JP2012248061A - Information processing device, key input method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform support so that even a person unfamiliar with operation can easily input a key without looking at the key.SOLUTION: A mobile phone is provided with a touch sensor so as to cover a keypad including numeric keys. The touch sensor detects a touch operation, and the keypad detects a depression operation. The mobile phone, when detecting the touch operation (S1), performs guide display of a key corresponding to a touch position (S2). Thereafter, the mobile phone, when detecting the depression operation, defines an input on the basis of the guide-displayed key, and outputs character information representing a character assigned to the key (S4).

Description

  The present invention relates to a UI (User Interface).

  In an information processing apparatus such as a mobile phone, a technique for guiding an operation when performing key input is known. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a technology for voice guidance whether or not a fingertip touches a desired button display area when movement of the fingertip is stopped for a certain time in a touch panel type input device. The technique described in Patent Document 1 is for improving the convenience of the visually impaired.

JP 2003-233465 A

On the other hand, a sighted person (person who has no visual impairment) looks at the keypad (or keyboard) to confirm the key to be input when entering a key, and then looks at the display to confirm the input content. The viewpoint may be moved. In particular, a person unaccustomed to the operation of the keys who cannot perform so-called blind touch needs to frequently perform such viewpoint movement.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a technique for assisting even a person unfamiliar with the operation to easily perform key input without looking at the key.

  An information processing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of keys to be pressed, a key unit that detects the pressing of the plurality of keys, and a surface on the side touched by a user of the plurality of keys. A touch sensor unit for detecting a position touched by the user, a display unit for guiding and displaying a key related to a user operation, and a process execution unit for executing a process according to a detection result by the key unit and the touch sensor unit. When the touch sensor unit detects the position, the processing execution unit guides and displays the key corresponding to the position on the display unit, and the key unit detects pressing of the key after the guidance display. Then, it has the structure which outputs the character information showing the character allocated to the said key.

In a preferred aspect, when the touch is detected on the plurality of keys by the touch sensor unit, the processing execution unit guides and displays a key having a larger area or a proportion thereof.
In another preferable aspect, when the touch is detected by the touch sensor unit in a range spanning the plurality of keys, the process execution unit guides and displays a key at a position corresponding to the center of gravity of the range.
In still another preferred aspect, the process execution unit outputs the character information assigned to the guide displayed key when a key press different from the guide displayed key is detected after the guide display. To do.
In still another preferred aspect, the process execution unit may detect a key press different from the guide displayed key when a plurality of key presses are detected within a predetermined time after the guide display. When detected, the character information assigned to the key is not output.
In yet another preferred aspect, the plurality of keys are assigned with a plurality of the character information to one key, and when the touch sensor unit detects the position, the processing execution unit detects the key corresponding to the position. When the key portion detects the pressing of the key after the guidance display, the guidance information is displayed when the key information is pressed among the plurality of character information assigned to the key. Output what was being done.
In this case, the process execution unit can switch the character information to be displayed for guidance according to the movement of the position detected by the touch sensor unit.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a key input method including a plurality of keys to be pressed, a key portion that detects the pressing of the plurality of keys, and a surface that is touched by a user of the plurality of keys. In an information processing apparatus having a touch sensor unit for detecting a position touched by a user and a display unit for guiding and displaying a key related to the user's operation, when the touch sensor unit detects a touch, the touched unit corresponds to the touched position A first step in which the display unit guides the key to be displayed, and a character assigned to the key when the key unit detects a press of the key displayed in the guide after the guidance display in the first step. And a second step of outputting character information representing.

  A program according to another aspect of the present invention has a plurality of keys to be pressed, and is provided on a key part that detects the pressing of the plurality of keys, and a surface that is touched by a user of the plurality of keys, Coordinate information representing the position detected by the touch sensor unit is acquired in a computer of an information processing apparatus having a touch sensor unit that detects a position touched by a user and a display unit that displays a guide related to a user's operation. A second step of guiding and displaying the key corresponding to the position represented by the coordinate information acquired in the first step on the display unit, and after the guidance display in the second step, A third step of acquiring key information representing a key detected to be pressed by the key portion; and a key represented by the key information acquired in the third step When a key that is guidance display in two steps, is intended to execute a fourth step of outputting the character information representing the characters assigned to the key.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to assist a person who is unfamiliar with the operation to easily perform key input without looking at the key.

