JP2009151646A - Character input device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a character input device for easily selecting words with a small number of characters without reducing the number of words displayed on a screen. <P>SOLUTION: The character input device includes: a character input part 2 receiving input of characters; a coordinate input part 3 detecting positions on the screen 9 which are close to or touched by a user's finger, respectively as proximity coordinates and contact coordinates; a display part 4 displaying input characters on the screen; a word candidate display part 5 predicting word candidates based on the input characters and displaying the word candidates as buttons conforming to the number of characters; a zoom display part 6 enlarging the buttons displayed in a predetermined region based on the proximity coordinates detected by the coordinate input part 3; and a control part 7 for controlling each part. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a character input device that inputs characters by operating a touch panel or the like.

When inputting characters for mail creation or the like on a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone, predicted word candidates corresponding to the input characters are displayed on the screen in order to reduce the operation burden on the user. The user performs an indirect operation of selecting a predicted word candidate by moving the focus with a keyboard, a cross key device or the like mounted on the mobile phone.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a character input in which a hardware keyboard button is assigned to a position on the screen where a character string of a predicted word candidate is displayed, and the user selects the predicted word candidate by operating the button. An apparatus is disclosed.
Compared to this, a mobile phone equipped with a touch panel performs a direct operation in which the user directly selects and selects predicted word candidates displayed on the touch panel, thereby realizing a more intuitive and simple input interface. .

Japanese Patent No. 3845100

Since the conventional character input device is configured as described above, the size of the button is automatically determined according to the number of characters in the word. Therefore, a button corresponding to a word with a small number of characters is displayed in a small size, and there is a problem that a touch operation is difficult.
In addition, when the buttons are displayed in a size that allows touch operation, the number of words that can be displayed simultaneously on the screen is reduced. Therefore, in order to select a predicted word candidate, it is necessary to perform an operation such as scrolling or switching the screen, and there is a problem that an operation burden on the user increases.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and realizes a character input device that can easily select a word with a small number of characters without reducing the number of words displayed on the screen. Objective.

  The character input device according to the present invention includes a word candidate display unit that displays an input character on the screen as a button having a size corresponding to the number of characters, and a coordinate input unit that detects a position on the screen where the finger is close as a proximity coordinate And an enlarged display unit for enlarging the button when the button displayed in a predetermined area based on the proximity coordinates detected by the coordinate input unit is smaller than a prescribed size.

  According to the present invention, a word candidate display unit that displays an input character on the screen as a button having a size corresponding to the number of characters, a coordinate input unit that detects a position on the screen where a finger is close as a proximity coordinate, When the button displayed in the predetermined area based on the proximity coordinates detected by the input unit is smaller than a predetermined size, the display unit includes an enlarged display unit that enlarges the button, thereby reducing the number of words displayed on the screen. A character input device that can easily select a word with a small number of characters without reducing the number can be realized.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a character input device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. A character input device shown in FIG. 1 includes a character input unit 2 that receives character input by a user operation, a coordinate input unit 3 that detects a position where a user's finger or the like approaches and touches the screen as a proximity coordinate and a contact coordinate, and character input Display unit 4 that displays the input characters received by unit 2 on the screen, word candidate display unit 5 that displays the predicted word candidates predicted from the input characters on the screen, and enlargement that displays the predicted word candidates displayed in the vicinity of the close coordinates in an enlarged manner A display unit 6 and a control unit 7 for controlling these units are provided.

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the appearance of a mobile phone that implements the character input device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In the first embodiment, it is assumed that the character input device is realized by the mobile phone 1 shown in FIG. The mobile phone 1 shown in FIG. 2 has keys “1”, “2”, etc., and the user accepts character input by pressing these keys, and the keyboard 8 constituting the character input unit 2 shown in FIG. It is realized by a display-integrated touch panel or the like, and constitutes a coordinate input unit 3 that detects the proximity and contact of a user's finger and the like, and a word or the like is controlled by the control of the display unit 4, the word candidate display unit 5 and the enlarged display unit 6. A screen 9 to be displayed is provided. These units are controlled by the control unit 7.

  In the character input device, the character input unit 2 accepts a character input when the user presses the keys “1”, “2”, etc. arranged on the keyboard 8 and outputs the input character to the control unit 7. To do. The keyboard 8 may be other than the numeric keypad having the buttons “1”, “2”, etc., or may be a full keyboard such as a QWERTY layout.

  The coordinate input unit 3 is a screen 9 in which the user's fingers and the like approach and come into contact with each other in each of the X-axis in the short side direction and the Y-axis in the long-side direction and the Z-axis orthogonal to the XY-axis plane shown in FIG. The upper coordinates are detected, and the proximity coordinates and the contact coordinates are output to the control unit 7.

