JP2019192142A - Information processing device, input control method, and input control program - Google Patents

Abstract

To suppress an erroneous input due to an unintended touch on a touch panel by a user.SOLUTION: An information processing device includes: a touch panel 10 having an input area defining vertical and horizontal directions to be able to detect an input operation by a pen and a hand; and an area setting unit 36 for setting a sensitivity change area for nullifying of the input operation by the hand or decreasing detection sensitivity on the basis of input coordinates of the pen to the input area and user's dominant hand information. The area setting unit 36 sets a sensitivity change area on a lower-right side than the input coordinates of the pen, for example, if a user's dominant hand is a right hand, and sets a sensitivity change area on a lower-left side than the input coordinates of the pen if the user's dominant hand is a left hand.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an input control method, and an input control program.

  In recent years, an information processing apparatus including a touch panel that accepts an input operation with a pen and fingers has become widespread (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In a touch panel that can detect both pen and hand input operations, the side of the hand holding the pen touches the touch panel during the pen input operation, and this contact is recognized as an input to the touch panel that is not intended by the user. There is a case.

  In order to suppress such an erroneous input, for example, information having a so-called palm rejection function that detects a contact area with respect to the touch panel and does not recognize the contact as an input when the contact area is larger than a predetermined threshold value. A processing device has been proposed.

Japanese Patent No. 6220429

  However, in the conventional method of performing palm rejection based on the contact area, when the contact area is less than the threshold value, such as part of the side of the hand, the input is recognized as input. For this reason, there is a possibility that erroneous detection cannot be sufficiently suppressed.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and provides an information processing apparatus, an input control method, and an input control program that can further suppress erroneous input due to contact with a touch panel unintended by a user. The purpose is to do.

  The first aspect of the present invention includes an input area in which vertical and horizontal directions are defined, a touch panel capable of detecting an input operation by a pen and a hand, input coordinates of the pen with respect to the input area, and user's dominant hand information. And an area setting unit for setting a sensitivity change area for reducing the input operation by the hand or reducing the detection sensitivity.

  The second aspect of the present invention includes a first signal generator provided at the first position and a second signal generator provided at a second position that is a position farther from the pen tip than the first position. A touch panel capable of detecting a pen input operation and a hand input operation, a first detection position where a signal from the first signal generation unit is detected, and a signal from the second signal generation unit are detected. And an area setting unit that sets a sensitivity change area that invalidates the input operation or lowers the detection sensitivity based on the relationship with the second detection position.

  A third aspect of the present invention has an input area in which vertical and horizontal directions are defined, a touch panel capable of detecting an input operation by a pen and a hand, and an input operation based on the input coordinates of the pen with respect to the input area. A candidate area presenting unit that displays a plurality of candidates for sensitivity change areas that invalidate or reduce detection sensitivity on the touch panel, and the input area when any one of the candidates is selected. And a storage unit that stores the positional relationship between the input coordinate of the pen and the selected sensitivity change area, and the input unit that is stored in the storage unit when an input operation of the pen is detected. The information processing apparatus includes an area setting unit that sets the sensitivity change area based on the vertical direction of the input area and the positional relationship between the input coordinates of the pen and the sensitivity change area.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an input control method applied to an information processing apparatus having an input area in which vertical and horizontal directions are defined and having a touch panel capable of detecting an input operation by a pen and a hand. This is an input control method for setting a sensitivity change region for invalidating the input operation by the hand or reducing the detection sensitivity based on the input coordinates of the pen with respect to the region and the user's dominant hand information.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a first signal generator provided at the first position and a second signal generator provided at a second position that is farther from the pen tip than the first position. An input control method applied to an information processing apparatus including a touch panel capable of detecting a pen input operation and a hand input operation, and a first detection position where a signal from the first signal generation unit is detected And an input control method for setting a sensitivity change region that invalidates the input operation or lowers the detection sensitivity based on the relationship with the second detection position where the signal from the second signal generation unit is detected.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an input control method applied to an information processing apparatus having an input area in which vertical and horizontal directions are defined and comprising a touch panel capable of detecting an input operation with a pen and a hand. A candidate area presenting step of displaying on the touch panel a plurality of candidates for a sensitivity change area that invalidates an input operation or lowers the detection sensitivity based on the input coordinates of the pen with respect to the area, and any one of the plurality of candidates When one of the candidates is selected, a storage step of storing in the storage unit the vertical and horizontal directions of the input area and the positional relationship between the input coordinates of the pen and the selected sensitivity change area; and input of the pen When an operation is detected, the sensitivity is determined based on the vertical direction of the input area and the positional relationship between the input coordinates of the pen and the sensitivity change area stored in the storage unit. An input control method having an area setting step of setting a changing area.

