JP2011028409A - Touch panel type information processing terminal and key input method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method which enables easy one-hand operation of a touch panel type information processing terminal such as a book display terminal or a newspaper display terminal equipped with a touch panel type input device. <P>SOLUTION: The information processing terminal is provided with a display part configured of electronic paper or the like and a touch panel type input device. The display part is divided into two display regions configured of a first display region and a second display region so as to be managed. Also, a soft key is displayed at an arbitrary position of the touch panel, to determine whether an input is made to the first display region or the second display region, based on the input result to the soft key, and display processing to each of the display regions is executed. Thus, it is possible to operate both the first and second display regions through input to one soft key. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a touch panel type information processing terminal and a key input method, and in particular, operates a single soft key displayed by key input using a touch panel provided in the information processing terminal, and operates on a plurality of display screens. The present invention relates to a touch panel type information processing terminal and a key input method.

  In recent years, particularly small information processing terminals such as mobile phones and digital still cameras have become highly functional and have made remarkable progress. In particular, mobile phones have evolved from single-function terminals that have only a voice call function to complex information processing terminals that combine the Internet connection function, music player function, and still image / video shooting function, and their positioning has changed dramatically. ing.

  Conventionally, a small information processing terminal such as a cellular phone has a physical button such as a numeric keypad as an input device. Such an input device has a limited number of buttons that can be implemented depending on the size of the terminal. If it is a single-function terminal as in the past, it was possible to operate the terminal without feeling inconvenience with a small number of buttons, but limited information processing terminals with complex functions in recent years If you try to operate with a small number of buttons, it will require a complicated button operation to the user, such as using multiple buttons in combination, and it will take a long time to operate or the operation procedure will be complicated and the user will not remember Problems arise.

  As one method for solving this problem, in recent years, the number of cases in which a touch panel type input device is adopted as an input device of an information processing apparatus is increasing. The touch panel is a combination of a display device such as a liquid crystal panel and a position information detection device such as a touch pad that detects position information by touching an arbitrary point on the display device with a pen or a finger. The touch panel is composed of transparent elements, and is arranged on the front surface of the display device so that the display screen can be seen through the touch panel through the display screen on the display device. Since such a touch panel can use the entire screen of the display device as one or a plurality of buttons, it can realize an input device that is more multifunctional and intuitive than conventional physical buttons. it can.

  On the other hand, electronic paper has recently attracted attention as a display device for information processing terminals. Electronic paper, in a broad sense, means an ultra-thin display device made of a soft material that can be used like paper. Among them, the reflective display device that displays the screen by reflecting light such as fluorescent light or sunlight consumes power only when the screen contents are changed, so the power consumption is small and the display can be maintained even when the power is turned off. It has features such as being lighter than a liquid crystal panel, and is particularly suitable for a display device of a small information processing terminal.

  At present, there are a plurality of methods applicable to such electronic paper, but basically there is a feature in a display device on the surface layer. For example, in the electrophoretic method, the structure of the display device is such that nanometer-scale microcapsules are spread on a thin film, and each capsule is filled with a liquid, in which black and white microparticles float. is doing. White particles are positively charged, and black particles are negatively charged. Here, when a negative electric field is applied to the microcapsule, the white particles move to the top of the capsule, and at the same time, the black particles are attracted to the bottom of the microcapsule by the opposite electric field. For this reason, when the microcapsules are viewed from the top, the black capsules appear white because they are hidden behind the white particles and cannot be seen. Conversely, when a positive electric field is applied to the microcapsules, the microcapsules appear black. Therefore, such electrophoretic electronic paper is configured by arranging transparent electrodes on the upper and lower portions of the display device. Characters and images can be displayed by forming electrodes in a grid and selecting the positive and negative of the upper and lower electrodes at each position according to the figure to be displayed.

  In recent years, book display terminals, newspaper display terminals, and the like have been commercialized as information processing terminals using electronic paper. These terminals mainly realize the function of displaying document data on the screen and allowing the user to browse it, and it is a product field that can take advantage of the features of electronic paper that is closer to paper than the liquid crystal panel etc. Yes. These terminals are basically digitalized paper media such as conventional books, magazines, and newspapers. Therefore, as well as paper media, it can be read not only at home and at offices, but also in various places such as commuter trains, cars, coffee shops on the go, etc. As a portable terminal instead of a stationary terminal Often realized. At this time, for example, when viewing document data while holding the terminal with one hand on a commuter train or the like, it is necessary to be able to operate the terminal with a simple input that can be handled with one hand.

  Conventionally, as a method for facilitating input to a terminal having a plurality of functions, an image printing apparatus combining a touch panel and operation buttons has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). This image printing apparatus includes both a touch panel and a plurality of operation buttons as input devices. A user performs a plurality of processes with a simple input operation by giving a first instruction using a touch panel and a second instruction using an operation button, determining the combination, and assigning different processing types to different combinations. Is possible.

JP 2008-176351 A

  In the above technique, the user needs to perform both the operation of the touch panel and the operation button. Since the operation buttons cannot be arranged on the touch panel, these two input devices are inevitably arranged at physically separated locations, and when the user inputs these two physically separated devices. You need to move your finger between different locations. This finger movement is not a problem in the case of a stationary information processing terminal such as an image printing apparatus, but is operated while holding it with one hand in a portable information processing terminal such as a book display terminal or a newspaper display terminal. In this case, there is a problem that the operation range of the finger is limited and the operation cannot be freely performed.

  In the present invention, in view of the above problems, in a portable information processing terminal such as a book display terminal or a newspaper display terminal, a soft key is displayed at an arbitrary position touched on a touch panel, and a plurality of soft keys are displayed on one soft key. An object of the present invention is to provide a touch panel type information processing terminal and a key input method that facilitate the input process to the terminal by assigning the processing types.

