JP2012221435A - Method of waking up electronic device including touch panel and electronic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable electronic device capable of shifting a power state with an operation feeling to a touch screen.SOLUTION: In a standby state 201, power of a touch panel is stopped, and output is supplied to an acceleration sensor. In response to a vibration pattern generated by a tap operation performed to the touch panel in the standby state, it is shifted to a touch operation standby state 203. In the touch operation standby state, the power is supplied to the touch panel. When the touch panel detects a prescribed touch operation within a prescribed time after shifting to the touch operation standby state, it is shifted to a using state 207. Shifting is performed from the standby state to the using state just by tap and touch operations without using a mechanical switch.

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for improving operability when an electronic device equipped with a touch panel wakes up, and more particularly to a technique for using a touch panel while suppressing an increase in standby power. .

  In portable electronic devices such as tablet computers (also referred to as slate computers), PDAs, or high-performance mobile phones (smartphones), a display such as an organic EL or liquid crystal display and a touch panel for inputting with a finger or stylus pen Designs equipped are becoming mainstream. The touch panel is formed of a transparent electrode and is disposed so as to overlap the display, or is incorporated into a liquid crystal panel as an in-cell touch panel. Hereinafter, a complex in which a display and a touch panel are combined is referred to as a touch screen. When the user performs a touch operation on the object displayed on the display, the coordinates of the position touched by the driver of the touch panel are calculated and notified to an application program (application) or an operating system (OS).

  In portable electronic devices equipped with a touch screen, characters are generally input from a software keyboard displayed on the display, and application activation and operation, display screen change, device operation, etc. are performed on objects on the screen. Perform by touch operation. In other words, users of such portable electronic devices are familiar with intuitive touch operations on the touch screen.

  By the way, in many electronic devices, when there is no need for user input or information output for a certain period of time, in order to reduce unnecessary power consumption, the power supply of unnecessary devices is stopped or put into a low power consumption mode. It is common to adopt a setting. Reducing power consumption in the standby state is a particularly important issue for portable electronic devices driven by batteries. Even in the standby state, the device for receiving user input and generating a wake-up event must always be on. Some digital cameras employ a so-called tap control method in which a user strikes the side of the camera with a specific pattern and an operation is performed by detecting a light impact pattern applied to the main body by an acceleration sensor.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a touch input device that outputs a wake-up signal for shifting an electronic device from a sleep state to an operation state. This touch input device is provided with a plurality of vibration sensors on the touch sensor plate, and compares the output of the vibration sensor generated by the touch operation with a threshold value to wake the electronic device when it is determined that the touch is intentional.・ Output an up signal.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for performing a return operation from the power saving mode by an input to the touch sensor while preventing an erroneous operation. In the power saving mode, the power of the backlight is stopped, the application operates, and the touch operation invalidation window is displayed. The touch operation invalidation window invalidates the touch operation performed on the touch sensor in the power saving mode, and returns the power state from the power saving mode to the normal mode by the touch operation. After returning to the normal mode, the display of the touch operation invalidation window disappears, and the touch operation for the touch sensor is enabled.

  In Patent Document 3, in an information processing apparatus in which a plurality of sensors such as a touch sensor and an acceleration sensor are mounted and electronic paper is mounted as a display output device, power saving by power OFF / ON by cooperation between sensors, and Disclosed is a method for performing optimal display output control according to electronic paper characteristics. The information processing apparatus turns off the power of the acceleration sensor when there is no displacement by the acceleration sensor for a predetermined time. Further, when the touch sensor is displaced, the acceleration sensor is turned on to turn on the power of the acceleration sensor to save power.

Special table 2008-107906 gazette JP 2008-107906 A JP 2011-13735 A

  In recent years, capacitive touch panels have come to be used for touch screens because of their high response speed or convenience for multi-touch operations. However, since the capacitive touch panel consumes a relatively large amount of power, it is not desirable to operate in a standby state in order to avoid battery consumption. For these reasons, at present, portable electronic devices having a touch screen are provided with mechanical switches that do not consume standby power on the side or surface of the casing as a device for wake-up. .

  However, in portable electronic devices, the screen may be rotated and displayed according to the direction in which the user holds the housing, or when the mechanical switch is small and provided on the side, it may be difficult to see from the surface direction. Therefore, it is inconvenient to find and operate the mechanical switch. In addition, since the user has a touch operation on the touch panel, there is a desire to wake up only by the touch operation.

  In portable electronic devices equipped with touch screens, it is usually necessary to prevent an unintentional input from being performed on the touch panel when the return switch is unintentionally pressed when transitioning from a standby state to a use state. For the purpose, when the return switch is operated, the screen temporarily shifts to a lock release waiting state. In order to shift from the lock release waiting state to the use state, a swipe of a finger or other touch operation with respect to a predetermined position of the touch panel indicated by the display is required.

  At this time, when the case is held with one hand, the vicinity of the return switch is held, but a swipe request object may be displayed at a position where the finger of the hand operating the return switch cannot swipe. . In particular, the tablet computer has a relatively large screen, and the finger may not reach a position on the screen that is far from the held position. Further, since the swipe direction is determined in advance, the swipe request is not always performed in the direction in which it is easy to operate depending on how the case is held.

