JP2017191425A - Operation panel apparatus and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an operation panel apparatus that can stably drive vibration devices.SOLUTION: An operation panel apparatus 100 comprises: a vibration drive part 41; a plurality of vibration devices 3a to 3h; a power supply part 5; and a stabilization circuit 6. The vibration drive part 41 outputs a driving signal. The plurality of vibration devices 3a to 3h are each driven according to the driving signal. The power supply part 5 supplies a predetermined voltage to the vibration drive part 41. The stabilization circuit 6 stabilizes the driving signal.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to an operation panel device and an image forming apparatus.

  In recent years, touch panels equipped with feedback control means are becoming widespread. The feedback control means feeds back a click feeling to the user when the user touches a soft key displayed on the touch panel. Thereby, the user can know tactilely that the touch input was received by the touch panel. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a touch panel including a vibration device as a feedback control unit. The vibration device described in Patent Literature 1 vibrates the touch surface when the user touches the touch surface of the touch panel.

  By the way, vibration is difficult to be transmitted to the user in a portion far from the position where the vibration device is provided. For this reason, a touch panel having a large touch surface is more likely to have a portion that is less likely to transmit vibration to the user than a touch panel having a small touch surface. This problem is solved by increasing the number of vibrating devices to be driven.

JP 2012-63852 A

  However, when the number of driven vibration devices is increased, the voltage supplied to each vibration device may drop, and the vibration amount of each vibration device may be reduced. In other words, there is a possibility that the vibration device cannot be vibrated stably.

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an operation panel device and an image forming apparatus that can stably drive a vibration device.

  An operation panel device according to the present invention includes a vibration drive unit, a plurality of vibration devices, a power supply unit, and a stabilization circuit. The vibration drive unit outputs a drive signal. Each of the plurality of vibration devices is driven according to the drive signal. The power supply unit supplies a predetermined voltage to the vibration driving unit. The stabilization circuit stabilizes the drive signal.

  An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes the above-described operation panel device.

  According to the present invention, the vibration device can be driven stably.

It is a top view which shows the structure of the operation panel apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the figure which looked at the internal structure of the operation panel apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention from the front. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the operation panel apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the stabilization circuit which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the operation panel apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of an operation panel device and an image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is not repeated.

[Embodiment 1]
First, the configuration of the operation panel device 100 according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the configuration of the operation panel device 100 according to the first embodiment. In the present embodiment, the operation panel device 100 is an operation panel device provided in the multifunction machine.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the operation panel device 100 includes a housing 100 a, a touch panel 2, and a piezoelectric element 3. The piezoelectric element 3 is an example of a vibration device. In the present embodiment, the shape of the touch panel 2 when viewed in plan is a rectangle. In the following description, the left side in FIG. 1 is the left side of the operation panel device 100, the right side is the right side of the operation panel device 100, the upper side is the rear side of the operation panel device 100, and the lower side is the front side of the operation panel device 100.

  The housing 100 a accommodates each end of the touch panel 2. In other words, portions other than the end portions of the touch panel 2 are exposed from the housing 100a. The housing 100a further houses the piezoelectric element 3.

  The touch panel 2 displays an operation screen and the like. The operation screen displays soft keys. The soft key functions as an operation key for operating the operation panel device 100. The size of the display screen of the touch panel 2 is, for example, 10 inches. The touch panel 2 detects a touch input by the user. When the touch panel 2 detects a touch input, the touch panel 2 generates a touch signal indicating a touched position. Hereinafter, the touched position may be referred to as a “touch position”.

  For example, the piezoelectric element 3 vibrates when a pulsed or sinusoidal voltage is applied thereto. In the present embodiment, the piezoelectric element 3 has eight piezoelectric elements 3a to 3h. Each of the piezoelectric elements 3 a to 3 h is disposed at a predetermined interval on each side (each end) of the touch panel 2 by two. Specifically, the piezoelectric element 3 a is disposed on the left side of the front end portion of the touch panel 2. The piezoelectric element 3 b is disposed on the right side of the front end portion of the touch panel 2. The piezoelectric element 3 c is disposed on the front side of the right end portion of the touch panel 2. The piezoelectric element 3 d is disposed on the rear side of the right end portion of the touch panel 2. The piezoelectric element 3 e is disposed on the right side at the rear end portion of the touch panel 2. The piezoelectric element 3 f is arranged on the left side at the rear end portion of the touch panel 2. The piezoelectric element 3g is disposed on the rear side of the left end portion of the touch panel 2. The piezoelectric element 3 h is disposed on the front side of the left end portion of the touch panel 2.

