JP2005258655A - Electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic equipment provided with an operator for an HMI of excellent operability in stead of a cross key. <P>SOLUTION: This electronic equipment is provided with a display part having a screen for displaying a menu, the operator rotated or swung around a rotary shaft, and movable to a plurality of different positions along a rotary shaft direction, an indicator for displaying the rotary shaft direction position of the operator, and a processing part for executing processing in response to a function selected in response to the rotation or swing of the operator, out of the selectable functions selected in response to the rotary shaft direction position of the operator. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device, and more particularly to an HMI (Human Machine Interface) of the electronic device.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an electronic device that selects an arbitrary function from functions displayed on a screen by operating a cross key to move the cursor up, down, left, and right, and executes processing according to the selected function is known (for example, (See Patent Documents 1 and 2). The cross key is used in many electronic devices because a large number of functions can be selected with one operator.
JP 11-327721 A Japanese translation of PCT publication No. 2002-512755

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device including an HMI operator with good operability instead of a cross key.

  To achieve the above object, an electronic device according to the present invention has a display unit having a screen on which a menu is displayed, and can rotate or swing around a rotation axis and move to a plurality of different positions in the rotation axis direction. Rotating or swinging the operating element from a possible operating element, an indicator for displaying the position of the operating element in the rotation axis direction on the screen, and a selectable function that changes according to the position of the operating element in the rotating axis direction And a processing unit that executes a process according to a function selected according to the function. Since the selectable function can be changed by moving the position of the operation element in the rotation axis direction, the user can select many functions with one operation element. Further, the user can easily recognize the position of the operation element in the rotation axis direction by confirming the position of the operation element in the rotation axis direction displayed by the indicator. For example, even if it is difficult to directly check and confirm the operation element because the interval between the positions of the operation element in the rotation axis direction is small, the position of the operation element in the rotation axis direction can be easily recognized.

  Furthermore, in the electronic device according to the present invention, the processing unit displays the selectable function on the screen according to the position of the operation element in the rotation axis direction. By checking the selectable functions displayed on the screen, the user can recognize the contents of the selectable functions at the position of the operation element in the rotation axis direction.

  Furthermore, in the electronic device according to the present invention, the indicator displays the position of the operation element and the selectable function at positions close to each other. Since the position of the operation element in the direction of the rotation axis and the selectable function are displayed close to each other on the screen, it is possible to simultaneously grasp the position of the operation element in the direction of the rotation axis and the selectable function.

  Furthermore, in the electronic device according to the present invention, the processing unit displays an image represented by accessible image data in an area of the screen that does not overlap the position of the operator and the selectable function. Since the position of the operation element and the selectable function do not overlap the image, the user can grasp the position of the operation element in the rotation axis direction and the selectable function while visually checking the entire image.

  Furthermore, in the electronic device according to the present invention, the indicator displays the position of the operation element in a region closer to the operation element on the screen. Since the position of the operation element is displayed in a region closer to the operation element on the screen, it is easy to recall that the indicator displays the position of the operation element.

  Furthermore, in the electronic device according to the present invention, the indicator does not display the position of the operation element when the selectable function does not change according to the position of the operation element in the rotation axis direction. A function that allows the user to select the position of the operation element in the rotation axis direction by actually moving the operation element in the rotation axis direction by confirming that the indicator does not display the position of the operation element in the rotation axis direction. Even if it is not confirmed, it can be recognized that the operation of moving the position of the operation element in the rotation axis direction is meaningless.

Hereinafter, examples showing embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a digital still camera (DSC) 10 as an embodiment of the electronic apparatus according to the present invention.
The optical system 12 includes a lens, a diaphragm, and the like, and forms an optical image of a subject on the light receiving surface of the image sensor 13.
The image sensor 13 is an area image sensor including pixels discretely arranged in a two-dimensional space and charge transfer devices such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device). The image sensor 13 accumulates charges obtained by photoelectric conversion of the optical image formed by the optical system 12 for each pixel for a certain period of time, and outputs an electrical signal corresponding to the amount of light received for each pixel. The image sensor 13 has four color complementary filters of C (Cyan), M (Magenta), Y (Yellow), and G (Green) on the light receiving surface, or R (Red), G (Green), and B (Blue). Color image information can be captured by providing a primary color filter.

