JP2005267450A - Information processing device, its control method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a information processing device which exhibits outstanding operability irrespective of whether touch-panel functions are installed or not, and a control method and a program thereof. <P>SOLUTION: Regarding a connected display part 10, a decision part 45 decides if the device is equipped with a touch-panel means by designated reading-type identification information in advance or attempting the transmission and reception of a control signal for the touch panel means. A switch receiving part 46 displays a different operation screen on the display part 10 corresponding to the result from the decision and performs the operation receiving processing corresponding to the operation screen. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus that exhibits excellent operability with or without a touch panel function, a control method thereof, and a program.

In recent years, navigation devices have continued to advance along with electronic technologies in various fields, and an example of combining with a display with a touch panel function as well as a remote control operation has been proposed (for example, see Patent Document 1). Conventionally, a navigation device main body connected to such a display with a touch panel function displays an operation screen such as a menu with a screen configuration easy to operate with a touch panel, and a navigation device main body connected to a display without a touch panel function is operated with a remote control. Operation screens such as menus are displayed with an easy screen configuration. In the case of a navigation device that supports both the presence and absence of a touch panel function, a menu design display was performed so that both the touch panel and the remote control can be operated in common.
JP 2004-38342 A

  However, as described above, if a common screen configuration is used with and without a touch panel, it will be difficult to operate with the remote control if the screen configuration prioritizes the operability with the touch panel, and conversely the operability with the remote control. There is a problem that it is difficult to achieve both operability when the touch panel function is provided and when the touch panel function is not provided. In particular, it is inconvenient to sell either a display with or without a touch panel function as a different product in combination with the same main body, a combination unit, or an optional replacement product.

  The present invention solves the above-described problems of the prior art, and an object thereof is to provide an information processing apparatus that exhibits excellent operability with or without a touch panel function, and a control method and program therefor It is to be.

  In order to achieve the above object, an information processing apparatus, a control method thereof, and a program according to the present invention are provided by a computer or an electronic circuit that reads predetermined type identification information set in advance for the connected display or a touch panel. It is determined whether or not the touch panel means is provided by attempting to transmit / receive the control signal for the means, a different operation screen is displayed on the display corresponding to the result of the determination, and an operation reception process corresponding to the operation screen is performed. It is characterized by performing.

  In the present invention, the type of the connected display, that is, the presence / absence of the touch panel function is determined, and if it is present, the operation screen such as a menu is switched to a different screen configuration. A user interface with excellent operability can be realized with or without functions.

  Further, according to one embodiment of the present invention, when the computer or the electronic circuit determines that the display includes touch panel means, the selection item and the rectangular area for touch detection are arranged horizontally and vertically as the first operation screen for the touch panel. When it is determined that the display does not include a touch panel means, a menu display in which selection items are arranged in a certain direction is displayed as a second operation screen for a remote controller, and a default selection item is displayed in a cursor selection state. It is characterized by.

  In this mode, buttons with large choices are arranged horizontally and vertically for touch panels, making touch operations easier, and for remote controls, selection items are arranged in one direction, so only the up and down keys and left and right keys on the remote control are simple and efficient. It is easy to operate, so you can get excellent usability.

  Further, according to one aspect of the present invention, the operation screen calculates the vehicle position of the vehicle based on road map data stored in advance, displays the vehicle position on a surrounding map, and searches for a route to a designated destination. It is characterized by being configured for navigation operation for guiding and guiding. In this aspect, application to navigation operation has a great advantage in that operability is improved particularly in a narrow vehicle.

  Further, one aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the second operation screen for the remote controller is a list of horizontally long areas of selection items displayed in a vertical direction. In this aspect, the options for the remote control are arranged in a list and easy to operate simply and efficiently with only the up and down keys, so that the usability is improved.

  As described above, the present invention can provide an information processing apparatus that exhibits excellent operability with or without a touch panel function, a control method thereof, and a program.

  Next, as a best mode for carrying out the present invention, an in-vehicle navigation device (referred to as “the present device”) to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the drawings. This device performs so-called navigation based on pre-stored road map data, calculating the vehicle's own vehicle position, displaying it on the surrounding map, and searching and guiding the route to the designated destination. Each operation screen shown in the present embodiment is configured for such navigation operation.

