JP2012118903A - Electrostatic touch panel for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electrostatic touch panel for vehicle that prevents an operation panel from malfunctioning and excellently maintains operability of the operation panel.SOLUTION: An air-conditioning panel 1 constituted including the electrostatic touch panel for vehicle includes an operation panel 3 having an electrostatic capacitance type electrostatic switch part 6; a contact detection part 11 which detects a finger of an operator coming into contact with the operation panel 3 when a measured value of an amount of change in electrostatic capacitance of the electrostatic switch part 6 becomes equal to or larger than a threshold; and an operation panel control part 12 which outputs the threshold to the contact detection part 11. The operation panel control part 12 (skin moisture related information acquisition means, skin moisture amount estimation means, and threshold determination means) acquires skin moisture related information related to the amount of skin moisture of the operator, estimates the amount of skin moisture of the operator according to the acquired skin moisture related information, and determines the threshold according to the estimated amount of skin moisture.

Description

  The present invention relates to an electrostatic touch panel for a vehicle, and more particularly to determination of touch operability in the electrostatic touch panel.

  In recent years, an electrostatic touch panel for a vehicle has been adopted to control in-vehicle devices such as a navigation system, an air conditioner, and an audio system. In this type of vehicle electrostatic touch panel, when the measured value of the change amount of the electrostatic capacitance in the operation panel having the electrostatic capacitance type electrostatic switch portion and the electrostatic switch portion exceeds a threshold value, the operator's A device including a contact detection unit that detects that a finger has touched (pressed) an operation panel is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent No. 4269963

  In the vehicle electrostatic touch panel described in Patent Document 1, the degree of change in the electrostatic capacitance in the electrostatic switch unit when the operator's finger contacts the operation panel is the skin moisture (of the operator's finger) Generally, it depends on surface humidity and moisture. In particular, when the humidity is high due to rain or the like, and when the humidity is low due to air conditioning control, the capacitance of the electrostatic switch when the operator's finger touches the operation panel is reduced. The amount of change varies greatly. This also causes a malfunction or non-operation of the operation panel, resulting in a problem that the operability of the operation panel becomes unstable.

  The present invention has been made to address the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle electrostatic touch panel that can prevent malfunction of the operation panel and maintain the operability of the operation panel satisfactorily. It is in.

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an operation panel having an electrostatic capacitance type electrostatic switch unit, and an operator when a measured value of a change amount of the electrostatic capacitance in the electrostatic switch unit is equal to or greater than a threshold value. An electrostatic touch panel for a vehicle including a contact detection unit that detects that a finger of the touch panel touches the operation panel,
Skin moisture related information acquisition means for acquiring skin moisture related information related to the skin moisture content of the operator;
Skin moisture content estimation means for estimating the skin moisture content of the operator according to the skin moisture related information acquired by the skin moisture related information acquisition means;
Threshold determination means for determining a threshold according to the amount of skin moisture estimated by the skin moisture content estimation means;
It is provided with.

  In the vehicle electrostatic touch panel according to the present invention, a threshold value serving as a reference to be compared with the measured value of the change amount of the electrostatic capacitance in the electrostatic switch unit is determined in consideration of the change of the skin moisture amount of the operator. ing. For this reason, the touch panel operation judgment on the operation panel has improved accuracy that is not easily affected by weather such as sunny weather or rainy weather, or whether the air conditioner is operating, etc., thus preventing erroneous operation of the operation panel. can do.

  In this case, the skin moisture related information acquisition means obtains at least two kinds of information among the temperature and humidity in the vehicle interior, the weather, the temperature and humidity outside the vehicle interior, and the operating time of the air conditioner provided in the vehicle. It is good to get as.

  By acquiring information on the air condition represented by the temperature and humidity in the passenger compartment as skin moisture related information, the accuracy of the calculated skin moisture amount can be increased.

  The skin moisture change amount estimation means refers to a skin moisture amount estimation table that defines a correspondence relationship with the skin moisture amount that changes according to the elapsed time since the operator got into the vehicle based on the skin moisture related information. Thus, it is preferable to estimate the skin moisture content of the operator.

  Thus, the skin moisture amount can be easily calculated by referring to the skin moisture amount estimation table.

  In this case, the skin moisture change amount table calculates the skin moisture amount by adding the magnitude of the change in the vehicle interior humidity based on the acquired rainfall amount to the vehicle interior humidity acquired as the skin moisture related information. In addition to or instead of this, a configuration for calculating the skin moisture amount by taking into account the magnitude of the change in the cabin humidity based on the acquired rainfall amount with respect to the cabin humidity acquired as the skin moisture-related information, and It is good to be.