The A / D converter (ADC) 14 quantizes the electrical signal output from the image sensor 13 and converts it into a digital signal.
The digital image processing unit 15 performs image formation processing, white balance correction, gamma correction, color space conversion, and the like on the digital signal output from the ADC 14, and R, G, and B tone values for each pixel, and Y , Cb, and Cr are created.

  The compression / decompression unit 16 compresses the created image data or decompresses the compressed image data. Specifically, for example, the compression / decompression unit 16 compresses the created image data into JPEG image data of an irreversible compression method that is an international standard. The compression method in the compression / decompression unit 16 may be a reversible compression method that does not involve data truncation, or may be a method that does not perform compression such as the TIFF format. Further, the compression / decompression unit 16 may not perform image processing on the digital signal output from the ADC 14, and may send the data (raw format image data) obtained by directly extracting the output from the ADC 14 to the storage unit 30. .

  The control unit 20 includes a CPU 21, a flash memory 22, and a work memory 23. The control unit 20 functions as a processing unit and an indicator described in the claims. The CPU 21 controls the entire DSC 10 by executing various programs stored in the flash memory 22. The flash memory 22 is a memory that stores various programs and data. Various programs and data stored in the flash memory 22 may be downloaded and stored from a predetermined server via a network, or may be read from a computer-readable storage medium such as the removable memory 31 and stored. The work memory 23 is a memory for temporarily storing programs and data.

The storage unit 30 includes a card slot for connecting the removable memory 31, a memory controller, and the like. The storage unit 30 is controlled by the control unit 20 and stores the image data compressed by the compression / decompression unit 16 in a predetermined area of the removable memory 31. The storage unit 30 is also controlled by the control unit 20 and reads image data stored in the removable memory 31.
The power supply unit 36 includes a battery 37, a control circuit, and the like, and is electrically connected to each unit. The battery 37 supplies power to each part.

Next, the external appearance of the DSC 10 will be described based on FIG.
By performing a winding operation using the winding lever 40, it is possible to perform a shutter charge for enabling the mechanical shutter to perform a photographing operation. By this operation, the shutter button 43 can be pressed.
The shutter button 43 is installed at the center of the dial switch 42. When the shutter button 43 is pressed, a shutter screen (not shown) is opened for a predetermined time, and an optical image of the subject is captured by the image sensor 13.

The dial switch 42 is a switch for selecting the shutter speed, the type of imaging conditions, and the like.
The outer periphery of the needle-type display device 44 installed in the vicinity of the dial switch 42 is a rotary dial, and exposure correction can be set in increments of 1/3 EV from −2 EV to +2 EV. On the inner peripheral side of the display device 44, the number of remaining images that can be taken, a plurality of white balance correction modes, and a plurality of compression rates are displayed. As white balance correction modes, there are correction modes such as “auto mode”, “daylight (sunlight)”, “cloudy sky”, “incandescent lamp”, “shade”, “fluorescent lamp”, and “mercury lamp”. As the compression rate, for example, the compression rate of image data in the JPEG format can be selected from compression rates such as a high compression rate, a medium compression rate, and a low compression rate. Of the items displayed on the inner peripheral side of the display device 44, the currently selected item is indicated by a pointer.

The LCD 50 as a display unit is controlled by a display controller 52 (see FIG. 2), and displays a reproduction display of a digital image that has been taken, various setting menus, and the like. The display controller 52 includes a frame buffer for storing display data for one screen of the LCD 50 and a display circuit for driving the LCD 50 based on the display data stored in the frame buffer. A predetermined area of the work memory 23 may be used as a frame buffer.
On the right side of the LCD 50, an LCD button 53, a MENU button 54, an ENTER button 55, and a CANCEL button 56 are installed. By operating the buttons and the jog dial 60 in combination, various functions of the DSC 10 can be selected.
The optical viewfinder 58 is used for the user to visually recognize the photographing target.