The figure which shows the structure on the external appearance of a mobile telephone Figure showing the keypad from the front Figure showing the keypad from the side Block diagram showing hardware configuration of mobile phone Functional block diagram showing a functional configuration related to guidance display of a mobile phone The flowchart which shows the process performed at the time of guidance display with a mobile telephone Flow chart showing guidance display processing Diagram for explaining contact area Flow chart showing the confirmation process Diagram illustrating guidance display Flow chart showing guidance display processing A diagram showing an example of switching the guidance display Diagram illustrating guidance display

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an external configuration of a mobile phone 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The mobile phone 100 is configured to allow Japanese input and can be operated by a user with a finger. As shown in the figure, the cellular phone 100 includes a keypad 101 and a display surface 102. The keypad 101 is a part that receives a user operation and has a plurality of keys. The display surface 102 is a part that displays an image. The display surface 102 displays an image corresponding to an application program (hereinafter simply referred to as “application”) executed by the mobile phone 100 and keys related to user operations. Note that the mobile phone 100 may further include a key other than the keypad 101. In the following description, the surface of the mobile phone 100 shown in FIG.

  FIG. 2 shows the keypad 101 in more detail. The keypad 101 has keys K1, K2, K3, K4, K5, K6, K7, K8, K9, K0, Ka, Kb, Kc, Kd, and Ke. Keys K1 to K0 are keys corresponding to numbers 1 to 0, respectively. The keys Kd and Ke are keys corresponding to a number symbol (also referred to as a cross digit) and an asterisk (also referred to as an asterisk), respectively. Keys Ka and Kc are keys for instructing the start and end of a call, respectively. The key Kb is a key for erasing the character whose input has been confirmed. In the following, the keys K1 to K0 are expressed as “1 key”, “2 key”,..., “0 key” using numbers corresponding to each, and these are collectively referred to as “ten keys”. "

  In addition to numerals, at least one of hiragana, romaji and symbols (comma, period, etc.) is assigned to the numeric keypad. For example, 2 keys include “2”, “A”, “B”, “C”, “a”, “b”, “c”, “ka”, “ki”, “ku”, “ke” , “Ko”, 12 types of characters are assigned, and “3”, “D”, “E”, “F”, “d”, “e”, “f”, “sa” are assigned to the 3 keys. ”,“ Shi ”,“ su ”,“ se ”, and“ so ”are assigned. Each key is printed or engraved with at least one of assigned characters. In the present invention, characters are those that can be input by the keypad 101 and include numbers and symbols (including pictographs).

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of the keypad 101 from the side. The keypad 101 includes a touch sensor 121 on the front surface of each key (that is, the surface touched by the user). The touch sensor 121 is a matrix-shaped sensor that is provided so as to cover each key of the keypad 101 and detects contact by the user. The touch sensor 121 preferably transmits light like a touch screen so that each key can be visually recognized, but is configured so that each key can be identified by forming characters or the like on the surface thereof. If it is, it does not necessarily need to be transparent. In addition, each key is configured to detect pressing by an external force by a known configuration such as a metal dome switch and return to the original position after pressing. Each key may be configured such that an external force larger than that at the time of contact is detected by a pressure sensor that detects pressure.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a main hardware configuration of the mobile phone 100. The mobile phone 100 includes at least a key unit 110, a touch sensor unit 120, a control unit 130, a display unit 140, and a storage unit 150. The mobile phone 100 includes communication means for transmitting and receiving data and voice input / output means in addition to the structure shown in FIG. 4, but these are not necessary components of the present invention and are not shown. ing.

  The key unit 110 and the touch sensor unit 120 are means for detecting a user operation. The key unit 110 includes a keypad 101, and detects pressing of a plurality of keys. The key unit 110 supplies key information indicating the key detected by the user to be pressed to the control unit 130. The touch sensor unit 120 includes a touch sensor 121 and detects a position touched by the user. The touch sensor unit 120 supplies coordinate information representing a position (hereinafter referred to as “contact position”) at which contact by the user is detected to the control unit 130. The coordinate information represents a position by a two-dimensional orthogonal coordinate system with a predetermined position of the touch sensor 121 as an origin. The touch sensor unit 120 can supply coordinate information representing each of the plurality of contact positions to the control unit 130 when the user simultaneously contacts the plurality of contact positions.

