JP2012208614A - Portable electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable performing character input rapidly by using a touch panel.SOLUTION: Portable electronic equipment includes; a housing; a touch panel that is disposed with a surface exposed on the housing and detects operation performed on the surface; and a control unit that allocates a plurality of keys constituting a key board to respective positions of a first region on the touch panel, and when a touch is started at a first position in the first region, and a touch to move the touch to a second position is detected by the touch panel, displays an enlarged image in which a plurality of keys corresponding to the second position are enlarged in a second region on the touch panel different from the first region.

Description

  The present invention relates to a portable electronic device having a character input function.

  In recent years, there is an apparatus that uses a touch panel as an input apparatus that enables an intuitive operation and does not include a device that requires a physically large area such as a keyboard (see Patent Document 1). By using the touch panel, the device can be downsized.

JP 2002-140141 A

  Here, in a portable electronic device that displays a keyboard on the display screen and inputs characters, the size of the keyboard that can be displayed is determined by the size of the display screen. For this reason, when the display screen is small, each key of the keyboard is small. For this reason, it becomes difficult to recognize which key is pressed because a plurality of keys are hidden by a finger, and erroneous input is likely to occur. Moreover, since it is difficult to recognize keys, it may take time to input characters.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a portable electronic device that enables quick character input using a touch panel.

  A portable electronic device according to the present invention includes a housing, a touch panel that is arranged with a surface exposed to the housing, detects an operation performed on the surface, and a plurality of keys constituting a keyboard. Assigned to each of the first regions above, the contact is started at the first position of the first region, and when the touch is detected by the touch panel, the second position is detected. A control unit that displays an enlarged image obtained by enlarging a plurality of keys corresponding to a second area different from the first area on the touch panel.

  Here, it is preferable that the enlarged image is an image of a specific key assigned to the second position and a key around the specific key.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the said control part displays the mark which shows the position on the said keyboard which is contacting in the said 2nd position on the said enlarged image.

  Further, it is preferable that the control unit moves the position of the mark based on the movement of the second position.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the said control part moves the image of the key displayed on the said enlarged image based on the movement of the said 2nd position.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the said control part will detect the specific key allocated to the said 2nd position as an input character, if it detects that the contact was complete | finished in the said 2nd position with the said touch panel.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the said control part displays the image which can identify the keyboard arrangement | sequence in the said 1st area | region.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the image in which the keyboard arrangement is identifiable is an image in which a point is displayed at the position of each key.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the image which can identify the keyboard arrangement is an image which displays each key in a translucent manner.

  The portable electronic device according to the present invention has an effect of enabling quick character input on the touch panel.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an appearance of a mobile phone terminal. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a virtual keyboard associated with the touch panel. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an operation example of character input. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an operation example of character input. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of functions of the mobile phone terminal. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of virtual keyboard data. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the character input processing. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating another operation example of character input. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating another operation example of character input.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to the following description. In addition, constituent elements in the following description include those that can be easily assumed by those skilled in the art, those that are substantially the same, and those in a so-called equivalent range. Hereinafter, a mobile phone terminal will be described as an example of the mobile electronic device. However, the application target of the present invention is not limited to the mobile phone terminal, and various devices including a touch panel, for example, a PHS (Personal Handyphone System), The present invention can also be applied to PDAs, portable navigation devices, personal computers, game machines, and the like.

(Embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a front view showing an appearance of a mobile phone terminal 1 which is an embodiment of the mobile electronic device of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a virtual keyboard associated with the touch panel. The mobile phone terminal 1 includes a touch panel 2 and an input unit 3 including a button 3A, a button 3B, and a button 3C. The touch panel 2 displays characters, figures, images, and the like, and detects various operations performed on the touch panel 2 using a finger, stylus, pen, or the like (hereinafter simply referred to as “finger”). When any button is pressed, the input unit 3 activates a function corresponding to the pressed button.