  The jog dial 60 as an operator can be rotated in the directions of arrows X and Y shown in FIG. 3B, and can be moved in the directions of the arrows X and Y shown in FIG. is there. That is, the position of the jog dial 60 can be changed between a home position, which is a lower position (see FIG. 4A), and an upper position in which the jog dial 60 is pulled up from the lower position (see FIG. 4B). It can rotate in the vertical position. The rotation angle around the rotation axis of the jog dial 60 and the vertical position in the rotation axis direction are detected by a sensor (not shown). As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the jog dial 60 may not protrude from the upper surface of the DSC 10 in the upper position. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the jog dial 60 may be arranged on the side surface of the DSC 10 so as to be movable between the right position and the left position. Further, the jog dial 60 may be configured to be able to move to three or more positions like the upper, middle and lower positions.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing the transition of the function mode of the DSC 10. FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing the transition of the function mode in the playback mode 110.
When the power switch 47 is rotated to the power-on side in the power-off state 100, the shooting mode 102 is entered. When the LCD button 53 is pressed in the shooting mode 102, the playback mode 110 is entered. When a predetermined power saving transition time setting is reached without operating the DSC 10 in the shooting mode 102 or the playback mode 110, the mode shifts to the sleep mode 104. In the sleep mode 104, when the power switch 47 is turned off, the power-off state 100 is entered, when the LCD button 53 is turned on, the playback mode 110 is entered, and when the shutter button 43 is pressed, the shooting mode 102 is entered. When the MENU button 54 is pressed in the playback mode 110, the display shifts to the main menu 130 and the menu is displayed on the LCD 50.

  The playback mode 110 is a mode for displaying an image stored in the removable memory 31 on the LCD 50. As shown in FIG. 9, when the jog dial 60 is in the lower position in the playback mode 110, the “frame advance / return” mode 112 is selected, and when the jog dial 60 is in the upper position, the “information read” mode 113 is set. When the jog dial 60 is rotated in the “frame advance / return” mode 112, images stored in the removable memory 31 are selected in a predetermined order, and the selected images are displayed on the LCD 50. In the “read information” mode 113, the detailed information to be displayed for the selected image can be changed according to the rotation of the jog dial 60.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a screen of the LCD 50 in the “frame advance / return” mode 112. 10, 11, and 12 are schematic diagrams showing screens of the LCD 50 in the “information reading” mode 113.
In the “frame advance / return” mode 112 and the “information read” mode 113, the position marks 301 and 302 are displayed in a region 320 having a predetermined width located at the lower end of the screen of the LCD 50, and the removable memory 31 is displayed above the region 320. The stored image is displayed. In the “frame advance / return” mode 112 and the “information read” mode 113, detailed image information corresponding to the display mode selected in the “information read” mode 113 is superimposed on the image. Display modes that can be selected in the “information read” mode 113 will be described later.

  The position marks 301 and 302 correspond to indicators described in the claims. The position marks 301 and 302 are displayed on the left end near the mounting position of the jog dial 60 in the screen. Since the mounting position of the jog dial 60 is close to the display positions of the position marks 301 and 302, it is easy to recall that the position marks 301 and 302 indicate the position of the jog dial 60. The position marks 301 and 302 are composed of two circles arranged up and down, and change depending on the position of the jog dial 60 in the axial direction. Note that the position of the jog dial 60 in the axial direction may be displayed by an indicator constituted by an LED or the like provided near the screen of the LCD 50. Further, the position marks 301 and 302 may be displayed on the upper left part of the screen.

  In the “frame advance / return” mode 112 in which the jog dial 60 is in the lower position, as shown in FIG. 1, a position mark 301 is displayed in which the circle arranged below is more conspicuous than the circle arranged above. Specifically, for example, when the lower circle is made larger than the upper circle and the background of the region 320 is black, the inside of the circle arranged above is painted in gray and the circle arranged below is Fill the inside with green. The mark indicating that the jog dial 60 is in the lower position may be a single figure such as a triangle “▽” having a vertex on the lower side, or a character such as “lower”.

  In the “frame advance / return” mode 112 in which the jog dial 60 is at the lower position, an icon 311 is displayed to the right of the position mark 301 in the area 320. An icon 311 represents a function for switching an image to be displayed on the screen. Instead of the icon 311, a function for switching an image to be displayed on the screen with characters or symbols may be displayed.