  In the following, an operation detected by the key unit 110 is referred to as a “contact operation”, and an operation detected by the touch sensor unit 120 is referred to as a “pressing operation”, so that these two types of operations are distinguished. It shall be. When the user performs a pressing operation (that is, a key pressing), the contact operation is always performed before that. This is because the key cannot be pressed without touching the touch sensor 121 at all.

  The control unit 130 is means for controlling the operation of the mobile phone 100. The control unit 130 includes an arithmetic processing device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a memory (main storage device), and implements various functions by executing programs. For example, the control unit 130 can implement functions such as a web browser for browsing web pages and display and editing of an address book. In addition, the control unit 130 acquires key information from the key unit 110 and coordinate information from the touch sensor unit 120, and executes processing according to the acquired information.

  The processing executed by the control unit 130 includes at least processing for guiding and displaying keys related to user operations. Here, the key related to the user's operation refers to a key that the user intends to input, and is not necessarily a key that is input. The guidance display is a display for informing the user.

  The display unit 140 is a means for displaying an image on the display surface 102. The display unit 140 includes a display panel that displays an image using a liquid crystal element or an organic EL (electroluminescence) element, a drive circuit that drives the display panel, and the like, and displays an image according to display data supplied from the control unit 130. It is displayed on the surface 102. The display by the display unit 140 includes a guidance display and other displays. “Other display” here refers to, for example, displaying a destination or a text when creating an e-mail, or displaying a web page by a web browser.

  The storage unit 150 is a means for storing data. The storage unit 150 includes a storage medium including a hard disk and a flash memory, and stores data read and written by the control unit 130. The data stored in the storage unit 150 is, for example, a program executed by the control unit 130 or data generated or acquired by the control unit 130.

  The hardware configuration of the mobile phone 100 is as described above. With this configuration, the mobile phone 100 can execute an application that involves character input. Such applications are, for example, web browsers, e-mail clients (so-called mailers), and text editors.

  When the mobile phone 100 executes such an application, the mobile phone 100 guides and displays keys related to user operations. Specifically, when the user touches the keypad 101 to input a character or the like, the mobile phone 100 displays which key is the key corresponding to the contact position (that is, the key immediately below the contact position). Display on surface 102. Such guidance display is preferably performed on a part of the display surface 102 (for example, the upper end portion or the lower end portion) and does not interfere with other displays.

  In this embodiment, there are three types of character input modes, “number input mode”, “kana input mode”, and “romaji input mode”, which can be switched by a predetermined operation. To do. Here, the number input mode is a mode in which a number can be input using a numeric keypad. For example, a mode in which “1” can be input by pressing the 1 key and “2” can be input by pressing the 2 key. It is. That is, in the number input mode, one character is assigned to one key.

  On the other hand, in the Kana input mode and the Roman character input mode, a plurality of characters are assigned to one key. For example, in the Kana input mode, five characters “A”, “I”, “U”, “E”, “O” are assigned to one key, and in the Romaji input mode, “A” is assigned to the two keys. ”,“ B ”,“ C ”,“ a ”,“ b ”, and“ c ”. In this embodiment, one key is input once to input “A”, one key is input twice to input “I”, and five keys are input to input “O”. It is assumed that a desired character (kana or romaji) can be input by continuously pressing a certain key a predetermined number of times.

  FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing a functional configuration related to the guidance display of the mobile phone 100. The control unit 130 of the mobile phone 100 realizes functions corresponding to the key information acquisition unit 131, the coordinate information acquisition unit 132, and the process execution unit 133 shown in FIG. Note that the function shown in FIG. 5 may be realized by either an OS (Operating System) or an application.