  The mobile phone terminal 1 associates a virtual keyboard with the first area 4 on the touch panel 2 as shown in FIG. 2 in order to accept input of characters from the user. The virtual keyboard is composed of a plurality of virtual keys that imitate physical keyboard keys. In FIG. 2, a virtual keyboard is illustrated for explanation, but the virtual keyboard is not displayed on the touch panel 2, and each key of the virtual keyboard is assigned to each area of the first area 4. That is, the mobile phone terminal 1 does not display a virtual keyboard as an image in the first area 4 of the touch panel 2.

  3 and 4 are diagrams showing examples of character input operations. When the character input function is activated, the mobile phone terminal 1 displays a screen for character input, and associates a virtual keyboard with the first area 4. The user touches and drags an area to which each key of the first area 4 of the touch panel 2 is assigned, that is, contact starts at the first position, moves the contact to the second position, and then A character is input by inputting an operation to end contact (release a finger) at the second position. Note that the touch panel 2 of the mobile phone terminal 1 shown in FIG. 3 shows a state in which a character string “I am always indebted” is input.

  As shown in FIG. 3, when the user contacts the first region 4 with the finger F, the mobile phone terminal 1 detects the contact of the finger F with the touch panel 2 as a contact with the first position. Thereafter, when the user moves the contact position while keeping the finger F in contact, the mobile phone terminal 1 detects the contact of the finger F whose contact position has moved on the touch panel 2 as a contact with the second position. When the mobile phone terminal 1 detects contact with the second position on the touch panel 2, as shown in FIG. 4, the key of the virtual keyboard associated with the second position and the surrounding keys of the key are displayed. An enlarged image (enlarged keyboard) obtained by enlarging an image, that is, a virtual keyboard image in a certain range centered on the second position is displayed in a second area 30 different from the first area 4. In FIG. 4, the “Y” key of the virtual keyboard is assigned to the second position. More specifically, the second position is on the left side of the center in the area to which the “Y” key is assigned. Further, around the key “Y” centered on the second position of the virtual keyboard, “5”, “6”, “7”, “T”, “U”, “F”, “G”, “ “H” is arranged. The mobile phone terminal 1 has a plurality of keys “Y”, “5”, “6”, “7”, “T”, “U”, “F” within a certain range centered on the second position. ”,“ G ”, and“ H ”are displayed in the second area 30 in the same arrangement as that of the virtual keyboard. The image of each key displayed in the second area 30 is an image larger than the area allocated to the first area 4, that is, an image obtained by enlarging a part of the virtual keyboard associated with the first area 4. In addition, the mobile phone terminal 1 displays a mark 32 indicating a position corresponding to the second position on the image of the second region 30. In other words, the mobile phone terminal 1 uses the “Y” key in the position corresponding to the second position on the left side of the center in the area to which the “Y” key is assigned, that is, the image in the second area. The mark 32 is displayed at a position on the left side of the center in the area where is displayed.

  As described above, the cellular phone terminal 1 displays an enlarged image of a certain area key centered on the position where the finger F is in contact in the second area 30 different from the first area 4, thereby You can clearly understand the keys that are in contact. Thereby, the user can know exactly which key the user is currently touching and can suppress the occurrence of erroneous input. Further, since it is possible to recognize what key is arranged around the key, it is possible to quickly find a desired key even when it is hidden by a finger. Thereby, a character input can be performed rapidly on a touch panel.

  Next, the relationship between the function of the mobile phone terminal 1 and the control unit will be described. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of functions of the mobile phone terminal 1 shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the mobile phone terminal 1 includes a touch panel 2, an input unit 3, a power supply unit 5, a communication unit 6, a speaker 7, a microphone 8, a storage unit 9, a main control unit 10, A RAM (Random Access Memory) 11 is included.

  The touch panel 2 includes a display unit 2B and a touch sensor 2A superimposed on the display unit 2B. The touch sensor 2A detects various operations performed on the touch panel 2 using a finger together with the position on the touch panel 2 where the operation is performed. The operations detected by the touch sensor 2 </ b> A include an operation of bringing a finger into contact with the surface of the touch panel 2, an operation of moving a finger while keeping the surface in contact with the surface of the touch panel 2, and an operation of moving the finger away from the surface of the touch panel 2. It is. The touch sensor 2A may employ any detection method such as a pressure-sensitive method or an electrostatic method. The display unit 2B includes, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic EL (Organic Electro-Luminescence) panel, and the like, and displays characters, figures, images, and the like.

