JPH04278627A - Touch panel device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain the input of two types of information on the position and the strength with a single input of information and to extend an information processing field by detecting the contact area between a touch panel and a human finger. CONSTITUTION:A dot number detector means 6 detects the contact area between a human finger 10 and a touch panel 2, i.e., the number of contact dots. Then the number of dots detected by a strength deciding means 7 is compared with the reference number of dots set previously. Thus the pressing strength of the panel 2 is decided and a signal S3 showing this deciding result is sent to a device control means 8. Then the type of the input information is recognized based on a prescribed rule. That is, two types of information can be inputted to a single area.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a touch panel device, and is particularly suitable for use in a touch panel device that determines what kind of information is input from the outside by detecting the strength with which it is pressed. It is something.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an input device called a touch panel device has been known as an input device for inputting information to an information processing device such as a computer. The above-mentioned touch panel device inputs information by, for example, pressing a touch panel board mounted on a display screen on which guidance information is displayed, with a finger, a touch pen, etc. according to the guidance displayed on the display screen. It is configured. Furthermore, touch panel devices are also known that can detect the pressure with which a touch panel is pressed by using special hardware.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic configuration of a conventionally used touch panel device using a sound wave detection method. As is clear from FIG. 5, the sound wave output devices 3 are arranged along two adjacent sides of the rectangular glass plate 2 stacked on the CRT display device 1. This sound wave output device 3 is
It is constructed by combining a large number of acoustic prisms and piezoelectric transducers.

When operating the touch panel device configured as described above, the drive circuit 4 simultaneously operates the X-axis and Y-axis sound wave output devices 3, and the piezoelectric transducer group generates longitudinal waves. This longitudinal wave is then converted into a surface wave by the acoustic prism and radiated along the surface of the glass plate 2.

When a human finger touches the surface of the glass plate 2 while the surface waves are being radiated in this way, the surface waves radiated from the sound wave output device 3 are reflected on the finger, and the surface wave is The waves return to the same transducer from which they were emitted. This is detected by the reflected wave detection circuit 5, and the position (area) pressed by the finger is detected based on the round trip time of the surface wave. When actually using the device, a designated position on the glass plate 2 is pressed down in accordance with the guidance displayed on the display screen. The pressed position is detected as described above, and it is determined based on the detected position what information has been input.

[0006]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As described above, the conventional touch panel device discriminates input information based only on the pressed position according to the guidance display on the display screen 1. Only two-dimensional information in the x and y directions could be input. Furthermore, since special hardware was used to detect pressure, there was a problem in that the cost was high.

[0007] In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention detects the pressure of pressing on a touch panel in a pseudo manner without using special hardware for detecting pressure, and allows the user to input more information. The purpose is to do so.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems] A touch panel device of the present invention is a touch panel device in which information is input by pressing a touch panel plate with a human finger and detecting the pressed position. dot number detection means for detecting the area in contact with the finger;
a pressing force determining means that compares the contact area detected by the dot number detecting means with a preset reference value, and determines the strength with which the touch panel board is pressed based on the magnitude thereof; and and input information determining means for determining what kind of information has been input from the outside based on the determination result of the force determining means.

[0009]

[Operation] By inputting information to the touch panel device not only based on the position at which the touch panel board is pressed, but also based on the strength at which the touch panel board is pressed at the same time, it is possible to input information to the touch panel device based on the position and strength of the touch panel board at the same time. The touch panel device can be used as an information processing means in a wider range of information processing fields.

0010

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a touch panel device showing one embodiment of the present invention. The touch panel device of this embodiment includes a CRT display device 1, a touch panel plate (for example, made of a glass plate) 2, a sound wave output device 3, a drive circuit 4, a reflected wave detection circuit 5, and the like. The configuration of each of these parts is similar to that of the conventional touch panel device shown in FIG. 5, and detailed explanation will be omitted.

The touch panel device of this embodiment is the touch panel device configured as described above, in which dot number detection means 6, intensity determination means 7, device control means 8, etc. are newly provided. Note that each of these means is actually configured by a computer program, and the touch panel device of the embodiment can be configured without adding hardware.

The dot number detection means 6 is provided to detect the area on the touch panel board 2 pressed by a human finger based on the position detection signal S1 derived from the reflected wave detection circuit 5. It is something that exists. That is, the area in which the human finger 10 contacts the glass plate 2 becomes smaller when the touch panel plate 2 is pressed down weakly as shown in (a) of FIG. It becomes larger when the touch panel board 2 is pressed down strongly. In FIG. 2, a1 shows the state in which the human finger 10 is pressing down on the touch panel board 2, viewed from the side, and a2 shows the state in which the touch panel board 2 is seen from below.

