JP2003248547A - Input device for information processor, information processor operating method, the information processor, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an input device for an information processor by which a user is reported when to operate the input device, which change occurs by the operation, and, then, which kind of operation is performed, and also the user is led to perform the operation by proper timing. <P>SOLUTION: When the window of an application corresponding to a jog dial provided with an application mode comes to be focused, the jog dial 10 is flickered for two seconds first as shown in Fig. (a), and remains turned-on afterward (b). It is reported to the use that the mode can be changed into the application mode by depressing the jog dial. When the user depresses the jog dial in response to it, the mode is change into the application mode. At the point of time, the jog dial is turned off (c), and a jog window is attached to the right side of the window for the application. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an input device of an information processing device for performing rotation or rotation and pressing operations, an operation method of the information processing device for allowing a user to operate the information processing device, an information processing device, and an information processing device. , A program relating to the operation of the information processing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a portable information processing apparatus represented by, for example, a laptop personal computer, a lid having a display screen on the inner surface is attached to a main body having a keyboard on the upper surface so as to be openable and closable. ing. A touch pad is often provided on the upper surface of the main body at the front side of the keyboard and at a substantially middle portion in the left-right direction of the main body. By tracing this touch pad with a fingertip, it becomes possible to perform an operation such as moving the pointer displayed on the display screen. A left click button and a right click button are generally provided on the front side of the touch pad (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-102234). in this way,
In the portable information processing device, the touch pad and the left and right click buttons function as a mouse that is required in a desktop personal computer.

There is also a stick type in which a stick for operating a pointer is provided instead of the touch pad. In this case, the stick is arranged in the keyboard on the upper surface of the main body and in the middle of the main body in the left-right direction, and the pointer is moved by moving the upper part of the stick forward, backward, leftward, and rightward. Is operated.

Further, there is also a trackball type in which a trackball for pointer operation is provided instead of the touchpad. In this thing, the trackball
The pointer is arranged in front of the keyboard and in the middle of the main body in the left-right direction, and the pointer is operated by rotating the trackball with a fingertip.

In either the stick type or the trackball type, a left click button and a right click button are provided on the upper surface of the main body at the front side of the keyboard and in the substantially middle portion in the left-right direction of the main body. .

An example of operating the start menu button on the portable information processing device using the touch pad, the left click button and the right click button will be described. A Start Menu button is provided on the taskbar and acts as a means to open the Start Menu, which acts as a central location for users to access programs, documents, system settings, help information, and so on. Point the start menu button with the pointer and click the left click button to display the start menu.

The start menu is provided with menu items such as "program", "search", "setting", and "help". Among them, the “program” menu item enables access to the hierarchically displayed program menu from the start menu. The program menu displays a plurality of application programs and program groups that the user can select.

By the way, a complicated operation is repeated until the user selects a desired application program on the taskbar provided with the start menu button and starts it.

That is, first, the start menu button on the task bar is pointed by the pointer, and the left mouse button is clicked to display the start menu.
Next, point the "Program" menu item from the Start menu and click the left mouse button to display the Program menu. Then, point the display of the desired application program on the program menu and click the left mouse button. If it is an application program group, it is necessary to repeat pointing and clicking. Then, the CPU activates the desired application program.

As described above, until the user starts the application program desired by the user, the user has to operate the touch pad and the left click button in a complicated manner, which is difficult to use as a user interface. The same applies when a desired process is performed by clicking a menu item such as "help" from the start menu program. Therefore, recently, for example, a simple operation using an input device such as a jog dial capable of rotating or rotating and pressing operation, and more broadly, an input device capable of continuous operation or pressing operation to the front side and the rear side. As a result, information processing apparatuses that can immediately execute desired processing have come into wide use.

Further, in order to prevent the user from repeating a complicated operation until the information processing apparatus executes the processing desired by the user, the rotation or rotation and pushing operation by the input device, more broadly, the forward direction. Side user and graphical user interface (GUI) that supports continuous operation and push-down operation
I) became widely used.

[0012]

However, the conventional jog dial does not convey the image that other operation modes can be performed by pushing the jog dial, even though it is possible to intuitively recognize that the jog dial should be turned. Moreover, there is no way to tell what kind of change will occur when the jog dial is pushed and what kind of operation can be performed, and the user is worried about pushing the jog dial. Also, to display feedback from the jog dial,
Sometimes it was necessary to display a window on the desktop, which sometimes interfered with other operations.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and informs the user of what kind of change will occur when the input device is operated and what kind of operation can be performed, and the user can be notified at an appropriate timing. The present invention relates to an input device of an information processing device capable of guiding an operation, an operation method of the information processing device, an information processing device, and a program related to the operation of the information processing device.

[0014]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an input device of an information processing apparatus according to the present invention enables a continuous operation in the forward and backward directions and a pressing operation. In the input device, a light emitting mechanism is used to distinguish between a scroll mode that enables the scroll operation by the input device and an application mode that enables the operation by the input device most suitable for the application in which the information processing apparatus is working. Incorporate and notify the user.

The operation method of the information processing apparatus according to the present invention is
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a scroll mode that enables a continuous operation in the forward and backward directions and a push operation that enables a scroll operation by an input device of the information processing apparatus, and an application in which the information processing apparatus is working. A method of operating an information processing apparatus, which allows a user to operate the information processing apparatus while notifying the user of a distinction from an application mode that enables operation by the input device that is most suitable for And a light emitting mechanism of the input device blinks for a predetermined time when the application having the application mode is determined to have the focus Blinking and lighting process and the input device There comprises a pressing determining step determines whether or not pressed, and off step of turning off the light emitting mechanism when the input device by the pressing determining step is determined to have been pressed.

In order to solve the above problems, the information processing apparatus according to the present invention enables an input device of the information processing apparatus and an operation in the input device, which enables a continuous operation in the forward and backward directions and a pressing operation. A scroll mode for monitoring the status, displaying a graphical user interface on the display unit, and information processing means for performing information processing according to the operation using the graphical user interface, and enabling a scroll operation by the input device. The light emitting mechanism is incorporated to notify the user of the distinction between the application mode in which the information processing apparatus is most suitable for the application in operation and the operation in which the input device can be operated.

In order to solve the above problems, a program relating to the operation of an information processing apparatus according to the present invention is a scroll operation by an input device of the information processing apparatus, which enables continuous operation in the forward and backward directions and a pressing operation. The user operates the information processing apparatus while notifying the user of the distinction between the scroll mode that enables the information processing apparatus and the application mode that allows the information processing apparatus to operate with the input device most suitable for the application in which the information processing apparatus is working. And a determination step of determining whether or not the application having the application mode has been focused, and a program related to the operation of the information processing apparatus for causing the application having the application mode to be focused in the determination step. Input the above when judged A blinking and lighting step of turning on and off the light emitting mechanism of the vise for a predetermined time, a pressing determination step of determining whether or not the input device is pressed, and a determination of the input device being pressed in the pressing determination step. And a step of turning off the light emitting mechanism.

With the above-mentioned configuration, the input device can operate the application by rotating and pressing, for example, but in the present invention, another operation mode is prepared by pressing the jog dial, for example. , If the operation of each application is possible with jog, by blinking the jog dial,
Guide the user to press the jog at the appropriate time.

Further, by changing the emission color, it is possible to discriminate which of the exclusive operation modes such as the scroll mode and the application mode which the jog dial has.

[0020]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. This embodiment is a graphical user interface (GU) used to explain to the user the operation of an input device that enables continuous operation in the forward and backward directions and a pressing operation, through a picture.
It is a notebook type personal computer 1 as shown in FIG. 1 which displays I) on a screen display section to be described later, and incorporates or mounts a recording medium in which an operation program of the information processing apparatus of the present invention is recorded, or the information of the present invention. The operating method of the processing device is executed.

This notebook personal computer 1
Has a main body 2 and a lid 3 attached to the main body 2 so as to be openable and closable. That is, the lid body 3 is connected to the rear end portion of the main body 2 so as to be swingable about an axis set in the left-right direction, and the lid body 3 is connected to the main body 2 as shown in FIG.
By swinging as shown by arrow A, it is possible to selectively take a closed state in which the main body 2 is superposed and an open state in which the lid body 3 is erected as shown in FIG. In addition, in this specification, the front-back direction and the left-right direction are set and described in the directions shown in FIG.

A keyboard 4 is arranged on the upper surface of the main body 2. The keyboard 4 is composed of a large number of keys such as alphabet keys, 10 keys, and various function keys. The keyboard 4 is set to be slender in the left-right direction as a whole, and is set to be located at the rear of the upper surface of the main body 1. The front side of the upper surface of the main body 2 with respect to the keyboard 4 is a palm rest having a large area.

The touch pad 6 is provided on the upper surface of the main body 2, more specifically, the palm rest on the front side of the keyboard 4.
A left click button 6a and a right click button 6b are provided. As shown in detail in FIG. 2, the touch pad 6 has a rectangular shape and is arranged at a position slightly closer to the left side of the main body 2 and closer to the keyboard 4. More specifically, the rear line portion of the touch pad 6 extending along the front line portion of the keyboard 4 is set to be located near the space key 4a of the keyboard 4 which is extremely frequently used. The left and right click buttons 6 a and 6 b are arranged on the front side of the touch pad 6 and near the touch pad 6. The left and right click buttons 6a and 6b are
The main body 2 is arranged in series in the left-right direction.
The touch pad 6 is a kind of so-called pointing device, as is known.

The left click button 6a and the right click button 6b are arranged so as to have a slight space in the left-right direction. Rotation or rotation is performed in front of the left and right click buttons 6a and 6b. A jog dial 10, which is a specific example of an input device on which a pushing operation is performed, is provided. In this way, the jog dial 10 is set so as to be located in the immediate vicinity of the left and right click buttons 6a, 6b and in the immediate vicinity of the touch pad 6. On the right side of the jog dial 10, a back button 5 for performing a returning operation for returning the processing corresponding to the pressing operation of the jog dial 10 is provided.

The jog dial 10 has a rotary member whose detailed concrete example will be described later. The rotary member is formed so as to be elongated in the left-right direction of the main body 2, and a part of the rotary member is larger than the palm rest. It is projected slightly upward. The rotating member is set to be in the left-right direction of the main body 2 and has an axis line substantially parallel to the upper surface of the main body 2 as a center.
It can be rotated in the forward and reverse directions, that is, can be rotated in the front-rear direction as indicated by an arrow FR in FIG. Further, the rotating member can be pushed downward, that is, can be pushed down, as shown by an arrow P in FIG.

The jog dial 10 basically has three-dimensional displacement elements such as forward rotation, reverse rotation, and pushing displacement of its rotary member. In addition to this, the rotation amount in each rotation direction, Also, the rotation speed can be obtained by calculating this rotation amount. That is, many kinds of different operation states of the rotary member can be obtained, and various functions are assigned according to the difference of operation states, and the usability of the notebook personal computer 1 is significantly improved.

