JP2001306246A - Touch pad - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a touch pad capable of preventing the unintended movement of an input pointer in a state that a pad face is not touched and portable terminal equipment incorporating this touch pad. SOLUTION: This touch pad is provided with a pad part 21 and a button part 22 and a touch pad control part 23 for controlling signals from the pad part 21 and the button part 22. The button part 22 is provided with an input switch for generating an input signal and a validity switch for generating a valid signal for judging whether or not an input signal from the pad part 21 is valid or invalid. The touch pad control part 23 discriminates whether the input signal from the pad part 21 should be transferred to a mouse controller 3 or abandoned according to the input signal from the pad part 21, the input signal from the input switch of the button part 22, and the validity signal from the validity switch of the button part 22.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a touchpad as a pointing device, and more particularly, to a touchpad in which a mouse pointer does not move to an unintended position.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a touch pad is a notebook PC.
It is a pointing device that is often used in portable terminals such as (personal computers), and most of them are capacitance type devices. The capacitance type is a method in which the capacitance of the pad surface changes when a finger touches the pad surface, and the movement of the finger is detected based on the change value.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a relationship between a button press and a signal in a conventional touch pad. FIG. 7 (a)
7 shows a case where no button is pressed, and FIG. 7B shows a case where a button is pressed. The conventional touch pad includes a button 4 pressed by a finger, an input switch 5 for passing an input signal, a switch box 7 for disposing the input switch 5, and a touch pad control unit 23 for controlling the touch pad. As shown in FIG. 7A, when the button 4 is not touched by a finger or the like, the relationship between the pressing of the button 4 and the signal does not normally press the input switch 5. However, as shown in FIG. 7B, when a finger is placed on the button 4, the input switch 5 on the switch box 7 is pressed, and an input signal is transmitted to the touchpad control unit 23. In consideration of its operability, the above-mentioned touchpad is generally arranged in front of the keyboard, and is located at a position where the hand naturally covers during key input. For this reason, the mouse pointer may move to an unintended position due to static electricity of the human body even if the pad part is accidentally touched during key input or the pad surface is not directly touched.

[0004] For this reason, a method of cutting off the function of the touch pad from the beginning, a method of attaching a pad cover as described in Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 3049133, and a method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-133796. As described in the gazette, there is a method of validating an input from a touch pad according to a time after a key input disappears.

[0005]

However, in the invention described in Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 3049133, when the user wants to use the touch pad during key input, the user must operate the touch pad each time. There was a problem that was bad.

In the invention described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-133796, if no key input is performed for a certain period of time,
Even if the touch pad is not operated, there is a problem that the mouse pointer moves due to static electricity of the human body.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a touch pad capable of preventing an unintended movement of an input pointer without touching a pad surface, and a portable terminal incorporating the same, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem. It is in.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a touch pad according to the present invention controls a pad and a button for transmitting a signal by hand operation and a signal from the pad and the button. With a touchpad control unit, in a touchpad used as a pointing device of a personal computer, the button unit,
An input switch for generating an input signal; and an enable switch for generating an enable signal for determining whether the input signal from the pad section is enabled or disabled. The touch pad control section controls the input signal from the pad section by the enable signal. Is discarded to the mouse controller or discarded, and unintended movement of the input pointer is prevented.

Preferably, the button section includes a button for contacting a finger of a hand, and a switch box for disposing an input switch and an effective switch.

Further, when the button contacts the input switch and the valid switch, the input signal
Preferably, a valid signal is generated.

Furthermore, when the button is pressed, it is preferable that the effective switch contacts the button before the input switch.

It is preferable that the valid switch is constituted by a logical AND gate which allows an input signal from the pad section to flow to the touch pad control section only when the valid signal is ON.

Further, a portable terminal device of the present invention is characterized in that the above-mentioned touch pad is built in.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a view showing the appearance of a touch pad according to the present invention. FIG. 1 (a) is an overall perspective view showing a portable terminal device, and FIG. 1 (b) is an enlarged view showing the touch pad. It is. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration and signal flow of the touchpad of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1A, an embodiment of the touchpad of the present invention is a touchpad 2 as a capacitive pointing device built in a portable terminal device 1. The touch pad 2 has a pad section 21 and a button section 22 on the surface as shown in FIG. 1B, but has a touch pad control section 2 inside as shown in FIG.
3 Therefore, the touch pad section 2 is
1, a button unit 22, and a touch pad control unit 23.

Next, a signal flow in the touch pad of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The touch pad control unit 23 receives the signals from the pad unit 21 and the button unit 22 and, if the valid signal is ON, sends the signals from the pad unit 21 and the button unit 22 to the mouse controller 3.
If the valid signal is OFF, the signal is discarded.

