JP2004301655A - On-vehicle information terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an on-vehicle information terminal equipped with a touch-panel type input device for enhancing operability by causing a user to quickly perceive erroneous key selection when it is made. <P>SOLUTION: In a keyboard displayed on a monitor 16 in Fig. 1, keys adjacent to each other are given display modes different from each other. Further, key selection sounds outputted from a speaker 18 in the Fig. 1 are given tones different from each other when keys adjacent to each other are selected respectively. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an in-vehicle information terminal such as a navigation device having a touch panel input device.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art There is known an in-vehicle navigation device that uses a touch panel input device to select characters on a keyboard displayed on a screen and input information such as a destination (Patent Document 1).
[0003]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-10-62185
In general, the size of a screen in an in-vehicle navigation device is limited in order to make the size suitable for in-vehicle use. Therefore, when a keyboard is displayed on this screen, the size of each key cannot be made too large. Further, since the screen of the in-vehicle navigation system is generally disposed diagonally forward of the driver's seat or the passenger's seat, the operator selects a key on the screen diagonally forward. For this reason, in the keyboard using the touch panel input device of the in-vehicle navigation device, a key different from the key intended by the operator, particularly a key located at an adjacent position, may be erroneously selected. In the car navigation device disclosed in Patent Literature 1, when an incorrect key is selected as described above, the operator can recognize the error only after the character of the key is displayed on the screen. Is poor in operability.
[0005]
The present invention provides an in-vehicle information terminal including a touch panel input device that improves operability by enabling a user to quickly recognize an incorrect key selection.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
A vehicle information terminal according to the first aspect of the present invention outputs display means for displaying a plurality of selection ranges selected from outside adjacently on a screen and a signal indicating a position on the screen designated by being pushed from outside. And a display unit configured to display adjacent selection ranges differently from each other.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an in-vehicle information terminal for displaying a plurality of selection ranges selected from outside adjacently on a screen, and outputting a signal indicating a position on the screen designated by being pushed from outside. And a sound output unit that emits a sound when any one of the selection ranges is selected, and the sound output unit emits different sounds when adjacent selection ranges are selected.
The invention according to claim 3 is applied to the in-vehicle information terminal according to claim 1, and further includes a sound output unit that emits a sound when any of the selection ranges is selected. When each is selected, different sounds are emitted.
The invention according to claim 4 is applied to the in-vehicle information terminal according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the display means is provided with keys for selecting any one of different letters, numbers, or symbols adjacent to each other. A keyboard is displayed on the screen.
[0007]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 shows a navigation device which is an embodiment of a vehicle-mounted information terminal according to the present invention. The navigation device 1 of FIG. 1 receives various information such as map data transmitted from an information distribution center by a communication terminal 2 and provides the information to a user. The navigation device 1 includes a control circuit 11, a ROM 12, a RAM 13, a current position detection device 14, an image memory 15, a monitor 16, a touch panel 17, and a speaker 18. The control circuit 11 includes a microprocessor and its peripheral circuits, and performs various controls by executing a control program stored in the ROM 12 using the RAM 13 as a work area.
[0008]
The current position detection device 14 is a device that detects the current position of the vehicle, and includes, for example, a direction sensor 14a that detects the traveling direction of the vehicle, a vehicle speed sensor 14b that detects the vehicle speed, a GPS sensor 14c that detects a GPS signal from a GPS satellite, and the like. Become. The navigation device 1 requests a map of an area including the current position of the vehicle detected by the current position detection device 14 to an information distribution center (not shown) via the communication terminal 2. Further, the current location of the vehicle detected by the current location detection device 14, that is, the position of the vehicle is displayed on the map data transmitted from the information distribution center in response to the request, and is displayed on the monitor 16.
[0009]
The image memory 15 stores image data to be displayed on the monitor 16. The image data includes road map drawing data, various graphic data, and the like, and these are appropriately selected based on the map data transmitted from the information distribution center. By displaying the selected image data on the monitor 16, the navigation device 1 can provide information of the transmitted map data to the user.
[0010]
The monitor 16 displays various information such as a map near the position of the vehicle on the screen based on various information such as map data transmitted from the information distribution center and provides the user with the information. The monitor 16 displays a keyboard for inputting the destination of the vehicle. The touch panel 17 is integrated with the monitor 16, and when pressed at any position on the monitor 16 by being pressed by a finger or the like, outputs a signal indicating the position to the control circuit 11. When the user selects any key on the touch panel 17 while the above-described keyboard is displayed on the monitor 16, the control circuit 11 recognizes a character corresponding to the key. Thereby, the user can input the destination of the vehicle.
[0011]
When the destination of the vehicle is input, the navigation device 1 requests the information distribution center for map data from the current position of the vehicle detected by the current position detection device 14 to the destination. The map data transmitted from the map information distribution center in response to this request is received by the communication terminal 2 as described above, and displayed on the monitor 16 as a map. The speaker 18 outputs a sound such as a sound effect when any key of the keyboard displayed on the monitor 16 is selected by the touch panel 17 (hereinafter, referred to as a key selection sound) and guidance information to a destination.