[1. Constitution〕
This apparatus includes the following elements shown in the functional block diagram of FIG. First, the absolute position / azimuth detection unit 1, the relative direction detection unit 2, and the vehicle speed detection unit 3 are sensor groups that provide navigation data for determining the position, speed, direction, and the like of the host vehicle. Among them, the absolute position / orientation detection unit 1 is sent from a GPS satellite in order to calculate the absolute position coordinates and direction on the ground surface with respect to the current position of the vehicle on which the apparatus is mounted, that is, the position of the own vehicle. This is a part for receiving GPS radio waves with an antenna or a receiver. The relative orientation detection unit 2 is a part for detecting the relative orientation of the vehicle position using a gyro sensor or the like. Further, the vehicle speed detection unit 3 is a part for processing a vehicle speed pulse obtained from the automobile in order to calculate the speed of the vehicle position.

  The main CPU and its peripheral circuit 4 use a memory group M as a part that functions as a control circuit for controlling the entire apparatus. Memory group M includes the following elements 5-8. That is, the ROM 5 stores a BIOS, a boot program, and the like in advance, and is accessed by the main CPU and its peripheral circuit 4 when the apparatus is activated. The DRAM 6 is used for a program area and a work area. The SRAM 7 is a non-volatile memory, and retains memory contents such as various settings by being backed up by a battery or the like while the main power source of the apparatus such as an automobile accessory power source is turned off. is there. The VRAM 8 is a memory for displaying video on the display unit 10.

  The display unit 10 is a display such as a liquid crystal panel that displays various types of information such as maps and operation menus, that is, a monitor. The input unit 11 is used by a user to input commands to the apparatus using a remote controller or a touch panel (not shown). In this part, the display unit 10 having a touch panel function (means) can be grasped integrally. The user interface unit 9 is a user interface that connects the display unit 10 and the input unit 11 to the main CPU and its peripheral circuit 4 using an I / O control circuit, a driver, or the like.

  The disk control unit 12 is means for storing map data and the like, and uses a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or hard disk. The FM multiplex reception and processing unit 13 is a part that receives FM broadcast waves and extracts information such as VICS.

  Further, the CPU 4 realizes each of the functional elements 41 to 46 shown in FIG. 1 by processing according to the program, and these functional elements function as means for performing the following functions by using the respective parts. .

[2. Action)
First, the current position calculation unit 40 calculates the vehicle position using the navigation data provided from the sensor groups (1 to 3), and the drawing unit 44 calculates the calculated vehicle position from the disk control unit 12. Based on the road map data to be read, a screen is displayed on the surrounding map displayed on the display unit 10. Further, when the destination designation receiving unit 41 receives the designation of the destination by facility search or cursor designation on the map, the route search unit 42 selects the optimum route from the current location to the destination based on the road map data. Is searched and set by a predetermined search algorithm such as a bidirectional search, and the guide unit 43 displays guidance guidance such as a traveling direction along the route on the screen display through the drawing unit 44 or the synthesized speech through the voice synthesis unit 14. Etc. are output.

  Then, the determination unit 45 determines whether or not the connected display unit 10 includes the touch panel unit by reading predetermined type identification information set in advance or by trying to transmit / receive the control signal for the touch panel unit. To do. The switching reception unit 46 displays a different operation screen on the display unit 10 corresponding to the determination result, and performs an operation reception process corresponding to the operation screen.

  Specifically, when the determination unit 45 determines that the display unit 10 includes the touch panel unit, the switching reception unit 46 selects the selection items and the touch detection so as to illustrate the menu design (screen configuration) in FIG. A first operation screen for a touch panel (referred to as a “touch panel screen”) in which rectangular areas are arranged horizontally and vertically is displayed. In addition, when the determination unit 45 determines that the display unit 10 does not include the touch panel unit, the switching reception unit 46 displays a menu display in which selection items are arranged in a certain direction as illustrated in FIG. As the second operation screen (referred to as “remote control screen”), the default selection items are displayed in the cursor selection state.

