JP2011154546A - Device and method for inputting information, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow recognition of operation in each user when a plurality of users share a display device and perform the operation on a screen of the display device. <P>SOLUTION: A user detection part 102 detects the plurality of users positioned near the display device 108, and an input obtaining part 101 detects the operation by the plurality of users on the screen of the display device 108. An area determination part 103 determines an area operable to each user detected by the user detection part 102. When the input obtaining part 101 detects the operation of the user, an input control part 104 sorts the detected operation of the user as the independent operation of each user in each area determined by the area determination part 103. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information input device, an information input method, and a program, and more particularly, to a technique suitable for use in inputting information from a display device such as a touch panel display.

  Conventionally, a technique for generating an independently operable region on a display equipped with a touch screen function has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). According to this technique, it is possible to generate a region or a layout by being operated on the display surface by the user.

JP 2006-65558 A

  When a plurality of users share and operate one large display equipped with a touch screen function, a plurality of operations are simultaneously performed on the display. In this case, in the apparatus described in Patent Document 1, for example, when a certain user wants to continuously perform copy / paste operations, when another user performs a copy operation on the way, the buffer information is overwritten, and the user The subject that I was trying to copy may change. In addition, when the user simply points the cursor, the cursor may move in an unintended direction when another user points. Thus, since it cannot be grasped on the display side whether each operation was performed by the same user, there exists a problem that operation | movement different from what a user intended is performed.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to recognize an operation for each user when a plurality of users share and operate on the screen of a display device.

  The information input device of the present invention includes user detection means for detecting a plurality of users located in the vicinity of the display device, input acquisition means for detecting operations by the plurality of users on the screen of the display device, and the user detection Region determining means for determining an operable area for each user detected by the means, and each user's operation detected by the input acquiring means for each area determined by the area determining means. And an input control means for distributing as the operated operation.

  According to the present invention, it is not necessary for the user to bother to secure an operation area, and it is possible to prevent the operation of an individual user from affecting other users.

It is a block diagram which shows the function structural example of the display type input device which concerns on embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware structural example of the display type input device which concerns on embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a data structure of the input information which an input acquisition part acquires. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the procedure which allocates a user's operation area | region. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the procedure which allocates a user's operation area | region. It is a figure which shows a mode that a user is detected.

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The configurations shown in the following embodiments are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to the illustrated configurations.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of a display-type input device 100 as an example of an information input device in the present embodiment.
The display-type input device 100 according to the present embodiment includes an input acquisition unit 101, a user detection unit 102, an area determination unit 103, an input control unit 104, a content access unit 105, a content database 106, and a content display control unit 107. .

  The input acquisition unit 101 detects a touch operation representing a pointing device with a finger or a pen from the user on the screen of the display device 108, and outputs input information 301 shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a data structure example of the input information 301. The input information 301 is composed of a plurality of single input information 302, and each single input information 302 is composed of pointing information 303 and operation information 304. Further, the pointing information 303 includes information of the time 305 when the pointing occurred and the coordinates 306 on the display device 108, and the operation information 304 is information indicating either cut (paste) or paste (paste). It is. The input acquisition unit 101 has a function of acquiring a plurality of input information 301 at the same time. Such a function can be realized by a conventional technique such as a multi-touch type input device.

  The user detection unit 102 detects a user located in the vicinity of the display type input device 100 and notifies the region determination unit 103 of the position. Specific methods for detecting the user by the user detection unit 102 include a method of detecting a person from a captured image captured by a camera, a method of detecting by a infrared sensor, and a pressure around the display-type input device 100. It is a method to do.

  The area determination unit 103 allocates an independently operable area within a range determined by the user from the position of the user detected by the user detection unit 102. The input control unit 104 distributes the input information 301 input from the input acquisition unit 101 to the operation for each region determined by the region determination unit 103. The content access unit 105 performs cut and paste operations on the content itself, and performs operations such as drawing or pointing. The content display control unit lays out the content data operated by the content access unit 105, generates image data (image data), and displays them on the display device 108.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a physical hardware configuration example of a main part of the display-type input device 100 according to the present embodiment.
In FIG. 2, the touch panel display 200 has the functions of the input acquisition unit 101 and the display device 108, and the wireless communication device 201 and the IO controller 203 have the functions of the user detection unit 102. An HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 205 functions as the content database 106, and content data and the like are read by the disk controller 204. Further, the other configurations in FIG. 1 are realized by programs that can be executed on the CPU 206, the ROM 207, and the RAM 208 via the bus 209.

Next, the flow of processing for detecting a user and assigning an operation area to the user will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure for allocating a user operation area in the present embodiment.
First, in step S401, the user detection unit 102 stands by until a user in the vicinity of the display-type input device 100 is detected. When a user is detected, in step S402, the detected user position information is acquired.

  Next, in step S <b> 403, the area determination unit 103 secures an area that can be operated by the user on the display device 108 of the display-type input device 100 within a certain range from the detected user position. At this time, when a plurality of users are detected and the regions are overlapped when the regions are divided from each position within a certain range, the regions are separated by vertical bisectors between the detected users. Then, the process ends. As a result, when the user operation is detected by the input acquisition unit 101, the input control unit 104 distributes each user as an independent operation for each region determined by the region determination unit 103.