  The touch panel type information processing terminal according to the present invention includes a display unit for displaying information, and an input that is arranged on the front surface of the display unit, transmits the information displayed on the rear display unit to the front surface, and detects an input from the outside. When detecting an input from the detection unit (touch panel) and the outside, an input guidance display (soft key) is displayed in the vicinity of the area where the input to the touch panel is made, and the input based on the input to the soft key A display processing unit that changes information displayed on the display unit, and a first display process or a second display process for the display unit is selected based on an input to the soft key and displayed on the display unit And an input determination processing unit for instructing processing.

  In addition, the display unit includes at least two display areas of a first display area for displaying information in a vertical direction and a second display area for displaying information in a horizontal direction, and based on an input to the soft key, It may be determined whether to execute the first display process for the first display area or to execute the second display process for the second display area.

  More specifically, information indicating an outline of target information such as digest information of newspaper articles is displayed in the first display area, and detailed contents of target information such as newspaper article text are displayed in the second display area. Information is displayed, and the input to the soft key is determined in any of the four directions, and if the input is in any two directions, the display process for the first display area is performed, and the any two directions If the input is other than the above, display processing for the second display area may be performed.

  As another form, the input to the soft key is determined as either a vector key having vector information based on the information of the start point and the end point, or a four-direction key to be converted into any input in four directions, If it is a vector key, information existing at a location moved by a plurality of screens may be displayed, and if it is the four-way key, information existing at a location moved by one screen may be displayed.

  The key input method of the present invention includes a display unit for displaying information, and an input detection unit that is disposed on the front surface of the display unit, transmits information displayed on the rear display unit to the front surface, and detects an input from the outside. A touch panel type information processing terminal provided with a touch panel, wherein a step of detecting an input from the outside to the touch panel and an input to an input guidance display (soft key) displayed on the touch panel When determining whether there is an input to the soft key displayed on the touch panel, based on the input to the soft key, the first display process and the second display process for the display unit And a step of selecting one of them.

  Here, the first display process is a display process for a first display area that is included in the display unit and displays information in a vertical direction, and the second display process is an information included in the display unit. Is a display process for the second display area that displays the image horizontally.

  The step of selecting the first display process and the second display process includes determining the input to the soft key in any of four directions, and selecting any two of the four directions. The method may further include a step of selecting the first display process when the direction corresponds to the direction and a step of selecting the second display process when the direction corresponds to any other direction.

  As another form, the input to the soft key is determined as either a vector key having vector information based on the information of the start point and the end point, or a four-direction key to be converted into any input in four directions, If it is a vector key, it may include a step of displaying information existing at a location moved by a plurality of screens, and if it is the four-way key, displaying information existing at a location moved by one screen. In this case, the first display process and the second display process correspond to the moving display process for one screen and the moving display process for the plurality of screens.

  According to the present invention, in a portable information processing terminal such as a book display terminal or a newspaper display terminal, a touch panel type information processing terminal that facilitates input processing to the terminal and can be comfortably operated with one hand is realized. Is possible.

Explanatory drawing which showed the structure of the information processing terminal in Embodiment 1 of this invention. Explanatory drawing which showed an example of the external appearance of the information processing terminal in Embodiment 1 of this invention Explanatory drawing which showed an example of the soft key in Embodiment 1 of this invention The flowchart which showed the touch-panel input determination processing procedure in Embodiment 1 of this invention. The flowchart which showed the soft key deletion process procedure in Embodiment 1 of this invention The flowchart which showed the soft key display processing procedure in Embodiment 1 of this invention The flowchart which showed the article movement processing procedure in Embodiment 1 of this invention Explanatory drawing which showed an example of the state of the information processing terminal before the article movement process in Embodiment 1 of this invention Explanatory drawing which showed an example of the state of the information processing terminal after the article movement process in Embodiment 1 of this invention The flowchart which showed the page scroll processing procedure in Embodiment 1 of this invention. Explanatory drawing which showed an example of the state of the information processing terminal before the page scroll process in Embodiment 1 of this invention Explanatory drawing which showed an example of the state of the information processing terminal after the page scroll process in Embodiment 1 of this invention Explanatory drawing which showed the structure of the information processing terminal in Embodiment 2 of this invention. Explanatory drawing which showed an example of the 4 direction key in Embodiment 2 of this invention Explanatory drawing which showed an example of the vector key in Embodiment 2 of this invention The flowchart which showed the touch-panel input determination processing procedure in Embodiment 2 of this invention. The flowchart which showed the key classification determination processing procedure in Embodiment 2 of this invention.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an information processing terminal according to the present embodiment. Examples of the information processing terminal in the present invention include a mobile phone, a book display terminal, and a newspaper display terminal. Of these, in the present embodiment, a newspaper display terminal that displays newspaper article data and is browsed by a user will be described as an example. In FIG. 1, the information processing terminal 1 includes a CPU 11, a RAM 12, a ROM 13, a content storage unit 14, a touch panel control unit 15, a touch panel 16, a display control unit 17, and a display unit 18.

  Content data 100 handled by the information processing terminal 1 is stored in the content storage unit 14, and in the case of a newspaper display terminal, the content data 100 is television program information to be displayed in newspaper articles, related photos and drawings, and television columns. It corresponds to. The content storage unit 14 is configured by a built-in information recording medium such as a flash memory or a hard disk, a removable recording medium such as a memory card or an optical disk, or the like.

  The touch panel 16 is configured by a panel device that can detect an arbitrary touched position, such as a capacitive touch panel that detects a position by detecting a change in capacitance between a fingertip and a conductive film. The touch panel control unit 15 includes a controller LSI that controls the touch panel 16.

  The display unit 18 is composed of electronic paper such as an electrophoretic method. The display unit 18 further includes a first display area 110 and a second display area 111 that display different types of information. The difference between the areas will be described later.