  On the touch panel screen (Fig. 2), the cursor indicating the currently selected object is not necessary, so the display is not essential, and the buttons are displayed as large as possible on the screen so that they can be easily touched. It is arranged vertically. On the other hand, the remote control screen of FIG. 3 is an example in which the horizontally long area of the selection item is displayed in a list in the vertical direction, and the cursor movement of the screen by the remote control can be easily performed by key operations limited to the up and down directions instead of the four directions. Depending on the number of selection items, language area, and attachment angle, the selection items may be arranged in a line in the horizontal direction instead of in the vertical direction, and the cursor may be moved by the left and right key operations of the remote controller.

  As a common point between the touch panel screen (FIG. 2) and the remote control screen (FIG. 3), the names or functions of the buttons represented by squares are “Destination” (1), “Setting” (2), “Edit”. “(3)”, “Information” (4), “Function” (5), and the corresponding numbers in parentheses are not actually displayed on the screen, but are button numbers indicating the buttons pressed as return values or the like. is there. That is, when the “destination” button is pressed, the button number (1) is returned. As described above, the button numbers of the touch panel screen (FIG. 2) and the remote control screen (FIG. 3) are made common so that the button numbers can be obtained by a common flowchart as illustrated in FIG. 4 regardless of the presence or absence of the touch panel function. Corresponding processing can be performed.

  Here, FIGS. 4 and 5 show processing procedures for switching between the touch panel screen (FIG. 2) and the remote control screen (FIG. 3) according to whether or not the connected display unit 10 includes touch panel means. Show. That is, in the calling main routine of FIG. 4, the menu display and selection reception processing routine (FIG. 5) is called (step 05) without being conscious of the type of the connected display unit 10 and the presence or absence of the touch panel function (step 05). At this time, the display character string, display order, display color, etc. for each selected item are passed as arguments. This subroutine call is determined by each function unit such as the destination designation receiving unit 41 and the guide unit 43 that requires an operation screen for menu selection or the like by setting each argument in a predetermined memory area, a global variable, a structure, or the like. This corresponds to passing control to the unit 45 or performing a system call or interrupt processing.

  In the menu display and selection acceptance processing routine (FIG. 5) called as a subroutine, the determination unit 45 determines whether or not the display unit 10 is a touch panel compatible monitor having a touch panel function or means (step 60). When there is a touch panel, the switching reception unit 46 performs a menu design drawing process with a touch panel as shown in FIG. 2 (step 75), and then performs a selection operation reception process using the touch panel (step 75). On the other hand, when the determination unit 45 determines that there is no touch panel (step 60), the switching reception unit 46 performs a menu design drawing process without a touch panel as shown in FIG. A selection operation acceptance process is performed (step 85).

  The switching receiving unit 46 sets the button number selected in the selection operation receiving process using the touch panel (step 75) or the selection operation receiving process using the keys on the remote controller (step 85) as a return value (step 90). When the control is returned to the main routine of No. 4, according to the returned button number, “Destination” pressing process (Steps 10 and 15) if 1 and “Setting” pressing process (Steps 20 and 25) if 2. If “edit” is pressed (steps 30 and 35), “information” is pressed (steps 40 and 45), and if “5”, “function” is pressed (steps 40 and 45).

[3. effect〕
As described above, in this embodiment, the type of connected display, that is, the presence or absence of the touch panel function is determined, and if there is, it is easy to operate with the touch panel, and if there is no, it is easy to operate with the remote control. Therefore, a user interface with excellent operability can be realized with or without a touch panel function.

  Also, in this embodiment, buttons with large choices are arranged horizontally and vertically for the touch panel, so that touch operations are easy, and for remote controls, the selection items are arranged in one direction, so only the up and down keys and left and right keys on the remote control are used. And since it becomes easy to operate efficiently, excellent usability is obtained. In particular, in the example of the remote control screen illustrated in FIG. 3, the options for the remote control are arranged in a list and easy to operate simply and efficiently using only the up and down keys, so that the usability is improved. Further, in the present embodiment, application to navigation operation has a great advantage that operability is improved particularly in a narrow vehicle.

[4. Other embodiments]
In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, Other embodiments which are illustrated below are also included. For example, the present invention can be grasped not only as a device category but also as a method and a program. Further, the present invention is not limited to the navigation apparatus, method, and program, but can be applied to the information processing apparatus, its control method, and program.

