JP2007047932A - Signal generator and sound output device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a signal generator for generating a signal according to operation, which can extend the application field of a touch panel by using the touch panel not for coordinate detection but as a signal generation source, and a sound output device using the detector. <P>SOLUTION: The signal generator for generating a signal according to operation comprises a touch penal including conductive films arranged in opposition to each other, and generating a signal according to a contact position of the opposed conductive films. An insulator is provided between the opposed conductive films of the touch panel to generate a signal matched to a pattern of the insulator according to operation. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a signal generation device and a sound output device, and more particularly to a signal generation device and a sound output device that generate a signal corresponding to an operation.

  In recent years, with the expansion of the information communication equipment and business terminal markets, the demand for touch panels capable of easily inputting X and Y coordinates has increased. In particular, the resistance film type touch panel can be easily controlled and operated, so that the demand in various fields ranging from small PDAs, office computers, and personal computers is expanding.

  In a resistive film type touch panel, a glass substrate on which a conductive film is formed and a film substrate on which a conductive film is formed are arranged so that the conductive films face each other, and voltage is applied to one conductive film of the film substrate or the glass substrate. Is applied to detect the voltage of the other conductive film of the glass substrate or film substrate, thereby detecting the voltage corresponding to the contact position and recognizing the contact position.

As another application field of the touch panel, an apparatus that detects operation position coordinates using the touch panel and generates sound according to the detected coordinate positions has been proposed (for example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2).
JP 2000-250548 A Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 7-5155

  However, all of these conventional main input devices detect the operation position using the coordinate input function of the touch panel and perform processing corresponding to the operation position, and cannot directly output signals corresponding to the operation. It was. For this reason, the field of use was restricted.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides a signal generation device and a sound output device using the same that can expand the application field of the touch panel by using the touch panel as a signal generation source instead of coordinate detection. Objective.

  The present invention is a signal generation device that generates a signal according to an operation, and includes a touch panel in which conductive films are arranged to face each other and generates a signal according to a contact position of the opposing conductive film. An insulator is provided between the conductive films to be generated, and a signal corresponding to the pattern of the insulator is generated according to the operation.

  According to the present invention, the conductive film is disposed so as to be opposed to each other, the touch panel that generates a signal corresponding to the contact position of the opposed conductive film is provided, and an insulator is provided between the conductive films opposed to the touch panel. Accordingly, by generating a signal corresponding to the pattern of the insulator, the touch panel can be used as a signal generation source instead of coordinate detection, and thus the application field of the touch panel can be expanded.

〔System configuration〕
FIG. 1 shows a system configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

  The sound generation system 100 according to this embodiment includes a touch panel 111, a circuit board 112, and a speaker 113. The touch panel 111 of this embodiment is not a coordinate input device but acts as a signal generator that generates a signal according to an operation. A signal generated by the touch panel 111 is supplied to the circuit board 112. The circuit board 112 drives the speaker 113 according to the signal generated by the touch panel 111. The speaker 113 is driven by a drive signal from the circuit board 112 and outputs a sound corresponding to the drive signal.

[Touch panel 111]
FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the touch panel 111.

  The touch panel 111 includes a lower substrate 121, an upper substrate 122, a spacer 123, and a patterned spacer 124.

  The lower substrate 121 includes a glass substrate 131, a transparent conductive film 132, and electrodes 133a and 133b.

  The glass substrate 131 is made of a transparent insulator such as glass. The transparent conductive film 132 is made of a transparent conductive material such as ITO, and is formed on substantially the entire upper surface of the glass substrate 131 and the surface on the arrow Z1 direction side.

  The electrode 133a is formed on the transparent conductive film 132 along the edge of the glass substrate 131 on the arrow Y2 direction side. The electrode 133b is formed on the transparent conductive film 132 along the edge of the glass substrate 131 on the arrow Y1 direction side. The spacer 123 is attached around the lower substrate 121.

  FIG. 3 is a view for explaining the shape of the pattern spacer 124.