  The display control unit 17 includes a controller LSI that controls the display unit 18. In addition, the touch panel 16 is formed of a thin film, and is actually pasted on the display unit 18 so that the display unit 18 and the touch panel 16 are configured as if they were an integral part.

  The ROM 13 stores a program for controlling the information processing terminal 1, and this program operates on the CPU 11 using the RAM 12 as a temporary storage area. The ROM 13 further includes a touch panel input determination processing unit 120, a first display processing unit 121, a second display processing unit 122, a content data acquisition processing unit 123, and a display data generation processing unit 124.

  The touch panel input determination processing unit 120 determines whether the user has performed an operation on the first display area 110 or the second display area 111 based on the information regarding the touch position acquired from the touch panel 16, and each displays the first display. Either the processing unit 121 or the second display processing unit 122 is called. The first display processing unit 121 and the second display processing unit 122 perform control processing on the first display area 110 and the second display area 111, respectively.

  The content data acquisition processing unit 123 performs processing for acquiring desired content data 100 from the content storage unit 14 based on requests from the first display processing unit 121 and the second display processing unit 122. The display data generation processing unit 124 generates image data to be displayed on the display unit 18 based on requests from the first display processing unit 121 and the second display processing unit 122.

  In the present invention, the display area in the display unit 18 is divided into a first display area 110 and a second display area 111, and an operation input to the touch panel is performed on any of the two display areas. Is determined by the touch panel input determination processing unit 120, and the first display processing unit 121 and the second display processing unit 122 are called separately. Thereby, based on simple input operation with respect to a touch panel, operation of a some display area is implement | achieved and the ease of input operation is implement | achieved.

  Next, the appearance of the information processing terminal 1 in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the appearance of the information processing terminal 1 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In FIG. 2, a rectangular area present in the center of the information processing terminal 1 indicates the display unit 18. The display unit 18 is bonded to the touch panel 16, and the touch panel 16 is also present in the rectangular area. Although the touch panel 16 may be attached only to a part of the display unit 18 instead of the entire surface, in this embodiment, an example in which the touch panel 16 is attached to the entire surface of the display unit 18 will be described.

  The rectangular area in FIG. 2 is divided into a first display area 110 and a second display area 111. These two areas are areas for displaying different information. In the case of a newspaper display terminal, for example, the first display area 110 displays a plurality of digest articles representing newspaper articles in several lines. It can be used properly such as displaying the text of a newspaper article in the display area 111. By displaying in this way, the user can read the main text of newspaper articles, and generally understand what kind of news is described in other articles, and read the newspaper on an actual paper medium. It is possible to use a newspaper display terminal with a sense close to Further, when one newspaper article cannot be displayed in the second display area 111, it is necessary to scroll the screen. For this reason, information about the currently displayed page is displayed in the page number display area 200. In this case, convenience is improved. In the page number display area 200 of FIG. 2, “1/2” is displayed, which means that the currently displayed article is an article consisting of two pages, and the first page is currently displayed. Yes.

  When the information processing terminal 1 is held and used with one hand, for example, when the lower right part of the terminal is held with the right hand, if it is attempted to operate only with the right hand that is the holding hand, the lower right dotted line range of the information processing terminal 1 is used. The touchable range 1 (201) is a range that can be touched with the thumb of the right hand. Similarly, when the information processing terminal 1 is held with the left hand, the touchable range 2 (202) is a range that can be touched with the thumb of the left hand. As described above, when the information processing terminal 1 is operated with only one hand, the touchable range is limited, and thus it is necessary to appropriately perform the input operation within this range. In the information processing terminal 1 according to the present embodiment, the touch in the display unit 18 can be used for handling with the right hand, holding with the left hand, or touching and using an arbitrary position on the display unit 18. The soft key for input operation is displayed at the specified position.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the soft key 210 displayed on the display unit 18. In the embodiment of the present invention, the soft key 210 is displayed at an arbitrary position on the display unit 18. The soft key 210 further includes four areas of soft key area # 1 (211) to soft key area # 4 (214). When the soft key 210 is touched by the user after the soft key 210 is displayed, It is possible to detect which of the four areas is touched.

  In the present embodiment, the display data is limited so that the first display area 110 can be scrolled only to the left and right, and the second display area 111 is limited to display data so that it can be scrolled only up and down. The soft key area # 1 (211) and soft key area # 2 (212) in the key 210 are assigned to the scroll operation of the second display area 111, the soft key area # 3 (213) in the soft key 210, the soft key Area # 4 (214) is assigned to the scroll operation of the first display area 110.

  Thus, both the first display area 110 and the second display area 111 can be controlled by one soft key 210, and both display areas can be controlled only by a simple input operation on one soft key 210. It becomes possible. Further, the soft key 210 can be displayed in a limited range such as the touchable range 1 (201) and the touchable range 2 (202), and the input operation can be easily performed only with the thumb.

  Subsequently, a processing procedure of the touch panel input determination processing unit 120 in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The touch panel input determination processing unit 120 acquires information input to the touch panel 16 via the touch panel control unit 15 and performs a process of calling the two display processing units.

  (S401) Information input to the touch panel 16 is acquired from the touch panel control unit 15. Specifically, the coordinate information indicating the position touched on the touch panel 16, the pressed strength, the information indicating whether it is pressed or released, the time information when the input is detected, and the like exist as information. In the first embodiment of the present invention, it is assumed that coordinate information at the time when it is detected that a finger has been released among these pieces of information is used as touch position information.

  (S402) It is determined whether or not the soft key 210 is already displayed on the display unit 18. If the soft key 210 is already displayed, the process proceeds to S406. If the soft key 210 is not displayed, the process proceeds to S403.

  (S403) When the soft key 210 is not displayed on the display unit 18, it is determined whether or not the touched position is included in the first display area 110 based on the touch position information acquired in S401. When the touched position is included in the first display area 110, the process proceeds to S404. If the touched position is not included in the first display area 110, the process proceeds to S405.