  The accuracy of the calculated skin moisture content can be further enhanced by taking into account the magnitude of the change in the vehicle interior humidity and the change in the vehicle interior temperature with respect to the acquired vehicle interior humidity.

The front view which shows an example of the electrostatic touch panel for vehicles of this invention. The principal part enlarged view of FIG. Sectional drawing of FIG. The system block diagram comprised including the electrostatic touch panel for vehicles of this invention. The graph which shows the relationship between skin moisture content and the variation | change_quantity of an electrostatic capacitance. The flowchart which shows the threshold value determination program performed by the operation panel control part of FIG. Explanatory drawing which shows the skin moisture content estimation table which prescribes | regulates the correspondence of the elapsed time after an operator got into a vehicle, and skin moisture content. Explanatory drawing which shows an example of the change of the amount of skin moisture with respect to the elapsed time after an operator got into a vehicle when the amount of change in a vehicle (relative) humidity differs. Explanatory drawing which shows an example of the change of the skin moisture content with respect to the elapsed time after an operator boarded in a vehicle when the amount of vehicle interior temperature changes differs. Explanatory drawing which shows an example of the change of the in-vehicle (relative) humidity with respect to the elapsed time after an operator got into a vehicle when the amount of rainfall differs.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG.1 and FIG.2 shows the air-conditioning panel 1 which employ | adopted the electrostatic touch panel for vehicles which concerns on this invention. As shown in FIG. 4, the air conditioning panel 1 sets predetermined functions in an air conditioner (A / C) unit 21 (air conditioner) and a compressor 22 (cooling device) as in-vehicle devices. / C) An output signal corresponding to the operation of the operation panel 3 is transmitted to the control unit 20.

  In addition to an air conditioner (A / C) unit 21 and a compressor 22 that function as input / output means, an engine control unit 23 is connected to the air conditioner (A / C) control unit 20 via a communication circuit and an in-vehicle LAN. In addition, an in-vehicle sensor group 30 and an out-of-vehicle sensor group 40 that function as input means are connected via a wireless or wired communication circuit.

  The in-vehicle sensor group 30 includes a temperature sensor 31 that detects the temperature in the vehicle interior, a humidity sensor 32 that detects humidity (for example, relative humidity) in the vehicle interior, and a solar sensor 33 that detects the amount of solar radiation. The vehicle exterior sensor group 40 includes a temperature sensor 41 that detects the temperature outside the vehicle compartment, a humidity sensor 42 that detects humidity outside the vehicle interior (for example, relative humidity), a rain sensor 43 that detects raindrops, and the like.

  The air conditioner (A / C) control unit 20 includes an output signal (for example, a set temperature in the vehicle interior) according to the operation of the operation panel 3 on the air conditioning panel 1, an in-vehicle sensor group 30, an out-of-vehicle sensor group 40, an engine control unit. 23, while receiving an input signal from the compressor 22, transmits an appropriate output signal to the engine control unit 23 and the compressor 22, and transmits detected temperature data to the air conditioning panel 1.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the operation panel 3 is provided along the surface of the instrument panel portion IP. In the first embodiment, by the touch operation on the operation panel 3, the blowing control of the driver seat D side outlet 9R and the passenger seat P side outlet 9L provided in the instrument panel part IP is executed independently of each other. Is possible.

  As shown in FIG. 2, on the surface side of the panel surface 3a of the operation panel 3, a rotary operation type dial switch 4 is provided in the center, and touch operation type soft buttons 2 are provided on both left and right sides. Is provided with a setting display section 5. The setting display unit 5 visually recognizes the setting states of various air-conditioning functions. In the first embodiment, for example, the setting temperature of the driver seat D and the passenger seat P, the blower output level, and the position of the outlet are displayed. It is like that.

  The panel surface 3a of the operation panel 3 is formed of a light-transmitting resin such as polycarbonate. As shown in FIG. 3, an electrostatic capacitance type electrostatic switch unit 6 is provided on the back surface side of the panel surface 3a. The electrostatic switch unit 6 is a well-known unit in which an electrode unit on which a predetermined electrode pattern is formed and an insulating cover are laminated in this order on the surface of a substrate unit such as a flexible substrate.

  On the back surface side of the electrostatic switch section 6, a negative film 7 and a light source 8 are provided for projecting a switch design for visually confirming the setting function of the soft button 2 onto the panel surface 3a. The light source 8 is controlled to be turned on when the ignition switch is on or in the accessory position.