  The patterned spacer 124 is formed on the transparent conductive film 132 of the lower substrate 121. The pattern spacer 124 has a dot shape as shown in FIG. 3A, for example, and has a larger dot size than a dot spacer formed on a normal touch panel. Thus, the lower substrate 121 and the upper substrate 122 are formed in such a size that repeats contact and non-contact when the finger is moved on the panel. The density is determined according to the pitch of the output sound and the feeling of use by the operator.

  In this embodiment, the pattern spacer 124 is formed in a dot shape. However, the pattern spacer 124 is not limited to a dot shape, and a strip shape as shown in FIG. ), A lattice pattern as shown in FIG. 3D, an annular shape as shown in FIG. 3E, or the like. The pattern is not limited to this as long as the transparent conductive film 131 of the substrate 121 and the transparent conductive film 142 of the upper substrate 122 are displaced in a contact or non-contact state.

  The upper substrate 122 includes a film substrate 141, a transparent conductive film 142, and electrodes 143a and 143b. The film substrate 141 is made of a resin film such as a PET film. The transparent conductive film 142 is made of a transparent conductive material made of ITO or the like, and is formed on the lower surface of the film substrate 141, the surface in the arrow Z2 direction, and substantially the entire surface.

  The electrode 143a is formed on the transparent conductive film 142 along the edge of the film substrate 141 on the arrow X2 direction side. The electrode 143b is formed on the transparent conductive film 142 along the edge of the film substrate 141 on the arrow X1 direction side.

  The upper substrate 122 is disposed such that the transparent conductive film 142 faces the transparent conductive film 132 of the lower substrate 121, and is bonded to the lower substrate 121 through the spacer 123.

  The electrodes 133 a and 133 b of the lower substrate 121 and the electrodes 143 a and 143 b of the upper substrate 122 are supplied to the circuit substrate 112 via the FPC cable 151. The circuit board 112 has a configuration in which various electronic components 162 such as a chip capacitor, a chip inductor, a chip resistor, and an IC chip are mounted on a printed wiring board 161.

  FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of the circuit board 112.

  A voltage application unit 161, a reference potential setting unit 162, a detection unit 163, an amplifier 164, and a control circuit 165 are mounted on the circuit board 112.

  The voltage application unit 161 applies a predetermined voltage, for example, 5 V, between the electrodes 143 a and 143 b of the upper substrate 122 via the FPC cable 151.

  FIG. 5 shows a circuit configuration diagram of the reference potential setting unit 162.

  The reference potential setting unit 162 includes transistors Q1 and Q2 and resistors R1 and R2. The transistor Q1 is composed of a PNP transistor, the first reference voltage Vref1 is applied to the emitter, and the collector is connected to the electrode 133a or the electrode 133b of the lower substrate 121 via the resistor R1 and to the detection unit 163. The base is connected to the control circuit 165. Note that the first reference voltage Vref1 is, for example, 5V.

  The transistor Q2 is composed of an NPN transistor, the collector is connected to the collector of the transistor Q1 via the resistor R2, the second reference voltage Vref2 is applied to the emitter, and the base is connected to the control circuit 165. ing. The second reference voltage Vref2 is 0V, for example.

  The control circuit 165 turns off the transistor Q2 when the transistor Q1 is turned on, and turns on the transistor Q2 when the transistor Q1 is turned off.

  In a state where the transistor Q1 is turned on and the transistor Q2 is turned off, the first reference voltage Vref1, 5V is applied to the electrode 133a or 133b of the lower substrate 121. When the transparent conductive film 132 of the lower substrate 121 and the transparent conductive film 142 of the upper substrate 122 are not in contact with each other, the first reference voltages Vref1 and 5V are applied to the detection unit 163, and the transparent conductive film 132 of the lower substrate 121 is applied. When the transparent conductive film 142 of the upper substrate 122 is in contact, a voltage of 0 to 5 V corresponding to the contact position is supplied to the detection unit 163. Therefore, it operates at a so-called active low level that becomes a low level upon contact.