The functional block diagram which shows the structure of embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the example of a display of the touchscreen screen in embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the example of a display of the remote control screen in embodiment of this invention. The flowchart which shows the main routine of the process sequence in embodiment of this invention. The flowchart which shows a menu display and selection reception process routine among the process procedures in embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Absolute position and direction detection part 2 ... Relative direction detection part 3 ... Vehicle speed detection part 4 ... Main CPU and its peripheral circuit M ... Memory 5 ... ROM
6. Dynamic RAM (DRAM)
7. Static RAM (SRAM)
8 ... Video RAM (VRAM)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 9 ... User interface 10 ... Display part 11 ... Input part 12 ... Disc control part 13 ... FM multiplex broadcast reception and processing part 14 ... Speech synthesis part SP ... Speaker 41 ... Destination designation reception part 42 ... Route search part 43 ... Guide part 44 ... Drawing unit 45 ... Determining unit 46 ... Switch receiving unit

Claims (12)

The display is connected,
About the connected display, a determination unit that determines whether or not the touch panel unit is provided by reading predetermined type identification information set in advance or by trying to transmit and receive a control signal for the touch panel unit;
Switching accepting means for displaying a different operation screen corresponding to the result of the determination on the display and performing an operation accepting process corresponding to the operation screen;
Is executed by a computer or an electronic circuit. The switching accepting means is
When it is determined that the display includes touch panel means, as a first operation screen for the touch panel, the selection items and the rectangular area for touch detection are arranged horizontally and vertically,
When it is determined that the display does not include touch panel means, a menu display in which selection items are arranged in a certain direction is displayed as a second operation screen for a remote controller, and a default selection item is displayed in a cursor selection state. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.   The operation screen is based on road map data stored in advance, calculates the vehicle position of the vehicle, displays it on a surrounding map, and searches and guides a route to a designated destination for navigation operation. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is configured.   4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the second operation screen for the remote controller is a list of horizontally long areas of selection items displayed in a vertical direction. The computer or electronic circuit of the information processing apparatus to which the display is connected is
A determination process for determining whether to provide touch panel means by reading predetermined type identification information set in advance for the connected display or by trying to transmit / receive a control signal for touch panel means,
A switching reception process for displaying a different operation screen on the display corresponding to the result of the determination and performing an operation reception process corresponding to the operation screen;
A method for controlling an information processing apparatus, characterized by: The switching acceptance process includes
When it is determined that the display includes touch panel means, as a first operation screen for the touch panel, the selection items and the rectangular area for touch detection are arranged horizontally and vertically,
When it is determined that the display does not include touch panel means, a horizontally long area of the selection item is displayed in a list in the vertical direction and a default selection item is displayed in a cursor selection state as a second operation screen for the remote controller. A method for controlling an information processing apparatus according to claim 5.   The operation screen is based on road map data stored in advance, calculates the vehicle position of the vehicle, displays it on a surrounding map, and searches and guides a route to a designated destination for navigation operation. 7. The information processing apparatus control method according to claim 5, wherein the information processing apparatus is configured.   8. The method of controlling an information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the second operation screen for the remote controller is a list of horizontally long areas of selection items displayed in a vertical direction. By controlling the computer of the information processing device to which the display is connected,
A determination process for determining whether to provide touch panel means by reading predetermined type identification information set in advance for the connected display or by trying to transmit / receive a control signal for touch panel means,
A switching reception process for displaying a different operation screen on the display corresponding to the result of the determination and performing an operation reception process corresponding to the operation screen;
A control program for an information processing apparatus, characterized in that The program is sent to the computer as the switching acceptance process.
When it is determined that the display includes touch panel means, as a first operation screen for the touch panel, the selection item and the rectangular area for touch detection are arranged horizontally and vertically,
When it is determined that the display does not include touch panel means, a menu display in which selection items are arranged in a certain direction is displayed as a second operation screen for a remote controller, and a default selection item is displayed in a cursor selection state. 10. The information processing apparatus control program according to claim 9,   The operation screen is based on road map data stored in advance, calculates the vehicle position of the vehicle, displays it on a surrounding map, and searches and guides a route to a designated destination for navigation operation. The control program for an information processing apparatus according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the control program is configured.   The control program for an information processing apparatus according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the second operation screen for the remote control is a list of horizontally long areas of selection items displayed in a vertical direction.

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