  (S404) Generate soft key display position information based on the touch position information acquired in S401, notify the first display processing unit of the soft key display position information and instruct the display of the soft key 210, and terminate the process. To do. Here, the soft key display position information is information related to the position when the soft key 210 is displayed. For example, when the touch position information indicates the vicinity of the center of the first display area 110, the touch position information is The soft key display position information is used as it is. On the contrary, when the touch position information indicates the vicinity of the end of the first display area 110, if the soft key 210 is displayed as it is at the touched position, the first display area 110 protrudes from the first display area 110. The soft key display position information is generated by slightly correcting the position near the center of the display area 110.

  (S405) Generate soft key display position information based on the touch position information acquired in S401, notify the second display processing unit of the soft key display position information, instruct the display of the soft key 210, and terminate the process. To do. The soft key display position information is the same information as that described in S404, but is different from S404 in that the target area is not the first display area 110 but the second display area 111.

  (S406) In the determination process of S402, if it is determined that the soft key 210 is displayed on the display unit 18, whether the touched position is inside the soft key 210 based on the touch position information acquired in S401. Determine whether or not. When it is determined that the touched position is inside the soft key 210, the process proceeds to S410. If it is determined that the touched position is outside the soft key 210, the process proceeds to S407.

  (S407) In the determination process of S406, when it is determined that the touched position is outside the soft key 210, it is determined whether the soft key 210 exists in the first display area 110 or not. When it is determined that the soft key 210 is present in the first display area 110, the process proceeds to S408. If it is determined that the soft key 210 exists outside the first display area 110, the process proceeds to S409.

  (S408) In the determination process of S407, when it is determined that the soft key 210 exists in the first display area 110, the first display processing unit 121 is instructed to delete the soft key 210. After the deletion of the soft key 210 is completed, the process proceeds to S403.

  (S409) In the determination processing of S407, when it is determined that the soft key 210 exists outside the first display area 110, the second display processing unit 122 is instructed to delete the soft key 210. After the deletion of the soft key 210 is completed, the process proceeds to S403.

  (S410) In the determination processing of S406, when it is determined that the touched position is inside the soft key 210, it is determined whether or not the pressed position in the soft key 210 corresponds to the left and right keys. Specifically, in the configuration of the soft key 210 in FIG. 3, when the soft key area # 3 (213) or the soft key area # 4 (214) is touched, a portion corresponding to the left and right keys is touched. judge. If it is determined in this determination process that the left / right key is touched, the process proceeds to S411. If it is determined in this determination process that the left and right keys have not been touched (that is, the up and down keys have been touched), the process proceeds to S412.

  (S411) In the determination process of S410, when it is determined that the left and right keys are touched, the first display processing unit 121 is instructed to move the article, and the process ends.

  (S412) In the determination process of S410, when it is determined that the up / down key has been touched, the second display processing unit 122 is instructed to scroll the page, and the process ends.

  As described above with reference to FIG. 4, the touch panel input determination processing unit 120 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention acquires information input to the touch panel 16 via the touch panel control unit 15, and first The display processing unit 121 or the second display processing unit 122 is called to execute one of soft key deletion processing, soft key display processing, article movement processing, and page scroll processing.

  Next, a soft key deletion process procedure will be described with reference to FIG. In this processing, the touch panel input determination processing unit 120 instructs the first display processing unit 121 or the second display processing unit 122 in S408 and S409 of FIG. Although the display target areas are actually different, the processing contents executed by the first display processing unit 121 and the second display processing unit 122 are substantially the same, and therefore, both processing units will be described together here.

  (S501) The positional information regarding the area displaying the soft key 210 is confirmed. Since the display process of the soft key 210 is managed by the first display processing unit 121 and the second display processing unit 122 which are the processing subjects of this soft key deletion processing procedure, the position of the soft key 210 already displayed It is assumed that the information is held by the processing unit. It is also assumed that the processing unit holds the original image data existing under the displayed soft key 210.

  (S502) The original image data existing under the area where the soft key 210 is displayed is displayed in the management target display area (first display area 110, second display area 111). As a result, another original data is overwritten in the area where the soft key 210 was displayed, and it is displayed as if the soft key 210 was deleted.

  Next, a soft key display processing procedure will be described with reference to FIG. In this processing, the touch panel input determination processing unit 120 instructs the first display processing unit 121 or the second display processing unit 122 in S404 and S405 of FIG. Although the display target areas are actually different, the processing contents executed by the first display processing unit 121 and the second display processing unit 122 are substantially the same, and therefore, both processing units will be described together here.

  (S601) The positional information regarding the area where the soft key 210 is displayed is confirmed. This position information is information notified from the touch panel input determination processing unit 120 as soft key display position information.

  (S602) The current image data existing in the area for displaying the soft key 210 confirmed in S601 is saved in the work area on the RAM 12. This image data is used as original image data in the processing described in S502 of FIG.

  (S603) The image data of the soft key 210 is displayed in the area for displaying the soft key 210 confirmed in S601. As a result, the soft key 210 is displayed on the display unit 18, and the soft key 210 can be used.

  Subsequently, the article movement processing procedure will be described with reference to FIG. In this processing, the touch panel input determination processing unit 120 instructs the first display processing unit 121 in S411 of FIG. The article movement means moving from the currently selected article to another article based on the digest displayed in the first display area 110. In this case, it is necessary to update the display indicating the selected digest in the first display area 110 and to update the display of the article text in the second display area 111.