  A seventh aspect of the present invention is an input control program applied to an information processing apparatus having an input area in which vertical and horizontal directions are defined and having a touch panel capable of detecting an input operation with a pen and a hand. An input control program for causing a computer to execute a process of setting a sensitivity change area that invalidates an input operation by a hand or reduces detection sensitivity based on input coordinates of a pen with respect to an area and user's dominant hand information. .

  According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, a first signal generator provided at the first position and a second signal generator provided at a second position that is farther from the pen tip than the first position. An input control program applied to an information processing apparatus including a touch panel capable of detecting a pen input operation and a hand input operation, and a first detection position where a signal from the first signal generation unit is detected And causing the computer to execute a process of setting a sensitivity change area that invalidates the input operation or lowers the detection sensitivity based on the relationship between the second detection position where the signal from the second signal generation unit is detected. This is an input control program.

  A ninth aspect of the present invention is an input control program applied to an information processing apparatus having an input area in which up, down, left, and right directions are defined and having a touch panel capable of detecting a pen input operation. Based on the input coordinates of the pen, a candidate area presentation process for displaying a plurality of candidates for a sensitivity change area that invalidates an input operation or decreases detection sensitivity on the touch panel, and any one of the plurality of candidates When the candidate is selected, a storage process for storing the positional relationship between the vertical and horizontal directions of the input area and the input coordinates of the pen and the selected sensitivity change area in the storage unit, and an input operation of the pen When detected, based on the vertical direction of the input area stored in the storage unit and the positional relationship between the input coordinates of the pen and the sensitivity change area, the sensitivity change. An input control program to be executed by the region setting process of setting an area in a computer.

  According to the present invention, there is an effect that it is possible to further suppress erroneous input due to contact with the touch panel that is not intended by the user.

1 is a schematic external view of a tablet terminal according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is the schematic which shows the structure of the hardware of the tablet terminal which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the detection value of the acceleration sensor which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows input operation to the touchscreen with a pen. It is a figure which shows the state of the erroneous input to a touchscreen. It is the functional block diagram which mainly extracted and showed the function regarding an input control function among the various functions with which the tablet terminal concerning 1st Embodiment of this invention is provided. It is the figure which showed an example of the sensitivity change area | region set in the case of right-handedness. It is a figure for demonstrating the definition method of the sensitivity change area | region in the case of right-handed. It is the figure which showed an example of the sensitivity change area | region set in the case of left-handed. It is a figure for demonstrating the definition method of the sensitivity change area | region in the case of left-handed. It is a schematic external view of the pen as an example used for the automatic discrimination function of the dominant hand. It is a figure for demonstrating the dominant hand automatic discrimination | determination function. It is the functional block diagram which mainly extracted and showed the function regarding an input control function among the various functions with which the tablet terminal concerning 2nd Embodiment of this invention is provided. It is the figure which showed an example of the candidate of a sensitivity change area | region. It is the functional block diagram which extracted and showed mainly the function regarding an input control function among the various functions with which the tablet terminal concerning 3rd Embodiment of this invention is provided. It is a figure for demonstrating an example of the setting method of the sensitivity change area | region which concerns on 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the other example of the setting method of the sensitivity change area | region which concerns on 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating an example of the setting method of the sensitivity change area | region which concerns on other embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, an information processing apparatus, an input control method, and an input control program according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, a tablet computer (hereinafter referred to as “tablet terminal”) will be described as an example of the information processing apparatus. However, the information processing apparatus of the present invention is not limited to this.