  The display unit 4 displays the input characters detected by the character input unit 2 output via the control unit 7 on the screen 9. If there is a word candidate displayed by the word candidate display unit 5 on the screen 9 at the position of the contact coordinates detected by the coordinate input unit 3, the display unit 4 displays the word candidate in the character input unit 2. It is accepted as an input character in the same manner as the accepted input character and displayed on the screen 9.

  The word candidate display unit 5 predicts word candidates for the input characters detected by the character input unit 2 output via the control unit 7, and displays each word candidate on the screen 9. Alternatively, the word candidate display unit 5 predicts kana-kanji conversion candidates for the unconfirmed character string, and displays each kana-kanji conversion candidate on the screen 9. In this Embodiment 1, it demonstrates using the example in which the word candidate display part 5 displays a prediction word candidate. Each word candidate or each kana-kanji conversion candidate serves as a button for the user to select and operate a word on the screen 9 by bringing his / her finger or the like close and in contact.

  When the proximity coordinates detected by the coordinate input unit 3 are output from the control unit 7, the enlarged display unit 6 is present in a predetermined area centered on the proximity coordinates and displays an enlarged button having a size smaller than a specified size. . Along with the enlarged display, the display unit 4 changes the display position of the word according to the proximity coordinates so that the word candidate displayed on the button is not hidden by the user's finger or the like. Furthermore, the display unit 4 reduces and displays buttons existing in the button enlargement display direction.

The control part 7 controls each part with which a character input device is provided as follows.
In the following, referring to FIG. 2 to FIG. 8, as an example, the user operates the mobile phone 1 to display the mail creation screen shown in FIG. 2 on the screen 9 and inputs characters to create a mail. The operation of the character input device will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the control unit according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  In step ST1, the control unit 7 monitors character input by the character input unit 2. When the user presses the key “1” on the keyboard 8, the character input unit 2 detects that a character has been input, and notifies the control unit 7. Receiving this, the control unit 7 instructs the display unit 3, and the display unit 4 displays the character “A” on the screen 9. As a result of the processing in step ST1, a transition is made from the mail creation screen in the initial state shown in FIG. 2 to the character “A” display screen shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the screen display of the mobile phone according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. On the screen 9 shown in the figure, the character “A” is displayed by the display unit 4.

  Further, the control unit 7 instructs the word candidate display unit 5 to predict a word candidate for the character “A” input by the character input unit 1 in step ST1, and displays the predicted word candidate at the bottom of the screen 9 ( Step ST2). Each word candidate serves as a button for the user to operate on the screen 9 by bringing a finger or the like close and in contact with each other. By the process of step ST2, the character “A” display screen shown in FIG. 4 is changed to the predicted word candidate display screen shown in FIG.

  FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a predicted word candidate display screen of the mobile phone according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In the figure, a part of the screen 9 on which the character “A” is displayed by the control of the display unit 4 is a word selection screen 10, and the word selection screen 10 is a word candidate predicted by the word candidate display unit 5. “Tomorrow”, “Thank you”, “too much”, etc. are displayed. Each of these word candidates becomes a button for the user to operate by bringing a finger or the like close and in contact with each other. The predicted word candidate display unit 5 changes the size of the button by changing the button width to be displayed according to the number of characters constituting the word. For example, a button “Tomorrow” with a small number of characters is displayed with a button width of two characters, and a button “Thank you” with a large number of characters is displayed with a button width of five characters.

  Next, the control unit 7 instructs the coordinate input unit 3 to detect that a user's finger or the like has approached or touched the screen 9 (step ST3). When the user's finger or the like approaches the screen 9, the coordinate input unit 3 detects that the finger or the like has approached the screen 9, and outputs the proximity coordinate to the control unit 7 (step ST3 "Yes (proximity)"). The control unit 7 determines whether or not there is a button having a certain width or less in a predetermined area centered on the detected proximity coordinate (step ST4). Here, for the sake of explanation, the fixed width is defined as 4 characters. When the coordinate input unit 3 cannot detect the proximity or contact of the user's finger or the like (step ST3 “No”), or when there is no button of a certain width (step ST4 “No”), the control unit 7 Returns the process to step ST1, and monitors the next character input.

  When a button having a certain width or less exists in the vicinity of the proximity coordinates (step ST4 “Yes”), the control unit 7 instructs the enlargement display unit 6 to enlarge the corresponding button in the button width direction and display it on the screen 9. It is displayed (step ST5).