  The change of the electrostatic capacitance in the electrostatic switch unit 6 is captured by the contact detection unit 11 as shown in FIG. The contact detection unit 11 measures the amount of change in capacitance in the electrostatic switch unit 6, and when the amount of change exceeds a threshold value, the operator's finger touches the corresponding operation part of the operation panel 3. And a signal indicating that is output to the operation panel control unit 12.

  In addition to the air conditioner (A / C) control unit 20, a door control unit 51 that functions as an input / output unit is connected to the operation panel control unit 12 via a communication circuit and an in-vehicle LAN, and also functions as an input unit. A wiper switch 53 is connected. Information related to the setting function in the operation panel 3 is input from the air conditioner (A / C) control unit 20 to the display control unit 13 via the operation panel control unit 12. The display control unit 13 displays information related to the input setting function (for example, the cabin temperature) on the setting display unit 5 of the operation panel 3.

  A door opening / closing sensor 52 is connected to the door control unit 51. The door opening / closing sensor 52 detects opening / closing of at least a part or all of the vehicle doors including the driver side door, and transmits a door opening / closing detection signal to the door control unit 51. The door control unit 51 receives an input signal from the door opening / closing sensor 52 and transmits the door opening / closing signal and door opening state time data calculated based on the door opening / closing signal to the operation panel control unit 12.

  The wiper switch 53 outputs front wiper operation data (for example, a signal indicating which of the intermittent operation, the low speed operation, the high speed operation, and the temporary operation state). The operation panel control unit 12 estimates the amount of rainfall at the time of getting into the vehicle based on the operation data from the wiper switch 53 and the sensor signal from the rain sensor 43, and as a result, the humidity inside the vehicle with the elapsed time after getting on the vehicle. It is configured to estimate the amount of change (see FIG. 10).

  The operation panel control unit 12 includes door opening / closing signals from the door control unit 51, operation time data from the air conditioner (A / C) control unit 20, sensor signals from the in-vehicle sensor group 30 and the outside sensor group 40, wiper switches, and the like. The threshold value is determined based on the operation state signal from 53 and the like, and is output to the contact detection unit 11. Door opening / closing signal from the door control unit 51, operation time data from the air conditioner (A / C) control unit 20, each sensor signal from the in-vehicle sensor group 30 and the outside sensor group 40, an operation state signal from the wiper switch 53, etc. Corresponds to the skin moisture related information of the present invention.

  FIG. 5 is a graph showing the relationship between the moisture content (surface humidity) of the finger of the operator and the amount of change in capacitance (ΔC). As the skin moisture content of the operator's finger decreases, the normal distribution diagram indicating the amount of change in capacitance shifts from the C3 side to the C1 side, and the value of the center of gravity position gradually increases. When the normal distribution diagram indicating the amount of change in capacitance is, for example, C1, the threshold value THC1 of the amount of change in capacitance is set to one end of the normal distribution diagram C1 on the side where the capacitance is small, thereby detecting the contact detection unit. 11 is a case where it is determined that the operator's finger has touched the operation panel 3 when the measured value of the change in capacitance is equal to or greater than the threshold THC1, and the measured value of the change in capacitance is less than the threshold THC1. It is determined that the operator's finger is not in contact with the operation panel 3.

  Similarly, when the normal distribution diagram indicating the amount of change in capacitance is C2, for example, by setting the threshold value THC2 of the amount of change in capacitance to one end of the normal distribution diagram C2 on the smaller capacitance side, The contact detection unit 11 determines that the operator has touched the operation panel 3 when the measured value of the change amount of the capacitance is equal to or greater than the threshold value THC2, and the measured value of the change amount of the capacitance is less than the threshold value THC2. In this case, it is determined that the operator is not in contact with the operation panel 3.

  Further, when the normal distribution diagram indicating the amount of change in capacitance is C3, for example, the threshold THC3 of the amount of change in capacitance is set to one end of the normal distribution diagram C3 on the side where the capacitance is small, thereby making contact The detection unit 11 determines that the operator has touched the operation panel 3 when the measured value of the change amount of capacitance is equal to or greater than the threshold value THC3, and the measured value of the change amount of capacitance is less than the threshold value THC3. It is determined that the operator is not in contact with the operation panel 3.