  The input unit 3 receives a user operation through a physical button or the like, and transmits a signal corresponding to the received operation to the main control unit 10. The power supply unit 5 supplies power obtained from a storage battery or an external power supply to each functional unit of the mobile phone terminal 1 including the main control unit 10. The communication unit 6 establishes a radio signal line by a CDMA system or the like with a base station via a channel assigned by the base station, and performs telephone communication and information communication with the base station. The speaker 7 outputs the other party's voice, ringtone, and the like in telephone communication. The microphone 8 converts the voice of the user or the like into an electrical signal.

  The storage unit 9 is, for example, a nonvolatile memory or a magnetic storage device, and stores programs and data used for processing in the main control unit 10. Specifically, the storage unit 9 includes a mail program 9A for sending / receiving and browsing mail, a browser program 9B for browsing a WEB page, a character editing program 9C for receiving the character input described above, The virtual keyboard data 9D including the definition related to the virtual keyboard displayed on the touch panel 2 at the time of input and dictionary data 9E in which a valid character string is registered are stored. The storage unit 9 also stores an operating system program that realizes basic functions of the mobile phone terminal 1 and other programs and data such as address book data in which names, telephone numbers, mail addresses, and the like are registered.

  The main control unit 10 is, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and comprehensively controls the operation of the mobile phone terminal 1. Specifically, the main control unit 10 executes the program stored in the storage unit 9 while referring to the data stored in the storage unit 9 as necessary, so that the touch panel 2, the communication unit 6, etc. Various processes are executed by controlling. The main control unit 10 expands the program stored in the storage unit 9 and the data acquired / generated / processed by executing the process to the RAM 11 that provides a temporary storage area as necessary. The program executed by the main control unit 10 and the data to be referred to may be downloaded from the server device by wireless communication by the communication unit 6.

  An example of the virtual keyboard data 9D stored in the storage unit 9 is shown in FIG. As shown in the example of FIG. 6, in the virtual keyboard data 9D, for each button included in the virtual keyboard, a character corresponding to the button, a position of the button (for example, upper left coordinates), a width, a height, and the like are registered. . In the example shown in FIG. 6, the letter corresponding to a certain button is “Q”, the upper left coordinates of the button are X = 10, Y = 10, and the width and height of the button are 20 and 40. Etc. are registered.

  Next, the operation when the cellular phone terminal 1 accepts input of characters will be described. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the character input processing. The character input process shown in FIG. 10 is realized by the main control unit 10 reading and executing the character editing program 9C from the storage unit 9, and while the virtual keyboard is associated with the first area 4 of the touch panel 2, Repeatedly executed. The virtual keyboard is associated with the first area of the touch panel 2 when the main control unit 10 executes the character editing program 9C or another program.

  First, the main control unit 10 assigns a keyboard on the touch panel 2. That is, a virtual keyboard is assigned to the first area 4 of the touch panel 2. After assigning the virtual keyboard to the first area 4, the main control unit 10 determines whether the screen is touched and further dragged in step S <b> 14. That is, the main control unit 10 determines whether the touch panel 2 has detected an operation of moving the contact position while maintaining the contacted state after the finger is touched. If the main control unit 10 determines in step S14 that the operation has not been detected (No), the main control unit 10 proceeds to step S14. That is, the main control unit 10 repeats the determination in step S14 until the operation is detected in step S14.

  When determining that the operation has been detected (Yes) in step S14, the main control unit 10 calculates the coordinates on the touched touch panel as step S16. That is, the main control unit 10 calculates the coordinates of the second position. After calculating the coordinates in step S16, the main control unit 10 displays an enlarged keyboard (an image obtained by enlarging a part of the keyboard) centered on the touch position at a predetermined position in step S18. That is, an image obtained by enlarging the key assigned to the second position and the keys around the key is displayed in the second region 30. The main control unit 10 also displays a mark 32 indicating the second position on the virtual keyboard in the second area 30.