FIG. 1 is a schematic external view of a tablet terminal 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The tablet terminal 1 includes a housing 5 and a substantially rectangular touch panel 10 provided in front of the housing 5. The tablet terminal 1 may further include an infrared camera 4.
The touch panel 10 converts input display data into a video signal, displays various information according to the converted video signal on the display screen, and performs various operations performed using a user's finger and a pointer such as the pen 3. Is detected.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the tablet terminal 1.
The tablet terminal 1 includes a touch panel 10, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a memory 13, a graphics adapter 14, a device circuit 17, a flash memory 18, a communication device 19, an acceleration sensor 20, and the like. Each unit is connected directly or indirectly via the bus 22. The touch panel 10 includes, for example, a display 15 and an input area in which a plurality of touch sensors 16 are arranged (arranged) and receives an input operation by a user. The “input area” in the present embodiment refers to an area where the touch sensor 16 can detect an input operation by a user, for example. The “input area” includes an area where the detection function of the touch sensor 16 is temporarily invalidated by a command from the CPU 11 or the like. For example, in addition to the palm rejection function according to the present embodiment, which will be described later, the tablet terminal 1 is also equipped with other palm rejection functions based on other criteria (for example, a palm rejection function based on a contact area, etc.). In this case, the “input area” includes an area where input is invalidated by another palm rejection function.

The CPU 11 controls the tablet terminal 1 as a whole by an OS (Operating System) stored in the flash memory 18 connected via the bus 22, and based on various programs stored in the flash memory 18, the touch panel 10. The process according to the user's operation via is executed.
The ROM 12 stores a basic input / output system (BIOS) and various data.
The memory 13 includes a cache memory and a RAM (Random Access Memory), and is used as a work area for reading an execution program (for example, an input control program) of the CPU 11 and writing processing data by the execution program. Possible memory.

The graphics adapter 14 converts display information into a video signal under the control of the CPU 11, and outputs the converted video signal to the display 15.
The display 15 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, an organic EL display, or the like, and displays a video signal from the graphics adapter 14 as an image under the control of the CPU 11.

The touch sensor 16 detects the contact position of the user's finger, the pen 3, and the like on the touch panel 10 and outputs the detected position to the device circuit 17. As an example, the touch sensor 16 according to the present embodiment can detect a contact position by the pen 3 by an electromagnetic induction method, and detect a contact position by a finger by a capacitance method. To do. The input detection method using a pen and the input detection method using a finger are examples, and the present invention is not limited to these.
In the following description, an input operation with the pen 3 is also referred to as a pen input, and an input operation with a finger is also referred to as a touch input.
The device circuit 17 detects input coordinates based on the contact position output from the touch sensor 16, outputs the detected coordinates to the CPU 11, and performs sensitivity control (input control) of the touch sensor based on a command from the CPU 11.

  In the present embodiment, the touch panel 10 having a configuration in which the touch sensor 16 (input area) is superimposed on the display 15, in other words, a configuration in which the display 15 and the input area are superimposed on a common flat plate. Although illustrated and described, the configuration of the touch panel 10 is not limited to this example. For example, the display 15 and the input area may be provided in different housings, and the user's input operation on the input area may be reflected in the display 15 display.

  The flash memory 18 stores, for example, an OS for controlling the tablet terminal 1 as a whole, various drivers for hardware operation of peripheral devices, applications directed to specific tasks, various data and files, and the like. The tablet terminal 1 may include other storage means such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) as storage means in place of the flash memory 18.

The communication device 19 communicates with other devices via a network.
For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the acceleration sensor 20 has an x direction parallel to the longitudinal direction, a y direction parallel to the short direction, a x direction and a z direction perpendicular to the y direction. Each acceleration (gravity acceleration) is detected, and acceleration values Ax (t), Ay (t), and Az (t) in the xyz direction are output to the CPU 11. When the acceleration sensor 20 detects the gravitational acceleration in the xyz direction, the tilt and rotation of the touch panel 10 can be detected. In other words, the z direction is a normal direction to the touch panel 10 (screen).