When the keyboard 4 is used to perform various inputs while the left and right wrists are supported on the palm rest, the touch pad 6 and the left and right click buttons 6a, 6 are used.
b will be operated with a fingertip. Jog dial 10
Since the rotating member of is near the touch pad 6 and near the left and right click buttons 6a and 6b, for example, the index finger or the thumb can be used during the input work using the keyboard 4 without moving the hand greatly. The rotary member can be rotated or pushed in at the tip of the arrow, and the operability of the rotary member becomes good. In addition to this, since the rotating member of the jog dial 10 is located substantially in the middle of the main body 2 in the left-right direction, the rotating member can always be operated with the dominant hand regardless of whether the operator's dominant hand is the right hand or the left hand. This is more preferable in terms of operability with respect to the rotating member.

A flat type display screen 9 such as a liquid crystal type is provided on the inner surface of the lid 3.

In this notebook personal computer 1, the GUI of the jog dial 10 is operated in the following two operation modes. There are scroll mode and application mode.

The scroll mode is a mode for performing a scroll operation which seems to be the most intuitive operation for a roller type device. When the user unconsciously rotates the jog dial 10 up and down, the window in focus scrolls. In other words, if you turn the jog dial 10,
The window scrolls according to the rotation of 0. In that case, the jog window described later is not displayed on the screen. You can also scroll the start menu.

The application mode is a mode for performing operations other than scrolling. By pressing the jog dial 10, the most appropriate operation menu is prepared for the application in focus (working) at that time, and the user can select the jog dial 1 as appropriate.
By rotating or pushing 0, the operation peculiar to the application can be performed. Since the operation at this time requires a separate explanation for the user, a window (hereinafter, referred to as a jog window) is displayed on the screen so that it is easy to understand whether or not the command currently operable by the jog dial is inside. Operable commands include, for example, play, pause, volume control, etc. if the focused application software is a CD player. Further, as will be described later, a jog window is displayed on the right side of the software window that can be operated by the jog dial 10. At this time, the functions that can be operated by the jog dial 10 differ depending on the software.

Then, the notebook personal computer 1 explicitly switches between the scroll mode and the application mode. For example,
Switching from the scroll mode to the application mode can be performed by pressing the jog dial 10.
It can also be performed by clicking [APPS] of the mode button 92 of the indication window 90 described later with reference to FIG. To switch from application mode to scroll mode, select "SCROLL MODE" with the jog dial from the menu displayed in the jog window (list display) described below, or click the close button on the jog window. , Mode button 92 in the indicator window
It can be done by either clicking [SCROLL].

As described above, in the notebook personal computer 1, the scroll mode and the application mode can be executed or switched by the user, so that the user is currently in the jog dial 10.
By operating the, you can tell exactly what will happen, and you can use the jog dial 10 with confidence.

A specific example of the GUI displayed on the display screen 9 according to the operation of the jog dial 10 will be described below.

After the computer system (operating system OS) is activated, the GUI is used to operate the notebook personal computer 1 using the jog dial 10.
A utility (hereinafter referred to as a jog dial utility) shown to the user by using is automatically started. This jog dial utility is included in or linked to a jog dial status monitoring program described later. Then, when the user rotates or presses the jog dial 10, an indication window 90 is displayed on the display screen 9 (desktop). The jog dial utility is always running while the computer system is booting. When you shut down the system, the jog dial utility will also close.

The indication window 90 is a window for always displaying information on what can be done with the jog dial 10 at all times, and is always displayed on the desktop during system startup. However, it is also possible for the user to hide it by any means. By default, it is always displayed, but as shown in FIG. 1, the bar display is not so noticeable. The user can understand the contents of indication by an icon or the like without reading all the characters. As will be described later, it can also be stored in the toolbar and can be moved by dragging any part other than the buttons on the window. If you click the right mouse button on the window, the context menu will be displayed. The contents are the same as when you right-click the task tray icon.

The indication window 90 is composed of the components shown in FIG. When the launcher button 91 is clicked, a launcher to be described later is activated and software is activated.

The mode button 92 displays the current operation mode. The mode switches when clicked.
[SCROLL] lights in the scroll mode, and [APPS] lights in the application mode. The scroll mode and the application mode are as described above.

Information is displayed in the liquid crystal area 93.
10 full-pitch 11pt characters can be displayed. The required character string is displayed for each application. In other words, what is displayed depends on the mode and software.

The jog icon 94 is the jog dial 1
The vertical rotation of 0 and the pushing operation are shown. Clicking this icon is the same as pressing the jog dial.

The close button 95 is a button for hiding the indication window 90. At this time, the indication window shows only the task tray icon.

In this way, the indication window 90
Is always displayed, but can be hidden by clicking the close button 95 on the window. Further, when this button 95 is pressed, only when it is displayed for the first time, a return method dialog with a check box as to whether or not to display this window from the next time is displayed, and then it is hidden.

Also, by selecting the jog dial from the "toolbar" menu that appears by right-clicking on the taskbar, the indication window can be displayed on the toolbar. In that case, the indication window on the screen is hidden.

The indication window 90 is displayed again by right-clicking the task tray icon and pressing "redisplay indication window" from the context menu displayed. The place displayed again is the place that was last displayed.

Unless the user performs the above operation, the indication window will not be displayed again by the operation of the jog dial 10.

Incidentally, this indication window 90
When the computer system starts up and restarts,
It is displayed as follows. Indication window 90
Is initially hidden. However, unlike the normal non-display state, the indication window 90 is displayed at the final position at the end of the previous time only when some operation such as pushing or turning the jog dial 10 is performed. Further, even when the user has performed the non-display operation and the window has disappeared at the time of the previous end or before the restart, the same movement is performed. That is, even if the display is hidden at the end of the previous time or before the restart, the indication window 90 is displayed again when the jog dial 10 is rotated or pushed.

Next, the jog window will be described. By pressing the jog dial 10 from the state where the indication window 90 is displayed, it is possible to shift to the application mode described above. Then, various operations of the active software can be performed with the jog dial 10.

This jog window is hidden by default. It is displayed on the right side of the focused window depending on whether the jog dial 10 is pressed or the mode button 92 of the indication window 90 is operated. The jog window has a guide display state and a list display state, and the appearance of the window is different. You can also move anywhere in the jog window. Further, as will be described later, the jog window is ejected from the indicator window and moves to a predetermined position while animating. Also,
The jog window animation can be turned off by the user in the jog dial settings.

As described above, the display of the jog window is performed by the software that can be operated by the jog dial 10 (active software) and the guide display ((b) of FIG. 5) and the guide display ((b) of FIG. 5). ))
However, only one of them is displayed, not both at the same time. Depending on the software, both the list display and the guide display are supported, and each display can be switched and operated. Switching between list display and guide display
Back button 5 installed near the jog dial 10
By pressing.

List display window 10 of FIG. 5A
0 displays a menu or file name. These items can be selected by the jog dial 10. The list display window 100 includes a jog window name display area 101 displayed as “list display” and a list display area 1
It consists of 03. The list display area 103 displays a list character string selected by the user. A selection frame 102 is moved and displayed on the list display area 103 in accordance with a front / back (up / down) rotation operation of the jog dial 10. The jog window name display area 101 is provided with a shift key indication mark 104 and a close button 105.
The shift key indication mark 104 is on the keyboard 4
Lights up when the upper shift keys 4L and 4R are effective. When the shift keys 4L and 4R are pressed, they are lit in different colors.

The size of the characters displayed in the list display area 103 is proportional to the size of the system font set by the user. If you change the system font setting, the change will take effect after the next reboot. Also,
If your application has a scroll mode,
The list at the top is "SCROLL MODE", and the menu list prepared for each application is displayed below. In the case of a jog API compatible application, there is no such item. If there is a lower layer, a folder icon is displayed on the left end. Further, a menu that cannot be selected is displayed in gray, and a focused menu, that is, an item surrounded by the selection frame 102 is displayed in light blue, for example. The currently selected menu is highlighted in light blue.

Guide display window 11 of FIG. 5B
0 displays the operation guide of the jog dial 10. The guide display window 110 also includes a jog window name display area 111 displayed as “guide display” and a guide display area 112. In the guide display area 112, a guide character string indicating a vertical rotation operation is displayed.

Up to two lines of captions are displayed above the guide display area 112 of the guide display window 110. The first 12 single-byte characters are displayed in double size, for example, "Back or long press to return". Characters when the jog is rotated up and down and pushed around the icon 113, which looks like a jog dial, are displayed in the same size. The vertical rotation of the jog is guided by arrows 114 and 115, and the push is guided by arrow 116.

In the jog window name display area 111,
A shift key indication mark 117 and a close button 118 are provided.

The display density of the jog window can be changed by the user. The display density set by the user is reflected in the state when the jog dial is not touched after the animation, the details of which will be described later. It is thin and semi-transparent while the animation is moving, and after stopping at a fixed position,
Darkens to the transparency specified by the user. When the user performs a jog operation, the density becomes 100%, and non-transparent display is performed. After that, when 3 seconds have passed since the last jog dial operation, the display density returns to the user-set display density.

As described above, in the notebook personal computer 1, the GUI displayed on the screen is displayed in the indication window 90 shown in FIG. 4 and the jog window (list display window 100, guide display) shown in FIG. By dividing the window into 110), the problem that the window is always displayed on the desktop and becomes an obstacle is solved. Also, since the window is displayed only when needed at the same time, "If the jog window is displayed, you can do anything other than scroll. If it is not displayed (or if you close the jog window yourself), just scroll". So, what you can do with the jog dial is now visible at a glance.

Further, in this notebook type personal computer 1, since the user can do nothing but scroll unless the user arbitrarily presses the jog dial, the operation of the jog dial cannot be switched unintentionally by the user. It was

Further, in the notebook personal computer 1, the appearance of the window is completely different depending on the contents that can be operated by the jog dial. The operation of the jog dial is "guidance operation", which is an operation system where the action is executed just by turning it like volume operation.
Multiple menu items are displayed, select by rotation,
There is an operation system "list operation" that is executed by pressing. Since these two operation systems have completely different window appearances, the difference in the operation systems is explicitly shown to the user, and the confusion of operations is less likely to occur.

The notebook personal computer 1
Then, the application launcher display for allowing the user to select and execute a desired application from a plurality of applications is an independent application that can be operated by the jog dial 10. FIG. 6 shows the jog dial launcher display window 120. This jog dial launcher display window 120
It consists of a jog window name display area 121 displaying "Jog dial launcher" and an application name display area 122 displaying a plurality of application names. The application name display area 122 captures and displays some items of the start menu.
The application name scrolls in accordance with the rotation of the jog dial 10, and the color of the mark □ changes when the desired application name is entered in the selection frame 123, and the selection is determined and executed by pressing the jog dial 10. A close button 124 is arranged in the jog window name display area 121.

This application launcher display is
When the user presses the jog dial 10 while holding down the control key on the keyboard 4, when the jog dial 10 is pressed when the disc top is in focus, when the launcher button 91 of the indication window 90 is pressed, or when the start button is pressed. Displayed when the launcher application is selected from the menu and executed.