[0018]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

First, with reference to FIG. 3, the relationship between pressing of a button on a touch pad and a signal according to the present invention will be described.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the relationship between the pressing of a button on the touch pad of the present invention and a signal. FIG. 3A shows a case where no button is pressed, FIG. 3B shows a case where the button is put on a finger, and FIG. 3C shows a case where the button is fully pressed. The button section 22 includes a button 4, an input switch 5, an effective switch 6, and a switch box 7. FIG. 3 (a)
As shown in the figure, when the button 4 is not normally touched by a finger or the like, neither the input switch 5 nor the valid switch 6 is pressed. However, as shown in FIG. 3B, when a finger is placed on the button 4, only the valid switch 6 is pressed (half-pressed state), and a valid signal is sent to the touch pad control unit 23.
Conveyed to. Next, as shown in FIG. 3C, when the button 4 is further pressed, both the input switch 5 and the valid switch 6 are pressed, and the input signal and the valid signal are transmitted to the touch pad control unit 23.

Next, the operation of the touch pad of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the signal processing method in the touch pad according to the present invention. Upon receiving signals from the pad unit 21 and the button unit 22 (step A1), the touch pad control unit 23 checks whether the valid signal from the button unit 22 is ON or OFF (step A).
2). If the valid signal is ON, the signals of the pad section 21 and the button section 22 are passed to the mouse controller 3 (step A3). If the valid signal is OFF, the pad unit 21
And discard the signal of the button section 22 (step A
4).

Next, with reference to FIG. 5, the position of the hand when operating the touch pad according to the present invention will be described using a specific example.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the position of the hand when operating the touch pad according to the present invention. FIG. 5A shows a state in which a key is input.
FIG. 5B is a diagram illustrating a state of operating the touch pad. FIG.
As shown in (a), normally, when a key is input (at the home position), the hand does not touch the pad portion 21, but covers the upper portion of the pad portion 21. Therefore,
As shown in FIG. 5B, when operating the touch pad 2, a finger is put on the button part 22 as well as the pad part 21. As a result, not only the input signal from the pad section 21 but also the effective switch 6 is pressed by placing a finger on the button 4 as shown in FIG. The valid signal flows to The touch pad control unit 23 includes the button unit 22
If the valid signal from is turned on, the input signals of the pad section 21 and the button section 22 are passed to the mouse controller 3,
If the valid signal from the pad section 22 is OFF, the input signals of the pad section 21 and the button section 22 are discarded, and the mouse controller 3 is not notified. As a result, the input signal of the pad section 21 becomes valid only when the operation is performed intentionally, and malfunction due to movement of the input pointer is prevented.

Next, another embodiment of the touch pad of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration and signal flow of another embodiment of the touch pad of the present invention. In the present embodiment, a logical product is provided between the pad unit 21 and the touch pad control unit 23 such that an input signal from the pad unit 21 does not flow to the touch pad control unit 23 unless the valid signal from the button unit 22 is ON. By providing a switch such as the gate 24, a similar effect can be obtained. Further, since the ON / OFF of the effective signal is not determined by the touch pad control unit 23 by software as in the above-described embodiment, the switch is merely provided by hardware, so that the present invention can be realized more easily.

[0027]

As described above, in the touch pad of the present invention, an effective signal is supplied at the time of operating the pad,
It can be determined whether the input signal from the pad section is valid. Therefore, it is possible to prevent an unintended movement of the input pointer without touching the pad surface, such as during key input from the keyboard.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing the appearance of a touch pad according to the present invention;
FIG. 2A is a perspective view illustrating an appearance of a mobile terminal device, and FIG. 2B is a plan view illustrating a touchpad.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration and a signal flow of the touch pad of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a relationship between a button press and a signal in the touch pad of the present invention. FIG. 7A is a diagram illustrating a case where no button is pressed, FIG. 7B is a diagram illustrating a case where a finger is placed on the button, and FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a signal processing method in a touchpad control unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the position of the hand when operating the touch pad according to the present invention. (A) is a diagram showing a key input, and (b) is a diagram showing a touch pad operation.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration and a signal flow of a touch pad (with a gate) of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a relationship between a signal press and a button press of a conventional touch pad. (A) In the case of no press,
(B) is a diagram showing a case where the button is pressed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 mobile terminal device 2 touch pad 3 mouse controller 4 button 5 input switch 6 enable switch 7 switch box 21 pad section 22 button section 23 touch pad control section

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A touch panel, comprising: a pad section and a button section for transmitting a signal by hand operation; and a touch pad control section for controlling a signal from the pad section and the button section, and used as a pointing device of a personal computer. In the pad, the button unit is an input switch for generating an input signal;
A valid switch that generates a valid signal for determining whether an input signal from the pad unit is valid or invalid, wherein the touch pad control unit passes an input signal from the pad unit to a mouse controller according to the valid signal. A touchpad for determining whether the input pointer is to be discarded or not, and preventing unintended movement of an input pointer. 2. The touchpad according to claim 1, wherein the button unit includes a button for touching a finger of a hand, and a switch box for arranging the input switch and the valid switch. . 3. The touch pad according to claim 2, wherein the input signal and the valid signal are respectively generated by contacting the button with the input switch and the valid switch. 4. The touch pad according to claim 3, wherein, when the button is pressed, the valid switch contacts the button before the input switch. 5. The device according to claim 1, wherein said valid switch is constituted by a logical product gate which allows an input signal from said pad section to flow to said touch pad control section only when a valid signal is ON. Touchpad. 6. A portable terminal device having a built-in touch pad according to claim 1.