JP2011138218A - Electronic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent erroneous input to a touch pad during key input, and to improve operability by allowing a prompt start of input operation to the touch pad. <P>SOLUTION: A personal computer includes: the touch pad 16; a tap monitoring part 33 monitoring presence/absence of the operation to the touch pad 16; a keyboard 13; a key input monitoring part 30 monitoring presence/absence of key input to the keyboard 13; a specific operation monitoring part 34 monitoring presence/absence of specific operation to the touch pad 16; and a tap effectiveness/ineffectiveness switch part 31 switching the input operation from the touch pad 16 from an effective state to an ineffective state when the key input is detected, and switching the input operation from the touch pad 16 from the ineffective state to the effective state when it is detected that the specific operation to the touch pad 16 is performed before a time t1 lapses after the detection of the key input. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device such as a personal computer having a touch pad.

  A general notebook type personal computer is provided with a keyboard and a touch pad as input devices on the upper surface of the computer main body. The touch pad is operated to perform, for example, a click or a pointer (cursor) movement during execution of an application or the like.

  When performing key input from a keyboard in a notebook personal computer, both hands are usually placed in a place called a palm rest of the computer main body. That is, a key input operation is performed at the home position with respect to the keyboard.

  Normally, the touchpad is installed on the front side of the keyboard at the center of the computer. Therefore, if you place a hand at the home position and perform key input operations, your thumb or palm will touch the touchpad unintentionally. There was a thing. In this case, an unintended click or pointer movement occurs during a key input operation, causing the personal computer to perform an unintended operation. In addition, an operation for canceling an erroneous operation is required, resulting in a decrease in operability.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an input device that can prevent a click or a pointer movement at the time of a key input operation from a keyboard is known (Patent Document 1). In the input device described in Patent Literature 1, when a key input from the keyboard is detected, the input from the touch pad is prohibited. Also, if there is a key input again within the set time T1 after the input from the touch pad is prohibited, the set time T1 is updated while the input prohibited state from the touch pad is maintained, and time counting is started again. Then, if there is no key input within the set time T1, control is performed so as to cancel the input prohibited state from the touch pad.

JP 2001-356869 A

  As described above, in the input device according to the prior art, erroneous input to the touch pad is prevented by prohibiting input from the touch pad for a certain time T1 after the key input. For this reason, in the prior art, since the input to the touch pad is completely invalidated for a certain time T1 after the key input operation, for example, the input to the touch pad cannot be performed immediately after the key input. That is, after the user performs a key input operation, the user has to wait until the input prohibited state from the touch pad is released before operating the touch pad.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned circumstances, and prevents erroneous input to the touch pad during key input, and improves operability by allowing the input operation to the touch pad to be started quickly. An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device that can be used.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention is directed to a touch pad, a keyboard, key input monitoring means for monitoring presence / absence of key input to the keyboard, and key input by monitoring of the key input monitoring means. When a key input is detected by monitoring the first timer and the key input monitoring means, the input operation from the touch pad is changed from the valid state to the invalid state. First switching means for switching, specific operation monitoring means for monitoring the presence or absence of a specific operation on the touch pad, and the presence of a specific operation on the touch pad before the first time has been detected In this case, a second switching unit that switches the input operation from the touch pad from the invalid state to the valid state is provided.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent erroneous input to the touch pad during key input, and to improve operability by allowing the input operation to the touch pad to be started quickly.

1 is an external view showing an example of a personal computer in the present embodiment. The block diagram which shows the system configuration | structure of the personal computer in this embodiment. The block diagram related to the input control of the touchpad 16 in the personal computer of this embodiment. 6 is a flowchart showing setting processing by a setting utility in the embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the touchpad setting screen in this embodiment. The figure which shows an example of user operation with respect to the touchpad in this embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the touchpad control data in this embodiment. The flowchart which shows the input control with respect to the touchpad by the touchpad utility in this embodiment.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
First, an electronic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. The electronic apparatus according to the present embodiment is realized as, for example, a notebook personal computer 10 illustrated in FIG.