  The enlarged display unit 6 first determines whether the proximity coordinates are located on the right side or the left side with respect to the button width center of the corresponding button. The direction in which the button is enlarged is the direction opposite to the determined position of the proximity coordinate with respect to the center position of the button width, that is, the opposite side of the proximity coordinate. For example, when the position of the proximity coordinate is on the left side of the button width center of the corresponding button, the enlarged display unit 6 enlarges and displays the button in the right direction of the button width. If it is on the right side of the center of the button width, it is enlarged and displayed in the left direction of the button width.

However, if the position of the proximity coordinate is the center of the button width, it will be enlarged to the left of the button width for the user operating with the right hand, and the button width right for the user operating with the left hand Zoom in on the direction.
Note that the operation information using the right hand or the left hand for the user to operate the mobile phone 1 displays a setting screen on the mobile phone 1 and allows the user to set in advance. Then, when the proximity coordinate where the user's finger or the like is close is at the center of the button width, the right / left discrimination of the hand operated by the user may be performed in accordance with preset operation information. However, if the operation information is not set in advance and the left and right of the operating hand cannot be determined, the button is enlarged and displayed in the left direction.

Further, with respect to the display position of the word displayed on the button, the character display position is shifted so that the enlarged display section 6 is moved in the enlarged display direction, thereby avoiding finger covering.
Further, the enlarged display unit 6 uniformly reduces the buttons displayed in the enlarged button width direction according to the enlarged button width, and reduces the display font size according to the button width. .

  For example, when the coordinate input unit 3 detects that the user's finger or the like has approached the button “Tomorrow” shown in FIG. 5, the word selection screen 10 shown in FIG. 5 transitions to the word candidate enlarged display screen shown in FIG. 6. To do. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a word candidate enlarged display screen of the mobile phone according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In FIG. 6A, when the user's finger approaches the left side of the button width center of the button “Tomorrow” on the word selection screen 10, the button “Tomorrow” is a button having a button width of 4 characters or less. The display position of the word displayed on the button “Tomorrow” is also moved rightward in the button width direction. Further, the button “Thank you” that exists in the enlarged display direction is reduced by the button width corresponding to the enlargement of the button “Tomorrow”, and the size of the word display font is also reduced.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 6B, when the user's finger is closer to the left side than the center of the button width of the button “warm” on the word selection screen 10, the button “warm” is at the right end of the word selection screen 10. The button width cannot be enlarged rightward because it is located. As described above, when there is not enough space to enlarge the button, the button width may be enlarged in the reverse direction.

  When the process of step ST5 is completed, the control unit 7 returns the process to step ST3 again, and instructs the coordinate input unit 3 again to detect that the user's finger or the like has approached or touched the screen 9. In steps ST3 to ST5 in the first round, since the buttons close to the user's fingers and the like have already been enlarged, the visibility of the buttons is improved in step ST3 in the second round, and the user can easily select a word. Can do.

  In step ST3, when a user's finger etc. contact the screen 9, the coordinate input part 3 detects that the user's finger etc. contacted the screen 9, and outputs a contact coordinate to the control part 7 (step ST3 "Yes (contact)"). The controller 7 determines whether or not there is a button at the detected position of the contact coordinates (step ST6). When the button does not exist (step ST6 “No”), the control unit 7 returns the process to step ST1 and monitors the next character input.

  When the button exists (step ST6 “Yes”), the control unit 7 instructs the display unit 4 to display the word displayed on the corresponding button on the screen 9 (step ST7). By the process of step ST7, the word candidate enlarged display screen shown in FIG. 6 is changed to the selected word display screen shown in FIG. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the selected word display screen of the mobile phone according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In the figure, when the user's finger touches the button “Tomorrow” on the word selection screen 10, the word displayed on the button “Tomorrow” present at the contact coordinates is displayed on the screen 9.

  In step ST8, the control unit 7 instructs the word candidate display unit 5, and based on the word displayed on the button located at the contact coordinate in step ST7, the word candidate predicted next is displayed on the word selection screen 10. It is displayed (step ST8). By the process of step ST8, the selected word display screen shown in FIG. 7 is changed to the next predicted word candidate display screen shown in FIG. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the next predicted word candidate display screen of the mobile phone according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In FIG. 7, the same or corresponding parts as in FIG. In the figure, word candidates predicted by the word candidate display unit 5 based on the character “tomorrow” “ha”, “ni”, “kara”, and the like are displayed on the word selection screen 10. Each of these word candidates becomes a button for the user to operate with the fingers approaching and touching.