  After displaying the enlarged keyboard at a predetermined position in step S18, the main control unit 10 determines whether the touch is continued in step S20. That is, the main control unit 10 determines whether the touch is continuously detected on the touch panel 2. If the main control unit 10 determines in step S20 that the touch is continued (Yes), the main control unit 10 proceeds to step S16. While the touch on the touch panel 2 continues, the main control unit 10 detects the second position touched by the finger and repeats the process of displaying the enlarged keyboard corresponding to the second position. As a result, when the finger moves, the key combination displayed on the enlarged keyboard and the key position change as the finger moves.

  If it is determined in step S20 that the touch is not continued (No), the main control unit 10 deletes the enlarged display, that is, stops the display of the enlarged keyboard, as step S22. After that, when the enlarged display is erased in step S22, the main control unit 10 displays the key at the touch position as a confirmed input character in step S24. That is, the main control unit 22 determines the key assigned to the touch position (second position) detected immediately before determining that the touch is not continued in step S20 as the input character, and touches the touch panel. 2 is displayed in the column for displaying the input characters.

  After determining the character input in step S24, the main control unit 10 determines whether to end the character input in step S26. The main control unit 10 determines that the character input is to be ended when a character string confirmation process or an operation for ending the character input is input. If the main control unit 10 determines in step S26 that the character input is not terminated (No), that is, if the character input is to be continued, the main control unit 10 proceeds to step S12. In this way, the main control unit 10 repeats the processing from step S12 to step S26 until the character input is completed. If the main control unit 10 determines in step S26 that the character input is to be ended (Yes), this process ends.

  As described above, when the predetermined operation is input, the cellular phone terminal 1 starts contact at the first position in the first region, and the touch panel 2 detects contact that moves to the second position. A plurality of keys corresponding to a position (second position) touched by the finger in an area different from the area to which the virtual keyboard is assigned, that is, an area different from the area touched by the finger. By displaying the image, it is possible to easily know the key arrangement at the contact position that is hidden by the finger and cannot be seen. As a result, the user can suitably know the key arrangement and can quickly input characters. Further, since it is possible to know the arrangement of the keys in the hidden area, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of erroneous input.

  Further, by displaying the mark 32 in the second area 30 as in the present embodiment, the user can easily know which key the finger is in contact with. Further, when the second position is not in contact with the desired key, the desired key can be input by moving the finger so that the mark 32 and the desired key overlap. Thereby, a desired key can be input more appropriately and occurrence of erroneous input can be suppressed.

  In addition, when the second position moves, the mobile phone terminal 1 changes the image displayed in the second area 30 according to the movement, and specifically, the key corresponding to the second position is changed to the first position. By changing the key to be displayed in accordance with the movement of the second position so that it becomes the center of the image of the second area 30, the configuration of the keys assigned around the second position can be easily known. . Thereby, it is possible to easily search for a desired key.

  In addition, although the mobile phone terminal 1 of the said embodiment made the image displayed on the 2nd area | region 30 into the image which expanded a part of virtual keyboard centering on the 2nd position, it is not limited to this. The cellular phone terminal 1 may not change the enlarged keyboard displayed in the second area 30 even when the second position is moved. In this case, it is preferable that the mobile phone terminal 1 moves the position of the mark based on the movement of the second position. Thus, even if the image of the enlarged keyboard is fixed and the mark is moved, it is possible to determine which key is assigned to the second position.

  In this case, a key other than the virtual keyboard may be assigned to a position separated from the first position by a predetermined distance, and a key other than the virtual keyboard may be displayed in a corresponding area of the second area. In this way, by fixing the display of the image in the second area and assigning a key other than the virtual keyboard to a position separated by a predetermined distance with the first position in the first area as the center, the user can Keys other than keys can be input. As a result, it is not necessary to move the finger largely in order to input a key such as a character conversion key or a tab key. Further, the operation can be input by simple finger movement.

  Moreover, although the mobile telephone terminal 1 of the said embodiment displayed the key assigned to the 2nd position and the key around the said key as an image corresponding to a 2nd position, it is not limited to this. The cellular phone terminal 1 may display an enlarged image obtained by enlarging a plurality of keys corresponding to the second position. That is, as long as the key is related to the key, the configuration of the key to be enlarged is not limited. For example, as described above, a key for converting a character input with the key or a key for inputting a character similar to the key may be displayed.