Next, the structure of the jog dial 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. First, FIG. 7 shows a basic configuration example of the jog dial 10. Two
Reference numeral 1 is a substrate fixed to the main body 1, 22 is a holding bracket, and the holding bracket 22 is attached to the substrate 21 so as to be swingable about a fulcrum 23. The rotating member 11 is held by the holding bracket 22 so as to be rotatable in the forward and reverse directions as indicated by the arrow a, and the center of rotation thereof is indicated by the symbol α. The rotary member 11 constitutes a rotary encoder and will be described in detail later on a specific side.
When the rotation operation is performed as indicated by, the rotation direction and the rotation amount can be detected.

A contact 24 that is turned on when pressed is mounted on the substrate 21. Retaining bracket 22
A pressing portion 22a is formed immediately above the contact 24. A movable contact terminal 24a, which is an upper contact terminal of the contact 24, is formed of a leaf spring or the like, and is normally used as the contact 2
4 is set to OFF. By pressing the rotating member 11 against the spring force of the movable contact terminal 24a as indicated by the arrow b, the movable contact terminal 24a is pressed and displaced downward by the pressing portion 22a,
The contact 24 is turned on.

Next, a specific example of the jog dial 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 to 17. The same components as those described in FIG. 7 are designated by the same reference numerals.

First, the board 21 has a pair of left and right mounting holes 31.
(See FIG. 9), and is fixed to the mounting boss portion 32 formed in the main body 1 using the screw 33 (see FIG. 8).

The holding bracket 22 has an opening 22b having a substantially rectangular shape corresponding to the shape of the rotary member 11 (see FIG. 11), and one side green portion of the holding bracket 22 is attached to the substrate 21. A plurality of holding claws 34 provided in series with each other
The axis line β that is sandwiched between the holding claws 34 and connects the plurality of holding claws 34 constitutes the swing fulcrum 23 in FIG. 7. However, although slightly, the holding bracket 22 can be stroke-displaced in the vertical direction with respect to the holding claw 34 as well. The holding bracket 22 has a pair of left and right projecting shaft portions 22c at the side edge portion on the side opposite to the side where the holding claws 34 are located. The shaft portions 22c are formed on the substrate 21 on the left and right sides. It is fitted in the pair of holding holes 35 so as to be slightly displaceable in the vertical direction (see FIGS. 11 and 12). As a result, the holding bracket 22 is held by the base plate 21 so as to be swingable about the axis α and slightly displaceable upward and downward.

A contact point 24 is formed on the substrate 21 (see FIGS. 9 and 10), and the lower surface of the holding bracket 22 is positioned immediately above the movable contact terminal 24a having the spring property as described above. The pressing portion 22a is formed at the bottom (see FIG. 10). The contact 24 is turned on by pushing in the rotating member 11. Since the contact 24 and the pressing portion 22a are arranged so as to be present at a substantially intermediate portion in the axial direction of the rotating member 11, the contact 24 and the pressing portion 22a are not shown in FIG. 10, the positions of the contact 24 and the pressing portion 22a are deviated from the original position in the axial direction of the rotating member 11 and drawn in FIG.

The rotary member 11 includes the shaft member 36 and the shaft member 3
6 has an outer skin member 37 that is fitted and integrated on the outer periphery of the outer cover 6 (see FIGS. 9 and 10). The shaft member 36 constitutes the rotation axis α, and the left and right ends thereof are held by the holding bracket 22 so as to be rotatable in the forward and reverse directions. In addition, the outer skin member 37
Since it is measured and contacted by the operator, it is hard to slip due to soft synthetic tree motion and the like, and its outer periphery is provided with irregularities at equal intervals in the circumferential direction to prevent slipping.
In addition, a part of the outer cover member 37 slightly protrudes above the holding bracket 22 through the opening 22 b of the holding bracket 22. Although not described in detail, the holding bracket 22 has a left and right divided structure for facilitating the assembling of the rotating member 11.

Each end of the shaft member 36 is not covered with the outer cover member 37 and is exposed (see FIG. 9). The shaft member 36 itself is formed of synthetic resin or the like so as to have insulation properties.
As shown in FIGS. 13 to 15, a conductive film 38 is applied. In FIGS. 14 and 15, the conductive coating 38 is drawn thicker than it actually is to clarify its existence.

The conductive coating 38 is set so as to exist over the entire length in the circumferential direction of the shaft member 36 at one end of the shaft member 36, and the first portion existing over the entire length in the circumferential direction of the shaft member 36. It is indicated by reference numeral 38a. In addition, the conductive coating 3
In the other end portion of the shaft member 36, 8 is divided at equal intervals in the circumferential direction of the shaft member 36, and the second portion divided at this equal interval is indicated by reference numeral 38b.

The substrate 21 is provided with an elongated input terminal 39 made of a conductive spring material, and the input terminal 39 is always in contact with the first portion 38a (see FIG. 14). Further, the substrate 21 is provided with elongated output terminals 40 and 41 made of a conductive spring material.
Each 41 is urged toward the second portion 38b of the conductive member 38 (see FIG. 15). Two output terminals 4
0 and 41 are separated from each other in the axial direction of the shaft member 36,
In addition, the positional relationship is such that the shaft member 36 is slightly displaced in the circumferential direction.

With a predetermined voltage applied from the input terminal 39, the output terminals 40 and 41 are rotated according to the rotation of the rotating member 11.
From, pulse-like voltage signals as shown in FIGS. 16 and 17 are detected. The detected voltage from the output terminal 40 is shown as a signal A, and the detected voltage from the output terminal 41 is shown as a signal B. The signal A and the signal B have a time difference at the detection time point of the rising or falling time of the pulse. The rotation direction of the rotating member 11 is identified by comparing the detection time of the signal A and the detection time of the symbol B to see which is detected earlier. Further, the rotation amount of the rotating member 11 can be detected by counting the number of detected pulses. By calculating the amount of rotation per unit time, the rotation speed of the rotating member 11 can be detected.

In FIG. 8, reference numeral 42 is a decorative plate, and reference numeral 43 in FIG. 9 is a leaf spring for giving the rotating member replacement 11 a proper rotational resistance.

Next, the notebook personal computer 1
An example of the electrical configuration of the above will be described with reference to FIG. 18, but in the following description, the case where the jog dial 10 is rotated in the front-rear direction is taken as an example.

First, the central processing unit (CPU) 51 is composed of, for example, an Intel Pentiumn (registered trademark) processor, and is connected to the host bus 52. A north bridge 53 is further connected to the host bus 52, and the north bridge 53 is also connected to the PCI bus 56. North Bridge 53 is, for example, intel
It is composed of 400BX manufactured by the company, and controls the periphery of the CPU 51 and the main memory 54. The north bridge 53 and a south bridge 58 described later make up a so-called chip set.

The north bridge 53 is also connected to the main memory 54 and the cache memory 55. The cache memory 55 is adapted to cache the data used by the CPU 51. Although not shown, the CPU 51 also has a built-in primary cache memory.

The main memory 54 is, for example, a DRAM.
(CPU) composed of (Dynamic Read Only Memory)
And a data required for the operation of the CPU 51 are stored. Specifically, in the main memory 54, for example, an e-mail program 54A, an autopilot program 54B, a jog dial status monitoring program 54, at the time when the activation is completed.
The C, jog dial driver 54D, operating program (OS) 54E, and other application programs 54F1 to 54Fn are transferred from the HDD 70 and stored therein.

The electronic mail program 54A is a program for sending and receiving communication texts via a network from a communication line such as a telephone line 76 via a modem 75 described later. The electronic mail program 54A has an incoming mail acquisition function as a specific function. This incoming mail acquisition function confirms with the mail server 78 of the provider 77 whether or not a mail addressed to itself (user) has arrived in the mailbox 79, and if there is a mail addressed to me. Execute the process to get.

The autopilot program 54B executes a plurality of preset processes (or programs),
It is a program that is sequentially activated and processed in a preset order.

OS (basic program software) 54
E is, for example, so-called Windows95 of Microsoft Corporation.
And 98 (both are registered trademarks), the so-called Mac OS (registered trademark) of Apple Computer Co., Ltd., and the like for controlling basic operations of a computer.

Jog dial status monitoring program 54C
Receives a notification from each of the above applications as to whether or not it is compatible with the jog dial, and if it is compatible, operates to display what can be done by operating the jog dial, that is, the jog dial 10. Normally, it is waiting for the jog dial 10 event and also has a list for receiving notifications from applications. The jog dial driver 54D implements various functions in response to the operation of the jog dial 10. The jog dial status monitoring program 54C includes the jog dial utility as described above.

The video controller 57 uses the PCI bus 5
6 and controls the display on the display screen 3 based on the data supplied via the PCI bus 56.

A sound controller 64 is connected to the PCI bus 56 and receives an input from a microphone 66 or supplies an audio signal to a speaker 65. A modem 75 is also connected to the PCI bus 56. The modem 75 can be connected to a communication network 80 such as the Internet or a mail server 78 via the public telephone line 76 and the Internet service provider 77.

A south bridge 58 is also connected to the PCI bus 56. The south bridge 58 is composed of, for example, PIIX4E manufactured by Intel Corp., and controls various I / O (Input / Output). That is, the south bridge 58 has an IDE (Integrated)
Drive Electronics) controller / configuration register 59, timer circuit 60, IDE interface 61, and other devices connected to the IDE bus 62, and ISA / EIO (Industry Standar).
d Architecture / Extended Input Output) Bus 63 and embedded controller 68 are used to control the devices connected thereto.

The IDE controller / configuration register 59 has two IDs, a so-called primary IDE controller and a secondary IDE controller.
It is composed of an E controller, a configuration register, and the like (both not shown).

The primary IDE controller is the IDE
It is connected to a connector (not shown) via the bus 62, and the HDD 67 is connected to the connector. In addition, the secondary IDE controller is a CD-ROM drive (not shown) or another IDE bus via another IDE bus.
When a bay device, which is a so-called IDE device, such as a second HDD or FDD, is attached, the connector of the attached bay device is electrically connected.

The HDD 67 has an electronic mail program 67A, an autopilot program 67B, a jog dial status monitoring program 67C, a jog dial driver 67D, an OS (basic program software).
67E, multiple application programs 67F
1 to 67 Fn and the like are stored. Each program 67A, 67B, 67C, 67D, 67E in the HDD 67,
67F1 to 67Fn and the like are sequentially transferred and stored in the RAM 54 in the process of boot (boot-up) processing.

An embedded controller 68 is further connected to the ISA / EID bus 63. The embedded controller 68 is composed of a microcontroller and is used as an I / O controller. That is, the embedded controller 68 is configured by connecting the I / O interface 69, the ROM 70, the RAM 71, and the CPU 72 to each other.

In the ROM 70, an LED control program 70A, a touch pad input monitoring program 70B, a key input monitoring program 70C, a wakeup program 70D, and a jog dial status monitoring program 70E are stored in advance.