  The key information acquisition unit 131 acquires key information from the key unit 110. The coordinate information acquisition unit 132 acquires coordinate information from the touch sensor unit 120. The key information acquisition unit 131 and the coordinate information acquisition unit 132 can acquire information independently without being affected by each other. The process execution unit 133 executes a process according to the information acquired by the key information acquisition unit 131 and the coordinate information acquisition unit 132. More specifically, the process execution unit 133 can be functionally classified into a guidance display control unit 134, a character determination unit 135, and a character information output unit 136.

  The guidance display control unit 134 controls guidance display. Specifically, the guidance display control unit 134 controls the display unit 140 to guide and display keys related to user operations based on the coordinate information acquired by the coordinate information acquisition unit 132. The character determination unit 135 determines a character that the user is trying to input. Specifically, the character determination unit 135 is based on the characters displayed on the display unit 140 by the guidance display control unit 134 and the key information acquired by the key information acquisition unit 131, and the user will input at that time. The character that is being determined is determined. The character information output unit 136 outputs the determination result by the character determination unit 135 as character information. The character information output unit 136 outputs character information to, for example, the application that involves character input described above. Alternatively, the character information output unit 136 may display the determination result by the character determination unit 135 on the display unit 140. That is, the “output” by the character information output unit 136 may be to pass a value to another application or to notify the user.

  The character information is information representing the character that the user is trying to input. On the other hand, key information is information representing a key, and is not necessarily the same as character information. For example, when a plurality of characters are assigned to one key, certain key information corresponds to any of character information representing the plurality of characters. Therefore, when a plurality of characters are assigned to one key, the character information cannot be uniquely specified only from the key information.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing processing executed when the mobile phone 100 displays guidance. As shown in the figure, the control unit 130 of the mobile phone 100 first determines whether or not a contact operation has been detected (step S1). Specifically, this determination is made based on whether coordinate information has been acquired. The control unit 130 repeats the determination in step S1 until the coordinate information is acquired.

  When detecting the contact operation, the control unit 130 executes a guidance display process to be described later, and causes the display unit 140 to guide and display a key related to the user's operation (step S2). Subsequently, the control unit 130 determines whether or not a pressing operation is detected after the guidance display in step S2 (step S3). Specifically, this determination is made based on whether or not key information has been acquired. When detecting the pressing operation, the control unit 130 executes a determination process described later to determine the character that the user is going to input (step S4). When the character that the user is going to input is confirmed, the control unit 130 ends the guidance display (step S5).

  In addition, when the pressing operation is not detected, the control unit 130 determines whether or not the user's finger is separated by determining whether or not the contact operation is continued (step S6). When the control unit 130 determines that the supply of the coordinate information is interrupted and the user's finger is separated, the guidance display is temporarily terminated (step S5). On the other hand, when the supply of the coordinate information is continued and it is determined that the user's finger is still in contact, the control unit 130 executes the processes after step S2 again.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the guidance display process of step S2. In this guidance display process, the control unit 130 first specifies a key corresponding to the contact position (step S21). The key corresponding to the contact position is basically a key immediately below the contact position. However, the touch sensor 121 may detect a plurality of contact positions at the same time, such as when the user operates with a relatively flexible part such as the belly of a finger, or when the user touches the finger simultaneously with a plurality of fingers. In such a case, a plurality of keys may be considered as keys to be displayed for guidance. Therefore, the control unit 130 determines whether the key corresponding to the contact position is singular or plural (step S22), and executes different processes depending on the determination result.

  When there is a single key corresponding to the contact position, the control unit 130 guides and displays the key specified in step S21 as it is (step S24). On the other hand, when there are a plurality of keys corresponding to the contact position, the control unit 130 calculates the area of the contact position in each key (hereinafter referred to as “contact area”), compares the contact areas, and has a larger contact area. A key is specified (step S23). And the control part 130 carries out guidance display of the key identified in step S23, ie, a key with a larger contact area (step S24).

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the contact area. In this example, the user's finger is in contact with four adjacent keys, and A1, A2, A4, and A5 have a contact area of 1 key, 2 keys, 4 keys, and 5 keys. Represents each.
When the areas of the keys are not the same, the control unit 130 may calculate the ratio of the contact area with respect to the area of the key surface (the surface touched by the user), and may guide and display a key with a higher ratio.

