JP2000112660A - Touch panel device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To exactly and promptly judge abnormality in operation of a touch panel, to simultaneously prevent runaway of a main device which is possible to be generated when operation of the touch panel is disabled due to no reaction disorder without causing erroneous judgment by an operator, on the contrary, to stop erroneous operation to erroneously judge an input instruction of a coordinate and to further enable maintenance at an early stage based on abundant information about an operation state of the touch panel. SOLUTION: The touch panel device is constituted by providing an electrode layer 44 on the operation surface 18 of the touch panel 10, is provided with an operation time detecting means 48 using the electrode layer 44, the operation state of the touch panel 10 is judged by the detecting means 48 with a coordinate position signal 50 to be outputted from a coordinate position detecting means 20 and a data processing corresponding to the judgment contents is automatically performed by the touch panel device.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a touch panel device, and more particularly to a touch panel device capable of detecting an operation state of a touch panel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, touch panels have been increasingly used as data input means in order to input data quickly and reliably even in a poor environment such as a factory. Furthermore, there has been proposed a device in which a predetermined reaction sound is emitted when a touch panel is pressed, so that an operator can perform an operation while confirming a normal input.

[0003]

However, when the touch panel malfunctions, the malfunction cannot be determined on the side of the main unit equipped with the touch panel. Generally responded. However, in a device used in a factory, delay in responding to a malfunction of the touch panel may cause enormous loss or even endanger human life.

The inventor of the present invention has considered this inconvenience, and as a result, provided a means for detecting the operation time of the touch panel, and by judging the operation state of the touch panel in combination with the coordinate position detection data. It has been found that abnormal operation of the touch panel can be accurately determined.

The present invention has been made on the basis of the above findings, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a touch panel device capable of judging various operation states of a touch panel and capable of responding to an abnormality of the touch panel accurately and promptly. I do.

[0006]

A touch panel device according to the present invention has a predetermined operation timing signal corresponding to an operation timing on an operation surface 18 of the touch panel 10, as schematically shown in FIG. The operation time detecting means 48 for generating the signal 52, the operation time signal 52 output from the operation time detecting means 48, and the coordinate position signal 50 output from the touch panel 10 as input signals,
Means 54 for determining an operation state of 0.

Further, in the operation state determining means 54,
When there is at least the input of the coordinate position signal 50 without the input of the operation timing signal 52, it is determined that the touch panel 10 is abnormal, and for example, the sending of the coordinate position signal 50 to the data processing circuit 22 is forcibly stopped. Or perform predetermined data processing such as displaying an error message.

The operation timing detecting means 48 includes:
It can be configured to generate an operation timing signal 52 in response to a part of the human body touching the operation surface 18 of the touch panel 10. It is preferable to dispose an electrode layer 44 for detecting operation timing on the operation surface 18 of the touch panel 10 described above.

[0009]

According to the present invention, as described above, the touch panel 10
Means 4 for detecting the operation timing of the operation surface 18 of the user
8, the operation abnormality of the touch panel 10 can be determined accurately and quickly. Further, by automatically performing the data processing corresponding to the determination content, the main device which may be generated when the touch panel 10 cannot be operated due to the non-reaction failure without causing the operator to make a determination error. Runaway is prevented beforehand, or a malfunction of erroneously determining a coordinate input instruction is prevented, and early maintenance can be performed based on a wealth of information on the operation state of the touch panel.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A touch panel device according to the present invention will be described below based on an example in which the present invention is applied to a programmable display device for a PLC. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Of course, the present invention can be carried out in substantially the same manner for various data processing devices. In this embodiment, an example in which the coordinate position is detected in an analog manner has been described. However, the method of detecting the coordinate position can be changed to an arbitrary method such as a method of digitally detecting the electrodes provided in a matrix.

FIG. 1 shows a touch panel device according to the present invention.
And FIG. 2 schematically shows the overall configuration.
It includes a touch panel 10 and a touch panel detection circuit 12 that enables various data input operations via the touch panel 10.

The touch panel 10 is of an analog type that has been used in the related art. The touch panel 10 is disposed in close contact with a display screen 16 of a display 14 such as a liquid crystal display panel. Operation surface 18
When an arbitrary coordinate position above is instructed to be pressed, coordinates corresponding to the pressed point are analyzed by the coordinate position detecting means 20, and a data processing operation based on the analysis result is performed by the data processing circuit 22.