  When the transistor Q1 is turned off and the transistor Q2 is turned on, the second reference voltages Vref2 and 0V are applied to the electrode 133a or 133b of the lower substrate 121. When the transparent conductive film 132 of the lower substrate 121 and the transparent conductive film 142 of the upper substrate 122 are not in contact with each other, the second reference voltages Vref2 and 0V are applied to the detection unit 163, and the transparent conductive film 132 of the lower substrate 121 is applied. When the transparent conductive film 142 of the upper substrate 122 is in contact, a voltage of 0 to 5 V corresponding to the contact position is supplied to the detection unit 163. Therefore, it operates at a so-called active high that becomes a high level upon contact.

  The control circuit 165 can switch between an active low operation and an active high operation.

  The detection unit 163 is connected to the electrode 133a or 133b, detects the voltage of the electrode 133a or 133b, and shapes the pulse waveform.

  FIG. 6 shows an output waveform diagram of the touch panel 111. FIG. 6A shows an output waveform when active high, and FIG. 6B shows an output waveform when active low.

  FIG. 6 shows an output signal waveform when the operation surface of the touch panel 111 is moved between the points C and D.

  At the time of active high, the point C is close to the electrode 133a, so that the detection voltage increases as shown in FIG. At point D, the detection voltage is small as shown in FIG. 6A because it is close to the electrode 133b. Note that the frequency of the output signal is a frequency corresponding to the operation speed.

  The pulse-shaped detection signal detected by the detection unit 163 is supplied to the amplifier 164. The amplifier 164 amplifies the pulsed detection signal supplied from the detection unit 163 and drives the speaker 113. As a result, it is possible to output a sound having a tone corresponding to the operation speed and a sound pressure corresponding to the operation position from the speaker 113.

[First Modification]
In this embodiment, the speaker 113 is directly driven by the signal detected from the touch panel 111. However, the speaker 113 may be driven by generating a pulse corresponding to the signal detected from the touch panel 111.

  FIG. 7 shows a block configuration diagram of a modified example of the circuit board 112. In the figure, the same components as those in FIG.

  The circuit board 211 of this modification includes a sound source IC 221 between the detection unit 163 and the amplifier 164. The sound source IC 221 outputs a signal having a preset sampled waveform having a frequency corresponding to the frequency of the signal detected by the detection unit 163 and a level corresponding to the level. The amplifier 164 amplifies the signal supplied from the sound source IC 221 and drives the speaker 113.

[Second Modification]
It should be noted that the density of dots constituting the patterned spacer 124 of the touch panel 111 may be varied for each operation region.

  FIG. 8 shows a plan configuration diagram of a modified example of the touch panel 111. In the figure, the same components as in FIG.

  The touch panel 311 of this modification has a first area A1, a second area A2, a third area A3, and a fourth area A4. The patterned spacer 124 formed in the first region A1 is formed with a dot density of the first density. The patterned spacer 124 formed in the second region A2 is formed with a second density in which the density of dots is higher than the first density.

  The patterned spacer 124 formed in the third region A3 is formed with a third density in which the density of dots is higher than the second density. The patterned spacer 124 formed in the fourth region A4 is formed with a fourth density in which the density of dots is higher than the third density.

  FIG. 9 shows an operation explanatory diagram of a modified example of the touch panel 111. 9A is obtained when the first area A1, FIG. 9B is operated in the second area A2, FIG. 9C is obtained in the third area A3, and FIG. 9D is obtained when the fourth area A4 is operated. Signals are shown.

  The signal obtained when operating the first area A1 has a lower frequency than the signal obtained when operating the second area A2, as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B. Further, the signal obtained when the third area A3 is operated has a higher frequency than the signal obtained when the fourth area A4 is operated, as shown in FIGS. 9C and 9D.

  Furthermore, the level of the signal obtained when operating the first area A1 and the second area A2 is higher than the level of signal obtained when operating the third area A3 and the fourth area A4 as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 10 shows a cross-sectional view of a patterned spacer 124 of another modification of the touch panel 111.