  (S701) It is confirmed whether the digest data displayed in the first display area 110 needs to be replaced. For example, when four digests # 1 to # 4 are currently displayed in order from the right, the current # 1 digest is selected and the right key is pressed, or the current # 4 digest is displayed. When is selected and the left key is pressed, it is necessary to display another digest before and after each digest instead of the currently displayed digests # 1 to # 4. In such a case, it is determined that digest data replacement occurs. If it is determined that digest data replacement occurs, the process proceeds to S702. If it is determined that the digest data is not replaced, the process proceeds to S704.

  (S702) In the determination processing of S701, when it is determined that digest data replacement occurs, the first display processing unit 121 instructs the content data acquisition processing unit 123 to acquire new digest data. As a result, the content data acquisition processing unit 123 acquires the corresponding digest data from the content data 100 stored in the content storage unit 14, and transmits the data to the first display processing unit 121.

  (S703) The first display processing unit 121 transmits the new digest data acquired in the processing of S702 to the display data generation processing unit 124, and instructs generation of a display image of the digest data. Accordingly, the display data generation processing unit 124 generates display image data based on the transmitted digest data, stores the display image data in a predetermined work memory, and notifies the first display processing unit 121 of the display image data. Here, the predetermined work memory may be a partial area on the RAM 12 or a dedicated graphic memory for transferring image data to be displayed on the display unit 18.

  (S704) The first display processing unit 121 instructs the second display processing unit 122 to acquire new article text data via the content data acquisition processing unit 123. As a result, the second display processing unit 122 acquires the corresponding article text data from the content data 100 stored in the content storage unit 14 via the content data acquisition processing unit 123, and the first display processing unit 121 Notify completion of processing.

  (S705) Similarly, the first display processing unit 121 instructs to generate a display image of article body data based on the new article body data acquired in the process of S704. Since the processing content is equivalent to S703, detailed description is omitted. Note that the processing of S704 and S705 may be individually instructed from the first display processing unit 121 to the second display processing unit 122, or may be instructed as a batch process.

  (S706) The display image data of the digest data generated in S703 and S706 and the display image data of the article body data are drawn on the display unit 18. This processing may be performed by the first display processing unit 121 in a lump, or the drawing of the article text data is performed by instructing the second display processing unit from the first display processing unit 121. Also good. In addition, since it is necessary to change the currently selected digest data even when it is determined that the replacement of the digest data is unnecessary in the determination process of S701, the background color in the display of a part of the digest data is changed, etc. It is necessary to perform digest data drawing processing (detailed in the description of FIGS. 8 and 9).

  (S707) The current image data existing in the area where the soft key 210 is displayed is saved in the work area on the RAM 12. This image data is used as original image data in the processing described in S502 of FIG.

  (S708) The image data of the soft key 210 is displayed.

  The display example of the information processing terminal 1 when the article movement process described with reference to FIG. 7 is performed will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the state of the information processing terminal 1 before the article movement process. In FIG. 8, the article of digest # 1 is selected, and the article text corresponding to this digest is displayed. In the first embodiment of the present invention, the background color of the selected digest is displayed in gray. Therefore, digest # 1 currently selected in FIG. 8 is displayed in gray. The page number display area 200 indicates that the article text is composed of two pages, and the first page is currently displayed. Furthermore, in the state of FIG. 8, the soft key 210 has already been displayed.

  If soft key area # 3 (213) in soft key 210 is touched in this state, the state transitions to the state shown in FIG. FIG. 9 shows a state in which digest # 2 has been selected, which means that the article has moved to the left one article compared to FIG. In FIG. 9, what is grayed out is not digest # 1 but digest # 2. As described above, the background color changing process is performed even if the digest data is not replaced.

  Similarly, when soft key area # 4 (214) in soft key 210 is touched in the state of FIG. 9, the state transitions to the state of FIG. As described above, the left and right keys in the soft key 210 are assigned to the article movement process for the first display area 110, and the user uses the left and right keys in the soft key 210 to input to the first display area 110. Operations can be performed.

  Next, the page scroll processing procedure will be described with reference to FIG. In this processing, the touch panel input determination processing unit 120 instructs the second display processing unit 122 in S412 of FIG. The page scroll means that the article text displayed in the second display area 111 is scrolled up and down to the previous and next pages.

  (S1001) It is determined whether or not the instructed page scroll is valid. For example, when an instruction to scroll upward (previous page) is received in a state where the first page is being displayed, since the scrolling cannot be performed any more, the process ends without doing anything. Similarly, when an instruction to scroll down (rear page) is received while the last page is displayed, the process is terminated without doing anything. If it is determined that the instructed page scroll is valid, the process proceeds to S1002.

  (S1002) In S1001, when it is determined that the designated page scroll is valid, the second display processing unit 122 instructs the content data acquisition processing unit 123 to acquire new article body data. As a result, the content data acquisition processing unit 123 acquires the corresponding article text data from the content data 100 stored in the content storage unit 14, and transmits it to the second display processing unit 122.

  (S1003) The second display processing unit 122 transmits the article body data acquired in S1002 to the display data generation processing unit 124, and instructs to generate a display image of article body data. Accordingly, the display data generation processing unit 124 generates display image data based on the transmitted article body data, stores the display image data in a predetermined work memory, and notifies the second display processing unit 122 of the display image data. Here, the predetermined work memory may be a partial area on the RAM 12 or a dedicated graphic memory for transferring image data to be displayed on the display unit 18.

  (S1004) The display image data of the article body data generated in S1003 is drawn in the second display area 111.

  (S1005) The current image data existing in the area where the soft key 210 is displayed is saved in the work area on the RAM 12. This image data is used as original image data in the processing described in S502 of FIG.

  (S1006) The image data of the soft key 210 is displayed.

  The display example of the information processing terminal 1 when the page scroll process described with reference to FIG. 10 is performed will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the state of the information processing terminal 1 before the page scroll process. In FIG. 11, the article of digest # 1 is selected, and the article text corresponding to this digest is displayed. The page number display area 200 indicates that the article text is composed of two pages, and the first page is currently displayed. Furthermore, in the state of FIG. 11, the soft key 210 has already been displayed.