The LED control program 70A is a program for controlling the lighting of the power lamp PL, the battery lamp BL, the message lamp ML if necessary, and other lamps including LEDs. The touchpad input monitoring program 70B is a program for monitoring the input by the user from the touchpad 6. Key input monitoring program 7
0C is a program that monitors input from the keyboard 4 and other key switches. The wakeup program 70D is a timer circuit 60 in the south bridge 58.
Based on the current time data supplied from, it checks whether the preset time has come, and when the preset time comes, it manages each chip power supply to start a predetermined process (or program). Is a program that does.

Jog dial status monitoring program 70E
Is a program for constantly monitoring whether the jog dial, that is, the rotary member 11 of the jog dial 10 is rotated or pushed. In addition, this jog dial status monitoring program 70E uses the jog dial 1
It is also possible to monitor whether 0 is touched by the user. Details of the jog dial status monitoring program 70E will be described later.

A BIOS 70F is further written in the ROM 70. BIOS (Basic Input / Output Sys)
tem) refers to a basic input / output system, and is a software program that controls the transfer (input / output) of data between the OS or application software and peripheral devices (display, keyboard, HDD, etc.).

The RAM 71 has registers for LED control, touch pad input status, key input status, set time, I / O registers for monitoring the jog dial status, etc. as registers 71A to 71F.
For example, the LED control register 71A controls the lighting of a message lamp ML that displays an instant startup state of an electronic mail, which will be described later, when the jog dial 10 is pressed. The key input status register 71C stores an operation key flag when the jog dial 10 is pressed for one-touch operation described later. The set time register 71D can arbitrarily set a certain time.

In addition, the embedded controller 68
Through a connector (not shown), a jog dial 10, a touch pad 6, click buttons 6a, 6b,
A keyboard 4 is connected to each, and a jog dial 10, a touch pad 6, click buttons 6a and 6b,
The signal corresponding to each operation of the keyboard 4 is sent to the ISA.
/ EID bus 63. In addition, the embedded controller 68 has a power lamp P.
L, a battery lamp BL, a message lamp ML, and other lamps including LEDs are connected.

A power supply control circuit 73 is further connected to the embedded controller 68. The power supply control circuit 73 is connected to a built-in battery 74 or an AC power supply, supplies necessary power to each block, and performs control for charging the built-in battery 74 and a second battery of a peripheral device. Has been done. The embedded controller 68 also monitors a power switch 97 that is operated when the power is turned on or off.

The embedded controller 68 can always execute the programs 70A, 70B, 70C, 70D and 70E by the internal power source even when the power source is off. That is, each of the above programs is displayed on the display screen 3
It is always working, even if no windows are opened on the LCD. In other words, the embedded controller 68 always executes the jog dial status monitoring program 70E even when the power switch 88 is off and the OS 54E is not started by the CPU 51. Although not described in detail in particular, the embedded controller 68 is dedicated to the notebook personal computer NP. Even without providing a key, a programmable power key (PPK) function is provided so that the user can activate his or her favorite software or script file simply by pressing the jog dial 10 in the power saving state or when the power is off.

Further, although not shown, a USB port and an IEEE 1394 port are connected to the embedded controller 68. A USB cable is connected to the USB port. The IEEE1394 port has IEEE13
For example, a digital video camera is connected via a 94 cable, and is used to capture a video signal from the digital video camera into the notebook personal computer NP.

Next, the operation of the embedded controller 68 when the jog dial status monitoring program 70E is executed will be described. FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a heart configuration in which the embedded controller 68 monitors the rotation state of the rotary member 11 of the jog dial 10 via the rotation detection unit 85. In addition, the embedded controller 68 is
The state of the back button 5 is also monitored. FIG. 20 is a flow chart when the embedded controller 68 executes the jog dial status monitoring program 70E.

First, the embedded controller 68
Whether or not the back button 5 has been pressed is monitored, and if not pressed, whether the rotating member 11 of the jog dial 10 has been rotated forward or backward is detected via the rotation detector 85. When the rotary member 11 of the jog dial 10 is rotated forward or backward, the rotation detection unit 85 causes the rotation detection unit 85 to operate as shown in FIG.
Based on the timing of the signal A and the signal B shown in FIG. 7, it is detected whether the rotation is the front rotation or the rear rotation. When it detects that it is a pre-rotation, the embedded controller 6 sends the pre-rotation pulse
8 counter (1) 86. When the post-rotation is detected, the post-rotation pulse is supplied to the counter (2) 87 of the embedded controller 68. The embedded controller 68 executes the jog dial status monitoring program 70E and monitors the amount of change in the counter (1) 86 and counter (2) 87 by polling for 5 ms, their difference, and whether the jog dial 10 has been pressed. There is.

First, in FIG. 20, the embedded controller 68 uses the jog dial status monitoring program 7
0E is executed, and the polling for 5 ms causes step S
At 1, the pressed state of the back button 5 is acquired. If it is determined in step S2 that the back button 5 has been pressed (YES), the process proceeds to step S10, which will be described later, but if it is determined that the back button 5 has not been pressed (NO), the process proceeds to step S3 and thereafter.

In step S3, the count value Counter1 (T-1) at the time T-1 is subtracted from the count value Counter1 (T) at the current time T of the right rotation pulse to obtain the change amount Counter1 of the count value of the counter 86. Ask.

Next, in step S4, from the count value Counter1 (T) at the current time T of the left rotation pulse to the time T-
The count value Counter1 (T-1) at 1 is subtracted, and the counter 8
The change amount Counter2 of the count value of 7 is obtained. Then, in step S5, the difference in the amount of change in the count value is obtained. That is, the difference between the change amount Counter1 and the change amount Counter2 is obtained. If the difference in the amount of change is a negative value, the rotation is counterclockwise.

Further, in step S6, the jog dial 4 is
Gets the pressed state of. In step S7, the amount of change obtained in step S5 is determined, and in step S8 it is determined whether the pressed state of the jog dial 4 has changed.
If the amount of change is detected in step S7 or if it is determined that the pressed state has changed in step S8, step S7
10, the jog dial driver 54D activated by the CPU 51 sends the current state of depression of the jog dial 4 and the change amount to the I / O by interrupting the host bus 52.
Notify via O register 71F. This step S10
The processing in (1) is also applied to the processing of the back button 5 when it is determined in step S2 that the back button 5 has been pressed. In this case, via the host bus 52,
Jog dial driver 54D activated by CPU 51
Then, the current pressing state of the back button 5 is notified by an interrupt via the I / O register 71F.

Next, the notebook personal computer 1
Some specific examples of the operation of each application software of the jog dial utility executed in (3) will be described. First, the processing procedure of the jog dial utility when the memo writing application that does not support the jog dial is started up will be described with reference to FIGS. 21 and 22.
A specific example will be described. It is applied when creating a document while scrolling the screen appropriately while opening the memo writing application. Operation system (O
S) is activated, the focus is on the desktop, and the user is about to start working in the memo writing application.

First, as shown in FIG. 22A, the "JOG" is displayed in the liquid crystal area 93 of the indicator window 90.
"LAUNCHER [PUSH]" is displayed, and the mode button 92 displays "S
"CROLL" is lit. Then, the user activates the memo writing application (Fig. 21).
2 is displayed in the liquid crystal area of the indicator window 90.
As shown in (b) of 2, "MODE CHANGE [PUSH]" is displayed, and "SCROLL" of the mode button 92 lights up. At this time, the Jog window is not displayed. Here, when the user inputs an appropriate sentence in the window 135 of the memo writing application, the sentence is input and displayed.
After typing some text, the user wants to scroll to see the front for confirmation. Then, the user turns the jog dial 10 upward. The jog icon 94 of the indication window 90 indicates upward rotation, and the screen of the memo writing application shows an arrow 136.
Scroll up. Next, when the user confirms the sentence and wants to return the cursor to the original position, the jog dial 10 is turned downward, and the indication window 9 is displayed.
The jog icon 94 of 0 indicates downward rotation, and the screen of the memo writing application scrolls downward as indicated by arrow 136.

As described above, when the memo writing application that does not support the jog dial is used, the jog dial utility is always in the scroll mode. When the jog dial 10 is turned, the memo writing application screen 135 is displayed with an arrow 136 in accordance with the rotation of the jog dial.
Scroll as shown in.

Next, as a second specific example, a processing procedure of the jog dial utility when a picture management application for collectively managing still images and moving images is started up will be described with reference to FIGS. 23 and 24. This picture management application is assumed to be jog dial compatible. It is assumed that the operating system (OS) is started in the notebook personal computer 1 and the picture management application is first started to perform work.

First, when the user starts the OS, "JOG LAUNCHER [PUSH]" is displayed in the liquid crystal area 93 of the indicating window 90 shown in FIG. 24A, and the mode button 92 is "SCROLL". It is lit up. Then, when the user pushes the jog dial 10, the jog launcher rises as shown in FIG. At this time, the indication window 90 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (b) of "Jog XP Launcher".
“APPLI” is illuminated on the mode button 92. Jog window is not displayed. Next, the user turns the jog dial 10 to turn the icon and application name shown in FIG. If you keep turning, the rotating drum will spread due to centrifugal force. At that time, the jog icon 94 of the indication window 90 changes (indicates vertical rotation). When the user selects the picture management application from the jog launcher display window 120 and presses the jog dial 10, the rotating drum becomes smaller and the display becomes popping, and the picture management application is activated, as shown in FIG. Picture management application window 140
Is displayed. At this time, the operation mode transitions to the application mode at the same time when the picture management application is activated. “APPLI” is lit up on the mode button 92 of the indication window 90. Then, the jog window 100 is displayed so as to be in contact with the indication window 90, and after a predetermined animation, it sticks to the right side of the picture management application window 140 (in this case, a list display). Then, the user operates the picture management application using the jog dial 10. Here, the user is in the jog window 10
Since 0 is an obstacle, pressing the close button 105 causes the jog window 100 to be hidden after a predetermined animation. The “SCROLL” of the mode button 92 of the indication window 90 lights up. When the user turns the jog dial 10 in this state, the screen of the picture management application window 140 scrolls, and the jog icon 94 of the indication window 90 changes (indicates vertical rotation). Then, the user again returns to jog dial 1
When 0 is pressed, the mode is changed to the application mode, and the mode button 92 of the indication window 90 is "APPLI".
Lights up, the jog window 100 is displayed in contact with the indication window 90, and after a predetermined animation, it sticks to the right side of the picture management application window 140 (in this case, a list display). Then, when the user turns the jog dial 10 to select "end application" from the list in the jog window 100 and presses the jog dial 10, the picture management application ends.

If the picture management application does not support the jog dial, the "JOG LAUNCH" is displayed in the liquid crystal area 93 of the indication window 90.
ER [PUSH] ”is displayed and the mode button 92“ SCROL
When the user presses the jog dial 10 after the “L” lights up, the indication window 9
In the liquid crystal area of 0, as shown in FIG.
"CHANGE [PUSH]" is displayed, and the mode button 92 displays "SC
"ROLL" lights up. At this time, the Jog window is not displayed. Here, when the user wants to check the still image or moving image that has already been captured, the jog dial 10 is turned upward. The jog icon 94 of the indication window 90 indicates upward rotation, and the screen of the picture management application scrolls upward. Next, when the user confirms the still image or moving image already captured and wants to return the cursor to the original position, and when the jog dial 10 is turned downward, the jog icon 94 of the indication window 90 is displayed.
Indicates downward rotation, and the picture management application screen scrolls downward.