  Next, FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the confirmation process. In this determination process, the control unit 130 determines whether or not there are a plurality of keys for which the pressing operation is detected in step S3 (step S41). This is because, as illustrated in FIG. 8, the user may touch a plurality of keys at the same time, and in this case, the user may press the plurality of keys almost simultaneously. In step S41, the control unit 130 determines whether or not a plurality of keys are pressed almost simultaneously by determining whether or not a plurality of pressing operations are detected within a predetermined time (for example, 1 second). Judging.

  When the number of keys for which the pressing operation has been detected is one, the control unit 130 determines whether or not the key is the same as the key displayed for guidance in the guidance display process (step S45). If these keys are the same, control unit 130 outputs the character information of the key for which the pressing operation has been detected (step S46). On the other hand, when these keys are not the same, the control unit 130 outputs the character information of the guide-displayed key, not the key whose pressing operation has been detected (step S47).

  In addition, when there are a plurality of keys for which a pressing operation has been detected, the control unit 130 determines whether there is a key that is the same as the key that has been guided and displayed in the guidance display processing among the plurality of keys. (Step S42). Then, when the same key as the guide-displayed key is pressed, the control unit 130 performs control so that the character information of the key is output while the character information of the other pressed keys is not output. (Step S43). In addition, when the same key as the guide-displayed key is not pressed, the control unit 130 outputs only the character information of the key that is guided and displayed in the guide display process instead of the plurality of pressed keys. (Step S44).

  In this way, the control unit 130, when it is detected that one or a plurality of keys is pressed regardless of the key actually pressed by the user, the key displayed at the time of the pressing operation is displayed. The character information is output, and the character that the user tried to input is fixed. In addition, when the key pressed by the user is different from the key displayed in the guidance, the control unit 130 does not output the character information assigned to the key pressed by the user.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a guidance display in the present embodiment. FIG. 10A shows a case where the user touches the 2 key and “2” is displayed for guidance. FIG. 10B shows that the user presses the 2 key in the state shown in FIG. , “2” input is confirmed. In the case of FIG. 10, the mobile phone 100 may display a guidance “K” in the Kana input mode, and display a guidance “A” in the Roman character input mode. However, if it is sufficient if it is sufficient to know which key the user is touching, the guidance display “2” may be displayed in these input modes (however, in this case, the user can (It is assumed that the keypad is memorized in correspondence with Kana or Romaji.)

  Note that the position of the guidance display is not limited to the example of FIG. The position of the guidance display may be a position where the movement of the viewpoint becomes smaller, for example, in the vicinity of the position of the cursor (that is, the position where characters are to be input).

  As described above, according to the mobile phone 100 of the present embodiment, the user can know which key is to be pressed without looking at the keypad 101 and can easily perform so-called blind touch. become. At this time, since the user does not need to move the viewpoint from the display surface 102 to the keypad 101, the movement of the viewpoint can be reduced, and fatigue can be reduced and input work efficiency can be expected. it can.

[Second Embodiment]
In the present embodiment, a part of the operation of the first embodiment described above is changed. Specifically, guidance display processing when a plurality of characters (and character information) are assigned to one key. Is different from the first embodiment. Note that the configuration of the mobile phone according to the present embodiment is the same as that of the mobile phone 100 according to the first embodiment, and therefore, the description thereof will be omitted using the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment. . Further, the present embodiment assumes a case where a plurality of characters are assigned to one key, that is, a case where characters are input in the Kana input mode or the Roman character input mode.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the guidance display process of the present embodiment. The flowchart shown in FIG. 11 is obtained by adding the processes of steps S25 and S26 to the guidance display process (see FIG. 7) of the first embodiment. In addition, the process of step S21-S24 before step S25 is as having demonstrated in 1st Embodiment.

  In step S25, the control unit 130 determines whether the contact position has moved by a predetermined threshold or more after the guidance display. The movement amount of the contact position may be a movement amount of one point with a contour of the contact position, or may be a movement amount of a position corresponding to the center of gravity of the contact position. Here, the center of gravity is the position of the center of mass when a certain range occupied by the contact position is regarded as a flat object having a uniform mass distribution.