  When soft key area # 2 (212) in soft key 210 is touched in this state, the state transitions to the state shown in FIG. FIG. 12 shows a state in which digest # 1 is selected as in FIG. 11, but the article body is scrolled down one page. In FIG. 11, the page number display area 200 changes to information indicating that the second page of the two pages is displayed. Also, the article body is the second page article.

  Similarly, when the soft key area # 1 (211) in the soft key 210 is touched in the state of FIG. 12, the state transitions to the state of FIG. In this way, the page scroll processing for the second display area 111 is assigned to the up and down keys in the soft key 210, and the user uses the up and down keys in the soft key 210 to input to the second display area 111. Operations can be performed.

  As described above, the display unit 18 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention includes the first display area 110 and the second display area 111, and further includes the touch panel 16. A soft key 210 is displayed at a position where the touch panel 16 is touched, an area corresponding to the left / right key in the soft key 210 is assigned to an operation on the first display area 110, and an area corresponding to the up / down key in the soft key 210 is assigned. The operation is assigned to the operation on the second display area 111. Thereby, the input operation for the two display areas can be realized by using one soft key 210, and both the two display areas can be operated only by a simple input operation for the soft key 210. .

  Although the present invention has been described based on the above embodiment, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. Various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. The numerical values described in the present embodiment are examples, and other values may be used. For example, the case where the number of digests displayed at a time is four has been described, but other values may be used.

  In the present embodiment, the case where the drawing process of the soft key 210 is performed independently after the drawing of the digest / article data has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this processing procedure. In addition, other processing procedures such as drawing processing of the soft key 210 may be used.

  In this embodiment, the case where the touch panel control unit 15 and the display control unit 17 are configured by independent controller LSIs has been described. However, the control software is stored in the ROM 13 so as to be controlled by software, and the touch panel control unit 15. The display control unit 17 may not be provided, or these control units may be configured by an LSI integrated with a CPU or the like.

  In addition, the case where electronic paper is used as the display unit 18 has been described. However, if the conditions such as light weight and low power consumption are comparable to those of electronic paper, the liquid crystal panel, the organic EL panel, etc. The display device may be used.

  Further, an example in which the portable information processing terminal is operated with one hand has been described. However, the present invention can be applied to any terminal that can enjoy the feature of the present invention that simplifies the input operation in other formats. Is possible. For example, a stationary terminal for browsing newspaper articles or the like, in which the display unit 18 and the touch panel 16 of the present invention are provided on a part of a table top, is conceivable. Such a terminal may be installed in a library or the like for the purpose of enabling search and browsing of newspaper articles freely. Since terminals installed in such public places are assumed to be used by users with various ages and body conditions (such as injured dominant arms), input operations are as simple as possible It is preferable that The present invention can also be applied to such a terminal.

  In addition, the specifications of the newspaper display terminal described in this embodiment are merely examples, and may be realized by other specifications. For example, instead of displaying a digest in the first display area 110, a unique ID for identifying a newspaper article may be displayed, or a reduced image of a newspaper article text may be displayed. Further, the displayable area of the soft key 210 may be limited to the second display area 111. Also, other information such as the name of the newspaper company, the date of the newspaper, and an advertisement may be displayed. Furthermore, the information processing terminal 1 described in the first embodiment of the present invention is not limited to a newspaper display terminal, and may be applied to a book display terminal, a map display terminal, a still image display terminal, and the like.

(Embodiment 2)
Subsequently, another embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 13 is a configuration diagram of the information processing terminal 1 in the present embodiment. 13 differs from FIG. 1 in that the first display area 110 and the second display area 111 in the display section 18 do not exist, and the first display processing section 121 and the second display processing section 122 display the information. The key is that the processing unit 300 is integrated and the key type determination processing unit 301 is added. In the present embodiment, the display unit 18 itself is centrally managed without dividing the area. Instead, the key type determination processing unit 301 determines which of the two types of key input corresponds to the input to one soft key 210 and notifies the display processing unit 300 of it. More specifically, the soft key 210 operates only as an up / down / left / right four-way key in the first embodiment, whereas in the present embodiment, the soft key 210 operates as an up / down / left / right four-way key. And a key having two key types, ie, a vector key that handles input information as vector information from a pressed position to a released position. As a result, two types of operations can be performed on a single soft key 210 that is physically displayed in one place, and a plurality of processing types can be performed on the information processing terminal 1 by simple input operations. It becomes possible to make it.

  14 and 15 are diagrams showing the configuration of the soft key 210 according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. FIG. 14 is the same as the configuration of the soft key 210 in Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and shows the configuration of the soft key 210 when operating as a four-way key. FIG. 15 shows the configuration of the soft key 210 when operating as the vector key. In this case, the area in the soft key 210 is managed as a single soft key area 310, and is input as vector information including an input start point (a point pressed with a finger) and an end point (a point where the finger is released). Handle information. The key type determination processing unit 301 determines which of the soft key configurations in FIGS. 14 and 15 is used for processing.

  Subsequently, a processing procedure of the touch panel input determination processing unit 120 in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The touch panel input determination processing unit 120 acquires information input to the touch panel 16 via the touch panel control unit 15, notifies the key type determination processing unit 301 of the information, performs the key type determination, and The result is notified to the display processing unit 300 to perform display processing. Here, a description will be given assuming that the text of a newspaper article such as the second display area 111 in the first embodiment is displayed on the entire surface of the display unit 18.