Here, as shown in FIG. 4, when a pen is input to the touch panel 10, the side of the hand holding the pen 3, for example, the side of the palm, the ring finger, the little finger, etc. (area surrounded by the broken line in FIG. 4). There is a case where an input area of the touch panel 10 is touched, and this touch is recognized as an input to the touch panel 10 not intended by the user. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5, for example, when an image drawing program is started and character input is performed with the pen 3, misrecognition in addition to the pen input (input in the area A) intended by the user The input (input in the area B) will be performed.
Therefore, the tablet terminal 1 according to the present embodiment has an input control function that suppresses such erroneous detection of an input that is not intended by the user.

  FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram mainly showing functions related to the input control function among various functions included in the tablet terminal 1. As shown in FIG. 6, the tablet terminal 1 includes an input control unit 30. The input control unit 30 includes, for example, a direction definition unit 32, a storage unit 34, and an area setting unit 36. The functions realized by these units are realized, for example, by the CPU 11 reading an input control program stored in the flash memory 18 into the memory 13 such as a RAM and executing it.

The direction defining unit 32 determines the vertical and horizontal directions in the input area of the housing 5, that is, the touch panel 10 based on a signal from the acceleration sensor 20. For example, the direction defining unit 32 detects the orientation of the tablet terminal 1 based on the gravitational acceleration in the X direction, the gravitational acceleration in the Y direction, and the gravitational acceleration in the Z direction output from the acceleration sensor 20, and according to the orientation. Define top, bottom, left and right. The principle of the method for detecting the orientation of the touch panel 10 is the same as, for example, the well-known automatic screen rotation function, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted here. Further, when the tablet terminal 1 has an automatic screen rotation function, information on the vertical and horizontal directions defined by the automatic rotation function may be employed.
In addition, the direction definition unit 32 may detect the orientation of the user's face and determine the vertical and horizontal directions in the input area of the touch panel 10 based on the detection result. For example, the infrared camera 4 is installed on or in the vicinity of the touch panel 10, the face is irradiated with a large number of invisible infrared dots, and the infrared camera 4 recognizes the face to recognize the user's face. It is only necessary to detect the orientation of the face. Since the face recognition technique is well known, detailed description thereof is omitted here.

The storage unit 34 stores, for example, user handedness information, sensitivity change area definition information (hereinafter referred to as “area information”), and the like.
For example, the user's dominant hand information may be inquired about dominant hand information when the user uses the tablet terminal 1, and the user's answer to the inquiry may be stored in the storage unit 34.

  The area information is information necessary for setting the sensitivity change area, and is set in association with the dominant hand, for example. The area information includes, for example, the relative position coordinates and size of the sensitivity change area with respect to the input coordinates of the pen.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 7, in the case of right-handedness, the side of the hand is located in the lower right area of the pen tip. The change area 40a is set. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 8, the reference coordinates (x1, -y1) of the sensitivity change area when the input coordinates of the pen are set to the reference coordinates (0, 0), and the width W (sensitivity of the sensitivity change area). Information of the width to the right with respect to the reference coordinates of the change area and the height H (height to the bottom with respect to the reference coordinates of the sensitivity change area) are stored in the storage unit 34 as area information.

  Similarly, as shown in FIG. 9, in the case of left-handed, the side of the hand is located in the lower left area than the pen tip, so the sensitivity change area is located in the left area, for example, the lower left area. 40b is set. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 10, the reference coordinates (−x1, −y1) of the sensitivity change area and the width W (sensitivity of the sensitivity change area when the input coordinates of the pen are set to the reference coordinates (0, 0). Information on the width to the left with respect to the reference coordinates of the change area and the height H (the height to the lower side with respect to the reference coordinates of the sensitivity change area) are stored in the storage unit 34 as area information. Note that the xy plane used to define the sensitivity change area rotates according to the orientation of the touch panel 10, in other words, according to the orientation of the input area. Specifically, the x-axis is defined as an axis parallel to the left-right direction, and the y-axis is defined as an axis parallel to the vertical direction. Instead of the information on the size (width W, height H) of the sensitivity change area described above, the relative coordinates of each vertex of the sensitivity change area may be defined.