  One solution is to wake up by vibration using an acceleration sensor that consumes less power during standby than the touch screen, such as the tap control described above. However, it is not easy to distinguish between an acceleration signal intended for wake-up and an acceleration signal that causes noise other than the vibration detected by the acceleration sensor. For example, if you lower the threshold value for vibration amplitude, you will wake up frequently due to noise, and if you raise the threshold value, it will be necessary to give strong vibration to generate vibration intended to wake up or not be detected. Will be. Alternatively, if a complicated vibration pattern such as a Morse code is required, the operation becomes more troublesome than a mechanical switch.

  Similarly, in the method of Patent Document 1, it is not easy to discriminate vibration caused by an intentional touch operation from noise. In order to improve accuracy, it is necessary to provide many acceleration sensors or introduce a complicated pattern recognition technique. There is. In the method of Patent Document 2, it is necessary to supply power to a touch sensor, a processor for operating an application, a main memory, and the like in a power saving mode. Therefore, the method of Patent Document 2 cannot sufficiently reduce the standby power in the power saving mode. The method of Patent Document 3 is one in which one device is stopped by cooperation between the touch sensor and the acceleration sensor, but it teaches until the acceleration sensor and the touch sensor perform a cooperative operation for wake-up. Absent.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device that can be woken up by a simple operation. A further object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device that can be waked up while suppressing an increase in standby power. Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device that can be woken up only by an operation on a touch panel. A further object of the present invention is to provide a wake-up method and a power state transition method applied to such an electronic device.

  The present invention provides a method for transitioning the power state of an electronic device including a touch panel by a tap and touch operation. The electronic device includes a vibration sensor that detects vibration of the housing, a display, and a touch panel. In the standby state, the power supplied to the touch panel is stopped. The electronic device outputs a first wake-up signal in response to a predetermined vibration pattern generated from the vibration data detected by the vibration sensor in the standby state. In response to the first wake-up signal, the electronic device supplies power to the touch panel, and shifts to a touch operation waiting state that consumes less power than the use state. The electronic device outputs a second wake-up signal in response to a predetermined touch operation performed on the touch panel within a predetermined time after the transition to the touch operation waiting state. The electronic device transitions to the use state in response to the second wake-up signal.

  The vibration sensor can be an acceleration sensor that directly detects the vibration of the housing or an acoustic sensor that can detect the vibration of the housing through sound. The predetermined vibration pattern can be generated by a tap operation performed with a finger on the touch panel. Here, the tap operation means an operation of vibrating the case by tapping the touch panel. The tap operation is also performed when the user touches the touch panel to indicate an icon displayed on the display, so that the user also performs a tap operation that causes vibration in a similar sense. be able to.

  The user is relieved from the hassle of searching for and operating the position of the mechanical switch, and can transition from the standby state to the use state with the familiar touch operation feeling. In the standby state, power is supplied to the vibration sensor with relatively low power consumption, but the power of the touch panel with high power consumption is stopped, so that the standby power required to use the tap and touch operation is small. The predetermined vibration pattern can be a pattern on the time axis of a pulse signal obtained by binarizing the amplitude of vibration data.

  When waking up only by a predetermined tap operation or a predetermined touch operation, in order to prevent unintended transitions, strict information that can be distinguished from noise is incorporated into each operation, strong vibrations and complicated It is necessary to request an operation, which leads to a decrease in operability. In the present invention, since the electronic device recognizes that an intended wake-up event has been generated by a series of predetermined tap operations and tap and touch operations that are predetermined touch operations, each tap operation or touch operation can be easily performed. Operation can be made.

  Since it is possible to generate a predetermined vibration pattern by binarizing and generating a pulse signal, or comparing the vibration pattern with a registered vibration pattern with a hardware circuit with low power consumption, the vibration pattern It is not necessary to operate a processor with high power consumption in order to recognize this. The predetermined vibration pattern can be specified by the time between a plurality of pulse signals or the number of pulse signals within a predetermined time.

  If a predetermined touch operation is configured to be specified by the coordinate pattern when the finger that last tapped on the touch screen swipes, the tap and touch operation can be performed in a short time to wake up. . Further, when the transition from the tap operation to the touch operation is performed, it is not necessary to move the finger according to the instruction on the display, so that the operation becomes easy. The swipe can be a coordinate pattern formed by a gesture having the coordinates of three or more feature points.

  The swipe may be specified by a coordinate pattern when it ends in a specific coordinate area such as the four corners of the touch panel. Furthermore, the predetermined touch operation may be specified by a coordinate pattern indicating a predetermined coordinate area. In this case, the tap operation may be performed in the predetermined coordinate area. When there is no predetermined touch operation within a short predetermined time in the touch operation waiting state, the state can be shifted to the standby state. Therefore, when an unintended vibration is detected and the state transitions to the touch operation waiting state, the standby state can be returned in a short time, and an increase in power consumption can be prevented.

  In a state of waiting for a touch operation, power may be supplied to the display to display a prompt screen for prompting the touch operation. At this time, it is desirable that the luminance of the display be lower than that in use. When a passcode is set, power may be supplied to the display in response to the second wake-up signal to make a transition from a touch operation waiting state to a passcode input waiting state. In this case, when the passcode is authenticated, a transition is made to the use state.