  Next, the configuration of the operation panel device 100 according to the first embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a view of the internal configuration of the operation panel device 100 as viewed from the front.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the touch panel 2 includes a liquid crystal display 21 and a touch sensor 22. The liquid crystal display 21 displays an operation screen. The touch sensor 22 has a touch surface 22a. The touch sensor 22 detects a touch input when the touch surface 22a is touched by the user.

  The piezoelectric element 3 is provided in contact with each end of the touch sensor 22 between the touch sensor 22 and the liquid crystal display 21. Thereby, when the piezoelectric element 3 vibrates, the touch sensor 22 vibrates.

  Next, the configuration of the operation panel device 100 according to the first embodiment will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the operation panel device 100 according to the first embodiment.

  As illustrated in FIG. 3, the operation panel device 100 further includes a device driving unit 4, a power supply unit 5, a stabilization circuit 6, and a control unit 10. The operation panel device 100 further includes a first wiring H1 and a second wiring H2.

  The first wiring H <b> 1 connects the device driving unit 4 and the power supply unit 5. The second wiring H <b> 2 connects the power supply unit 5 and the stabilization circuit 6. Further, the second wiring H <b> 2 connects the stabilization circuit 6 and the device driving unit 4.

  The device driving unit 4 includes a vibration driving unit 41 and a panel driving unit 42.

  The vibration drive unit 41 generates a vibration drive signal that drives the piezoelectric element 3. The vibration drive unit 41 includes vibration drive circuits 41a to 41h. The vibration drive circuit 41a outputs a vibration drive signal to the piezoelectric element 3a. Similarly, the vibration drive circuits 41b to 41h output vibration drive signals to the piezoelectric elements 3b to 3h, respectively. The piezoelectric elements 3a to 3h vibrate in response to the input of the vibration drive signal.

  The panel drive unit 42 generates a panel drive signal that drives the touch panel 2. The panel drive signal is output to the touch panel 2. For example, the panel drive unit 42 outputs a panel drive signal for driving the liquid crystal display 21. As a result, an image is displayed on the liquid crystal display 21.

  The power supply unit 5 supplies a predetermined voltage to the device driving unit 4 via the first wiring H1 or the second wiring H2. In the present embodiment, the power supply unit 5 is a power supply unit (so-called machine power supply) of a multifunction machine. The vibration drive unit 41 generates a vibration drive signal based on the supplied voltage. The panel drive unit 42 generates a panel drive signal based on the supplied voltage.

  The stabilization circuit 6 drives the piezoelectric element 3 stably. In the present embodiment, the stabilization circuit 6 is disposed between the device driving unit 4 and the power supply unit 5. The stabilization circuit 6 stabilizes and supplies the voltage supplied from the power supply unit 5 to the device driving unit 4.

  The control unit 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a storage area, and the like. The storage area includes, for example, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and a ROM (Read Only Memory). In the storage area, a control program for controlling the operation of the operation panel device 100 is stored. The control unit 10 controls the operation of the operation panel device 100 by executing a control program.

  A touch signal generated by the touch sensor 22 is input to the control unit 10. Thereby, the control part 10 can acquire a touch position.

  The control unit 10 functions as a vibration control unit 11, a panel control unit 12, and a power supply control unit 13.

  The vibration control unit 11 controls the operation of the piezoelectric element 3. In the present embodiment, the vibration control unit 11 determines the piezoelectric element 3 to be driven from among the piezoelectric elements 3a to 3h. The piezoelectric element 3 to be driven is determined based on the acquired touch position. Specifically, when the touch position is in the vicinity of the piezoelectric element 3a, the vibration control unit 11 drives only the piezoelectric element 3a. That is, the vibration control unit 11 drives the piezoelectric element 3 closest to the touch position. Further, when the touch position is the central portion of the touch panel 2, the vibration control unit 11 drives all the piezoelectric elements 3a to 3h. The vibration drive unit 41 drives the piezoelectric element 3 in accordance with a command from the vibration control unit 11. That is, the vibration driving unit 41 drives the piezoelectric element 3 that is determined to be driven by the vibration control unit 11. The vibration control unit 11 notifies the power supply control unit 13 of the number of piezoelectric elements 3 to be driven.