  In the above embodiment, in order to obtain a rectangular signal, the cross-sectional shape of the dots of the pattern spacer 124 is rectangular as shown in FIG. 10A. However, as shown in FIG. By making the shape, the rising and falling edges of the signal waveform can be made smooth.

  As a result, the output sound can have a timbre different from that of the rectangular shape. Note that the cross-sectional shape of the pattern spacer 124 is not limited to a rectangular shape or a semicircular shape, and may be another shape, for example, a triangular shape as shown in FIG.

  Further, with one touch panel 111, for example, pattern spacers 124 having different cross-sectional shapes as shown in FIGS. 10A, 10B, and 10C may be mixed.

  In the above embodiment, the example in which the signal generating device using the touch panel 111 is applied as a sound generating device such as a musical instrument has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and signals having different frequencies and levels may be used. Applicable to general electronic devices.

It is a system configuration figure of one example of the present invention. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a touch panel 111. FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the shape of the pattern-like spacer. 2 is a block configuration diagram of a circuit board 112. FIG. 3 is a circuit configuration diagram of a reference potential setting unit 162. FIG. 4 is an output waveform diagram of the touch panel 111. FIG. It is a block block diagram of the modification of the circuit board. It is a plane block diagram of the modification of the touch panel. FIG. 11 is an operation explanatory diagram of a modified example of the touch panel 111. It is sectional drawing of the dot spacer of the other modification of the touchscreen.

Explanation of symbols

100 sound generation system 111 touch panel, 112 circuit board, 113 speaker 113
121 Lower substrate, 122 Upper substrate, 123 spacer, 124 Patterned spacer

Claims (16)

A signal generator that generates a signal according to an operation,
It has a touch panel that arranges conductive films facing each other and generates a signal corresponding to the contact position of the opposing conductive films,
2. A signal generator according to claim 1, wherein an insulator is provided between the opposing conductive films of the touch panel, and a signal corresponding to the pattern of the insulator is generated according to an operation. A voltage is applied to one of the opposing conductive films of the touch panel,
The signal generator according to claim 1, wherein the signal is acquired by detecting a voltage of the other conductive film. 3. The signal generator according to claim 2, further comprising reference potential setting means for setting a reference potential of the other conductive film. The reference potential setting means sets the reference potential so that the signal of the other conductive film is at a low level when the opposing conductive film is in contact and the signal of the other conductive film is at a high level when not in contact. The signal generator according to claim 3. The reference potential setting means sets the reference potential so that the signal of the other conductive film is at a high level when the opposing conductive film is in contact and the signal of the other conductive film is at a low level when not in contact. The signal generator according to claim 3. The reference potential setting means sets the reference potential so that the signal of the other conductive film is at a low level when the opposing conductive film is in contact and the signal of the other conductive film is at a high level when not in contact. First reference potential setting means;
Second reference potential setting means for setting the reference potential so that the signal of the other conductive film is at a high level when the opposing conductive film is in contact and the signal of the other conductive film is at a low level when not in contact. When,
4. The signal generator according to claim 3, further comprising switching means for switching between setting of the reference potential by the first reference potential setting means and setting of the reference potential by the second reference potential setting means. The signal generator according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the insulators are formed at intervals corresponding to a frequency band of a signal to be acquired. The signal generator according to claim 1, wherein the insulator has a different cross-sectional shape according to a signal waveform. The signal generator according to claim 8, wherein the insulator having different cross-sectional shapes is combined with the touch panel. The signal generation device according to claim 1, wherein the touch panel has regions where the intervals of the insulators are different. The signal generator according to claim 1, wherein a pattern of the insulator is arranged in a dot shape. The signal generator according to claim 1, wherein a pattern of the insulator is arranged in a rectangular shape. The signal generator according to claim 1, wherein a pattern of the insulator is arranged in a folded pattern. The signal generator according to claim 1, wherein the insulator has a pattern arranged in a lattice pattern. The signal generator according to claim 1, wherein a pattern of the insulator is arranged in an annular shape. A sound output device that outputs sound based on a signal acquired by the signal generation device according to claim 1.

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