  According to the present invention, an electronic device that can be woken up by a simple operation can be provided. Furthermore, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an electronic device that can wake up while suppressing an increase in standby power. Furthermore, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an electronic device that can be woken up only by an operation on the touch panel. Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a wake-up method and a power state transition method applied to such an electronic apparatus.

It is a top view which shows the external shape of the smart phone to which this invention is applied. It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of the outline of a smart phone. It is a state transition diagram which shows the power state of a smart phone. It is a flowchart explaining the procedure which wakes up a smart phone by tap & touch operation. It is a figure explaining a mode that the binarized vibration pattern is produced | generated from the vibration data which the acceleration sensor detected. It is a figure explaining the example of effective tap operation which produces | generates a 1st wake-up signal. It is a figure explaining the example of effective touch operation which produces | generates a 2nd wake-up signal.

[Configuration of portable electronic device]
FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an outer shape of a smartphone to which the present invention is applied. A smartphone is an example of a portable electronic device such as a tablet computer equipped with a touch screen, a PDA, a mobile phone, or a portable game device. The smartphone 100 includes a touch screen 101 and a mechanical switch 103 at a position accessible from the outside of the housing. Further, a USB port, a headphone jack, a volume switch, and the like (not shown) are included. FIG. 1A shows a state in which the power state is changed to a use state (system on state), and a plurality of icons are displayed on the touch screen 101 on the desktop screen. FIG. 1B shows a state in which a transition is made to a standby state (standby state), and the touch screen 101 stops operating because the backlight is turned off.

  FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of the smartphone 100. The block diagram shown in FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of the smartphone, and may actually include more functions such as a camera and a removable media. Some of these functions can be integrated into one semiconductor chip or divided into individual semiconductor chips. A CPU 111, a display 115, and a main memory 117 are connected to the I / O interface 113. The I / O interface 113 controls data transfer between the peripheral device including the display 115, the CPU 111, and the main memory 117.

  The display 115 is composed of a non-light emitting liquid crystal display (LCD) and includes a backlight made of LEDs. The brightness of the backlight can be adjusted by controlling the LED current. The main memory 117 is a volatile memory that stores a program executed by the CPU 111. The wireless circuit 119 provides an interface for converting an internal electrical signal and an external radio signal for telephone communication, data communication, and reception of a GPS signal. The audio circuit 121 provides an interface to the microphone / speaker 123. The audio circuit 121 further includes a headphone jack (not shown).

  The flash memory 125 is a non-volatile memory that stores programs executed by the CPU 111 and data. In the present embodiment, the wake-up program executed by the CPU 111 to recognize whether or not there is a valid touch operation from the coordinate information received from the touch panel controller 127 is stored in the flash memory 125. Yes. The touch panel 129 is a transparent panel that detects coordinates of a position designated by contact or approach with a finger or a stylus pen (hereinafter, this operation is referred to as a touch operation), and is disposed on the surface of the display 115.

  In this embodiment mode, a capacitive type, a resistive film type, an electromagnetic induction type, or the like can be adopted as the principle of the touch panel 129. The capacitive touch panel has advantages such that it can be easily applied to multi-touch operations and has a high response speed, but has a disadvantage of high power consumption. In this embodiment, in order to wake up by a series of tap operations and touch operations, the time for supplying power to the touch panel 129 and the touch panel controller 127 in a power state other than the use state is minimized. It is desirable to employ a capacitive touch panel with excellent operability. The complex of the display 115 and the touch panel 129 constitutes the touch screen 101 (FIG. 1).

  The touch panel controller 127 generates coordinate information on the touch panel 129 instructed by the touch operation and sends it to the system. The system in this case is mainly composed of a CPU 111, a main memory 117, and a wake-up program executed by the CPU 111. The system generates a coordinate pattern based on the start point coordinates, intermediate coordinates, and end point coordinates of the touch operation recognized from the coordinate information received from the touch panel controller 127, or any one of them, When they match, a second wake-up signal is output to the power management unit (PMU) 135.

  The acceleration sensor 133 detects acceleration from vibration generated in the housing of the smartphone 100 and outputs analog acceleration data to the tap detection circuit 131. The acceleration sensor 133 includes three orthogonal detection axes (X axis, Y axis, and Z axis), and each detection axis represents a component of gravity acceleration and acceleration due to an impact applied to the housing of the smartphone 100. Detect and output. In another example of the acceleration sensor that generates a vibration pattern necessary for the present embodiment, the detection axis may be one axis or two axes.

  The output of the acceleration sensor 133 is processed by the tap detection circuit 131 when the power state of the smartphone 100 is in the standby state, and is processed by the system through the tap detection circuit 131 when it is in use. In the present embodiment, the acceleration sensor that recognizes the tap operation and the acceleration sensor for setting the display direction of the screen are shared. However, a dedicated acceleration sensor for the tap operation can be provided. In use, the CPU 111 executes a program for processing acceleration data, and calculates the tilt angle of each detection axis with respect to the direction of gravity from the component of gravity acceleration detected by each detection axis. The CPU 111 determines the vertical direction of the touch screen 101 based on the inclination angle of each detection axis, and changes the direction of the screen displayed on the display 115.