  The electronic apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to the personal computer 10 but may be a processor that executes programs such as a mobile phone, a PDA (personal digital assistant), a portable audio / video player, a digital video camera, and a portable car navigation device. And a device having a keyboard having a plurality of keys (or buttons) and a touch pad (or a contact-type input device equivalent to the touch pad) adjacent to the keyboard.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the personal computer 10 with the display unit opened. The personal computer 10 includes a computer main body 11 and a display unit 12. The display unit 12 incorporates a display device composed of an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) 17.

  The display unit 12 is attached to the computer main body 11 so as to be rotatable between an open position where the upper surface of the computer main body 11 is exposed and a closed position covering the upper surface of the computer main body 11. The computer main body 11 has a thin box-shaped housing, and a keyboard 13, a power button 14 for power on / off, an input operation panel 15, a touch pad 16, a speaker 18, and the like are arranged on the upper surface. Has been.

  The input operation panel 15 is an input device that inputs an event corresponding to a pressed button, and includes a plurality of buttons for starting a plurality of functions.

  Further, in the personal computer 10 according to the present embodiment, a touch pad 16 is disposed on the front side of the keyboard 13 on the upper surface of the computer main body 11, that is, a so-called palm rest. In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, the touch pad 16 is disposed at approximately the center in the horizontal width direction on the upper surface of the computer main body 11. The touch pad 16 is usually a pointing device that inputs coordinate data by a user touching with a fingertip.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of the personal computer 10. The computer main body 11 includes a CPU 111, a north bridge 112, a main memory 113, a graphics controller 114, and a south bridge 115. The computer main body 11 also includes a BIOS-ROM 120, a hard disk drive (HDD) 130, an optical disk drive (ODD) 140, a sound controller 150, an embedded controller / keyboard controller IC (EC / KBC) 160, and a power supply circuit 170.

  The CPU 111 is a processor that controls the operation of the personal computer 10. The CPU 111 executes an operating system (OS) 113a that is loaded from a boot device, for example, the HDD 130, into the main memory 113. The CPU 111 executes various application programs 113b, utility programs, device drivers for device control, and the like. The CPU 111 executes a system BIOS (Basic Input Output System) stored in the BIOS-ROM 120. The system BIOS is a program for hardware control.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the personal computer 10 of the present embodiment includes a touch pad utility 113 c that performs control for preventing erroneous input to the touch pad 16, a touch pad driver 113 d that controls input of the touch pad 16, and a touch pad. Each program includes a setting utility 113e for setting touchpad control data 113h for 16 input controls, a keyboard driver 113f for controlling input of the keyboard 13, and a display driver 113g for controlling the display device (graphics controller 114, LCD 17). Execute. Further, the personal computer 10 stores the touch pad control data 113h set by the setting utility 113e in the main memory 113, and makes the touch pad utility 113c refer to it. Details of the setting utility 113e will be described later (see FIGS. 4 to 7).

  The north bridge 112 is a bridge device that connects the local bus of the CPU 111 and the south bridge 115. The north bridge 112 has a memory controller that controls access to the main memory 113, a function that executes communication with the graphics controller 114, and the like.

  The graphics controller 114 is a display controller that controls the LCD 17 used as a display monitor of the computer 10. The graphics controller 114 has a video memory (VRAM) 114a, and generates a video signal that forms a display image to be displayed on the LCD 17 from display data written in the VRAM 114a.

  The south bridge 115 controls access to the BIOS-ROM 120. The BIOS-ROM 120 is a rewritable nonvolatile memory such as a flash ROM. The south bridge 115 controls disk drives (I / O devices) such as the HDD 130 and the ODD 140. The south bridge 115 controls each device on the LPC bus 3.

  The HDD 130 stores various programs and data, and writes / reads data to / from the magnetic disk. The HDD 130 stores programs such as the OS 113a, drivers, and utilities in advance. The OS 113 a is executed by the CPU 111 by being loaded into the main memory 113 in accordance with the system BIOS stored in the BIOS-ROM 120. Also, other programs and data such as drivers and utilities are loaded into the main memory 113 as necessary and executed by the CPU 111.

  The ODD 140 reads / writes data to / from an optical disc such as a compact disc (CD) or a digital versatile disc (DVD).

