JP2004213312A - Information processor and touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information processor mounted with a resistance film type analog touch panel capable of executing a pointing operation, a screen scroll operation, handwritten character input, and application selection and start without performing any complicate switching operation. <P>SOLUTION: This touch panel 10 is configured by connecting an X coordinate detecting circuit 13 to an upper sheet 12 between two resistance films, and dividing a lower sheet 11 into short strips for forming a plurality of resistance films 20 whose width is (a). The resistance films 20 divided into short strips are connected to Y coordinate detecting circuits A21, B22 and C23 every two sheets. An object whose width is small such as a pen or a nail tip and an object whose width is relatively wide such as the finger cushion may by used as an object to be brought into contact with the touch panel 10, and whether the object brought into contact with the touch panel 10 is the object whose width is small or the object whose width is large is discriminated according to the fact that how many Y coordinates are detected, and different processing corresponding to the size of width is executed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and a touch panel, and more particularly to an information processing apparatus and a touch panel having a resistive analog touch panel.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Generally, a touch panel is provided on a display surface of a liquid crystal display device or the like, and is used as a pointing device. As this type of touch panel, a resistive analog touch panel is known.
[0003]
FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a conventional resistive film analog touch panel. 6, reference numeral 10 denotes a touch panel, 11 denotes a lower sheet, 12 denotes an upper sheet, 13 denotes an X coordinate detection circuit, 14 denotes a Y coordinate detection circuit, and 15 denotes a control unit.
[0004]
As shown in FIG. 6, the touch panel 10 according to the related art includes two transparent resistive films, a lower sheet 11 and an upper sheet 12, which are separated from each other. When pressed with a finger or a finger, the two resistive films are configured to contact each other at the pressed position. A Y-coordinate detection circuit 14 and an X-coordinate detection circuit 13 are connected to the two sheets 11 and 12, which are resistance films, respectively.
[0005]
In the touch panel 10 thus configured, when two sheets come into contact with each other, the reference voltage applied to one resistive film is divided by the other resistive film, and the divided voltage is detected to detect the XY. It is configured to calculate coordinates. When there is no touch on the touch panel, the two sheets do not touch each other, so that the voltage for coordinate detection is not detected. As a result, if the presence or absence of the voltage is detected, the presence or absence of the touch on the touch panel can be detected.
[0006]
The control unit 15 connected to the X coordinate detection circuit 13 and the Y coordinate detection circuit 14 detects the touch on the touch panel, calculates the X coordinate and the Y coordinate from the detected voltage value, and calculates the X calculated by the cursor. At the same time as moving to the coordinates and Y coordinates, the same processing as pressing the left button of a conventionally known pointing device such as a mouse is executed. Further, when detecting a change in the X coordinate and the Y coordinate in a state where the contact is maintained, the control unit 15 assigns and executes a function of dragging by a conventional pointing device.
[0007]
With the above-described operation, the touch panel 10 according to the related art realizes cursor movement and button operation of a pointing device such as a mouse, and enables operation of the information processing apparatus.
[0008]
As a conventional technique related to the touch panel as described above, for example, a technique described in Patent Document 1 or the like is known.
[0009]
On the other hand, a pointing device such as a mouse usually used in a general information processing apparatus such as a recent PC is equipped with two buttons, and different functions are assigned to each button. In addition, there is a pointing device with a scroll function that is provided with a dial or the like at a central portion sandwiched between two buttons in addition to the two buttons, and that can be operated to scroll an application window.
[0010]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 2000-322187 A
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the operation of the pointing device that can be realized by the above-described conventional resistive film analog touch panel is the movement of the cursor and the drag operation. In the case of a two-button mouse, the operation can be performed by the function of pressing one button. However, there is a problem that the operation of the other button of the pointing device equipped with two buttons and the scroll function of the window cannot be realized.
[0012]
In order to use the conventional touch panel to operate the two buttons with the mouse and to realize the scroll function, it is necessary to execute an application for switching settings or to perform a switching operation such as pressing a predetermined area. Met.
[0013]
An object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, and to provide an information processing apparatus and a touch panel having a touch panel that enables a simple operation without a complicated switching operation. To provide.
[0014]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
According to the present invention, in an information processing apparatus having a resistive analog touch panel as an input device, a means for detecting a width of an object operating the touch panel, and an input from the touch panel according to the detected width. Means for switching the processing for the performed operation, the resistive film type analog touch panel is arranged such that strip-shaped resistive films are arranged on one side of two resistive films, and an electrode for detecting the potential of the resistive film is provided. Is connected to every two strip-shaped resistive films, and as a result, three types of resistive films are sequentially arranged.