  The user can easily confirm that the jog dial 60 is in the lower position by confirming the position mark 301. Even when the operating environment of the DSC 10 is dark and it is difficult to check the operator directly, it is possible to easily recognize the position of the operator in the direction of the rotation axis if the LCD 50 is on. Further, the user can easily recognize that the frame representing the image data can be sequentially forwarded or backed by checking the icon 311.

  In the “information reading” mode 113 in which the jog dial 60 is in the upper position, when the jog dial 60 is rotated, the detailed information displayed for the selected image is switched. In the “read information” mode 113, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, a position mark 302 is displayed in which the circle arranged above is more conspicuous than the circle arranged below. Specifically, for example, when the upper circle is made larger than the lower circle and the background of the region 320 is black, the inside of the circle placed below is painted in gray and the circle placed above is Fill the inside with green. The mark indicating that the jog dial 60 is in the upper position may be a single figure such as a triangle “Δ” having a vertex on the upper side, or may be a letter such as “up”.

  In the “read information” mode 113 in which the jog dial 60 is at the upper position, an icon 312 is displayed on the right side of the position mark 302. An icon 312 represents a function for switching detailed information of an image displayed on the screen. Note that it may be indicated that the detailed information of the image displayed on the screen can be switched by characters or symbols.

  The “information read” mode 113 is a standard display 114 selected according to the rotation angle of the jog dial 60, a simple information display 116, a histogram display 118, a highlight display 120, a detailed information display 122, a GUI non-display 124, and a quadrant. A general term for a plurality of display modes of the display 126. When the jog dial 60 is moved to the lower position in an arbitrary display mode, the mode shifts to the “frame advance / return” mode 112 in which detailed information corresponding to the immediately preceding display mode is displayed.

Hereinafter, each display mode that can be selected when the jog dial 60 is in the upper position will be described.
In the standard display 114, as shown in FIG. 10A, “image number / total number of images” 200 is displayed in the rightmost area of the LCD 50. In the simple information display 116, as shown in FIG. 10B, a character string 202 indicating a file number and shooting quality, a mark 204 indicating whether or not deletion of a file is prohibited, and a shooting date 206 are displayed. The In the histogram display 118, a histogram 220 is displayed as shown in FIG. In the highlight display 120, as shown in FIG. 11A, a whiteout region is clearly shown on the image. In FIG. 11A, the whitened area is indicated by hatching. In the detailed information display 122, as shown in FIG. 11B, a character string 202 indicating a file number and shooting quality, a mark 204 indicating whether or not the file is protected, a shooting date 206, a file name 208, a shutter, A speed 210, white balance correction mode 212, resolution 214, ISO sensitivity 216, and film setting 218 are displayed. In the GUI non-display 124, as shown in FIG. 12A, the image stored in the removable memory 31 is displayed on the full screen, and no other information is displayed at all. In the 4-split display 126, as shown in FIG. 12B, images of four consecutive image numbers including the image number of the image selected at that time are displayed in quadrants. When the jog dial 60 is rotated in the 4-split display 126, the frame of the currently selected image is emphasized.

Next, the operation of the jog dial 60 in the main menu 130 will be described. While the main menu 130 is being operated, the selectable function does not change regardless of whether the jog dial 60 is in the upper position or the lower position.
In the main menu 130, when the jog dial 60 is rotated, any one of the delete mode 132, the lock mode 134, the enlargement mode 136, the print mode 138, the slide show mode 140, and the camera setting mode 142 can be selected regardless of the vertical position of the jog dial 60. . In the main menu 130, as shown in FIG. 13, icons 500, 502, 504, 506, 508, 510 corresponding to the selected mode are highlighted. In the main menu 130 in which the function that can be selected by the upper and lower positions of the jog dial 60 does not change, the position of the jog dial 60 in the axial direction is not displayed on the LCD 50. The user confirms that the position marks 301 and 302 displayed in the playback mode 110 are not displayed in the left corner area of the area 320 of the LCD 50, so that the upper and lower positions of the jog dial 60 are irrelevant to the operation of the main menu 130. Can be recognized.