In step S26, the control unit 130 switches the guidance display according to the movement of the contact position. Specifically, the control unit 130 switches characters for guidance display according to the moving amount and moving direction of the contact position.
FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of switching the guidance display, and illustrates the guidance display when one key is touched. In this example, the first contact position immediately after the start of guidance display is P1.

  FIG. 12A shows a case where the characters displayed for guidance change depending on the amount of movement of the contact position. In this case, the mobile phone 100 first displays “A” as guidance, and when the user moves his finger little by little to the right, the guidance display is switched from “A” to “I” at a certain point in time. When moved to the right, the guidance display is switched from “I” to “U”, “U” to “E”, “E” to “O”. In this case, the maximum movement amount (that is, the movement amount necessary for switching the guidance display from “A” to “O”) may exceed the size of one key. This is because the cellular phone 100 can output the character information of the displayed key even if the pressed key is different from the displayed key.

  FIG. 12B shows a case where the characters displayed for guidance change depending on the moving direction of the contact position. In this case, the mobile phone 100 first displays “A” as a guide, and “Yes” when the user moves the finger upward, “Yes” when the user moves left, and “E” when the user moves right. “,” And “O” are displayed as guidance.

  FIG. 12C shows a case where the characters displayed for guidance change depending on the amount and direction of movement of the contact position. In this case, the mobile phone 100 first displays “A” as guidance, and when the user moves his / her finger to the right, the guidance display is switched from “A” to “I” at a certain point in time, and further to the right. When moved, the guidance display is switched from “I” to “U”. In addition, when the user moves his / her finger to the left, the mobile phone 100 switches the guidance display from “A” to “E” at a certain point in time, and further moves to the left to change the guidance display from “E”. Switch to “O”.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a guidance display in the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 13 (a), the cellular phone 100 may display only the characters for which character information is output when the key is pressed (that is, the input is confirmed) on the display surface 102, as shown in FIG. As shown in (b), all the characters that can be confirmed by pressing a key are displayed, and only the characters that are confirmed to be input when the key is pressed are highlighted in a manner that can be distinguished from other characters. May be. The highlighting here is, for example, underlined, displayed in bold, blinking characters, or changing the color of the characters.

  As described above, according to the guidance display process of the present embodiment, the user can input characters that have so far required multiple pressing operations with a single pressing operation. For example, in the first embodiment, when “O” is to be input, it is necessary to press one key five times. However, in this embodiment, “O” can be input by one press. Is possible.

  When the mobile phone 100 operates as in the present embodiment, the user can continue to input characters without touching the keypad 101 and then separating the fingers. That is, the user can input a plurality of characters by repeating the operation of moving the finger on the keypad 101 and pressing the keypad 101 at a necessary position.

[Modification]
The present invention is not limited to the aspect of each embodiment described above, and can be implemented in other aspects. The present invention can also be implemented, for example, by the modes shown in the following modifications. In addition, this invention may be implemented in the aspect which combined these some modifications.

(1) When there are a plurality of keys corresponding to the contact position, the control unit 130 specifies the key to be displayed for guidance, instead of the area of the range touched by the user (that is, the contact area). A key for guidance display may be specified based on the position. That is, instead of step S23 (see FIG. 7), the control unit 130 calculates the position of the center of gravity in the range in which the user has touched, and instead of step S24, the key located at the position corresponding to the center of gravity (the position overlapping the center of gravity) Key) may be displayed as guidance.

(2) The present invention is not limited to a mobile phone and can be applied to various information processing apparatuses. The key unit of the present invention is not limited to the numeric keypad, but can be applied to a so-called QWERTY keyboard. Information processing apparatuses to which the present invention can be applied are, for example, personal computers, electronic dictionaries, electronic book readers, game machines, and the like.

(3) In the embodiment described above, the touch sensor 121 is a single sheet-like sensor provided so as to cover the entire surface of the keypad 101. However, the touch sensor unit of the present invention may be a sensor provided independently for each key, or the sensor does not necessarily have to be provided on the entire surface that the user touches.

(4) In the present invention, switching of the guidance display may be performed based on parameters other than the movement (ie, displacement) of the contact position. For example, the control unit 130 may switch the guidance display every time a predetermined time (for example, about 1 second) elapses regardless of a change in the contact position. In this case, the user may perform the pressing operation at the timing when the character he / she wants to input is displayed for guidance.