[0015]
In the present invention constituted by the means as described above, the width of the touched object is detected, and if the width of the touched object is small, the operation of the touch panel is assigned to the cursor movement and the operation of one of the buttons of the mouse. If the width of the object is large, it is assigned to scrolling a window, operating another button, or the like.
[0016]
This allows the user to easily switch the cursor movement and button operation with a pen or fingertip, etc., and to operate scrolling and the other button operation with a wide object such as the finger pad. Operation can be performed, and the operability of the touch panel can be improved.
[0017]
In detecting the width of the contacted object, the contact area is determined to be small when contact is detected from one or two of the strip-shaped resistive films, and the contact area is determined to be large when all three are detected. be able to. With such a structure and determination means, the touch panel of the present invention can be realized at low cost as compared with a touch panel capable of detecting another contact width such as a digital touch panel.
[0018]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of an information processing apparatus and a touch panel according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
[0019]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a touch panel according to one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 20 denotes a resistive film having a width a, 21, 22, and 23 denote Y-coordinate detection circuits A, B, and C, and other reference numerals are the same as those in FIG. The embodiment of the present invention described here makes it possible to realize a function equivalent to a function by operating a pointing device such as a mouse equipped with two buttons and a scroll function with a resistive analog touch panel. It is.
[0020]
As shown in FIG. 1, the touch panel 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention has an X-coordinate on the upper sheet 12 of the two resistive films described with reference to FIG. The detection circuit 13 is connected, the lower sheet 11 is divided into strips, and the lower sheet 11 is formed by a plurality of resistive films 20 having a width a. The illustrated touch panel 10 prepares three detection circuits for detecting the Y-axis partial pressure value and detecting the Y-coordinate, that is, Y-coordinate detection circuits A21, B22, and C23. By connecting to every two Y-coordinate detection circuits every third sheet, three groups of resistance films are arranged in order.
[0021]
The embodiment of the present invention uses an object having a small width, such as a pen or a tip of a nail, and an object having a certain width, such as a belly of a finger, as objects to be brought into contact with the touch panel 10. In this case, whether the object is a narrow object or a wide object is identified, and the function of the conventional left button such as a mouse and the other functions are switched according to the result. Then, according to the embodiment of the present invention, when the pressing of the panel is detected from one or two of the three Y-coordinate detecting circuits A21, B22, and C23, the object touching the touch panel 10 is an object having a small width. When the pressing of the panel is detected from all three Y-coordinate detection circuits, it is determined that the object touching the touch panel 10 is a wide object.
[0022]
For this reason, the width a of the resistive film 20 in the embodiment of the present invention is, for example, about 13 mm in width of the finger pad, and when the finger pad touches the panel, at least three resistive films 20 are simultaneously placed. The width may be set to 5 mm to 7 mm so that the four touches do not touch at the same time. The detection of the XY coordinates is performed in the same manner as in the case of the related art, and the detected XY coordinates are processed by the control unit 15.
[0023]
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an outline of a method of detecting a contact width when the touch panel is pressed. Next, a method of detecting a width of an object operating the touch panel will be described with reference to FIG.
[0024]
As shown in FIG. 2, when the width of the object is 2 × a or less with respect to the width a of the resistive film 20, the Y-axis coordinate is any one of or adjacent to the Y-coordinate detection circuits A20, B22, and C23. Any two of them are detected, and three are not detected at the same time. When the width of the object operating the touch panel is 2 × a or more and 3 × a or less, the Y coordinate is always detected by all of the Y coordinate detection circuits A21, B22, and C23. For this reason, whether the width of the object operating the touch panel is larger or smaller than 2 × a is determined to be 2 × a or less when the Y coordinate is detected by one or two detection circuits, It can be detected by determining that it is 2 × a or more.
[0025]
The touch panel according to the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above is provided on a display surface of a display device of an information processing device such as a PC including a CPU, a memory, an internal hard disk, a drive for an external storage medium, and a display device. Used to be.
[0026]
FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing operation when the touch panel according to the embodiment of the present invention described above is provided on the display surface of the display device of the information processing apparatus as processing in the control unit 15. This flow will be described. This flow is repeatedly executed at regular time intervals.