  (S1601) Information input to the touch panel 16 is acquired from the touch panel control unit 15. Specifically, the coordinate information indicating the position touched on the touch panel 16, the pressed strength, the information indicating whether it is pressed or released, the time information when the input is detected, and the like exist as information. In the present embodiment, information on the start position where the finger is pressed and the end position where the finger is released is used among these pieces of information. In addition, when it is continuously pressed with a finger, it is divided by a predetermined unit time, and information on the start point and end point within the unit time is used. For example, if you start pressing from point A and continue to press point B after 1 second, point C after 1 second and point D after 1 second, and then release your finger at point D, In the case of 1 second, three pieces of information (start point = A, end point = B), (start point = B, end point = C), and (start point = C, end point = D) are used as information input to the touch panel 16. Shall be.

  (S1602) It is determined whether or not the soft key 210 is already displayed on the display unit 18. If the soft key 210 has already been displayed, the process proceeds to S1604. If the soft key 210 is not displayed, the process proceeds to S1603.

  (S1603) When the soft key 210 is not displayed on the display unit 18, soft key display position information is generated based on the touch position information acquired in S1601, and the soft key display position information is notified to the display processing unit 300. Then, the display processing unit 300 is instructed to display a soft key, and the process ends. At this time, the generation of the soft key display position information uses the end point information acquired in S1601. Thus, the soft key 210 can be displayed near the position where the finger is released. Further, since the generation method of the soft key display position information is the same as the method described with reference to FIG. 4, detailed description thereof is omitted.

  (S1604) In the determination process of S1602, when it is determined that the soft key 210 is displayed on the display unit 18, whether the touched position is inside the soft key 210 based on the touch position information acquired in S1601. Determine whether or not. If it is determined that the touched position is inside the soft key 210, the process proceeds to S1606. If it is determined that the touched position is outside the soft key 210, the process proceeds to S1605.

  (S1605) When it is determined in S1604 that the touched position is outside the soft key 210, the display processing unit 300 is instructed to delete the soft key 210. Further, after the deletion of the soft key 210 is completed, the process proceeds to S1603.

  (S1606) In the determination process of S1604, when it is determined that the touched position is inside the soft key 210, the touch type information is notified to the key type determination processing unit 301 and the determination of the key type is instructed. The detailed procedure of the key type determination process will be described later.

  (S1607) It is determined whether or not the key type is determined to be a four-way key based on the result of the key type determination process in S1606. If it is determined that the key type is a four-way key, the process proceeds to S1608. When it is determined that the key type is not a four-way key (that is, when it is determined that the key is a vector key), the process proceeds to S1609.

  (S1608) If it is determined in S1607 that the key type is a four-way key, the display processing unit 300 is instructed to move an article for one screen, and the process is terminated.

  (S1609) If it is determined in S1607 that the key type is a vector key, the display processing unit 300 is instructed to move articles for a plurality of screens, and the process ends. The amount of movement of the screen (number of moving pages) is determined based on the size of vector information detected as a vector key. For example, the number of moving pages is determined based on a preset threshold value such as 2 pages if the vector size is 50 pixels or less and 3 pages if the vector size is 51 pixels or more.

  As described above with reference to FIG. 16, the touch panel input determination processing unit 120 according to the present embodiment acquires information input to the touch panel 16 via the touch panel control unit 15 and obtains a key type determination processing unit. 301 is used to determine the key type. When the key type is a 4-way key, the screen movement amount is reduced. When the key type is a vector key, the screen movement amount is increased by using a single soft key 210. To do.

  The soft key deletion process and the soft key display process are the same as those described in the first embodiment, and thus the description thereof is omitted. The screen movement process is the same as the page scroll process described in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted. However, in the first embodiment, the page scroll is limited to the vertical direction, but in the present embodiment, the page scroll may be moved in any direction, up, down, left, and right.

  Next, a key type determination processing procedure in the key type determination processing unit 301 will be described with reference to FIG. The key type determination processing procedure in the key type determination processing unit 301 is as follows.

  (S1701) Touch position information is acquired from the touch panel input determination processing unit 120.

  (S1702) A movement amount (vector size) is obtained from the start point and end point information included in the touch position information, and it is determined whether or not the value is not less than a predetermined threshold (for example, not less than 10 pixels). If it is determined that the movement amount is greater than or equal to the threshold, the process proceeds to S1703. If it is determined that the movement amount is less than the threshold, the process proceeds to S1705.

  (S1703) In the determination process of S1702, when it is determined that the movement amount is equal to or greater than the threshold, the key type is determined to be a vector key.

  (S1704) The vector direction (up, down, left, right, etc.) is determined from the start point and end point information included in the touch position information, notified to the touch panel input determination processing unit 120 together with the previously obtained vector size, and the process is terminated. .

  (S1705) In the determination process of S1702, when it is determined that the movement amount is less than the threshold value, the key type is determined to be a four-way key.

  (S1706) It is determined from the end point information included in the touch position information whether the position in the soft key 210 corresponding to any of the four directions has been pressed, notifies the touch panel input determination processing unit 120, and ends the process. To do.

  As described above with reference to FIG. 17, the key type determination processing unit 301 in this embodiment determines the key type to be either a four-way key or a vector key and notifies the touch panel input determination processing unit 120. To do.

  As described above, the information processing terminal 1 according to the present embodiment uses the key type determination processing unit 301 to determine which of the two types of key input corresponds to the input to one soft key 210, The display processing unit 300 is notified. More specifically, the soft key 210 operates only as an up / down / left / right four-way key in the first embodiment, whereas in the present embodiment, the soft key 210 operates as an up / down / left / right four-way key. And a key having two key types, ie, a vector key that handles input information as vector information from a pressed position to a released position. As a result, two types of operations can be performed on a single soft key 210 that is physically displayed in one place, and a plurality of processing types can be performed on the information processing terminal 1 by simple input operations. It becomes possible to make it.

  Although the present invention has been described based on the above embodiment, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. Various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Various modifications described in the first embodiment may be applied to the second embodiment.