  The sound controller 150 performs control for outputting sound from the speaker 18.

  The EC / KBC 160 is a microcomputer in which an embedded controller for power management and a keyboard controller for controlling the keyboard (KB) 13 and the touch pad 16 are integrated on a single chip. The EC / KBC 160 has a power control function for turning on the computer 10 in response to the operation of the power button switch 14 by the user by operating in cooperation with the power circuit 170.

  The power supply circuit 170 generates system power to be supplied to each module of the computer main body 11 using DC power supplied via the rechargeable battery 171 or the AC adapter 172. The AC adapter 172 converts AC power into DC power.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram related to input control of the touch pad 16 in the personal computer 10 of the present embodiment.
The EC / KBC 160 controls input from the keyboard 13 and the touch pad 16. The touch pad driver 113 d detects coordinate data indicating a position designated by a pointing operation on the touch pad 16 based on a signal input through the EC / KBC 160. The keyboard driver 113f detects code data indicating key input based on a key input signal input through the EC / KBC 160. The operating system 113a inputs data input by an input operation on the keyboard 13 and the touch pad 16 through the touch pad utility 113c, and executes processing according to the input data. The display driver 113g controls display on the LCD 17 in response to a display request for images, characters, pointers, and the like from the operating system 113a.

  The touch pad utility 113c executes processing for preventing erroneous input to the touch pad 16, and includes a key input monitoring unit 30, a tap valid / invalid switch unit 31, a timer 32, a tap monitoring unit 33, and specific operation monitoring. The module of the part 34 is included.

The key input monitoring unit 30 monitors the presence or absence of key input to the keyboard 13 based on data from the keyboard driver 113f.
The tap valid / invalid switch unit 31 switches the input operation from the touch pad from the valid state to the invalid state when the key input is detected by the monitoring of the key input monitoring unit 30. The tap valid / invalid switch unit 31 is touched before a predetermined time (T0: first time) elapses after the key input is detected by the management of the key input monitoring unit 30. When it is detected that a specific operation has been performed on the pad 16, the input operation from the touch pad 16 is switched from the invalid state to the valid state. Further, the tap valid / invalid switch unit 31 has a predetermined time (T1) after the tap monitoring unit 33 detects that the touch pad 16 has been operated (tap operation) before the time (T0) has elapsed. When the operation on the touch pad 16 is detected before the second time) elapses, the input operation from the touch pad 16 is switched from the invalid state to the valid state.

  In the timer 32, a first timer (t0) for measuring the elapse of time (T0) and the time (T0) have elapsed since the key input monitoring unit 30 detects that a key input has been detected. A second timer (t1) is provided for measuring the elapse of time (T1) since the operation of the touch pad 16 was previously detected by the monitoring of the key input monitoring unit 30.

  The tap monitoring unit 33 monitors the presence or absence of an operation (tap operation) on the touch pad 16 based on data from the touch pad driver 113d.

  The specific operation monitoring unit 34 monitors the presence or absence of a specific operation on the touch pad 16 based on data from the touch pad driver 113d. The specific operation monitoring unit 34 determines that the specific operation has been performed when the operation on the touch pad 16 corresponds to the operation data set as the touch pad control data 113h.

  The OS 113a activates the setting utility 113e when input control setting for the touch pad 16 is requested. The setting utility 113e displays a setting screen on the LCD 17, accepts a setting request from the user, and records touch pad control data 113h corresponding to the setting content. The setting utility 113e can set operation data used for determination of a specific operation by the specific operation monitoring unit 34 and time (T0) (T1) measured by the timer 32 in accordance with an instruction from the user.

Next, the operation of the personal computer 10 in this embodiment will be described.
The personal computer 10 according to the present embodiment prevents an unintended click or pointer movement from occurring when the thumb or palm touches the touch pad 16 unintentionally during a key input operation to the keyboard 13. The input from the touch pad 16 for a predetermined time (T0) according to the key input is invalidated. Further, even during the invalidation time for invalidating the input from the touch pad 16, the input from the touch pad 16 is validated by performing a specific operation on the touch pad 16. Thereby, it becomes possible to input from the touch pad 16 immediately after the key input operation.