  In the standby state, the tap detection circuit 131 outputs a first wake-up signal to the PMU 135 when detecting that an intentional tap operation for wake-up according to the present embodiment has been performed. Here, the tap operation in the present embodiment refers to an operation in which the case of the smartphone 100 or the touch panel 129 is tapped with a finger to apply vibration, and further, while the operation of the touch panel is stopped. An operation that gives vibration to the body.

  The tap detection circuit 131 generates a vibration pattern from the analog acceleration data received from the acceleration sensor 133 and outputs a first wake-up signal to the PMU 135 when the vibration pattern matches the preset vibration pattern. Since the tap detection circuit 131 needs to operate when the smartphone 100 is in the standby state 201 and process the signal of the acceleration sensor 129, the tap detection circuit 131 includes a hardware circuit with low power consumption including an operational amplifier, a logic circuit, a timer, and the like. It is desirable to do. In another example, the tap detection circuit 131 can be configured by a low power consumption processor.

  A mechanical switch 103, a USB port 137, and a rechargeable battery 139 are connected to the PMU 135. The PMU 135 includes a charger that charges the battery 139, a power control circuit that controls power supply to a predetermined functional block of each device or semiconductor chip according to a power state, a USB interface circuit, and the like. The mechanical switch 103 is pressed for a long time or a short time depending on the purpose when the user changes the power state of the smartphone 100. The USB port 137 is used to connect to a host computer or an external charging adapter.

  FIG. 3 is a state transition diagram showing the power state of the smartphone 100. The standby state 201 is a state in which only a telephone call (call) can be received and an input from the touch screen 101 is not accepted. When a predetermined tap operation is performed in the standby state 201, the state transitions to the touch operation waiting state 203. When a call is made, the state transits to the use state 207. The standby state 201 is a state in which the power consumption is the smallest except for the stop state 209.

  In the standby state 201, at least a part of functional blocks of the PMU 135 necessary for transitioning the power state, the tap detection circuit 131, the acceleration sensor 133, and the wireless circuit 119 are functional blocks for notifying the PMU 135 of outgoing calls. Power is supplied. Therefore, in the standby state 201, the power of the CPU 111, the display 115, the touch panel 129, and the touch panel controller 127 is stopped.

  In the standby state 201, the backlight of the display 115 is completely turned off and the screen is dark. Further, the contexts of the CPU 111 and the main memory 117 in the use state 207 are stored in the flash memory 125 by the OS when the state transitions to the standby state 201. Therefore, it is possible to return from the standby state 201 to the touch operation standby state 203 in a short time.

  The touch operation waiting state 203 suppresses an increase in standby power in the standby state 201 when waking up by a tap operation and a touch operation, and wakes up by an unintended pseudo tap operation and a touch operation. This is an intermediate state that consumes less power than the use state 207 provided to prevent it. Hereinafter, a series of tap operations and touch operations for the purpose of wake-up will be referred to as tap and touch operations. Here, a series means that the operation ends in a predetermined short time from the start of the tap operation to the end of the touch operation. Alternatively, a series means that a transition is made from a tap operation to a touch operation at a natural speed of the user.

  In the touch operation waiting state 203, power is supplied to the touch panel 129, the touch panel controller 127, and the CPU 111 in addition to the device to which power is supplied in the standby state 201. In another example, power may be supplied to the display 115 in order to display a prompt screen prompting the touch operation in the touch operation waiting state 203. Since the CPU 111 in the touch operation waiting state 203 operates only for determining that a predetermined touch operation has been performed and notifying the PMU 135, in another example, a dedicated device for performing such processing is provided to provide power to the CPU 111. Can also be stopped.

  When a predetermined touch operation is performed on the touch panel 129 within a predetermined time after the transition to the touch operation waiting state, the state transits to the use state 207, and the predetermined touch operation is not performed within the predetermined time. Returns to the standby state 201. When the passcode is set, the state transits to the passcode input wait state 205 instead of the use state 207 by a predetermined touch operation within a predetermined time after the transition to the touch operation wait state. In a conventional smartphone, when a mechanical switch is operated in a standby state in which a passcode is set, a display is activated to display a screen prompting unlocking (waiting for unlocking).

  Then, when the lock is released by a touch operation, the state transits to a passcode input waiting state for prompting a passcode input. Here, the lock release waiting state also played a role of preventing the mechanical switch from operating erroneously and shifting to the use state. When the touch operation waiting state 203 is newly defined, there is no need to provide a conventional lock release waiting state. The touch operation waiting state 203 is different from the conventional lock release waiting state in that at least the transition by a tap operation and the display need not be operated.

  In the passcode input waiting state 205, a passcode input screen is displayed on the display 115. If the user enters a correct passcode within a predetermined time in accordance with the passcode input prompt screen displayed on the display 115 after the transition to the passcode input waiting state 205, the state transits to the use state 207 and is not input within the predetermined time. Or when the mechanical switch 103 is pressed for a short time, the state transits to the standby state 201. The device to which power is supplied in the passcode input waiting state 205 is the same as the device to which power is supplied in the touch operation waiting state 203, but power must be supplied to the display 115. It is necessary to supply power to the CPU 111 in order to recognize the code.