  In the second embodiment, an example in which only the text of a newspaper article is displayed on the display unit 18 has been described. However, as in the first embodiment, it is divided into two display areas and managed. Also good. In this case, for example, when an operation corresponding to the left and right of the vector key is performed on the touch panel 16, it is conceivable to replace it with a process of skipping a plurality of digests. In the case where a plurality of articles are managed as one genre, it can be considered to replace the process with skipping by genre unit.

The information processing terminal 1 according to the present invention includes a display unit 18, and the display unit 18 is divided and managed into two display areas, a first display area 110 and a second display area 111. The touch panel 16 and the touch panel input determination processing unit 120 are provided as key input devices. The touch panel input determination processing unit 120 determines which of the first display processing unit 121 and the second display processing unit 122 to call based on the touch position on the soft key 210 displayed at an arbitrary position on the display unit 18. The display processing unit is requested to perform display processing. Thereby, both the first display area 110 and the second display area 111 can be operated by an input to one soft key 210. Such an information processing terminal 1 can be used as a device that displays digital content such as a document, a map, and a still image on the display unit 18, such as a newspaper display terminal or a book display terminal.

1 Information processing terminal 11 CPU
12 RAM
13 ROM
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 14 Content storage part 15 Touch panel control part 16 Touch panel 17 Display control part 18 Display part 100 Content data 110 1st display area 111 2nd display area 120 Touch panel input determination process part 121 1st display process part 122 2nd display Processing unit 123 Content data acquisition processing unit 124 Display data generation processing unit 200 Page number display area 201, 202 Touchable range 210 Soft key 211, 212, 213, 214, 310 Soft key area 300 Display processing unit 301 Key type determination processing unit

Claims (16)

A display for displaying information;
An input detection unit that is arranged on the front surface of the display unit and transmits information displayed on the rear display unit to the front side, and detects input from the outside,
A display processing unit that, when detecting an input from the outside, displays a soft key in the vicinity of an area where the input to the touch panel is made, and changes information displayed on the display unit based on the input to the soft key When,
An input determination processing unit that selects either the first display process or the second display process for the display unit based on an input to the soft key, and instructs the display unit to perform the display process;
A touch panel type information processing terminal comprising: The display unit
2. The touch panel type information processing terminal according to claim 1, further comprising at least two display areas: a first display area for displaying information in a vertical direction and a second display area for displaying information in a horizontal direction. The display processing unit
At least two of a first display processing unit that performs the first display processing for the first display region and a second display processing unit that performs the second display processing for the second display region The touch panel type information processing terminal according to claim 2, further comprising a display processing unit. The input determination processing unit
When there is an input to the soft key, the input is determined in which of the four directions, and if the input corresponds to any two of the four directions, display processing is performed in the first display processing unit. The touch panel type information processing terminal according to claim 3, wherein if any of the directions other than the two directions is applicable, the second display processing unit is instructed to perform display processing. The first display area is
The touch panel type information processing terminal according to claim 2, wherein either information indicating an outline of the target information or information for identifying the target information is displayed. The second display area is
The touch panel type information processing terminal according to claim 2, wherein information indicating detailed contents of the target information is displayed. The input determination processing unit
Based on an input to the soft key, a key type of any one of a four-way key for converting the input into any one of four directions and a vector key for converting the input into a vector input having a start point and an end point The touch panel type information processing terminal according to claim 1, wherein the touch panel type information processing terminal is determined. The input determination processing unit
Based on the information of the start point and end point input to the soft key, when the distance between the start point and the end point is a predetermined threshold or more, it is determined as the vector key,
8. The touch panel type information processing terminal according to claim 7, wherein when the distance between the start point and the end point is less than a predetermined threshold, the touch panel type information processing terminal is determined to be the four-way key. The display processing unit
When the input determination processing unit determines that the key is a four-way key, the first display processing for displaying information existing in a place moved by one screen is performed,
9. The touch panel type according to claim 8, wherein when the input determination processing unit determines that the key is a vector key, the second display processing for displaying information existing at a location moved by a plurality of screens is performed. Information processing terminal. A touch panel type information processing comprising: a display unit for displaying information; and an input detection unit that is disposed in front of the display unit and transmits information displayed on a rear display unit to the front and detects an input from the outside On the terminal,
Detecting the external input to the touch panel;
Determining whether the input is to a soft key displayed on the touch panel;
Selecting one of the first display process and the second display process for the display unit based on the input to the soft key when it is determined that the input is to the soft key displayed on the touch panel; ,
A key input method comprising: The first display process is a display process for a first display area that displays information included in the display unit in a vertical direction, and the second display process includes information included in the display unit in a horizontal direction. The key input method according to claim 10, wherein the key input method is display processing for the second display area to be displayed. The step of selecting the first display process and the second display process includes:
Determining which of the four directions the input to the soft key is;
A step of selecting the first display process when any two of the four directions are applicable;
11. The key input method according to claim 10, further comprising a step of selecting the second display process when the direction is other than the two arbitrary directions. In the case where the soft key is not displayed on the display unit, the method further includes a step of displaying the soft key in the vicinity of the input area when an input is made to an arbitrary position on the display unit. The key input method according to claim 10, wherein: The method further comprises the step of erasing the soft key that is already displayed when an input is made to an area other than the soft key when the soft key is displayed on the display unit. Item 10. The key input method according to Item 10. Based on the start point and end point information input to the soft key, it is determined that the vector key has vector information when the distance between the start point and the end point is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold,
11. The method of claim 10, further comprising: determining that the input is a four-way key that converts the input into any one of four directions when the distance between the start point and the end point is less than a predetermined threshold. Key entry method as described. In the determination of the soft key, when it is determined that the key is the four-direction key, the first display process for displaying information existing in a place moved by one screen is performed,
The determination of the soft key further includes a step of performing the second display process of displaying information existing at a location moved by a plurality of screens when it is determined that the key is the vector key. Item 15. The key input method according to Item 15.

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