  In the mobile phone terminal 1 of the above embodiment, since the display on the touch panel 2 can be simplified, no virtual keyboard image is displayed in the first area, but the present invention is not limited to this. FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 are diagrams showing other operation examples of character input. 8 and 9 are the same as those shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 except that the image displayed in the first area 40 is different from the image displayed in the first area 4 of FIGS. 3 and 4 described above. The same as 4.

  When the character input function is activated, the mobile phone terminal 1 displays a screen for character input and associates a virtual keyboard with the first area 40. In addition, the cellular phone terminal 1 displays the position of each key constituting the virtual keyboard in the first area 40, that is, one point indicating the key arrangement for each key.

  As shown in FIG. 8, when the user touches the first region 4 with the finger F, the mobile phone terminal 1 detects the touch of the finger F with the touch panel 2 as a contact with the first position. Thereafter, when the user moves the contact position while keeping the finger F in contact, the mobile phone terminal 1 detects the contact of the finger F whose contact position has moved on the touch panel 2 as a contact with the second position. When the mobile phone terminal 1 detects contact with the second position on the touch panel 2, as shown in FIG. 9, the key of the virtual keyboard associated with the second position and the keys around the key are An enlarged image (enlarged keyboard) obtained by enlarging an image, that is, a virtual keyboard image in a certain range centered on the second position is displayed in the second area 30 different from the first area 40. In addition, the mobile phone terminal 1 displays a mark 32 indicating a position corresponding to the second position on the image of the second region 30.

  In this way, the cellular phone terminal 1 can make the user easily recognize the key arrangement by displaying the points indicating the keyboard arrangement in the first area 40 as described above.

  8 and 9, an image in which the positions of the keys of the virtual keyboard are displayed as dots in the first area 40 of the touch panel 2 is displayed. However, the virtual keyboard image may be displayed as it is in the first area. , It may be displayed semi-transparently.

  Moreover, although the said embodiment demonstrated as the case of the keyboard, it can be used for the input of various operation. That is, when contact is detected in the first area, an operation assigned to the area may be enlarged and displayed in the second area. Further, in the present embodiment, the case where there is one touch panel 2, that is, the case of one screen, has been described, but the configuration including two touch panels, that is, the case of two screens can be used similarly. In this case, it is preferable that the first area and the second area have different screens.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Mobile phone terminal 2 Touch panel 2A Touch sensor 2B Display part 3 Input part 3A, 3B, 3C Button 4 1st area | region 5 Power supply part 6 Communication part 7 Speaker 8 Microphone 9 Memory | storage part 9A Mail program 9B Browser program 9C Character editing program 9D Virtual Keyboard data 9E Dictionary data 10 Main controller 11 RAM
30 Second area 32 Mark

Claims (9)

A housing,
A touch panel that is disposed with the surface exposed to the housing and detects an operation performed on the surface;
Assigning a plurality of keys constituting the keyboard to each of the first areas on the touch panel;
Enlargement in which a plurality of keys corresponding to the second position are enlarged when contact is started at the first position of the first region and contact that moves to the second position is detected by the touch panel. And a control unit that displays an image in a second area different from the first area on the touch panel.   2. The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the enlarged image is an image of a specific key assigned to the second position and a key around the specific key.   The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit displays a mark indicating a position on the keyboard in contact with the second position on the enlarged image.   4. The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit moves the position of the mark based on the movement of the second position. 5.   4. The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit moves a key image to be displayed on the enlarged image based on the movement of the second position. 5.   The control unit detects a specific key assigned to the second position as an input character when the touch panel detects that the contact is completed at the second position. The portable electronic device as described in any one of.   The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit displays an image in which the keyboard arrangement can be identified in the first area.   The portable electronic device according to claim 7, wherein the image in which the keyboard arrangement is identifiable is an image in which a dot is displayed at the position of each key.   The portable electronic device according to claim 7, wherein the image in which the keyboard arrangement is identifiable is an image in which each key is displayed in a translucent manner.

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