  In the present embodiment, the specific operation for validating the input from the touch pad 16 includes an input operation based on a predetermined specific operation pattern during the invalid time of the touch pad 16 and an operation of the touch pad 16 during the invalid time. There is an input operation for operating the touch pad 16 again within a certain time (time (T1)).

First, the operation of the setting utility 113e for setting the touch pad control data 113h will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing setting processing by the setting utility 113e.
First, when execution of the setting utility 113e is instructed by the user, the CPU 111 starts a touch pad control data setting process (step A1) and displays a touch pad setting screen on the LCD 17 (step A2).

  FIG. 5 shows an example of the touch pad setting screen. In the example of the touch pad setting screen shown in FIG. 5, any one of “tap function invalidation / validation time”, “tap function validation operation”, and “tap function validation operation count” is arbitrarily selected and user operation is performed. The setting contents can be inputted and recorded in accordance with (Step A3).

  When “tap function invalid / validation time” is selected, the above-described time (T0) can be set as the tap function invalid time, and the time (T1) can be set as the tap function invalid time.

  When “tap function enabling operation” is selected, a specific operation pattern for instructing to enable the touchpad 16 during the invalid time can be registered.

  For example, the setting utility 113e displays an operation pattern input screen and prompts the user to perform a specific operation on the touch pad 16. FIG. 6 shows an example of a user operation on the touch pad 16. The operation pattern shown in FIG. 6 is an example of an operation often performed when the user confirms the position of the mouse pointer on the display screen. The operation pattern is not limited to one, and a plurality of patterns can be set. That is, the touch pad 16 can be validated by operating any one of a plurality of operation patterns during the invalid time.

  When “number of tap function enabling operations” is selected, the number of operations on the touch pad 16 during the invalid time for enabling the touch pad 16 can be set. For example, when the number of operations is two, the touch pad 16 is activated when the second touch pad 16 is operated before the time (T1) has elapsed since the first operation. Show. If the number of operations is three, the touch pad 16 is activated when the second and third operations on the touch pad 16 are performed before the time (T1) has elapsed since the first operation. Indicates to do. It is also possible to set the number of validation operations to 4 or more.

  When the completion of setting is instructed by the user (step A4, Yes), the CPU 111 records the content set through the touch pad setting screen as touch pad control data 113d. FIG. 7 shows an example of the touch pad control data 113h.

  When the touch pad control data 113d is set by the setting utility 113e, the touch pad utility 113c performs input control of the touch pad 16 with reference to the set content. When the touch pad driver 113d is not set by user operation, preset default data is referred to.

  In this way, the user can arbitrarily set the touch pad control data 113h using the setting utility 113e, thereby providing a user-friendly environment for each user.

Next, input control to the touch pad 16 by the touch pad utility 113c will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
When the CPU 111 detects a key input to the keyboard 13 by the key input monitoring unit 30 of the touch pad utility 113c, the CPU 111 invalidates the tap operation to the touch pad 16 by the tap valid / invalid switch unit 31 (step B1). That is, even if the user performs a tap operation on the touch pad 16, the tap valid / invalid switch unit 31 does not notify the operating system 113a of data detected by this tap.

  On the other hand, the timer 32 starts measuring time by the timer (t0) (step B2). That is, the timing for determining whether the time (T0) has elapsed since it was detected that there was a key input is started. When there is no tap operation on the touch pad 16 (step B3, No) and the time indicated by the timer (t0) is shorter than the time (T0) (step B5, Yes), the timer (t0) continues to count. And when time (T0) passes (step B5, No), the tap valid / invalid switch part 31 validates operation with respect to the touchpad 16 (step B6).

  Further, the specific operation monitoring unit 34 monitors whether a specific operation has been performed based on data input from the touch pad 16 while the operation of the touch pad 16 is invalidated by the tap valid / invalid switch unit 31. is doing. For example, when an operation as illustrated in FIG. 6 is performed on the touch pad 16, the specific operation monitoring unit 34 refers to the touch pad control data 113h, and the operation on the touch pad 16 is a preset operation. Determine if it corresponds to the data. Here, for example, when corresponding to the operation 1 data of the touch pad control data 113h, the specific operation monitoring unit 34 determines that a specific operation has been performed (step B4, Yes).