  Furthermore, by updating the processing flow shown in FIG. 4 at regular time intervals as described above, the operable region can be moved near the detected user even when the position of the user changes. In this embodiment, an area is allocated within a certain range from the user's position. However, the allocated area is obtained by dividing the screen of the display device 108 into sections, or by assigning an area of a predetermined shape to the user's position. It may be assigned to the center. Thus, it is not limited to a certain range from the user's position.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, a user located in the vicinity of the display device 108 is recognized, and an operation area is assigned to a certain range from the user's position. It is possible to prevent the influence.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the configuration of the display-type input device in the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and the description thereof is omitted. Below, the difference with 1st Embodiment is demonstrated.

  In this embodiment, the user detection unit 102 detects not only a change in the position of the user near the display-type input device 100 but also a gesture. And the area | region determination part 103 changes the area | region corresponding to each detected user with the user's gesture. As a result, the operation area of a user who does not need an operation area or a user who is not operating just by being in the vicinity of the display-type input device 100 can be reduced. A wide operation area can be assigned.

Next, a flow of processing for changing the operation area according to the user's gesture will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure for assigning a user operation area in the present embodiment.
First, in step S501, the user detection unit 102 stands by until a user in the vicinity of the display-type input device 100 is detected. When the user is detected, in step S502, the detected user position information is acquired.

  Next, in step S503, the region determination unit 103 secures a region that can be operated by the user on the display device 108 of the display-type input device 100 within a certain range from the detected user position. In addition, when there are a plurality of detected users, distribution is performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment. In step S504, the user detection unit 102 identifies a user's gesture or the like. A method for identifying the user's gesture and the like will be described later.

  Next, in step S <b> 505, the user detection unit 102 determines whether or not the user's gesture or the like matches the target gesture or the like whose size of the operation area is to be changed. If the result of this determination does not match the gesture to be changed, etc., the process is terminated as it is. On the other hand, if the result of determination in step S505 is coincident with the gesture or the like to be changed, the process proceeds to step S506, where the area determination unit 103 changes the size of the operation area and ends the process. Note that, as in the first embodiment, by updating these processes at regular time intervals, it is possible to cope with a change in the user's position, gesture, or the like.

  Next, a method for identifying a change in the position of the user and a gesture according to step S504 in FIG. 5 will be described. As a method for identifying a change in a user's position or a gesture, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, image recognition is performed using an imaging device or the like. Specifically, a gesture or a form for expanding or reducing the operation region is registered in advance, and the user detection unit 102 inputs image data about the display input device 100 from an imaging device or the like. Then, by the image recognition, when the user's action matches the registered gesture or the like, an operation area change process is performed.

  For example, if the user is not facing the display-type input device 100, the user is identified as not working, and the operation area is reduced or eliminated in step S506. If the user is facing the display-type input device 100 but has not been operated for a certain period of time or has not moved, the operation area is reduced or eliminated in step S506. On the other hand, if the input acquisition unit 101 detects that the user has reached out to content in an area that is outside the user's area and not assigned to another user, the area is temporarily enlarged. . Note that these image recognition techniques can be realized by conventional techniques.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the user's gesture located in the vicinity of the display device 108 is also recognized, the operation area can be efficiently allocated for each user.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention can also be realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, or the like) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Input acquisition part, 102 User detection part, 103 Area | region determination part, 104 Input control part, 108 Display apparatus

Claims (9)

User detection means for detecting a plurality of users located in the vicinity of the display device;
Input acquisition means for detecting operations by the plurality of users on the screen of the display device;
Area determining means for determining an operable area for each user detected by the user detecting means;
An information input device comprising: an input control unit that distributes an operation by each user detected by the input acquisition unit as an independent operation of each user for each area determined by the area determination unit. The user detection means also detects a change in the position of the user,
The information input device according to claim 1, wherein the area determination unit moves an area corresponding to each user according to the change in the detected position. The user detection means also detects a user gesture,
The information input device according to claim 1, wherein the area determination unit enlarges or reduces an area corresponding to each user according to the detected gesture.   The information input device according to claim 3, wherein the user detection unit detects the user's gesture by identifying the captured image.   The area determination means is a case where an operation is detected by the input acquisition means from outside the determined area, and the operation is performed when the area where the detected operation is performed is an area that is not distributed to other users. 5. The information input device according to claim 3, wherein an area corresponding to a user who performs the operation is expanded so as to include the area where the error occurred.   The region determination unit enlarges or reduces the region corresponding to the user according to the position of the user and the orientation of the user detected by the user detection unit. The information input device according to item.   The information input device according to claim 1, wherein the user detection unit detects a user at a constant time interval. A user detection step of detecting a plurality of users located in the vicinity of the display device;
An input acquisition step of detecting operations by the plurality of users on the screen of the display device;
An area determining step for determining an operable area for each user detected in the user detecting step;
An information input method comprising: an input control step of assigning each user's operation detected in the input acquisition step as an independent operation of each user for each region determined in the region determination step. A user detection step of detecting a plurality of users located in the vicinity of the display device;
An input acquisition step of detecting operations by the plurality of users on the screen of the display device;
An area determining step for determining an operable area for each user detected in the user detecting step;
A program that causes a computer to execute an input control step that distributes an operation by each user detected in the input acquisition step as an independent operation of each user for each region determined in the region determination step.

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