[0027]
(1) When the process is started, first, the X-coordinate detection circuit 13 detects the X-coordinate, and then the three Y-coordinate detection circuits A21, B22, and C23 detect the partial pressure value and detect the respective Y-coordinates. Detection is performed (steps ST1 and ST2).
[0028]
(2) The presence / absence of contact with the touch panel is determined based on whether or not the coordinates are detected. If there is no contact, the state holding memory immediately before holding the previous state is cleared, and the process from step ST1 in the next process is performed. Wait until processing (steps ST3 and ST4).
[0029]
(3) If it is determined in step ST3 that there is a touch on the touch panel, it is determined whether one or two of the three Y coordinates have been detected, or whether all three Y coordinates have been detected. Then, the contact width is determined. As described above, if the width a of the strip-shaped resistive film 20 is set to fall within a range of, for example, ２〜 to の of the width of the finger pad, the width of the tip of a pen or a nail becomes equal. It can be determined whether the touch panel is operated with a small object or the touch panel is operated with an object having a certain width such as a finger pad (step ST5).
[0030]
(4) If the coordinates are detected by one or two of the three Y coordinate detection circuits in the contact width determination in step ST5, it is determined that the touch panel has been operated with an object having a small width such as a pen or nail tip. In order to determine whether an object with a small width such as a pen or a tip of a nail has touched from a state where it has not touched, or a state where the touched coordinates have been moved while maintaining the state of touching the touch panel, the immediately preceding state The content of the holding memory is checked to determine the continuous contact determination A (step ST6).
[0031]
(5) In the continuous contact determination A of step ST6, if there is a previous contact and the previous contact width is 2 × a or more, that is, if three Y coordinates have been detected or there has been no previous contact, the contact is made. It is determined that the contact has been made from a state where it has not been touched, and the cursor is moved to the XY coordinates obtained this time. Further, the same process as when the left button of the mouse is pressed at the XY coordinates, that is, the process of starting the application indicated by the icon or the like at the cursor position is executed. In this case, the processing may be executed when the contact is cut off, and no processing may be performed when there is a contact at a place where no icon exists (step ST7).
[0032]
(6) In the continuous contact determination A in step ST6, when the previous contact is present and the width of the previous contact is 2 × a or less, it is determined that the user has moved while maintaining the state of touching the touch panel, and the left mouse button is pressed. A process equivalent to moving the cursor while pressing is performed, that is, a drag process is executed (step ST8).
[0033]
With the processing described above, if the touch panel is touched lightly once with a small object such as a pen or the tip of a nail, the same processing as moving the cursor to that coordinate and pressing the left mouse button at that coordinate is executed. The drag operation can be executed by moving the touch panel without releasing it from the touch panel.
[0034]
(7) In the contact width determination in step ST5, if the coordinates have been detected by all three Y-coordinate detection circuits, it is determined that the touch panel has been operated with an object having a certain width, such as the belly of a finger, and the finger or the like has been operated. Check the contents of the last state memory to determine whether a large object has kept touching the same place for a certain period of time or whether the touched coordinates have been moved while maintaining the state of touching the touch panel. The contact determination means B is executed (step ST9).
[0035]
(8) In the continuous contact determination means B in step ST9, if there is a previous contact and the width of the previous contact is 2 × a or more and the XY coordinates of the previous time are different from the XY coordinates of the present time, the state of the contact is maintained. It is determined that the user has moved the window while scrolling the window according to the amount of movement from the previous XY coordinate (step ST10).
[0036]
(9) If the continuous contact determination means B of step ST9 determines that there is a previous contact, the width of the previous contact is 2 × a or more, and the XY coordinates are the same continuously for the set number of times, the contact is made at the same place for a certain period of time. It is determined that the operation has been continued, and a process equivalent to pressing the B button of the mouse is executed (step ST11).
[0037]
By performing the above-described steps ST9 to ST11, when the same portion of the touch panel is continuously pressed with a wide object such as a finger for a certain period of time, the same process as when the mouse button B is pressed is performed, and the touch panel is released. If it is moved without moving, the scroll operation of the window can be executed.
[0038]
(10) After storing the information of the processing contents and the contact width in steps ST7, 8, 10, and 11 in the immediately preceding state holding memory, the processing returns to step ST1 (step ST12).
[0039]
FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating another example of the processing operation when the touch panel according to the embodiment of the present invention is provided and used on the display surface of the display device of the information processing apparatus as processing in the control unit 15. This flow will be described.