The analog touch panel 10 has an operation panel 26 made of a transparent sheet having flexibility and a substrate 24 having substantially the same shape as the display screen 16 and having insulating properties such as a glass plate and having a predetermined strength. Are overlapped via a spacer (not shown), so that the substrate 24 and the operation plate 26 are arranged so as to be accessible with a small gap 28 provided.

Further, a first electrode 30 and a second electrode 32 for detecting coordinates, which are made of a resistive film having a predetermined resistance value, are arranged on substantially the entire surface of the opposing surface of the substrate 24 and the operation plate 26. At the same time, by providing the coordinate position detecting means 20, it is possible to detect the pressed instruction coordinates on the operation plate 26.

Here, the coordinate position detection means 20 is
The first electrode on the operation plate 26 is applied to both ends of the second electrode 32 provided on the operation plate 26 in a state where the reference voltage Vo is applied in the left and right direction via the on / off switches 36 and 38 and the changeover switch 40 shown in FIG. A / D the voltage at the contact position via A / D
The data is converted into a digital value by the converter 42 and extracted.
Then, the voltage value Vx matches the value obtained by dividing the reference voltage Vo applied in the lateral direction of the second electrode 32 at the contact position with the first electrode 30, so that the voltage division ratio between the reference voltage Vo and the detection voltage Vx is obtained. And the horizontal length of the second electrode 32, the coordinates in the X-axis direction with the origin at the left edge of the operation plate 26, for example, are calculated by the calculation unit 56.
Is obtained by the arithmetic processing in.

As for the Y-axis direction coordinates, the other on / off switches 36a and 38a are turned on, and the changeover switch 40 is switched in a manner opposite to the above case. Then
Since the reference voltage Vo is applied to the first electrode 30 side in the vertical direction in FIG. 3, the detection voltage Vy is taken out from the second electrode 32 side via the A / D converter 42a, so that, for example, the operation plate 26 The coordinates in the Y-axis direction with the upper edge as the origin are obtained by calculation.

According to the present invention, in addition to the above structure, the operation plate 2
6 is characterized in that an electrode layer 44 is further provided on the operation surface 18 located on the front side, and operation time detecting means 48 using the electrode layer 44 as an electrode for operation time detection is provided.

The electrode layer 44 is made of a substance having a light transmitting property and a conductivity, and is selected from ITO or a similar material which is often used for detecting a coordinate position in a conventional touch panel. Although it is used, its material is not limited.

On the other hand, the operation timing detecting means 48 detects a part of the human body, such as the
This is for detecting whether or not the user has touched or approached a very short distance.

For example, the capacitance or the resistance value of the approaching or touching detection target is directly detected through the electrode layer 44, or the electrode layer 44 is used as a part of a detection circuit to detect the approach of the detection object. By adopting various conventional object detection methods such as those that indirectly detect changes in the inductance and reactance of electronic circuits, physical properties such as the size and type of the detection target Target information or contact information such as the degree of approach can be obtained.

Next, the coordinate position signal 50 output from the coordinate position detecting means 20 and the operation timing detecting means 48
The operation timing signal 52 output from the controller is input to the operation state determination unit 54, and the data processing operation illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 is performed.

When the touch panel device is activated in step ST1 of FIG. 5, after performing necessary initialization operations in step ST2, the process proceeds to step ST3 to determine whether or not the operation timing signal 52 has been input. If not, the process proceeds to step ST4 to determine the presence or absence of the coordinate position signal 50.

If the coordinate position signal 50 is not detected in step ST4, it is determined that there is no operation and the touch panel device is in a normal standby state without any abnormal operation.
The process returns to the detection of the operation timing signal 52 in step ST3 without doing anything.

However, when the coordinate position signal 50 is detected in step ST4, the touch panel device performs an erroneous operation as if a predetermined coordinate position was instructed to be pressed regardless of any operation. It is determined that you are doing. Therefore, the transmission of the coordinate position signal 50 to the data processing circuit 22 is forcibly stopped, and at the same time, an error signal notifying that the coordinate detection operation of the touch panel device is abnormal is transmitted to the data processing circuit 22.