Next, as a third specific example, the processing procedure of the jog dial utility when the Internet browser is started up will be described.

This Internet browser does not support the jog dial, but the applicant of the present application filed Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-3.
The technique disclosed in 14546 enables the basic operation to correspond to the jog dial. This can be achieved by loading a jog script, which is an event-driven program file in which the state transition of the jog dial is described by a script language, at the same time when the browser is started and executing it on the jog dial server. The jog script describes state transitions, display contents of each state, and operation of each state.

Here, the operation in which the user searches the Internet using the Internet browser will be described. This is a scene where I wanted to see a home page somewhere on my internet browser while doing other work. You can launch the internet browser in any way, but here the user is trying to launch it from the toolbar.

First, the user starts the Internet browser by clicking the icon of the Internet browser from the toolbar (quick start) (see FIG. 2).
5). Then, as shown in (a) of FIG. 26, "MODE CHANGE" is displayed in the liquid crystal area 93 of the indicating window 90.
[PUSH] ”is displayed and the mode button 92 is“ SCROLL ”
Lights up. The jog window is not displayed. For example, if the page is divided into three frames, the user moves the mouse cursor to the bottom frame. Here, when the jog dial 10 is turned, the frame immediately below the cursor is scrolled. Then, the jog icon 94 of the indication window 90 changes (indicates vertical rotation). When the user presses the jog dial 10, the mode button 92 of the indication window 90 is "APPLI".
Lights up. Then, the jog window 100 is displayed so as to be in contact with the indication window 90, and after a predetermined animation, it sticks to the right side of the window 136 of the Internet browser (in this case, a list display).
Here, the list items of the list display are described in the script file. Next, the user turns the jog dial 10 to search for "favorites". The jog icon 94 of the indication window 90 changes (indicates vertical rotation). When the user clicks on "Favorites", the Jog window 100 will not be erased but will remain in its place and the Favorites menu of the Internet browser will open. However, the menu does not go up or down even if the jog dial 10 is turned here, so the menu is selected on the touch panel. Then, open a new page and select "Return" from the jog window 100 to return to the page. Next, select and click "Return to Scroll" from the Jog window 100. Jog window 100
Is hidden after a predetermined animation. The “SCROLL” of the mode button 92 of the indication window 90 lights up. Next, assume that the mouse is moved to another frame.
When the jog dial 10 is turned, the lower part scrolls. Jog icon 94 of the indication window 90
Changes (indicates vertical rotation). Here, when the desktop is clicked, the "JOG LAUNCH" is displayed in the liquid crystal area 93 of the indication window 90 as shown in FIG.
ER [PUSH] ”is displayed, and the mode button 92 displays“ SCROL
"L" lights up.

Next, as a fourth specific example, a processing procedure of the jog dial utility when the music reproduction application is started up will be described. This music reproduction application is an application for reproducing music stored in the HDD in the ATRAC3 format. This is a process of reproducing a song selected by the user using the jog dial 10 from the stored music. This music reproduction application is a jog dial compatible application.

First, when the user activates the music reproducing application, the music reproducing application window 145 is displayed as shown in FIG.
[A of the mode button 92 of the indicator window 90
[PPS] lights up (FIG. 28), and the application mode is entered. Then, as shown in FIG. 29, the jog window (guide display window) 110 sticks to the right side of the music playback application window 145. Here, the indicator window 117 also lights up.

Since the jog window (guide display window) 110 is a guide display window for player operation, the user follows the guide display according to the guide display.
For example, when the jog dial 10 is turned, the jog icon 94 on the indication window 90 rotates. For example, when the user selects the third song and presses the jog dial 10,
Playback of the song starts. If the user wants to increase the volume and presses the shift keys 4L, 4R, the screen of the jog window (guide display window) 110 changes from "player operation" in FIG. 29 to "volume operation" in FIG. The shift key indicator also changes to the display when the shift key is pressed.

[0116] Next, as a fifth concrete example, the Internet browser is started up from the state where the music reproducing application is started and music is reproduced in the fourth concrete example, and the artist related to the music being reproduced. The processing procedure of the jog dial utility when retrieving information will be described.

When the user presses the back button 5, the display size is switched with a predetermined animation in which the jog window is switched from the guide display to the list display. Of course, when the user selects a menu from the list and executes a command, the jog window displaying the list does not disappear. Here, when the user clicks the icon of the internet browser from the toolbar (quick start) to launch the internet browser, the liquid crystal area 93 of the indication window 90 displays "MODE CHANGE".
[PUSH] ”is displayed and the mode button is 92“ SCROLL ”
Lights up. The jog window is not displayed. In an internet browser, for example, if the page is divided into three frames, the user moves the mouse cursor to the bottom frame. Here, jog dial 10
When is turned, the frame directly below the cursor scrolls.
Then, the jog icon 94 of the indication window 90 changes (indicates vertical rotation). Jog dial 10
When the user presses, "APPLI" is lighted on the mode button 92 of the indication window 90. Then, as described above, the jog window 100 is displayed so as to be in contact with the indication window 90, and after a predetermined animation, it sticks to the right side of the window 136 of the Internet browser (in this case, a list display). Here, "favorite" is selected from the list item in the list display, and the user enters a process of searching for artist-related information of the music being reproduced. When the target artist-related information is obtained, the user transfers the focus to the music reproduction application window 145. After the jog window disappears, the indication window 90
“APPLI” is lit on the mode button 92 of. The jog window 110 is displayed in contact with the indication window 90, and sticks to the right side of the music playback application window 145 after a predetermined animation.
(In this case, the guide display and the shift key indicator light up).

Next, the display transition of the list display window 100 and the guide display window 110 will be described in detail. In the application, the guide display and the list display may be switched depending on the operation. The behavior in that case is as follows.

When the display state changes, first, the drawing on the window is cleared. After that, once the transparency is lowered, the size and position are changed as necessary, the transparency is increased again, and the window is drawn. If the window size may change even if the transition is between list displays, follow this specification. If the window size of the transitioned list state is the same as the current size,
Clear the drawing on the window. After that, once the transparency is lowered, the transparency is raised again, and the window is drawn. On the other hand, if the size changes, after the window is cleared, the size is corrected with the transparency reduced,
If it exceeds the desktop area, correct it and move to the correct position. After that, the transparency is increased and drawing is performed.

The size of the jog window is fixed in the guide state, and in the list state, it is a minimum of 5 lines (the window size at this time is the same as the window size in the guide state), and the maximum height of the focused window. It changes within the range so far and changes according to the number of items in the list. Next, hiding the jog window will be described. The jog window is always visible during application mode. On the other hand, when returning to the scroll mode as described below, it is hidden. When it is hidden, the drawing on the jog window is cleared, and the animation disappears so that the transparency continuously decreases toward 0.

Specifically, when the close button on the jog window is pressed, it disappears. It also disappears when the "SCROLL MODE" item on the jog window (list display) is selected. In addition, "SCROL
It disappears even if the "L" button is pressed. Furthermore, it disappears when the focus shifts to the desktop. Also, when this jog window disappears, it returns to scroll mode,
You can scroll any window that allows scrolling, but you cannot do anything in a window that does not.

Next, redisplay of the jog window will be described. The jog window will be redisplayed when you return to app mode. The jog window stores the last displayed position for each window, and the redisplay is displayed at the last position displayed before disappearing.

For example, when the jog window is displayed in the application mode, if the close button is pressed, the mode returns to the scroll mode, so the jog window disappears, but if the jog is pressed again, the mode returns to the application mode and the window is displayed. It It is not displayed again just by turning the jog.

Although the indicating window 90 is always displayed on the desktop, it can be stored in the task bar or hidden as shown in FIG. To store in the taskbar, right-click the taskbar and click the jog dial utility from the toolbar in the menu that appears. To restore from the taskbar to the desktop, right-click the taskbar and click the Jog Dial Utility from the toolbar in the menu that appears to remove the check.

Next, the relationship between the indication window 90 and the jog window 100 will be described with reference to FIGS. 32 and 33. Although the GUI is divided into two, such as the indication window 90 and the jog window 100 or 110, the jog window 100 or 110 is ejected from the constantly displayed indication window 90 so that the relation between them is not easily understood. Added animation that makes you move.

As shown in FIG. 32, the jog window 1
00 is moved vertically first and then horizontally so that it is displayed on the right side of the focused window (hereinafter referred to as the target window) 130 (based on the bottom side) (FIG. 33).

The vertical movement from (a) to (c) in FIG. 33 is determined by the height of the lower side of the indicator window 90 and the focused target window 130. Thereafter, the right side of the target window 130 is moved in the horizontal direction so that the left side of the jog window 100 is in contact ((d) of FIG. 33). It is thin and translucent during movement, and becomes dark to the transparency specified by the user after stopping at a fixed position. Drawing on the window is performed after it is set to a fixed position. No drawing is done on the moving window.

When the focus is shifted during the moving animation of the jog window 100, the animation is restarted from the beginning. Further, if the focused target window 130 moves or the size changes during the movement animation of the jog window 100, the target window 130 follows it.
Animation is performed only when switching from scroll mode for each window, redisplay after hiding,
It is not performed when the target window is moved or resized. Animation can be turned off by the user in the jog dial settings. In that case, the image appears directly at the fixed position, only the transparency changes, and drawing is performed on the window when the final transparency is reached.

As described above, in the notebook personal computer 1, it is possible to express explicitly that the indication window 90 and the jog window 100 are related to each other and are created as needed. did it.

The notebook personal computer 1
Then, a capacitance sensing mechanism is provided in the input device such as the jog dial 4, and the indication window 9 is provided only when the user brings his hand close to the input device to operate the input device.
By displaying 0, it is possible to prevent the GUI from always being displayed on the screen. Specifically, the circuit shown in FIG. 34 is provided. FIG. 35 shows signal waveforms A, B, and C in each part shown in FIG. When the user brings his or her hand close to the electrostatic capacitance sensing unit to which the power supply voltage 5V provided to the jog dial 10 is supplied via the resistor R ₂ , the sensing output A through the resistor R ₁ is inverted by the inverter IN ₁ . It is cut off by a cut-off circuit using two diodes D ₁ and D _{2, a} resistor R ₃ and a capacitor C ₁ (cut-off output B), and is inverted again by the inverter IN ₂ and shaped as low active (Low Active). It becomes the output C. This output C
Is a sensed output indicating that the user has approached his hand.
I / O in the notebook personal computer 1 shown in FIG.
It is supplied to the interface 69. Then, inside the I / O interface 69, it is determined that the user has approached the hand by the jog dial status monitoring program 70E executed by the CPU 71 of the embedded controller 68. After this, I / O interface 69 to C
The determination result that the user has approached the hand is passed to the PU 51, and the CPU 51 executing the jog dial status monitoring program 54C displays the indication window 90 on the LCD 9.