Hereinafter, functions of each mode of the main menu 130 will be briefly described.
The deletion mode 132 is a mode for determining whether to delete image data from the removable memory 31. The lock mode 134 is a mode for determining whether or not deletion of image data from the removable memory 31 is prohibited. The enlargement mode 136 is a mode for displaying an image in an enlarged or reduced manner. The print mode 138 is a mode for determining whether or not to print the displayed image. The slide show mode 140 is a mode in which images representing image data stored in the removable memory 31 are automatically and sequentially displayed. The camera setting mode 142 is a mode for setting monochrome display or color display, saturation, contrast, and the like. More detailed function selection in each mode of the main menu 130 described above is performed in combination with various buttons including the jog dial 60.

According to the DSC 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention described above, since the selectable function can be changed by moving the jog dial 60 to the upper and lower positions, the user can change a desired function from a number of functions by operating the jog dial 60. You can choose.
Further, the user can easily recognize the position of the operation element in the rotation axis direction by checking the position marks 301 and 302.

  Further, the user can recognize the contents of functions that can be selected at the upper and lower positions of the jog dial 60 by confirming the icon 311, the icon 312, and the like. For example, if the icon 311 can be confirmed, the user can recognize that sequential frame advance or frame reverse display is possible. If the icon 312 can be confirmed, it can be recognized that the detailed information of the image data can be displayed.

Further, since the position marks 301 and 302 and the icons 311 and 312 are displayed close to each other, the upper and lower positions of the jog dial 60 and selectable functions can be grasped simultaneously on the LCD 50 screen.
In addition, since the area where the image recorded in the removable memory 31 is displayed and the area 320 where the position marks 301 and 302, the icons 311 and 312 are displayed do not overlap, the user can visually check the entire image while viewing the jog dial. 60 upper and lower positions and selectable functions can be grasped.

Further, since the position marks 301 and 302 are displayed at the left end of the area 320 close to the mounting position of the jog dial 60 in the area 320, it is easy to recall that the position marks 301 and 302 indicate the position of the jog dial 60.
In addition, by confirming that the position marks 301 and 302 are not displayed at the left end of the area 320, the user can actually select the upper and lower positions of the jog dial 60 by rotating the jog dial 60 in the rotation axis direction. Even if it is not confirmed, it can be recognized that the operation of moving the upper and lower positions of the jog dial 60 is meaningless.

  In the above embodiments, the DSC 10 has been described as an example of an electronic device. However, the present invention may be applied to an HMI of an electronic device including a television receiver and its controller, a music playback device main body and its controller, and the like. . Specifically, for example, the remote controller of the television receiver may include a jog dial 60 that can move in the direction of the rotation axis, and the position of the jog dial 60 in the direction of the rotation axis may be displayed on the screen of the television receiver.

It is a schematic diagram which shows the screen which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a block diagram concerning one example of the present invention. It is a top view concerning one example of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram concerning one example of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram concerning one example of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram concerning one example of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram concerning one example of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram concerning one example of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram concerning one example of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the screen which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the screen which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the screen which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the screen which concerns on one Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Digital still camera (electronic device), 20 Control part (indicator, processing part) 50 LCD (display part), 60 Jog dial (operator), 301, 302 Position mark (indicator)

Claims (6)

A display unit having a screen on which a menu is displayed;
An operator that can be rotated or swung around a rotation axis and movable to a plurality of different positions in the rotation axis direction;
An indicator for displaying a position of the operation element in the rotation axis direction on the screen;
A processing unit that executes processing according to a function selected according to rotation or swinging of the operating element from a selectable function that changes according to a position of the operating element in a rotation axis direction;
An electronic device comprising:   The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit displays the selectable function on the screen according to a position of the operation element in a rotation axis direction.   The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the indicator displays the position of the operation element and the selectable function at positions close to each other.   The electronic device according to claim 3, wherein the processing unit displays an image represented by accessible image data in an area of the screen that does not overlap the position of the operator and the selectable function.   The electronic device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the indicator displays a position of the operation element in a region closer to the operation element on the screen.   The said indicator does not display the position of the said operation element, when the said selectable function does not change according to the position of the rotation axis direction of the said operation element. The electronic device described.

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