  The use state 207 is a state in which power is supplied to all devices of the smartphone 100 and all functions can be used. When there is no input on the touch panel 129 for a predetermined time in the use state 207 and when the mechanical switch 103 is pressed for a short time, the state transits to the standby state 201. When the mechanical switch 103 is pressed for a long time, the state transits to a stop state (power-off state) 209. In the stop state 209, power of almost all devices except the clock circuit is stopped, and when the mechanical switch 103 is pressed for a long time or when the USB cable is connected to the USB port 137, the use state 207 or the password is input. Transition to the wait state 205.

[Wake-up procedure]
FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for waking up the smartphone 100 by a tap and touch operation. In block 301, the smartphone 100 operates in the use state 207, and there is no input for a predetermined time on the touch screen 101, or a transition to the standby state 201 is made in block 303 by pressing the switch 103 for a short time. At this time, the contexts of the CPU 111 and the main memory 117 are stored in the flash memory 125.

  In block 305, the user performs a tap operation on the touch screen 101 with a finger to apply vibration to the housing. In order to give vibration to the housing, a tap operation may be performed on the back side of the housing or the housing may be lightly bumped against a desk. However, when the tap operation on the touch screen 101 is input to the touch panel 129 Therefore, the operation method is familiar to the user.

  The tap operation includes information indicating the intention to make a transition to the touch operation waiting state 203. The tap operation is also an operation for generating a specific vibration pattern that can be distinguished from vibration (noise) generated in the smartphone 100 during normal handling by the tap detection circuit 131. The unique vibration pattern can be specified by a vibration pattern on the time axis of a pulse generated by binarizing a vibration having a magnitude that can be distinguished from noise or including a noise. In the present embodiment, a method of discriminating by a vibration pattern on the time axis of a pulse is adopted instead of distinguishing from noise only by vibration amplitude.

  As an example, the tap detection circuit 131 binarizes the amplitude of acceleration data detected by the acceleration sensor 133 with a predetermined threshold, detects the number of taps, and generates a vibration pattern on the time axis. Then, the generated vibration pattern is compared with a predetermined vibration pattern. As another example of generating the vibration pattern, it is also possible to detect the vibration frequency unique to the tap operation. The tap detection circuit 131 outputs a first wake-up signal to the PMU 135 when detecting a predetermined vibration pattern.

  In block 307, the PMU 135 that has received the first wake-up signal supplies power to the touch panel 129, the touch panel controller 127, the CPU 111, and the like in order to transition to the touch operation waiting state 203. The PMU 135 that has received the first wake-up signal further operates the timer to measure the elapsed time since the transition to the touch operation waiting state 203. The PMU 135 sets the CPU 111 and main memory 117 contexts stored in the flash memory 125 immediately before the transition to the standby state 201. The CPU 135 executes a wake-up program. In block 309, if the PMU 135 does not detect a predetermined touch operation even after a predetermined time such as several seconds elapses after the timer is operated in block 307, the PMU 135 returns to block 303 and transitions to the standby state 201.

  In the present embodiment, from the viewpoint of operability, a relatively weak vibration is applied and the transition to the touch operation waiting state 203 is made with a small number of tap operations, so a transition due to noise is also planned. When transition is caused by noise, wasteful power is consumed in the touch operation waiting state 203, so it is desirable to return to the standby state 201 in as short a time as possible. By making the touch operation effective when performed within a short time following the tap operation, a predetermined time until returning to the standby state 201 in the case of noise can be shortened.

  The touch operation includes information indicating the intention to shift to the use state 207 or the passcode input waiting state 205. The touch operation is also an operation for generating a unique coordinate pattern that can be distinguished from the coordinates (noise) that are accidentally input to the touch panel 129 under normal handling. The unique coordinate pattern includes coordinates on the touch panel 129 designated by the finger within a predetermined time after the transition to the touch operation waiting state 203.

  In another example, power can be supplied to the display 115 in the touch operation waiting state 203 to display a prompt screen for a touch operation requested by the user. For example, when the touch operation is swiping in a predetermined direction, the prompt screen may be an arrow or a character indicating a swipe in that direction. Swipe here refers to an action of moving a finger while touching the touch panel 129, and is synonymous with dragging in a normal touch operation. When the touch operation is a finger contact with a specific coordinate area as will be described later, the contact area can be displayed on the display 115. The coordinate pattern of the touch operation will be described in detail later. Note that it is desirable to set the luminance of the backlight of the display 115 when displaying the prompt screen to be lower than the luminance in the usage state 207.

  The CPU 111 having received power supply in block 307 executes the wake-up program in block 309 to process the coordinate information. The wake-up program generates a coordinate pattern from the coordinate information received from the touch panel controller 127 and compares a code for processing for comparison with a preset coordinate pattern and a code for determining whether or not a pass code is set. Including. When the CPU 111 determines that a passcode is set in block 311, the CPU 111 displays a passcode input screen on the display 115 in block 313.

  When the CPU 111 determines that the passcode is not set, the CPU 111 proceeds to block 317 and transmits a second wake-up signal to the PMU 135 to shift to the use state 207. The CPU 111 starts operation in the environment of the use state 207 immediately before the transition to the standby state 201. In block 315, if the PMU 135 determines that the correct passcode is not input even after a predetermined time has elapsed since the transition to the password input waiting state 205, the process returns to block 303 to return to the CPU 111 and the touch panel 129, and If necessary, the power of the display 115 is stopped and a transition to the standby state 201 is made. If the CPU 111 determines that a passcode has been input within a predetermined time, the CPU 111 notifies the PMU 135 and makes a transition to the use state 207 at block 317.