As described above, in the notebook personal computer 1, unnecessary window display is suppressed,
It is possible to suppress cases that disturb other operations by the user.

Furthermore, in the notebook personal computer 1, the area of the touch pad 6 is divided into several areas by utilizing the fact that the touch pad 6 and the jog dial 10 are physically close to each other, and after clicking a certain area, When the jog dial 10 is operated, the operation specified by the user can be performed. For example, when the jog dial 10 is pushed after touching the center upper part of the touch pad 6, "forward" and "back" of the web browser are assigned to the jog dial operation, and when the jog dial 10 is turned up, "forward page" and "backward" are displayed. If you turn it to, you can also use it to return to the previous page.

Furthermore, it is conceivable to assign an application operation to the cooperation of a specific key of the keyboard 4 and the operation of the jog dial 10. For example, when the jog dial 10 is pressed while holding down the control key, a launcher for activating an application can be activated at any time.

As described above, the notebook personal computer 1 is provided with the jog dial 10, switches the operation mode between the scroll mode and the application mode, and uses the indication window 90 and the jog window 100 or 110 properly according to the application. , You don't have to always show unnecessary windows on your desktop. Further, it is possible to easily determine which operation mode the user is in. Further, the operation mode switching which is not intended by the user does not occur. Also, the user can easily understand what the jog dial 10 can do now. Further, even if the user steps into a state that the user cannot understand, the user can always return to the scroll mode to recover from the state. Also, since the application launcher is a separate application, the launcher can be launched at any time.

The laptop personal computer 1
32, a jog window 100 or 110 for displaying items that can be performed with the jog dial 10 is displayed.
Is attached near the window (target window) 130 to be operated by the jog dial 10, thereby improving the operability by reducing the movement of the line of sight. Hereinafter, an operation of sticking the jog window 100 or 110 near the target window 130, an operation of moving the target window 130, a change of the display of the jog dial 100 or 110 due to a size change, and the like will be described in detail.

These operations are performed in order to solve the conventional problems described below. Conventionally, a method of presenting a list of operations that can be performed by the jog dial to the user using the jog window has been considered. However, since the display position of the conventional jog window is fixed regardless of the target window, it is difficult to understand which current window can be operated by the jog dial. Also, depending on the location of the target window, the line of sight must be greatly reciprocated between the jog window and the target window, impairing the user's comfortable operation. Also, when the size or display position of the target window changes, the display position of the jog window may hit the position that hinders the display of the target window, and the user had to correct the position of the jog window each time. . Also, since the conventional jog window has a fixed window size, it may not be large enough to display the operation list, and the user cannot see the current operation options. In addition, the font displayed in the Jog window is very small, and consideration for people with weak eyesight was insufficient.

First, the notebook personal computer 1
Now, as described above, the jog window 100 that displays what can be done by operating the jog dial 10 at present.
Alternatively, 110 is attached near the target window 130 to be operated by the jog dial 10.

Here, a case where the jog dial is used while a plurality of applications are running will be described with reference to FIGS. 36 and 37. Depending on the user, for example, application A, application B
It is assumed that these two applications have been launched as shown in FIG. Here, when the user puts the cursor on one application window (B) 130 _B , clicks the focus, and then pushes the jog dial 10, the jog window 100 _B sticks to the target window (application window (B)) 130 _B ( FIG. 36). When another application window (A) 130 _A is focused again and the jog dial 10 is pushed, the window (application window (A) 13 currently selected is selected.
The jog window 100 _A sticks to the 0 _A (Fig. 3
7).

By doing this, the target window 1
Since the jog window 100 is attached to the area 30, it is easy to know which window can be operated by the jog dial. That is, the currently operable window can be intuitively recognized. Further, since the jog window is attached near the target window, the movement of the line of sight during the operation can be reduced, and the operability can be improved.

Further, the notebook personal computer 1
The user can arbitrarily move the position where the jog window 100 sticks to the target window 130.

As shown in FIG. 38, the user selects the application window (target window) 130.
Each, by dragging the jog Le dial window, the position of the jog window can be changed from 100 ₀ to 100 _1.

The notebook personal computer 1
Then, the position where the jog window 100 is stuck for each target window 130 is recorded, and the display location of the target window 130 is moved, the size is changed,
Even if it is maximized or minimized, it automatically follows the relative position of the target window.

For example, as shown in FIG. 39, the user changes the display position of the target window 130 ₀ as shown by an arrow, and even if the target window 130 ₁ is the target window 130 ₁ , the jog window 1000 is the target window 130 _0.
Is displayed as a jog window 100 ₁ stuck to _1.

In addition, if the user uses the application C, for example,
40. The jog window 100a (shown in (a) of FIG. 40) attached to the target window 130a of FIG. 40 is dragged to the position shown in (b) of FIG.
Even if the size of is increased to be the target window 130c, since the jog window 100c remembers the relative position, it automatically follows the application.

As described above, the user can easily change the display location of the jog window 100 by the drag operation. Changed jog window 10
The display position of 0 is recorded as a relative position for each target window 130 at that time. The user can freely set a position that is easy to see for each target window 130. Also, when the position / size of the target window is changed, the user can save the trouble of re-adjusting the position of the jog window.

Further, the notebook personal computer 1
Then, the vertical width of the jog window 100 is automatically expanded / contracted to an appropriate height according to the number of items in the list (hereinafter, referred to as an operation list) that can be performed with the jog dial 10.

[0147] For example, when the user selects an item (further selection to when the selection list is displayed) having a depth from the list of the jog window 100 ₂ shown in (a) of FIG. 41, the number of items in the operation list increases. At this time, the jog dial utility displays a jog window 100 ₃ automatically adjust the height.

The notebook personal computer 1
Then, the vertical width of the jog window 100 automatically expands and contracts to an appropriate height according to the vertical width of the target window 130.

For example, if the user raises the height of the target window 130a to which the jog window 100a is attached as shown in FIG. 42A to a target window 130b shown in FIG. The height of the window 100b is also automatically adjusted. This will allow the user to see all the current options. In other words, it becomes possible to display as many operation items as possible, and it is possible to clearly indicate to the user what kind of operation is currently possible.

Further, the notebook personal computer 1
Then, the font of the operation list in the jog window 100 can be linked with the system font. For example, a small font is hard to read, so if you have a large font set in the system, jog window 10
The font of the operation list in 0 is also displayed in a large font. That is, the font size in the jog window 100 is automatically corrected according to the font size set by the system.

It is assumed that the user right-clicks on the desktop of the notebook personal computer 1, selects properties from the context menu and changes the size of the system font from the design tab. At this time, the jog dial utility changes the font size of the jog window 100a shown in FIG. 43 (a) to match the system font size, as shown in FIG. 43 (b). Also, the size of the jog window 100 itself
Automatically change to a size large enough to display the operations list in the changed font. By doing so, it is possible to provide an operation with a font that is easy to read even for users with low eyesight.

Next, the algorithm for positioning the jog window described above will be described. In the following, the "window coordinates" are indicated by the upper left coordinates of the window.

First, the positioning procedure when the jog window appears will be described with reference to FIG. First, in step S21, the lower right coordinates ((
tw_right, tw_bottom). Next, step S
The screen size (s_width, w_height) is acquired at 22. Then, the height jdw_height of the jog window is acquired from the list amount displayed in step S23.
The width of the jog window is jdw_width (constant).

Next, in step S24, s_width-tw_r
Judge ight> jdw_width. Where s_width-tw_
When right> jdw_width, that is, when there is enough space on the right side of the target window to display the jog window, the process proceeds to step S25 and step S25.
21, the appearance position is determined by the coordinates (tw_
right, tw_bottom jdw_height).

On the other hand, in step S24, s_width-tw_r
not ight> jdw_width, i.e. s_width-tw_right
When <jdw_width, there is not enough space to display the jog window on the right side of the target window, so the process proceeds to step S26, and the appearance position is the coordinate (s_
width jdw_width, wt_bottom jdw_height).

Next, with reference to FIG. 45, a positioning algorithm for moving the target window will be described. First, in step S31, the current coordinates of the target window are (tw_x, tw_y) and the current coordinates of the jog window are (jdw_x, jdw_y). In step S32, the coordinates (new_tw_x, new_t
get w_y). In step S33, the screen size (s_width, w_height) is acquired.

Then, in step S34, the coordinates for displaying the jog window are set to (jdw_x + (new_tw_x tw_x
), jdw_y + (new_tw_y tw_y)). However,
Since the jog window may be displayed outside the screen only with this, the process of the next step S35 is performed. That is, the coordinates of the jog window after movement are (ne
w_jdw_x, new_jdw_y). When New_jdw_x <0
new_jdw_x is 0. When New_jdw_x> s_width ne
w_jdw_x is s_width jdw_width. New_jdw_y <0
Then new_jdw_y is set to 0. New_jdw_y> s_height
Then new_jdw_y is s_height-height.

Next, with reference to FIG. 46, a positioning algorithm for resizing the target window will be described. First, in step S41, the current coordinates of the jog window are set to (jdw_x, jdw_y). Next, in step S42, the current upper left coordinate of the target window is set.
(tw_.left, tw_top), set the lower right coordinates to (tw_right, tw_bo
ttom). Next, in step S43, the upper left coordinates of the resized target window are set to (new_tw_left, n
ew_tw_top) Set the lower right coordinates to (new_tw_right, new_tw_botto
m).

Then, in step S44, for example, it is determined whether or not there is a change on the right side of the target window, and if there is a change, the size of the jog window is determined by following the change. This step S44 includes steps S441-
It consists of step S444, and tw_l in step S441.
eft = new_tw_left and tw_top = new_tw_top and tw_
right ≠ new_tw_right and tw_bottom = new_tw_bott
When it is om, that is, when it is determined that the right side of the target window has changed, in step S442 (tw_
right-tw_left) / If 2 <jdw_x, the coordinates (jdw_x +
Display the jog window at (new_tw_righttw_right), jdw_y), and if (tw_right tw_left) / 2> jdw_x
Display the jog window at the coordinates (jdw_x, jdw_y).
That is, when the near side of the target window changes, the change is followed. On the other hand, if NO in step S441, the process proceeds to step S444, it is determined that the far side has changed, and the tracking is not performed.

The series of processes are similarly performed for the Y coordinate. Also, when the top side changes, the left side changes, the bottom side changes, the top side and the left side change, the left side and the bottom side change, the bottom side and the right side change, the right side and the top side change The same is true for time.

Further, since there is a possibility that the jog window after movement may be outside the screen, the process of step S35 is performed in step S443 after the position is determined. That is, the coordinates of the jog window after moving
(new_jdw_x, new_jdw_y). When New_jdw_x <0, new_jdw_x is 0. When New_jdw_x> s_width, new_jdw_x is s_width jdw_width. New_jdw_
When y <0, new_jdw_y is 0. New_jdw_y> s_he
When it is ight, new_jdw_y is s_height-height.