  The panel control unit 12 controls the operation of the touch panel 2 via the panel drive unit 42. For example, the operation of the touch panel 2 is controlled so that the operation screen is displayed on the liquid crystal display 21 based on the image data.

  The power supply control unit 13 controls the voltage supply destination of the power supply unit 5. In the present embodiment, the power supply control unit 13 switches the voltage supply destination of the power supply unit 5 between the first wiring H1 and the second wiring H2 according to the number of piezoelectric elements 3 to be driven. Specifically, the power supply unit 5 supplies a voltage to the first wiring H1 when the number of piezoelectric elements 3 to be driven is four or less, and when the number of piezoelectric elements 3 to be driven is five or more, A voltage is supplied to the second wiring H2.

  Next, the configuration of the stabilization circuit 6 according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the stabilization circuit 6 according to the first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 4, an input voltage V ₁ is input to the stabilization circuit 6. The stabilization circuit 6 includes an error amplifier 61, an NPN transistor 62, a first resistor R ₁ , and a second resistor R ₂ . A reference voltage V _REF is applied to the inverting input terminal of the error amplifier 61. The non-inverting input terminal of the error amplifier 61 is connected to a voltage dividing point between the first resistor R ₁ and the second resistor R ₂ . The output voltage V ₂ is divided by the first resistor R ₁ and the second resistor R ₂ . Therefore, the value of the divided output voltage V _{2 and} the value of the reference voltage V _REF are compared by the error amplifier 61. The output terminal of the error amplifier 61 is connected to the base of the NPN transistor 62. For this reason, the value of the current flowing from the collector of the NPN transistor 62 to the emitter becomes smaller as the value of the divided output voltage V ₂ is lower than the value of the reference voltage V _REF . As a result, the output voltage V ₂ is kept constant.

  The first embodiment has been described above. According to the present embodiment, the operation panel device 100 includes the stabilization circuit 6. As a result, a constant voltage is supplied to the vibration drive unit 41. As a result, it is possible to suppress the amount of vibration of the piezoelectric element 3 from being reduced due to an increase in the number of driven piezoelectric elements 3. In other words, the piezoelectric element 3 is driven stably. Therefore, the vibration (click feeling) transmitted to the user is stabilized. Thereby, a user's reliability with respect to the operation panel apparatus 100 improves.

  In general, the stabilization circuit 6 consumes power. For this reason, if a voltage is always supplied to the vibration drive unit 41 via the stabilization circuit 6, there is a possibility that useless power may be consumed. However, according to the present embodiment, the operation panel device 100 supplies a voltage to the device driving unit 4 via the stabilization circuit 6 only when the number of piezoelectric elements 3 to be driven is five or more. Therefore, useless power consumption can be suppressed.

  Further, when the operation panel device 100 does not include the stabilization circuit 6, there is a possibility that the voltage supplied to the panel driving unit 42 may drop due to an increase in the number of driving piezoelectric elements 3. When the voltage supplied to the panel drive unit 42 drops, the panel drive signal generated by the panel drive unit 42 becomes unstable, and there is a possibility that the screen displayed on the touch panel 2 may flicker. However, according to the present embodiment, the stabilization circuit 6 is disposed between the power supply unit 5 and the device driving unit 4. Therefore, the stabilized voltage is also supplied to the panel driving unit 42. As a result, occurrence of flicker can be suppressed.

  In the present embodiment, the voltage is supplied to the first wiring H1 when the number of the piezoelectric elements 3 to be driven is four or less, and the voltage is supplied to the second wiring H2 when the number is five or more. The threshold value for determining the supply destination (the number of piezoelectric elements 3 to be driven) is not particularly limited. For example, the power supply unit 5 may supply a voltage to the first wiring H1 when the number of piezoelectric elements 3 to be driven is three or less, and may supply a voltage to the second wiring H2 when the number is four or more.