  The operation panel control unit 12 includes a microcomputer including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and a memory (storage means) as main components, and repeatedly executes a threshold value determination program (see FIG. 6) stored in the ROM. The threshold value (capacitance change threshold value) obtained by executing the threshold value determination program is output to the contact detection unit 11. The operation panel control unit 12 acquires the skin moisture related information acquisition means for acquiring the skin moisture related information, the skin moisture amount estimation means for estimating the skin moisture amount of the operator according to the skin moisture related information, and the estimated skin moisture This corresponds to threshold value determining means for determining the threshold value according to the amount.

  Next, the operation of the first embodiment configured as described above will be described. The operation panel control unit 12 repeatedly executes the threshold determination program of FIG. 6 every predetermined short time by turning on the ignition switch or the like.

  The operation panel control unit 12 inputs a door open / close signal and door open state time data from the door control unit 51 (S1), and each sensor signal of the in-vehicle and out-of-vehicle sensor groups 30, 40 from the air conditioner (A / C) control unit 20. The air conditioner (A / C) operating time is input (S2, S3), and an operation state signal from the wiper switch 53 is further input during rain.

  The operation panel control unit 12 estimates the skin moisture content of the operator with reference to the skin moisture content estimation table stored in the ROM or the like based on each input signal (S4). As shown in FIG. 7, the skin moisture amount estimation table stores skin moisture amount that decreases approximately proportionally as time passes after the operator gets into the vehicle.

  For example, when the weather is raining and the operator gets into the vehicle in a wet state and the air conditioner (A / C) unit 21 is operated to remove the fogging of the window, the operator's Skin moisture is reduced. In this case, the skin moisture content decreases from R1 to R3 as time elapses from T1 to T3. When the skin moisture amount changes from R1 to R3, as shown in FIG. 5, the amount of change in capacitance in the electrostatic switch unit 6 increases from C3 to C1.

  The skin moisture amount and the threshold value (capacitance change threshold value) are associated with each other and stored in the ROM or the like of the operation panel control unit 12, and the operation panel control unit 12 is obtained from the skin moisture amount estimation table. A threshold value corresponding to the skin moisture content is determined (S5). Specifically, when the skin moisture content decreases from R1 to R3, a threshold value that increases from THC3 to THC1 is extracted at a predetermined timing and output to the contact detection unit 11 (S6).

It is considered that the skin moisture content follows the following function (1).
Skin moisture ∝ f (vehicle interior (relative) humidity, vehicle interior temperature, vehicle interior (relative) humidity, vehicle exterior temperature, vehicle interior (relative) humidity change, vehicle interior temperature change, A / C operation elapsed time, (Rainfall during boarding, elapsed boarding time, inside / outside air selection mode) (1)
Here, the amount of change in the interior (relative) humidity and the amount of change in the passenger compartment temperature means the amount of change after the operator gets into the vehicle or the amount of change per predetermined time. The amount of rainfall during boarding can be estimated based on the detection signal from the rain sensor 43 and the operation state signal from the wiper switch 53. Moreover, the humidity / temperature weight outside the vehicle can be adjusted by the inside / outside air selection mode. Specifically, in the outside air mode, the humidity / temperature weight outside the vehicle is set higher than in the inside air mode. In contrast, in the inside air mode, the humidity / temperature weight outside the vehicle is set lower than in the outside air mode.

  As the number of parameters of the skin moisture related information that defines the function increases, the accuracy of the skin moisture amount estimation table shown in FIG. 7 increases and the accuracy of the calculated skin moisture amount also increases. At this time, when the vehicle interior (relative) humidity detected by the humidity sensor 32 of the vehicle interior sensor group 30 is used, for example, as shown in FIG. 8, the amount of change in the vehicle interior humidity is taken into account, and further, for example, as shown in FIG. Thus, the accuracy of the skin moisture amount estimation table can be further enhanced by taking into account the amount of change in the in-vehicle temperature.

  FIG. 8 shows the amount of skin moisture relative to the elapsed time since the operator got into the vehicle when the vehicle interior (relative) humidity (in-vehicle humidity) is 50%, for example, and the amount of change in the vehicle interior (relative) humidity is different. Shows changes. Even if the vehicle interior (relative) humidity is the same, if the vehicle interior (relative) humidity change amount is large, the skin moisture amount change is also large, and if the vehicle interior (relative) humidity change amount is small, the skin moisture amount is The amount of change is small.