  In this case, the tap valid / invalid switch unit 31 validates the operation on the touch pad 16 even during the invalid time (step B6). That is, since a specific operation cannot be performed due to an erroneous operation on the touch pad 16, the touch pad 16 is validated as a determination that the user is operating intentionally to validate the touch pad 16.

  Therefore, when the user wants to input from the touch pad 16 during the key input operation, the user can immediately input from the touch pad 16 by performing a specific operation registered in advance on the touch pad 16. Become.

  When the tap monitoring unit 33 detects that a tap operation has been performed on the touch pad 16 during the invalid time, the timer 32 starts counting by the timer (t1) (step B7). That is, the timing for determining whether the time (T1) has elapsed since the operation of the touch pad 16 was detected before the time (T0) has elapsed is started.

  Here, when there is no operation on the touch pad 16 (step B8, No), and the time indicated by the timer (t0) is shorter than the time (T0) or the time indicated by the timer (t1) is shorter than the time (T1). (Step B8, No), the timer (t1) is kept timed. When the time (T1) or time (T0) has elapsed (step B9, No), the tap valid / invalid switch unit 31 validates the operation on the touch pad 16 (step B6). That is, it is determined that the tap operation on the touch pad 16 is an erroneous input, and the input from the touch pad 16 is validated after a set time has elapsed.

  On the other hand, when the tap monitoring unit 33 detects that a tap operation has occurred before the time (T1) or the time (T0) has elapsed (step B8), the tap valid / invalid switch unit 31 is in the invalid time. Even if it exists, operation with respect to the touchpad 16 is validated (step B6). It is assumed that 2 is set as the tap function enabling operation count.

  That is, it is impossible for the user to validate the touch pad 16 because an operation on the touch pad 16 cannot cause a predetermined number of tap operations to be performed within a predetermined time (T1). If it is determined that the operation is intended, the touch pad 16 is activated.

  In this way, in the personal computer 10 (touch pad utility 113c) in the present embodiment, the invalid time is set according to the key input to invalidate the operation on the touch pad 16 to prevent an erroneous operation, and within the invalid time. Even if there is a specific operation for enabling the tap, that is, an input operation with a predetermined operation pattern, or a tap operation for a set number of times within a predetermined time (T1), the user immediately starts a touch pad operation. It becomes possible and operability can be improved.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of components disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, you may combine a component suitably in different embodiment.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Personal computer, 16 ... Touchpad, 17 ... LCD, 113a ... OS, 113c ... Touchpad utility, 113d ... Touchpad driver, 113e ... Setting utility, 113f ... Keyboard driver, 113h ... Touchpad control data, 160 ... EC / KBC.

Claims (5)

Touchpad,
Keyboard and
Key input monitoring means for monitoring presence or absence of key input to the keyboard;
A first timer for measuring a lapse of a first time after the key input is detected by the monitoring of the key input monitoring means;
A first switching unit that switches an input operation from the touchpad from a valid state to an invalid state when a key input is detected by monitoring of the key input monitoring unit;
Specific operation monitoring means for monitoring the presence or absence of a specific operation on the touchpad;
Second switching means for switching an input operation from the touch pad from an invalid state to a valid state when it is detected that a specific operation has been performed on the touch pad before the first time elapses; An electronic device comprising the electronic device. Monitoring means for monitoring the presence or absence of an operation on the touchpad;
And further comprising a second timer for timing the second time since the monitoring means detects that the touch pad has been operated before the first time has elapsed,
The second switching means switches an input operation from the touch pad from an invalid state to a valid state when it is detected that an operation has been performed on the touch pad before the second time elapses. The electronic device according to claim 1.   The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the specific operation monitoring unit determines that the specific operation has occurred when an operation on the touch pad corresponds to operation data recorded in advance.   4. The electronic apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising first setting means for recording the operation data in accordance with an instruction from a user.   2. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising second setting means for setting the first time according to an instruction from a user.

Images