Then, the data processing circuit 22 activates the programmable display device in step ST5 and displays an error message on the display 14 indicating an operation failure of the touch panel device side, thereby giving the operator a Notifying the operation abnormality of the touch panel device, and preventing a malfunction on the display device side due to an unnecessary input of a coordinate signal.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
When the fingertip 58 is brought into contact with an arbitrary point A on the operation surface 18, the operation timing signal 52 is detected in step ST3. In this case, the process proceeds to step ST6, where the display 1 is placed in the standby state until then.
The display device for which the display for No. 4 has not been performed is activated, and a screen display including the switch graphic 60 as shown in FIG.

Further, until the coordinate input through the coordinate position detecting means 20 is confirmed in step ST8, the elapsed time from the timing of detecting the touch on the touch panel 10 is detected in step ST7, and the preset time is set to, for example, 10 minutes or more. If the coordinate instruction is not recognized for a long time, it is determined that the touch instruction on the touch panel itself is erroneously detected or that the coordinate instruction operation is not performed just by activating the display device, and the process proceeds to step ST9. To return the display device to the standby state, and then returns to step ST3 to return to the operation plate 2
Wait for the detection of the contact time for No. 6.

However, if the coordinate input is confirmed in step ST8, it is further determined in step ST10 whether or not the input of the operation timing signal 52 is still continuing. It is determined that the instruction has been performed, and the data processing operation corresponding to the coordinate position input in step ST11 is performed.

On the other hand, steps ST8 and ST
If it is determined in step 10 that the coordinate position signal 50 has been detected but the operation timing signal 52 has not been detected, the process proceeds to step ST5 to perform error processing.

In the case where the coordinate position signal 50 is not detected while the fingertip 58 is in contact with the operation plate 26, the switch is not consciously operated as described above. In some cases, the designated coordinates are not detected, and in this case, the display device is likely to be inoperable.

In such a case, however, since it is common for the operator to be watching the screen on the display 14 in front of the display device, an abnormality occurs in the input coordinate detection in the touch panel device. It is possible to intuitively determine what has been done, and take an action corresponding to it.

On the other hand, instead of performing two-stage data processing by touching and pressing the operation plate 26, when a touch operation is performed on the operation plate 26, the coordinate is always instructed at the same time. Assuming that the coordinate position signal 50 is not detected despite the operation timing signal 52,
It is also possible to judge that the coordinate position detecting means 20 is malfunctioning and to display a predetermined error display on the display 14 to notify the operator of the fact.

Further, since there is a risk that the display device may run away from such a non-reaction failure, the touch panel device is activated by activating a fill safe function which is set in advance for safety. It is also possible to configure so as to prevent the display device and the PLC from falling into a dangerous state due to the inability to input data via the display device.

Further, at the time of contact detection using the electrode layer 44 and the operation timing detecting means 48, the presence or absence of the pressing state by the fingertip 58 can be detected and used for the above-mentioned determination of the operating state.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example in which a touch panel device of the present invention is applied to a programmable display device.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of a touch panel device.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific configuration of a coordinate detecting unit in the touch panel device.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an operation state of the touch panel.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure in an operation state determination unit shown in FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 touch panel 12 touch panel detection circuit 14 display 16 display screen 18 operation surface 20 coordinate position detection means 22 data processing circuit 24 substrate 26 operation plate 28 gap 30 first electrode 32 second electrode 36 on / off switch 38 on / off switch 40 changeover switch 42 A / D converter 44 Electrode layer 48 Operation timing detection means 50 Coordinate position signal 52 Operation timing signal 54 Operation state determination means 56 Operation unit 58 Fingertip 60 Switch figure

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An operation timing detection means for generating a predetermined signal corresponding to an operation timing on an operation surface of a touch panel, an operation timing signal output from the operation timing detection means, and a coordinate position signal output from the touch panel And a means for determining the operation state of the touch panel, wherein the determination means determines that the touch panel is abnormal when at least the operation timing signal is not input but the coordinate position signal is input. A touch panel device for performing predetermined data processing. 2. The touch panel device according to claim 1, wherein said operation timing detection means generates an operation timing signal in response to a part of a human body touching an operation surface of the touch panel. 3. On the operation surface of the touch panel,
3. The touch panel device according to claim 2, further comprising an electrode layer for detecting operation timing.