  When the input coordinates of the pen are input from the device circuit 17, the area setting unit 36 sets a sensitivity change area for invalidating the input operation based on the user's dominant hand information and area information stored in the storage unit 34. Set to the input area. Thus, for example, if the user is right-handed, the sensitivity change area 40a is set in the lower right area of the pen tip as shown in FIG. 7, and if the user is left-handed, as shown in FIG. The sensitivity change area 40b is set in the lower left area of the pen tip.

  In addition, when the input coordinates of the pen move, the area setting unit 36 moves the sensitivity change area in accordance with the movement of the input coordinates of the pen. As a result, the relative positional relationship between the pen tip and the sensitivity change region always maintains a constant relationship.

Next, a process flow of the input control unit 30 according to the present embodiment will be briefly described.
First, a pen input is detected by the touch sensor 16, a pen input coordinate is detected by the device circuit 17, and the detected pen input coordinate is output to the region setting unit 36. In addition, the sensor detection value of the acceleration sensor 20 is output to the direction definition unit 32, and the vertical and horizontal directions of the input area of the touch panel 10 are defined and output to the area setting unit 36. The area setting unit 36 acquires area information corresponding to the user's dominant hand from the storage unit 34, and changes the sensitivity to the input area of the touch panel 10 based on the area information, the input coordinates of the pen, and the vertical and horizontal directions of the touch panel 10. Set the area. Thus, for example, if the user is a right-handed user, the sensitivity change area 40a is set to the lower right with respect to the input coordinates of the pen, and if the user is a left-handed user, the sensitivity change area is set to the lower left with respect to the input coordinates of the pen. 40b is set. In the sensitivity change area, manual input is invalidated. That is, in this embodiment, the input operation by the electrostatic capacity method is invalidated. Here, the invalidation of the input operation may invalidate the detection itself of the touch sensor 16 in the sensitivity change region, or the detection itself is performed by the touch sensor 16, but the detected input operation is not handled as an input. It may be invalidated. Thus, the invalidation method is not particularly limited.

  As described above, according to the information processing apparatus, the input control method, and the input control program according to the present embodiment, the sensitivity change region is set at an appropriate position according to the user's dominant hand, and thus the pen 3 is held. This input can be invalidated even if the hand (for example, the side of the palm, the ring finger, the little finger, etc.) touches the input area of the touch panel 10. Thereby, it becomes possible to suppress the erroneous detection by the input which a user does not intend.

  In this embodiment, the user himself / herself inputs the dominant hand information. However, the method of acquiring the dominant hand information is not limited to this example. For example, the dominant hand information may be automatically acquired from another device (for example, a clock computer) having the dominant hand information and stored in the storage unit 34. For example, a communication line may be connected to a wearable computer such as a wristwatch computer, and the user's dominant hand information possessed by these computers may be acquired via the communication device 19 and stored in the storage unit 34.

  Alternatively, the dominant control function for automatically determining the dominant hand of the user may be provided in the input control unit 30 so that the dominant hand of the user is automatically determined, and the determination result may be stored in the storage unit 34. Hereinafter, a dominant hand discrimination function (dominant hand discrimination unit) for automatically discriminating the user's dominant hand will be specifically described.

  In order to automatically determine the user's dominant hand, for example, a pen 3 ′ as shown in FIG. 11 is used. This pen 3 'is a pen that corresponds to the electromagnetic induction method as in the case of the pen 3 described above, but has a function of generating a magnetic field at the tip of the pen (first position) and a position different from the tip (for example, a coil, etc. ) Is installed. As described above, the pen 3 ′ for discriminating the dominant hand includes the first signal generating unit 6 that generates a magnetic field at the tip (first position) of the pen and the magnetic field at a position (second position) different from the tip. And a second signal generator 8 for generating.