  In the above procedure, the tap and touch operation, which is a series of operations composed of the logical product of the tap operation for transition from the standby state 201 to the touch operation wait state 203 and the touch operation for transition from the touch operation wait state 203 to the use state 207, is performed. Wake up. Therefore, it is not necessary to include a complicated pattern or to strike the tap operation and / or touch operation in order to prevent wake-up due to noise, so that the burden on the user for the wake-up operation is not required. Can be reduced.

  In addition, since the user can wake up by a tap-and-touch operation that is easier for the user to operate than the operation of the mechanical switch, the user can operate comfortably even if the frequency of wake-up increases. Therefore, it is possible to reduce wasteful power by shortening the time until transition to the standby state 201 when there is no input in the use state 207. In addition, compared with the case where the mechanical switch is used to wake up, the power consumption that increases in the standby state 201 is only the acceleration sensor 133 and the tap detection circuit 131, so that there is no practical problem. Furthermore, when the display 115 is stopped in the touch operation waiting state 203, an increase in standby power can be further suppressed.

[Recognition of tap operation]
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a binarized vibration pattern is generated from vibration data detected by the acceleration sensor. The tap detection circuit 131 generates a vibration pattern based on acceleration data generated by the acceleration sensor 133 from vibration generated by a tap operation on the touch panel 129. The tap detection circuit 131 compares the generated vibration pattern with a pre-registered vibration pattern and recognizes whether there is an effective tap operation. A line 401 indicates an analog acceleration signal when the tap operation is continuously performed four times. Lines 403 and 407 indicate positive thresholds with respect to the acceleration signal 401, and lines 405 and 409 indicate negative thresholds.

  In one example, the tap detection circuit 131 integrates the positive and negative acceleration signals 401 with a predetermined time width and compares them with threshold values 403 and 405. The tap detection circuit 131 is 2 when the integral value of the positive acceleration signal 401 exceeds the threshold value 403 or when the integral value (absolute value) of the negative acceleration signal 401 exceeds the threshold value 405 (absolute value). A digitized tap signal 411 is generated. In another example, the tap detection circuit 131 detects the peak value of the acceleration signal and compares it with threshold values 407 and 409. The tap detection circuit 131 is constant when the peak value of the positive acceleration signal 401 exceeds the threshold value 407 or when the peak value (absolute value) of the negative acceleration signal 401 exceeds the threshold value 409 (absolute value). A tap signal 413 having a pulse width of λ is generated.

  The tap detection circuit 131 compares the vibration pattern of the tap signal with a preset vibration pattern, and outputs a first wake-up signal when they match. As described above, in this embodiment, since the wake-up is performed by the logical product of the tap operation and the touch operation, the threshold for binarization is increased to the extent that the burden on the user becomes excessive in order to distinguish it from noise. do not have to.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an example of an effective tap operation for generating the first wake-up signal. FIG. 6A shows an example of generating a first wake-up signal from two tap signals. When the first tap signal 421 is generated in the standby state 201, the tap detection circuit 131 always sets a time window 425 having a time width tw after time t1 from the time when the rising edge occurs.

  When the tap detection circuit 131 detects the second tap signal 423 whose rising edge is included in the time window 425, the tap detection circuit 131 determines that it is an effective vibration pattern and immediately outputs the first wake-up signal. To do. When the tap detection circuit 131 does not detect a tap signal having a rising edge in the time window 425, the tap detection circuit 131 determines that a valid tap operation is not performed, and resets the time window 425 when the time window 425 has elapsed. Then, the generation of the first tap signal is awaited.

  FIG. 6B shows an example of generating a first wake-up signal from three tap signals. In the standby state 201, when the first tap signal 431 is generated, the tap detection circuit 131 sets a time window 437 having a time width tw after time t1 from the time when the rising edge occurs. When the tap detection circuit 131 does not detect a tap signal having a rising edge in the time window 437, the tap detection circuit 131 determines that an effective tap operation is not performed and resets the time window 437 to reset the first tap signal. Wait for generation. When the tap detection circuit 131 detects a tap signal 433 whose rising edge is present in the time window 437, the tap detection circuit 131 recognizes that there is a valid second tap operation and waits for the third tap signal.

  When the tap detection circuit 131 generates the second tap signal 433 whose rising edge is included in the time window 437, the tap detection circuit 131 sets the time window 439 having a time width tw after time t2 from the rising edge. When the tap detection circuit 131 does not detect a tap signal having a rising edge in the time window 439, the tap detection circuit 131 determines that an effective tap operation is not performed and resets the time windows 437 and 439 to reset the first signal. Wait for tap signal generation.

  When the third edge signal 435 whose rising edge is included in the time window 439 is generated, the tap detection circuit 131 determines that an effective tap operation has been performed and outputs the first wake-up signal. . In another example, when the first tap signal 431 is generated, the tap detection circuit 131 always sets the time window 437 after time t1 from the time when the rising edge of the first tap signal 431 occurs, and further The time window 439 may be set after t3 (t3> t1).