As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, in general, when pressed strongly, the human fingertip is crushed more than when pressed weakly, and the touch panel covers a wider area. The board 2 and the human finger 10 come into contact. Therefore, the human finger 10 and the touch panel board 2
By detecting the contact area with the touch panel board 2
It is possible to easily and reliably detect whether the button is pressed strongly or weakly. The contact area is detected according to the input detection matrix 11.
Pressed position and number of pressed dots 12
This is done by detecting the

The dot number detection means 6 detects the human finger 10.
When the contact area between the touch panel board 2 and the touch panel board 2, that is, the number of contact dots, is detected, a dot number detection signal S2 is sent to the strength determining means 7. Then, in this strength determining means 7, it is determined whether the above-mentioned pressing was performed strongly or softly. That is, when the touch panel is pressed strongly, a large number of dots are detected, and when the touch panel is pressed weakly, a small number of dots is detected. Utilizing this phenomenon, the strength determining means 7 detects whether the touch panel device is pressed strongly or weakly, and the number of dots detected by the number of dots detecting means 6 and the strength determining means 7 By comparing the number of dots with a preset reference number of dots, it is determined whether the touch panel device has been pressed strongly or weakly.

When the strength determining means 7 determines the strength of the force used to press down the touch panel board 2, a signal S3 indicating the determination result is outputted from the strength determining means 7 to the device control means 8. The device control means 8 recognizes what information has been input to the touch panel device based on the given determination result. This recognition is performed based on predetermined rules. That is, for example, if the answer to a certain question is "yes", press the touch panel board 2 strongly,
On the other hand, if you set up a display on the CRT display device 1 that instructs you to press the touch panel board 2 weakly if the answer is "No", you can easily change the answer to "Yes" or "No" by simply changing the strength with which you press the touch panel board 2. You will be able to input information.

The flowchart in FIG. 4 summarizes the above-mentioned detection operations. That is, when the detection operation is started, the number of dots pressed on the touch panel is detected in step S101. Next, in step S102, it is determined whether the detected number of dots is greater or less than a preset reference value. If the number is less than the reference value, the process advances to step S103, and it is determined that the touch panel board 2 is being pressed down weakly. If the number is greater than the reference value, the process advances to step S104, and it is determined that the touch panel board 2 is being pressed down strongly. In addition, in the determination in step S102, not only whether or not the value is n or more, but also, for example, 0 to n, n to n+10, n+
It is also possible to make more detailed determinations such as 10 to n+20, . . . .

Since the touch panel device of this embodiment allows information to be input from the outside in this way, settings for inputting information can be easily made. Also,
Since it is possible to input strength and weakness for one area, it is possible to input twice as much information using the same device. Note that since the touch panel device of this embodiment inputs information based on the difference in the contact area of the fingers, there is a possibility that the input information will be different between a person with large fingers and a person with small fingers. To solve this problem, for example, before inputting information, a test is performed in which the glass plate 2 is pressed down strongly or weakly. Based on this test result,
By setting a reference value for determining whether the button has been pressed strongly or weakly, errors caused by the size of the finger can be reliably eliminated. Further, by registering the size of the user's finger in advance, a criterion for determining the strength with which the glass plate 2 is pressed may be set.

[0018]

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the present invention allows information to be input to a touch panel device based on the strength with which the touch panel is pressed by detecting the contact area between the touch panel and a human finger. Therefore, by combining the input device of the present invention with a conventional input device, it is possible to input information in two ways for one area: strength, weakness, and pressed position. You will be able to enter information.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a touch panel device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the relationship between the strength with which a touch panel is pressed and the contact area.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a method of detecting the contact area by the number of dots.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a method for detecting the strength with which a touch panel is pressed.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing an outline of a conventional touch panel device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 CRT display device 2 Glass plate 3. Sound wave output device 4 Drive circuit 5 Reflected wave detection circuit 6 Dot number detection means 7 Pressing force detection means 10 Human finger S1 Position detection signal S2 Dot number detection signal S3 Strength judgment signal

Claims (1)

[Claims] [Claim 1] Pressing a touch panel board with a human finger,
In a touch panel device in which information is input by detecting the pressed position, dot number detection means detects the area of contact between the touch panel board and a human finger; a pressing force determining means for comparing the contact area with a preset reference value and determining the strength with which the touch panel board was pressed based on the magnitude thereof; What is claimed is: 1. A touch panel device comprising: input information determining means for determining what kind of information has been input from the outside;