Therefore, in the notebook personal computer 1, the window which can be currently operated by the jog dial can be determined at a glance. In addition, it is possible to reduce the movement of the line of sight between the jog window and the target window. Also, the position of the jog window can be set for each target window. Also,
The height of the jog window is automatically adjusted according to the number of items in the operation list, so you can see the operations that can be currently selected. Further, the size of the jog window is automatically adjusted according to the system font, so that the user can easily read the items in the operation list even if the user has poor eyesight.

The notebook personal computer 1 also has a function for emitting light (lighting, blinking) to the jog dial 10 and for notifying the user of the timing of pressing down the jog dial 10 by lighting or blinking. ing.

This notification function is provided to solve the following problems of the conventional jog dial. With the conventional jog dial, even though I was aware of intuitive turning, I could not convey the image that pressing it would enable other operation modes. Besides,
There is no way to show what kind of change will occur when you press the jog dial and what kind of operation you can do,
The user was worried about pushing the jog dial. Further, in order to display the feedback from the jog dial, it is necessary to display a window on the desktop, which sometimes obstructs other operations.

Therefore, the notebook personal computer 1 is provided with another operation mode by pressing the jog dial, and in the case where the operation for each application can be performed by the jog, by blinking the jog dial, it is suitable for the user. The jog press operation is guided at various timings.

In FIG. 47, the jog dial 10 is turned on,
The structure which makes it blink is shown. The rotating member 11 of the jog dial 10 is made transparent, for example, and transmits light generated by blinking and lighting the LED 150. The I / O interface 69 blinks the LED 150 from the embedded controller 68,
Upon receiving a command to turn on or off, the LED 150 is blinked, turned on or off.

The rotation direction of the rotary member 11 of the jog dial 10 is detected by the rotation detecting portion 85, and the detection result indicating whether the rotation is upward or downward is detected by the I / O.
Supply to the interface 69. The I / O interface 69 sends the detection result to the embedded controller 68.

The blinking and lighting process of the jog dial 10 associated with the switching between the scroll mode and the application mode will be described below with reference to FIGS. 48 to 50.

As described above, the jog dial is operated in the two operation modes of the scroll mode and the application mode. Then, these two operation modes are switched by explicitly pressing the jog dial. However, the application mode is not applied to all applications, and some applications have only the scroll mode.

For example, suppose that the notebook personal computer 1 is now running an application F that is not compatible with a jog dial and an application G that is compatible with a jog dial, as shown in FIG. Currently, Figure 4
As shown in FIG. 8A, the window 130 _{F of the} application F is in focus. At this time,
Jog dial 1 of notebook personal computer 1
0 can be operated in the scroll mode.

Next, the window 130 of the jog dial-compatible application G having the application mode is displayed.
_When the focus is shifted to _G ((b) of FIG. 48),
As shown in (a) of FIG. 49, the jog dial 10 first flashes for 2 seconds and then remains lit ((b) of FIG. 49), and the user can enter the application mode by pressing the jog dial 10. To notify.

The user follows the jog dial 10 accordingly.
Press to enter application mode. At that point, the jog dial goes out ((c) in FIG. 49),
A jog window (guide display) 100 _G is attached to the right side of the window 130 _G of the application G.

The operation described with reference to FIGS. 48 and 49 is
This is performed by the jog dial utility that performs the processing procedure shown in FIG. That is, in step S51, it is determined whether or not the focus is shifted to the application having the application mode. If it is determined that the focus is shifted, the process proceeds to step S52 and the jog dial 10 is moved to the position shown in FIG.
After blinking for 2 seconds with the configuration shown in, the light is turned on in step S53. After that, if it is determined in step S54 that the user has pressed the jog dial 10, step S5
At 5, the jog dial 10 is turned off.

If it is determined in step S51 that the application having the application mode is not in focus, the jog dial does not blink and is not lit (step S56).

Also, when the application having only the scroll mode is focused, the jog dial does not light up. Further, when the application is once out of focus and once out of focus, and again in focus, the jog dial is turned on from the beginning and does not blink.

The notebook personal computer 1
By changing the color of light emitted by the LED 150, it is possible to determine which of the exclusive operation modes such as the scroll mode / application mode that the jog dial 10 has.

A specific example of changing the emission color will be described below with reference to FIGS. 51 and 52. Here, the operation mode of the jog dial is three, that is, the scroll mode, the multimedia reproduction application mode, and the presentation mode. Among them, the multimedia reproduction application mode and the presentation mode belong to the above application modes.

The scroll mode is a simple scroll function. What is the multimedia playback application mode?
When you start the application, the first thing you can do is rotate the song up and down to move the song forward and backward, and press the jog dial to switch between play and pause. The presentation mode is a mode in which the page of the presentation can be switched by turning the jog dial, and an event (animation, display of characters, etc.) prepared in the page can be performed by pressing the jog.

Also, here, for the sake of simplicity, the scroll mode is performed only by the application H, the multimedia playback application mode is performed only by the application I, and the presentation mode is performed only by the application J. Suppose it is done.

Now, the above three applications are activated.
On the display screen 9, as shown in FIG.
Application window 130_H, 130_I1
Thirty _JIs displayed. As shown in FIG. 51 (a)
Window of application H_HTo fo
When the car is hit, the jog dial 10
Inform users that they can operate in scroll mode
For this purpose, for example, the white LED blinks and lights up to turn on the jog
Make the ear 10 glow white. In addition, as shown in FIG.
Window 130 of application I_IOn
When the focus is on, jog dial 10
Can be operated in multimedia playback application mode
For example, a blue LED to inform the user
Blinks and lights, and the jog dial 10 lights up in blue.
Further, as shown in (c) of FIG.
Window 130_JWhen the focus is on
For example, the green LED blinks and lights up to turn the jog
Let Le 10 glow green.

FIG. 52 shows a processing procedure of the jog dial utility when the jog dial 10 is blinked, turned on or off in accordance with each mode.

If it is determined in step S61 that the application H is in focus, step S6
After the jog dial 10 blinks in white for 2 seconds at 2, the jog dial 10 is turned on at step S63.
When it is determined in step S64 that the jog dial 10 has been pressed, the jog dial 10 is pressed in step S65.
Turn off.

If it is determined in step S61 that the application H does not have the focus, step S71
, And then in step S72, jog dial 1
After blinking 0 for 2 seconds in blue, the jog dial 10 is turned on in step S73, and if it is determined in step S74 that the jog dial 10 is pressed, step S73 is executed.
At 75, the jog dial 10 is turned off. If it is determined in step S71 that the application I does not have the focus, the process proceeds to step S81, and then in step S82 the jog dial 10 blinks in green for 2 seconds, and then in step S83 the jog dial 10 is turned on. When it is determined in step S84 that the jog dial 10 has been pressed, the jog dial 10 is turned off in step S85.

By doing so, white, blue, and green are assigned to the three operation modes, and when the mode can be changed to these modes, the jog dial 10 blinks / lights in the assigned color. You can

As described above, the notebook personal computer 1 incorporates a light emitting (blinking or lighting) function using the LED 150 or the like, so that the user can turn on or off the timing of pressing the jog dial or the like. You can be notified.

The notebook personal computer 1
53 to 58, the jog dial 10
May be arranged at other positions. 53 and 54,
1 shows a notebook personal computer in which a jog dial 10 is arranged between a left click button 6a and a right click button 6b which are arranged so as to have a slight space in the left-right direction.

55 to 58 show another specific example of the jog dial 10. Hereinafter, other specific examples of the jog dial 10 will be sequentially described. First, in the jog dial 10 of FIG. 55, the shape of the touch pad 6 has been changed in design so that the left and right side edges are rounded, and the left and right directions of the left click button 7, which is relatively frequently used, are changed. The length is made longer than the left-right direction length of the right-click button 8 which is relatively infrequently used. Then, the jog dial 10 is arranged between the keyboard 4 and the touch pad 6, that is, the keyboard 4
And the touch pad 6 are arranged so as to be sandwiched in the front-rear direction. In this other specific example, the rotating member 11 of the jog dial 10 will be operated exclusively by the index finger.

FIG. 56 shows a stick type pointing device. Ie keyboard 4
Stick 4 near the space key 4a
5 is extended vertically and arranged, and this stick 4
5 is swingable with a fingertip. The left and right click buttons 7 and 8 and the jog dial 10 are arranged so that the jog dial 10 is sandwiched between the left click button 7 and the right click button 8 in the left-right direction, as in the case of FIG. Further, since the touch pad 6 does not exist, the left and right click buttons 7 and 8 and the jog dial 10 are generally located near the keyboard 4.

In FIG. 57, the pointing device is a stick type similar to the case of FIG. 56.
The case where the left-right direction interval between the left click button 7 and the right click button 8 is made smaller than that in the case of FIG. 56 is shown. The jog dial 10 is arranged between the left and right click buttons 7 and 8 and the keyboard 4 in the example shown by the solid line. Further, in the example shown by the one-dot silver line, the jog dial 10 is arranged in front of the left and right click buttons 7 and 8.

FIG. 58 shows a case where the pointing device is of a trackball type. That is, a trackball 46 is rotatably arranged on the front side of the keyboard 4, and the trackball 46 is rotated by a fingertip. The left and right click buttons 7, 8 and the jog dial 10 are arranged on the front side of the trackball 46. The jog dial 10 may be provided in front of the left and right click buttons 7 and 8, or may be provided between the trackball 46 and the keyboard 4.

Further, in the embodiments so far, the input device has been described as the jog dial 10, but the input device is not limited to the jog dial in particular.
Wheel 20 of mouse with wheel 200 as shown in FIG.
1 may be applied.

Also, when applied to an input device in which the projection 202 can be pushed in as shown in the cross section in FIG. 60 (a), and which moves back and forth as shown in the plane in FIG. 60 (b). Good. The continuous movement of the protrusion 202 in the direction of the arrow U provides the same operability as the rotation of the jog dial in the front direction. Further, the continuous movement of the protrusion 202 in the direction of the arrow D provides the same operability as the rotation of the jog dial in the rearward direction.

Further, as shown in the cross section of FIG. 61 (a) and the plane of FIG. 61 (b), the jog dial is used to continuously press the raised portions 203 and 205 and the raised portion 204. It may be applied to an input device adapted to rotate and push.

Further, as shown in the plane of FIG. 62A and the cross section of FIG. 62B, the buttons 206 and 208 are continuously pressed and the button 207 is pressed by rotating the jog dial. , And may be applied to an input device corresponding to pushing.

The present invention is not limited to the notebook personal computer, but can be applied to a portable information terminal device and a portable telephone device.

The portable information terminal device 210 shown in FIG.
A display screen 212 including an LCD is provided on the upper side of the main body 211. Further, a schedule button 213, an address book button 214, a To Do button 216, and a memo pad button 217 are provided on the lower side of the main body 211. Further, a jog dial 215 having a rotary member similar to the jog dial 10 is provided between the address book button 214 and the To Do button 216.

This portable information terminal device 210 includes a CPU to which an attached memory is connected via a bus, a display unit, a character recognition unit, and a voice recognition unit, which are connected to each other via the bus.
It has a communication unit.