  FIG. 6C shows another example of generating a first wake-up signal from three tap signals. When in the standby state 201, the tap detection circuit 131 always sets the time window 447 of the time width tw based on the rising edge of the first tap signal 431 when the first tap signal 441 is generated. The tap detection circuit 131 counts the number of rising edges of a new tap signal generated while the time window 447 is set.

  When the tap detection circuit 131 detects three tap signals 441, 443, and 445 whose rising edges are included in the time window 447, the tap detection circuit 131 determines that the tap operation is valid and determines the third tap signal. A first wake-up signal is output based on the rising edge. When the tap detection circuit 131 does not detect three tap signals having rising edges in the time window 447, the tap detection circuit 131 determines that an effective tap operation is not performed, and when the time window 447 has elapsed, the time window 447 has elapsed. 447 is reset and the generation of the first tap signal is awaited.

  Note that the number of valid tap signals included in the time window 447 is not limited to three. Further, the tap detection circuit 131 may determine whether or not a predetermined number of tap signals determined in advance at the time when the time window 447 has elapsed are generated. In this case, when two tap signals are set and three tap signals are detected in the time window 447, it can be determined that an effective tap operation is not performed.

[Recognition of touch operation]
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of an effective touch operation that generates the second wake-up signal. The CPU 11 receives coordinate information generated by a touch operation on the touch panel 129 from the touch panel controller 127 and generates a coordinate pattern. The CPU 111 compares the generated coordinate pattern with the coordinate pattern previously stored in the flash memory 125 to recognize the presence or absence of an effective touch operation.

  FIG. 7A shows an example in which coordinate information is generated by the last finger that has performed a tap operation. The user performs a final tap operation on the position 501 of the touch panel 129, and swipes 503 from the position 501 with the last finger in the direction of the arrow. At this time, the user swipes 503 without releasing the last finger that has performed the tap operation from the touch panel 129 and without taking time from the last tap operation. At this time, the CPU 111 starts operating by supplying power within a short time after the first wake-up signal is generated. The swipe 503 may be started before the CPU 111 starts the operation.

  The CPU 111 that has started the operation starts processing the coordinate information received from the touch panel controller 127. The CPU 111 recognizes the first received coordinate information as the start point coordinates of the swipe 503. The CPU 111 recognizes that the swipe continues while receiving the coordinate information continuously, and recognizes that the swipe is finished when the input of the coordinate information is stopped. The CPU 111 recognizes the coordinates at the end of the swipe as end point coordinates. The CPU 111 can recognize that the touch operation is effective when a coordinate pattern having a distance between the start point coordinates and the end point coordinates having a predetermined value or more is generated. In this case, the start point coordinate is the first feature point and the end point coordinate is the second feature point, and the distance between the first feature point and the second feature point is the coordinate pattern.

  FIG. 7B illustrates an example in which the swipe 505 forms a gesture other than a straight line. Here, an arc gesture is illustrated. The CPU 111 recognizes the start point coordinates and the end point coordinates of the swipe 505 as in the case of FIG. 7A, and further sets the coordinates on the swipe 505 farthest from the straight line connecting the start point coordinates and the end point coordinates as the third feature point. A coordinate pattern is generated.

  In this case, the distance from the straight line connecting the first feature point that is the start point coordinate and the second feature point that is the end point coordinate to the third feature point is the coordinate pattern. The gesture is not limited to a circular arc, but may be a shape having four or more feature points. The more the number of feature points, the easier it is to distinguish the generated coordinate pattern from noise, but there are problems such as recognition failure and difficulty in touch operation. In the present embodiment, since the wake-up is performed on the condition of the logical product with the tap operation, it is not necessary to make the coordinate pattern more complicated than necessary in order to avoid erroneous wake-up.

  FIG. 7C illustrates an example in which a tap and touch operation is performed with two fingers. The position 501 is the position of the last finger that has performed an effective tap operation. A finger different from the last finger contacts the position 507 first after the tap operation. For example, this operation corresponds to a case where a tap operation is performed at the position 501 with the index finger and a swipe is performed from the position 507 with the middle finger. The gesture of the swipe 509 can have various shapes as in FIG.

  FIG. 7D illustrates an example in which regions 521 to 527 are set at four corners of the touch panel 129. The CPU 111 can recognize an effective touch operation when the end point coordinate of the swipe by the finger that has performed the last tap operation enters any of the areas 521 to 527. The coordinate pattern in this case is a swipe of a predetermined distance or more and the end point coordinate of the swipe. The regions 521 to 527 are not limited to the four corners, and may be set around the four sides. When the display 115 is displayed in the touch operation waiting state 203, an area in which the swipe end point coordinates are set may be displayed on the display 115.

  FIG. 7E illustrates an example in which a tap operation is performed with one finger and a touch operation is first performed on any one of the positions 507 in the areas 521 to 527 after the tap operation is completed without performing a swipe with another finger. . When the CPU 111 receives coordinate information included in any of the four areas 521 to 527, the CPU 111 can recognize that there has been an effective touch operation. At this time, the position where the tap operation is performed may be any of the regions 521 to 527. Alternatively, both the position where the tap operation is performed and the position where the touch operation is performed may be the same region 521 to 527.