[0012]
FIG. 2 shows an example of a keyboard displayed on the monitor 16. The keyboard indicated by reference numeral 21 is a JIS arrangement alphabet keyboard. When the user presses the monitor 16 with a finger or the like to select any key on the keyboard 21, a signal indicating the position corresponding to the key indicated by the touch panel 17 that has sensed the key is output. The character of the selected key is displayed on the display. For example, when the user presses the position of the key 23 on the monitor 16 and designates this key, the corresponding letter “A” is displayed on the display unit 22. At this time, in order to inform the user which key has been selected, the color of the selected key is changed and a key selection sound is output from the speaker 18. In this way, the user inputs the destination of the vehicle by sequentially inputting characters and designating a place name, a facility name, and the like. Each time a user inputs a character, a destination name (destination candidate) including the character string input up to that point is automatically searched. A screen may be displayed to allow the user to select one of them.
[0013]
Each key of the keyboard 21 is arranged such that the display form of each key, for example, the color, is different from the keys adjacent on all sides. That is, the keyboard 21 has a checkered pattern in which the display form of each key is alternately different. Further, the key selection sound when each key of the keyboard 21 is selected also corresponds to this display mode, and is different from the keys adjacent on all sides. The difference between the key selection sounds at this time is expressed, for example, by the difference in the combination of the tone (frequency) of the sound. Thus, when the user erroneously selects a key that is adjacent on all sides, the user can quickly recognize that.
[0014]
According to the navigation device 1 described above, the display form of each key on the keyboard 21 displayed on the monitor 16 is different from the keys adjacent to the four sides. Further, in the keyboard 21, the key selection sound when each key is selected is made different from the keys adjacent on all sides. With this configuration, when the user erroneously selects a key that is adjacent on all four sides, the user can quickly recognize the selection, thereby improving operability.
[0015]
In the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which four adjacent keys have different display modes and key selection sounds. However, the present invention is not limited to this content. The present invention can be applied as long as it is sound. For example, the keys are arranged so as to be displaced in the upper and lower rows like a keyboard of a personal computer, and the display forms and the key selection sounds of the six adjacent sides (upper left, upper right, lower left, lower right, left, right) are different. It may be something.
[0016]
In the embodiment described above, the example of the alphabet keyboard 21 based on the JIS arrangement displayed on the monitor 16 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this content. For example, a keyboard arranged in alphabetical order or a keyboard arranged with other characters such as hiragana may be used. The present invention can be applied to a keyboard in which keys for selecting any of different letters, numbers, or symbols are arranged adjacently. Alternatively, it may not be a keyboard. The present invention can be applied as long as the user specifies any of a plurality of selection ranges arranged adjacently using a touch panel.
[0017]
In the embodiment described above, a communication navigation device that receives various information such as map data distributed from an information distribution center and provides the information to a user has been described as an example of an in-vehicle information terminal. It is not limited to. The present invention is applicable to an in-vehicle information terminal in which a user specifies a selection range on a screen using a touch panel.
[0018]
In the embodiment described above, the display means is realized by the monitor 16, the touch panel is realized by the touch panel 17, and the sound output means is realized by the speaker 18. However, these are merely examples, and each component is not limited to the above-described embodiment as long as the features of the present invention are not impaired.
[0019]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, adjacent keys have different display forms. Furthermore, different key selection sounds are emitted when adjacent keys are selected. With this configuration, when the user selects an incorrect key, the user can quickly recognize the selection, thereby improving operability.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an in-vehicle information terminal according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a displayed keyboard.
1: Navigation device 2: Communication terminal 11: Control circuit 12: ROM
13: RAM 14: Present location detecting device 15: Image memory 16: Monitor 17: Touch panel 18: Speaker

Claims (4)

Display means for displaying a plurality of selection ranges selected from outside adjacently on a screen;
A touch panel that outputs a signal indicating a position on the screen designated by being pressed from the outside,
The in-vehicle information terminal, wherein the display means displays the adjacent selection ranges differently from each other. Display means for displaying a plurality of selection ranges selected from outside adjacently on a screen;
A touch panel that outputs a signal indicating a position on the screen designated by being pressed from the outside,
Sound output means for emitting a sound when any of the selection range is selected,
The in-vehicle information terminal, wherein the audio output unit emits different sounds when the adjacent selection ranges are selected. The in-vehicle information terminal according to claim 1,
An audio output unit that emits audio when any of the selection ranges is selected,
The in-vehicle information terminal, wherein the audio output unit emits different sounds when the adjacent selection ranges are selected. The in-vehicle information terminal according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The in-vehicle information terminal, wherein the display means displays on a screen a keyboard on which keys for selecting any of different characters, numbers, or symbols are arranged adjacently.

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