  When the process proceeds to step ST8, the control unit 7 returns to step ST3 and instructs the coordinate input unit 3 again to detect that the user's finger or the like has approached or touched the screen 9.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, the character input unit 2 that receives input of characters, and the coordinate input that detects the position on the screen 9 where the user's finger or the like is in proximity and contact as the proximity coordinate and the contact coordinate, respectively. Part 3, a display part 4 for displaying input characters on the screen, a word candidate display part 5 for predicting word candidates based on the input characters and displaying the word candidates as buttons having a size corresponding to the number of characters, and coordinate input An enlarged display unit 6 for enlarging a button displayed in a predetermined area based on the proximity coordinates detected by the unit 3 and a control unit 7 for controlling each unit are provided. Therefore, it is possible to realize a character input device that can easily select a word with a small number of characters without reducing the number of words displayed on the screen.

  Further, according to the first embodiment, when the button displayed in a predetermined area based on the proximity coordinates detected by the coordinate input unit 3 is less than a predetermined size, the enlarged display unit 6 The button is enlarged in the direction opposite to the proximity coordinates with the width center as the base point. Therefore, the word candidate can be easily selected by accurately bringing the finger into contact with the button, and the word input efficiency can be improved. Since unnecessary enlarged display is omitted, the processing load on the enlarged display unit 6 and the control unit 7 can be reduced, and the response of the character input device can be improved. Furthermore, since it is not necessary for the word candidate display unit 5 to display word candidates as large buttons in advance and the number of buttons that can be displayed simultaneously can be increased, screen scrolling and page switching when the user selects word candidates Etc. can be reduced.

  Further, according to the first embodiment, the enlarged display unit 6 moves the display position of the word displayed on the button in the direction in which the button is enlarged. Therefore, it is possible to select a word that the user wants to input without lowering the visibility of the word due to finger coverage, thereby improving the word input efficiency.

  According to the first embodiment, the enlarged display unit 6 is configured to reduce and display buttons other than the enlarged button displayed in the direction of enlarging the button, and the buttons other than the enlarged button are not lost. Continued to display on screen 9. Thereby, the user can select a word candidate displayed on the top, bottom, left, and right of the word he / she wants to input while confirming it, and the word input efficiency can be improved.

  In the first embodiment, the character input unit 2 detects a character input from the keyboard 8 which is a hardware keyboard. As shown in FIG. 9, in the case of a mobile phone 1a having a screen 9a having a front panel formed of a touch panel, the display unit 4 displays a software keyboard 8a on the touch panel, and the character input unit 2 is based on the software keyboard 8a. It may be configured to detect character input. FIG. 9 is an explanatory view showing another appearance of the mobile phone according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Even this configuration has the same effect as the first embodiment.

  In the first embodiment, the proximity and contact of a finger or the like to the screen 9 constituted by a touch panel or the like is received, and the coordinate input unit 3 detects coordinate information related to the approach and contact and outputs the coordinate information to the control unit 7. However, when the screen 9 accepts contact and pressing, the coordinate input unit 3 may regard the contact as approach and output coordinate information regarding the pressing as contact to the control unit 7. Even this configuration has the same effect as the first embodiment.

  Further, in the first embodiment, the enlarged display unit 6 is configured to display the buttons displayed on the word selection screen 10 in an enlarged manner. However, as shown in FIG. It may be configured to change the display. FIG. 10 is an explanatory view showing another example of the word candidate enlarged display screen of the mobile phone according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Even this configuration has the same effect as the first embodiment.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the character input device which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the external appearance of the mobile telephone which implement | achieves the character input device which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the control part which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows one example of the screen display of the mobile telephone which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the prediction word candidate display screen of the mobile telephone which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the word candidate expansion display screen of the mobile telephone which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the selection word display screen of the mobile telephone which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the next prediction word candidate display screen of the mobile telephone which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the other external appearance of the mobile telephone which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows another example of the word candidate expansion display screen of the mobile telephone which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  1, 1a mobile phone, 2 character input section, 3 coordinate input section, 4 display section, 5 word candidate display section, 6 enlarged display section, 7 control section, 8, 8a keyboard, 9, 9a screen, 10 word selection screen.

Claims (5)

A word candidate display section that displays the input characters on the screen as buttons having a size corresponding to the number of characters,
A coordinate input unit for detecting a position on the screen where the finger is close as a proximity coordinate;
A character input device comprising: an enlarged display unit for enlarging the button when the button displayed in a predetermined area based on the proximity coordinates detected by the coordinate input unit is smaller than a predetermined size.   The character input device according to claim 1, wherein the enlargement display unit enlarges the button in a direction opposite to the proximity coordinates detected by the coordinate input unit with the button center position as a base point.   The character input device according to claim 2, wherein the enlarged display unit further moves a character displayed on the button in a direction in which the button is enlarged.   4. The character input device according to claim 2, wherein the enlargement display unit further reduces the size of buttons other than the button displayed in the direction of enlarging the buttons.   The character input device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the enlargement display unit further changes a color of a button to be enlarged.

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