  The example in which the tap operation pattern is generated as the vibration pattern based on the acceleration data generated by the acceleration sensor 133 has been described so far. According to the present invention, the tap operation pattern can be generated as an acoustic pattern by detecting, with the microphone 123, a collision sound generated in the casing due to an impact at the time of tapping. In this case, a detection circuit having almost the same calibration as the tap detection circuit 131 generates an acoustic pattern from the analog acoustic data output from the microphone 123, and compares the first wake-up signal with the preset acoustic pattern. Can be output. In addition, since the acoustic pattern in this case corresponds to the vibration of the housing, it can also be called a vibration pattern by a tap operation. Since the microphone 123 and the detection circuit can reduce power consumption, standby power can be reduced as in the case of the acceleration sensor 133.

  Although the present invention has been described with the specific embodiments shown in the drawings, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments shown in the drawings, and is known so far as long as the effects of the present invention are achieved. It goes without saying that any configuration can be adopted.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Smartphone 101 ... Touch screen 103 ... Switch 411, 413, 431, 433, 435, 441, 443, 445 ... Touch signal 425, 437, 439, 447 ... Time window 501 ... The position tapped last 507 ... Last Positions 503, 505, 509 ... gestures 521, 523, 525, 527 ... areas on the touch panel where a finger different from the finger that was tapped is first touched

Claims (23)

An electronic device including a vibration sensor that detects vibration of a housing, a display, and a touch panel wakes up from a standby state to a use state,
Stopping power supplied to the touch panel in the standby state;
Outputting a first wake-up signal in response to a predetermined vibration pattern generated from vibration data detected by the vibration sensor in the standby state;
Supplying power to the touch panel in response to the first wake-up signal and transitioning to a touch operation waiting state with less power consumption than the use state;
Outputting a second wake-up signal in response to a predetermined touch operation performed on the touch panel within a predetermined time after transitioning to the touch operation waiting state;
Transitioning to the use state in response to the second wake-up signal.   The method of claim 1, wherein the vibration sensor is an acceleration sensor.   The method of claim 1, wherein the vibration sensor is an acoustic sensor.   The method according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined vibration pattern is generated by a tap operation performed with a finger on the touch panel.   The method according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined vibration pattern is a pattern on a time axis of a pulse signal obtained by binarizing the amplitude of the vibration data.   The method according to claim 5, wherein the predetermined vibration pattern is specified by a time between the pulse signals.   The method according to claim 5, wherein the predetermined vibration pattern is specified by the number of the pulse signals within a predetermined time.   The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the predetermined touch operation is specified by a coordinate pattern of a swipe by a finger that has last tapped on the touch screen.   9. The method of claim 8, wherein the swipe coordinate pattern forms a gesture comprising coordinates of three or more feature points.   The method of claim 8, wherein the swipe coordinate pattern is identified when ending with a particular coordinate region.   The method according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined touch operation is specified by a coordinate pattern indicating a predetermined coordinate area.   The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, further comprising a step of transitioning to the standby state when the predetermined touch operation is not performed within the predetermined time in the waiting state for the touch operation. Supplying power to the display while waiting for the touch operation;
The method according to claim 1, further comprising: displaying a prompt screen prompting the touch operation. Setting a passcode;
14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: supplying power to the display in response to the second wake-up signal when the passcode is set, and transitioning to a password input waiting state. The method described in 1. An electronic device with a touch panel is a method of changing a power state,
Generating a vibration pattern based on vibration generated by the tap operation in the first power state;
Generating a coordinate pattern based on a touch operation performed on the touch panel following the tap operation;
In response to the generation of the predetermined coordinate pattern within a predetermined time after the generation of the predetermined vibration pattern, a transition is made to a second power state that consumes more power than the first power state. And a method comprising:   The method according to claim 15, wherein the tap operation and the touch operation are performed with the same finger on the touch panel.   The method according to claim 15 or 16, further comprising the step of transitioning to the first power state when there is no touch operation on the touch panel for a predetermined time in the second power state.   18. The device according to claim 15, wherein the first power state is a standby state in which the power of the touch panel is stopped, and the second power state is a use state in which power is supplied to all devices. The method according to any one. An electronic device having a power state of use state and standby state,
A display that stops supplying power in the standby state;
A touch panel that stops supplying power in the standby state;
A vibration pattern generation unit that generates a vibration pattern from vibration detected in the standby state;
An electronic apparatus comprising: a power supply unit that supplies power to the touch panel in response to a predetermined vibration pattern and makes a transition to the use state in response to a predetermined coordinate pattern generated from an input to the touch panel.   The vibration pattern generation unit includes an acceleration sensor that controls a display direction of a screen displayed on the display according to a posture of a housing, and a hardware circuit that generates a vibration pattern from an output of the acceleration sensor. The electronic device as described in.   The electronic device according to claim 19, wherein the vibration pattern generation unit includes an acoustic sensor that generates acoustic data from sound generated by vibration of the housing, and a hardware circuit that generates a vibration pattern from the acoustic data.   The power supply unit stops the power of the touch panel when the predetermined coordinate pattern is not generated within a predetermined time after the predetermined vibration pattern is generated. The electronic device described.   The power supply unit supplies power to the display in response to the predetermined vibration pattern, and the display displays a prompt screen for prompting a touch operation on the touch panel. Electronic equipment.

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