[Embodiment 2]
Next, the configuration of the operation panel device 100 according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the second embodiment, the position where the stabilization circuit 6 is arranged is different from that in the first embodiment. Hereinafter, matters different from the first embodiment will be described with respect to the second embodiment, and descriptions of matters overlapping with the first embodiment will be omitted. FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the operation panel device 100 according to the second embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the stabilization circuit 6 includes eight stabilization circuits 6a to 6h. The eight stabilization circuits 6a to 6h are arranged between the vibration drive circuits 41a to 41h and the piezoelectric elements 3a to 3h, respectively. Specifically, the stabilization circuit 6a is disposed between the vibration drive circuit 41a and the piezoelectric element 3a, stabilizes the drive signal generated by the vibration drive circuit 41a, and outputs it to the piezoelectric element 3a. Similarly, each of the stabilization circuits 6b to 6h is disposed between the vibration drive circuits 41b to 41h and the piezoelectric elements 3b to 3h, and stabilizes the drive signals generated by the vibration drive circuits 41b to 41h, respectively. Output to each of the piezoelectric elements 3b to 3h. As a result, it is possible to suppress the vibration amount of the piezoelectric elements 3a to 3h from becoming small.

  The second embodiment has been described above. According to the present embodiment, the drive signals generated by the vibration drive circuits 41a to 41h are stabilized and input to the piezoelectric elements 3a to 3h. As a result, it is possible to suppress the vibration amount of the piezoelectric elements 3a to 3h from becoming small. Therefore, the piezoelectric elements 3a to 3h vibrate stably.

  The embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the drawings (FIGS. 1 to 5). However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be implemented in various modes without departing from the gist thereof.

  For example, in the embodiment of the present invention, the case where the present invention is applied to the operation panel device included in the multifunction peripheral has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the present invention can also be applied to an operation panel device provided in a copier or a printer.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, the case where the present invention is applied to the operation panel device included in the image forming apparatus has been described. However, the present invention is not applied only to the operation panel device included in the image forming apparatus. For example, the present invention can also be applied to an operation panel provided in an electronic device such as a portable terminal.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, the number of piezoelectric elements 3 to be driven is determined according to the touch position, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the number of piezoelectric elements 3 to be driven may be determined according to the strength of vibration transmitted to the user. Specifically, in the case of restricting the use of a specific function (for example, a copy function) in the multifunction peripheral, if the number of times of use of the specific function is less than a predetermined number, the number of driven piezoelectric elements 3 is reduced. As a result, a weak vibration is transmitted to the user. On the other hand, when the number of times a specific function is used exceeds a predetermined number, the number of piezoelectric elements 3 to be driven is increased. As a result, strong vibration is transmitted to the user. Thereby, it can suppress that use of a specific function becomes more than predetermined number of times.

  The present invention is useful for an operation panel device of an electronic apparatus such as an image forming apparatus.

2 Touch Panel 3 Piezoelectric Element 5 Power Supply Unit 6 Stabilization Circuit 41 Vibration Drive Unit 100 Operation Panel Device

Claims (5)

A vibration drive unit that outputs a drive signal;
A plurality of vibrating devices driven in response to the drive signal;
A power supply unit for supplying a predetermined voltage to the vibration drive unit;
An operation panel device comprising: a stabilization circuit that stabilizes the drive signal.
The said stabilization circuit is arrange | positioned between the said power supply part and the said vibration drive part, The said voltage supplied from the said power supply part is stabilized and supplied to the said vibration drive part. Operation panel device.
A first wiring connecting the power supply unit and the vibration drive unit;
A second wiring that connects the power supply unit and the vibration drive unit via the stabilization circuit;
The operation panel device according to claim 2, wherein the power supply unit switches a supply destination of the voltage between the first wiring and the second wiring in accordance with the number of the vibration devices to be driven.
The stabilization circuit is disposed between the vibration drive unit and the vibration device, and stabilizes the drive signal output from the vibration drive unit and outputs the stabilization signal to the vibration device. The operation panel device described.
  An image forming apparatus comprising the operation panel device according to claim 1.

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