portion of the touch panel.   The control means displays a software keyboard on the touch panel, and causes a different vibration generator among the plurality of vibration generators to vibrate for each key operation when a key operation is performed on the software keyboard. The input device according to claim 1, wherein the input device is an input device.

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