Further, the portable information terminal device 210 is
A speaker and an image pickup unit are provided, and a microphone is also provided. Further, a headphone terminal, line input and output terminals are provided. Therefore, it is possible to execute output and input of voice and capture of an image by image pickup. Furthermore, IEEE
It has an E1394 terminal and a USB terminal. Of course, it has a built-in modem and can connect to the Internet.

Then, on the display screen 212, an indication window 90 used for explaining the operation of the jog dial 215 to the user through an image is displayed. Of course, a jog window (list display, guide display) is also displayed on the display screen 212.

[0200] Here, the above-mentioned buttons and the display on the display screen corresponding to them, and the operation of the graphical user interface will be described. The schedule button 213 is a button used when displaying a display on the display screen 212 in which a schedule can be input and confirmed in units of 5 minutes, for example. The schedule input here is performed using a pen (not shown). At this time, the time can be moved back and forth by an input operation through the graphical user interface using the jog dial 215. Also, the date may be moved.

The address book button 214 is a button used when displaying personal data such as a telephone number and an address on the display screen 212. At this time, each data can be scrolled by an input operation through the graphical user interface using the jog dial 215.

The To Do button 216 is used to
Display screen 21 by listing the items to be worked on
It is a button to be used when displaying on top of 2. At this time, each message can be scrolled by an input operation using the jog dial 215 via the graphical user interface.

The memo pad button 217 is a button used to display the memo pad on the display screen 212 when the user wants to make a memo of a message or the like he has come up with. At this time, each message can be scrolled by an input operation using the jog dial 215 via the graphical user interface.

Next, the portable telephone device 220 shown in FIG.
Is a type in which the display unit 222 and the main body 223 can be rotated around the rotation shaft 221. Display 222
An antenna 224 is provided on the upper left of the
A display screen composed of a CD is provided. An operation key 228 is arranged at the center of the main body 223. A jog dial 226 having a rotating member similar to that of the jog dial 10 is provided on the upper portion of the main body 223.

Then, on the display screen, an indication window 90 is displayed as a graphical user interface used for explaining the operation of the jog dial 226 to the user through an image. Of course, a jog window is also displayed on the display screen.

For example, when the registered telephone number is called on the display screen according to the input operation by the user using the jog dial 226, the registered telephone number is called from the list display of the jog window by rotating and pressing the jog dial 226. It is also possible to select an item, further scroll up and down, and press the selected number to dial the selected telephone number.

A magnetic disk, a CD-ROM, a fixed memory or the like can be cited as a recording medium for providing the user with the program relating to the graphical user interface in the present invention. In addition to the recording medium, the program may be realized by a network, communication media such as satellites, and these communication media.

[0208]

The input device of the information processing apparatus according to the present invention notifies the user of when the input device is operated, what kind of change will occur, and what kind of operation can be performed, and the user operates the input device at an appropriate timing. Can be induced.

The operation method of the information processing apparatus according to the present invention is
What happens when you operate the input device?
Notify the user what kind of operation can be performed,
The operation can be guided to the user at an appropriate timing.

The information processing apparatus according to the present invention can notify the user of when the input device is operated, what kind of change will occur, and what kind of operation can be performed, and guide the operation to the user at an appropriate timing. it can.

The program relating to the operation of the information processing apparatus according to the present invention notifies the user of when the input device is operated, what kind of change will occur, and what kind of operation can be performed, and the user can perform the operation at an appropriate timing. Can be induced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an appearance of a notebook personal computer.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a main part of a notebook personal computer.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a rotation and pushing operation of a jog dial.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an indication window.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a jog window.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a jog dial launcher window.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a specific example of a jog dial.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a specific example of a jog dial.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing a specific example of a jog dial.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view showing a specific example of a jog dial.

FIG. 11 is a top view of the jog dial.

FIG. 12 is a right side view of the jog dial.

FIG. 13 is a partial side sectional view of a shaft member that constitutes a rotating member.

14 is a sectional view corresponding to line X10-X10 in FIG.

15 is a sectional view corresponding to line X11-X11 in FIG.

FIG. 16 is a time chart showing a signal state detected at each output terminal when the operation portion is rotated backward.

FIG. 17 is a time chart showing a signal state detected at each output terminal when the operation portion is rotated in the forward direction.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of a notebook personal computer.

FIG. 19 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the embedded controller of the notebook personal computer.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart for explaining a jog dial monitoring program executed by the embedded controller.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a display screen when a memo writing application is started up.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an indication window when starting up a memo writing application.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing a window of a picture management application and a jog window attached to the window.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an indication window when a picture management application is started up.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing a window of an internet browser and a jog window attached to the window.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing an indication window when an internet browser is activated.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing a window of a music reproduction application.

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing an indication window when a music reproduction application is started up.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing a state in which a jog window for player operation is attached to a window of a music reproduction application.

[Fig. 30] Fig. 30 is a diagram showing a state in which a jog window for volume operation is attached to a window of a music reproduction application.

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing an indication window stored in a task bar.

[Fig. 32] Fig. 32 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between an indication window and a jog window.

FIG. 33 is a diagram showing how a jog window emitted from an indication window sticks to a target window.

FIG. 34 is a circuit diagram showing a capacitance sensing mechanism for sensing that the user approaches his / her hand to operate the input device.

FIG. 35 is a diagram showing signal waveforms at various parts shown in the circuit diagram.

FIG. 36 is a diagram for explaining a case where a jog dial is used when a plurality of applications are running.

FIG. 37 is a diagram for explaining a case where a jog dial is used when a plurality of applications are running.

FIG. 38 is a diagram showing how the position of the jog window is changed.

FIG. 39 is a diagram showing how the position of the jog window is also changed when the position of the target window is changed.

FIG. 40 is a diagram showing how the jog window sticks without changing its relative position as the target window expands.

FIG. 41 is a diagram showing a jog window that automatically expands and contracts to an appropriate height according to the number of items in the list.

FIG. 42 is a diagram showing a jog window whose height is changed according to the changed height of the target window.

FIG. 43 is a diagram showing a jog window in which a font is linked with a system font.

FIG. 44 is a flowchart for explaining a positioning algorithm when a jog window appears.

FIG. 45 is a flowchart for explaining a jog window positioning algorithm when moving a target window.

FIG. 46 is a flowchart for explaining a jog window positioning algorithm when the target window is resized.

FIG. 47 is a diagram showing a configuration in which a jog dial is turned on and blinks.

FIG. 48 is a diagram showing a screen display when switching between the scroll mode and the application mode.

FIG. 49 is a diagram schematically showing blinking, turning on, and turning off of the jog dial.

FIG. 50 is a flowchart showing a process of lighting and blinking the jog dial when switching between the scroll mode and the application mode.

FIG. 51 is a diagram showing a screen display when the emission color of the jog dial is changed according to the operation mode.

FIG. 52 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when the emission color of the jog dial is changed according to the operation mode.

FIG. 53 is an external view of a notebook personal computer in which a jog dial is arranged at another position.

54 is a plan view of the vicinity of the jog dial arrangement of the notebook personal computer shown in FIG. 53.

FIG. 55 is a plan view of a main part of another notebook personal computer in which a jog dial is arranged at another position.

FIG. 56 is a plan view of a main part of another notebook personal computer in which a jog dial is arranged at another position.

FIG. 57 is a plan view of a main part of another notebook personal computer in which a jog dial is arranged at another position.

FIG. 58 is a plan view of a main part of another notebook personal computer in which a jog dial is arranged at another position.

FIG. 59 is a diagram showing another first specific example of the input device.

FIG. 60 is a diagram showing another second specific example of the input device.

FIG. 61 is a diagram showing another third specific example of the input device.

FIG. 62 is a diagram showing another fourth specific example of the input device.

FIG. 63 is a diagram showing a portable information terminal which is another specific example of the information processing apparatus.

FIG. 64 is a diagram showing a mobile phone which is another specific example of the information processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 note type personal computer, 5 back button, 9 display screen, 10 jog dial, 90 indication window, 100 list display jog window, 110 guide display jog window, 12
0 Jog dial launcher window

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Ryoji Amemiya             6-735 Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Soni             -Inside the corporation (72) Inventor Hiroki Nitta             6-735 Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Soni             -Inside the corporation (72) Inventor Yoshihiro Yamaguchi             6-735 Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Soni             -Inside the corporation F term (reference) 5B087 AA09 AA10 AB02 BC13 DE03

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. An input device of an information processing device, which enables continuous operation in the forward and backward directions and a pressing operation, and a scroll mode in which the scroll operation by the input device is enabled, and the information processing device is operated. An input device of an information processing apparatus, characterized by incorporating a light emitting mechanism and notifying a user of a distinction from an application mode that enables an operation by the input device most suitable for an application in the inside. 2. The input device of the information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the scroll mode and the application mode are switched according to a user's operation. 3. The input device of the information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the switching from the scroll mode to the application mode is performed based on a pressing operation by the user using the input device. 4. The input device of an information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the input device is rotated or rotated and pressed. 5. A scroll mode that enables a scroll operation by an input device of the information processing apparatus that enables continuous operation in the forward and backward directions and a pressing operation, and is most suitable for an application in which the information processing apparatus is working. An operation method of an information processing apparatus for causing a user to operate the information processing apparatus while notifying the user of a distinction from an application mode that enables operation by the input device by a light emitting mechanism, and an application having the application mode A determination step of determining whether or not the focus has been shifted to, and a blinking lighting that is turned on after blinking the light emitting mechanism of the input device for a predetermined time when it is determined that the application having the application mode is focused in the determination step. Process, the input device is pressed An operation of the information processing apparatus, comprising: a pressing determination step for determining whether or not the light emitting mechanism is turned off when it is determined that the input device is pressed in the pressing determination step. Method. 6. An input device of an information processing apparatus, which enables a forward operation and a backward operation in a forward direction and a backward operation, and monitors an operation state of the input device to display a graphical user interface on a display unit. In addition, the information processing means for performing information processing according to the operation using the graphical user interface is provided, and the scroll mode that enables the scroll operation by the input device, and the most suitable for the application in which the information processing device is working An information processing apparatus that notifies a user of a distinction from an application mode that enables operation by the input device by incorporating a light emitting mechanism. 7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the input device switches between the scroll mode and the application mode according to a user operation. 8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the switching from the scroll mode to the application mode is performed based on a pressing operation by the user using the input device. 9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the input device is rotated or rotated and pressed. 10. A scroll mode that enables a scroll operation by an input device of the information processing apparatus, which enables continuous operation in the forward and backward directions and a pressing operation, and is most suitable for an application in which the information processing apparatus is working. A program relating to the operation of an information processing device for allowing the user to operate the information processing device while notifying the user of the distinction from the application mode that enables the operation by the input device by a light emitting mechanism, and having the application mode. A determination step of determining whether or not the focus is shifted to the application, and a blinking of which the light emitting mechanism of the input device is blinked for a predetermined time after it is determined that the application having the application mode is focused in the determination step. The lighting process and the input data Information comprising a pressing determination step of determining whether or not a vise is pressed, and an extinguishing step of turning off the light emitting mechanism when it is determined in the pressing determination step that the input device is pressed A program for operating the processing unit.