(5) In the present invention, the user's operation does not necessarily have to be performed with a finger. The present invention can be applied to, for example, an operation using an instrument such as a stylus or an operation using a body part other than a finger.

(6) The present invention is not limited to an information processing apparatus such as the mobile phone 100, but a key input method in the information processing apparatus and a program for causing the information processing apparatus to perform key input with guidance display according to the present invention. Can also be provided. The present invention can also be provided in the form of a recording medium that records a program for causing the information processing apparatus to perform such key input. Such a program may be downloaded from a server device via a network and installed in the information processing device.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Mobile phone, 101 ... Keypad, 102 ... Display surface, K1, K2, K3, K4, K5, K6, K7, K8, K9, K0, Ka, Kb, Kc, Kd, Ke ... key, 110 ... key 120 ... Touch sensor unit 121 ... Touch sensor 130 ... Control unit 131 ... Key information acquisition unit 132 ... Coordinate information acquisition unit 133 ... Process execution unit 134 ... Guidance display control unit 135 ... Character determination unit 136 ... Character information output unit, 140 ... Display unit, 150 ... Storage unit

Claims (9)

A key portion that has a plurality of keys to be pressed, and that respectively detects pressing of the plurality of keys;
A touch sensor unit that is provided on a surface of the plurality of keys that is touched by a user and detects a position touched by the user;
A display unit for guiding and displaying keys related to user operations;
A process execution unit that executes a process according to a detection result by the key unit and the touch sensor unit;
The process execution unit
When the touch sensor unit detects the position, the key corresponding to the position is guided and displayed on the display unit, and when the key unit detects pressing of the key after the guidance display, the character assigned to the key is displayed. An information processing apparatus characterized by outputting character information representing the character. The process execution unit
2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when contact is detected on the plurality of keys by the touch sensor unit, a key having a larger area or a proportion of the contact is guided and displayed. The process execution unit
2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when contact is detected in a range that spans the plurality of keys by the touch sensor unit, a key located at a position corresponding to the center of gravity of the range is guided and displayed. . The process execution unit
4. The character information assigned to the key displayed in the guidance is output when pressing of a key different from the key displayed in the guidance is detected after the guidance is displayed. 5. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1. The process execution unit
In a case where a plurality of key presses are detected within a predetermined time after the guide display, the character assigned to the key is detected when a key press different from the guide displayed key is detected. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein information is not output. The plurality of keys have a plurality of character information assigned to one key,
The process execution unit
When the touch sensor unit detects the position, guidance display is performed while switching the plurality of character information assigned to the key corresponding to the position,
When the key unit detects that the key is pressed after the guidance is displayed, the character information assigned to the key is output as being displayed when the key is pressed. 6. The information processing apparatus according to any one of 5 above. The process execution unit
The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the character information to be displayed for guidance is switched according to the movement of the position detected by the touch sensor unit. A key portion that has a plurality of keys to be pressed, and that respectively detects pressing of the plurality of keys;
A touch sensor unit that is provided on a surface of the plurality of keys that is touched by a user and detects a position touched by the user;
In an information processing apparatus having a display unit for guiding and displaying keys related to user operations,
When the touch sensor unit detects contact, the display unit guides and displays the key corresponding to the touched position; and
A second step of outputting character information representing a character assigned to the key when the key unit detects pressing of the key displayed in the guidance after the guidance display in the first step. Key input method. A key portion that has a plurality of keys to be pressed, and that respectively detects pressing of the plurality of keys;
A touch sensor unit that is provided on a surface of the plurality of keys that is touched by a user and detects a position touched by the user;
A computer of an information processing apparatus having a display unit for guiding and displaying keys related to user operations;
A first step of acquiring coordinate information representing a position detected by the touch sensor unit;
A second step of guiding and displaying the key corresponding to the position represented by the coordinate information acquired in the first step on the display unit;
A third step of obtaining key information representing a key detected to be pressed by the key part after the guidance display in the second step;
A fourth step of outputting character information representing a character assigned to the key when the key represented by the key information acquired in the third step is a key displayed and guided in the second step; A program for running

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