  FIG. 9 shows the change in the amount of skin moisture with respect to the elapsed time since the operator got into the vehicle when the vehicle interior (relative) humidity (in-vehicle humidity) is, for example, 50% and the vehicle interior temperature change amount is different. Show. Even if the vehicle interior (relative) humidity is the same, if the vehicle interior temperature change is large, the amount of change in absolute humidity with respect to the elapsed time is large, and the amount of water vapor in the air is large. The amount of change also increases. On the other hand, when the amount of change in the passenger compartment temperature is small, the amount of change in absolute humidity with respect to the elapsed time is small, and the amount of change in the amount of water vapor in the air is small.

  FIG. 10 shows a change in the vehicle interior (relative) humidity with respect to the elapsed time since the operator got into the vehicle when the vehicle interior temperature (vehicle interior temperature) is, for example, 25 ° C. and the rainfall amount is different. . Even if the passenger compartment temperature is the same, if there is a lot of rainfall, the air containing a large amount of moisture will enter the vehicle when getting into the vehicle, and the humidity will start from high humidity. The amount of change in humidity becomes even greater. On the other hand, when the amount of rainfall is small, it starts from a low humidity state, so the amount of change in the vehicle interior (relative) humidity increases with the passage of time, but becomes a smaller value than when the amount of rainfall is large. By utilizing the characteristic relationship between the amount of rainfall and the amount of change in vehicle interior humidity as shown in FIG. 10, the change in skin moisture when the vehicle interior (relative) humidity change amount as shown in FIG. A graph can be created.

  As is clear from the above description, in the first embodiment, taking into account the change in the amount of skin moisture of the operator, the reference for comparison with the measured value of the change in capacitance in the electrostatic switch unit 6 The threshold value to be determined is determined. As a result, the determination of the touch operation on the operation panel 3 is improved in accuracy that is not easily affected by the weather such as sunny weather, rainy weather, etc., and whether or not the air conditioner (A / C) unit 21 is operated. 3 malfunctions can be satisfactorily prevented.

  In the first embodiment, the skin moisture related information includes the vehicle interior (relative) humidity, the vehicle interior temperature, the vehicle exterior (relative) humidity, the vehicle exterior temperature, the vehicle interior (relative) humidity change amount, and the vehicle interior temperature change amount. , A / C operation elapsed time, amount of rainfall during boarding, boarding elapsed time, and inside / outside air selection mode are taken into consideration, but at least two kinds of them can be appropriately selected.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Air conditioning panel 2 Soft button 3 Operation panel 6 Electrostatic switch part 11 Contact detection part 12 Operation panel control part (Skin moisture related information acquisition means, skin moisture content estimation means, threshold value determination means)
13 Display Control Unit 20 Air Conditioner (A / C) Control Unit 21 Air Conditioner (A / C) Unit (Air Conditioner)
23 engine control unit 30 vehicle interior sensor group 40 vehicle exterior sensor group 51 door control unit 52 door opening / closing sensor 53 wiper switch

Claims (5)

An operation panel having a capacitance type electrostatic switch unit, and an operator's finger touching the operation panel when a measured value of a change amount of capacitance in the electrostatic switch unit is equal to or greater than a threshold value. An electrostatic touch panel for a vehicle including a contact detection unit for detecting
Skin moisture related information acquisition means for acquiring skin moisture related information related to the skin moisture content of the operator;
Skin moisture content estimation means for estimating the skin moisture content of the operator according to the skin moisture related information acquired by the skin moisture related information acquisition means;
Threshold determination means for determining the threshold according to the skin moisture content estimated by the skin moisture content estimation means;
An electrostatic touch panel for a vehicle, comprising:   The skin moisture related information acquisition means includes at least two kinds of information as temperature and humidity in the vehicle interior, weather, temperature and humidity outside the vehicle interior, and operating time of an air conditioner provided in the vehicle as the skin moisture related information. The electrostatic touch panel for vehicles according to claim 1 to acquire.   The skin moisture amount estimation means refers to a skin moisture amount estimation table that defines a correspondence relationship with a skin moisture amount that changes according to an elapsed time since the operator got into the vehicle based on the skin moisture related information. The electrostatic touch panel for vehicles according to claim 2 which presumes an operator's skin moisture content.   The skin moisture amount estimation table calculates the skin moisture amount by taking into account the magnitude of the change in the vehicle interior humidity based on the acquired rainfall amount with respect to the vehicle interior humidity acquired as the skin moisture related information. The electrostatic touch panel for vehicles as described in.   4. The vehicle according to claim 3, wherein the skin moisture amount estimation table calculates the skin moisture amount by taking into account the magnitude of the change in the acquired vehicle interior temperature with respect to the vehicle interior humidity acquired as the skin moisture related information. Electrostatic touch panel.

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