[0040]
The example described here is an example in which both the operation of the pointing device and the input of characters are realized using the touch panel. The scroll processing of step ST10 in the example described with reference to FIG. 3 is replaced with the handwritten character input processing of step ST14. The B button processing in step ST11 is the character conversion processing in step ST15.
[0041]
When both the operation of the pointing device and the input of handwritten characters are realized using a touch panel, it is necessary to start a dedicated application or input characters by handwriting in the prepared character input area when performing character input. there were.
[0042]
In the example of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 4, the movement of the XY coordinates by the object having a large width is determined as a character input by the determination of the continuous contact determination unit C in step ST13, and the handwritten character is determined by the processing in step ST14. Perform input processing. In this process, if a momentary contact with an object is interrupted during character input, the contact interruption is ignored. When the same XY coordinates are instructed by a wide object for a certain period of time after completion of the character input, a conversion menu of the character input in step ST14 is displayed by the processing of step ST15, and the character input is confirmed to the user. Let it.
[0043]
By executing the flow shown in FIG. 4, it is possible to automatically switch and execute the pointing operation and the handwritten character input without having to start a dedicated application and providing a character input area. Can be.
[0044]
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating still another example of the processing operation when the touch panel according to the embodiment of the present invention is provided on the display surface of the display device of the information processing apparatus and is used as processing in the control unit 15. This flow will be described.
[0045]
The example described here is an example in which both the operation of the pointing device and the activation of the application are realized using the touch panel. The character conversion process of step ST15 in the example described with reference to FIG. This is the processing.
[0046]
In this example, the correspondence between characters and figures and applications is prepared in advance as a table, and the processing of handwriting input of characters and figures by one-stroke is performed by the processing of step ST14 as in the case of FIG. carry out. At the end of the input in step ST14, if the same XY coordinate has been continuously instructed by a large object for a certain period of time, an application corresponding to the character or figure input in step ST14 is selected in step ST16. To start.
[0047]
By executing the flow shown in FIG. 5, the application can be started without having to open the menu of the launcher to start the application.
[0048]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an inexpensive information processing apparatus having a user-friendly touch panel.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an outline of a method of detecting a contact width when a touch panel is pressed.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing operation when the touch panel according to the embodiment of the present invention is provided and used on a display surface of a display device of an information processing apparatus.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating another example of a processing operation when the touch panel according to the embodiment of the present invention is used by being provided on a display surface of a display device of an information processing apparatus.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating still another example of a processing operation when the touch panel according to the embodiment of the present invention is used by being provided on a display surface of a display device of an information processing apparatus.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a resistive analog touch panel according to the related art.
[Explanation of symbols]
Reference Signs List 10 touch panel 11 lower sheet 12 upper sheet 13 X-coordinate detection circuit 14 Y-coordinate detection circuit 15 control unit 20 Resistive films 21, 22, 23 with width a Y-coordinate detection circuits A, B, C

Claims (5)

In an information processing apparatus having a resistive analog touch panel as an input device, a unit for detecting a size of a width of an object for operating the touch panel, and a unit for switching a process for an operation input from the touch panel according to the detected width. An information processing apparatus comprising: In the resistive film type analog touch panel, one of two resistive films is arranged with strip-shaped resistive films arranged side by side, and an electrode for detecting the potential of the resistive film is connected to every two strip-shaped resistive films, 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein as a result, the three types of resistive films have a shape arranged in order. When the detection width is small, the processing for the operation input from the touch panel according to the size of the detection width is, when the detection width is small, movement of the cursor to the coordinates, activation of the application indicated by the coordinates, or drag processing. 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when is larger, the scroll processing or the processing equivalent to a right button of a mouse is performed. When the detection width is small, the processing for the operation input from the touch panel according to the size of the detection width is, when the detection width is small, movement of the cursor to the coordinates, activation of the application indicated by the coordinates, or drag processing. 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when is larger, the input processing is a processing of inputting a handwritten character, a processing of converting an input character, or a processing of starting an application associated with the input character. 4. . In a resistive analog touch panel provided on a display surface of an information processing apparatus, one of two resistive films is arranged with a strip-like resistive film arranged side by side, and an electrode for detecting the potential of the resistive film is connected to the resistive film-like resistive film 2. A touch panel, wherein each of the touch panels has a shape in which three types of resistive films are sequentially arranged.

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