  Thereby, when the user holds the pen 3 ′ and performs a pen input on the touch panel 10, the magnetic field from the first signal generation unit 6 and the magnetic field from the second signal generation unit 8 are detected by the touch sensor 16. It will be detected. At this time, since the tip of the pen (first position) is used at a position closer to the surface of the touch panel 10, the intensity of the magnetic field detected at the two points is compared, and the two input coordinates are compared. It is possible to determine which input coordinate is a detection position by the tip (first position) of the pen. Then, as shown in FIG. 12, a first detection position P1 that is an input detection position corresponding to the first signal generator 6, and a second detection position P2 that is an input detection position corresponding to the second signal generator 8. Based on the positional relationship, the user's dominant hand is determined.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 12, the second detection position P2 is located on the right side of the first detection position P1 corresponding to the input coordinates of the tip of the pen if right-handed, and the tip of the pen if left-handed. The second detection position P2 is located on the left side of the first detection position P1 corresponding to the input coordinates. In this manner, the user's dominant hand can be determined based on the relative positional relationship between the first detection position P1 and the second detection position P2.

  Then, the dominant hand information determined by the dominant hand determination function is stored in the storage unit 34 (second storage unit), and after being stored in the storage unit 34, the dominant hand information stored in the storage unit 34 is stored. It is good also as setting a sensitivity change area | region using.

  In the case of using the dominant hand discrimination function as described above, the paired data composed of the first detection position P1 and the second detection position P2 input by the user until a predetermined period or a predetermined number of data is accumulated. May be stored in the storage unit (first storage unit), and the dominant hand may be determined by statistically analyzing the plurality of stored paired data. In this way, by determining the dominant hand using a plurality of pairs of data, it is possible to improve the accuracy of the dominant hand determination.

Next, an information processing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In the first embodiment described above, the sensitivity change area is set according to the user's dominant hand. However, for example, there are users who hold pens with a strong eyelid, and such users who hold pens unusually are not correct at the position of the sensitivity change area shown in FIGS. Input may not be suppressed.

  Therefore, the tablet terminal according to the present embodiment is configured such that when the user performs pen input, the user can customize the setting position and size of the sensitivity change area with respect to the input coordinates of the pen. Hereinafter, about the tablet terminal which concerns on this embodiment, about the structure similar to 1st Embodiment mentioned above, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected and description is abbreviate | omitted, and a different point is mainly demonstrated.

  FIG. 13 is a functional block diagram mainly showing functions related to the input control function among various functions provided in the tablet terminal according to the present embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 13, the tablet terminal includes an input control unit 30a. The input control unit 30a includes, for example, a direction definition unit 32, a storage unit 34a, a region setting unit 36, and a candidate region presentation unit 38. The functions realized by these units are realized, for example, by the CPU 11 reading an input control program stored in the flash memory 18 into the memory 13 such as a RAM and executing it.

  In the sensitivity change area designation mode, the candidate area presentation unit 38 displays a plurality of sensitivity change area candidates 40a to 40e having different relative positions to the input coordinates of the pen on the display 15 of the touch panel 10 as shown in FIG. Display. The sensitivity change area designation mode is activated when, for example, an input for designating the mode is made by the user or when a predetermined application installed in the tablet terminal is activated, but is not limited to this example. .

  When one sensitivity change area is selected from the plurality of sensitivity change area candidates 40a to 40e displayed on the display 15 of the touch panel 10, information on the selected sensitivity change area is stored in the storage unit 34a. Then, when the pen input by the user is started, the area setting unit 36 displays the up / down / left / right information of the touch panel 10 input from the direction definition unit 32 and the sensitivity change area specified by the user stored in the storage unit 34a. Based on the area information, a sensitivity change area for the input coordinates of the pen is set.

As described above, according to the information processing apparatus, the input control method, and the input control program according to the present embodiment, the user can select the position and size for setting the sensitivity change region. Thereby, the freedom degree of the setting of a sensitivity change area | region can be raised, and it becomes possible to set the appropriate sensitivity change area | region according to a user's writing.
Further, when a sensitivity change region candidate is designated by the user, a function may be further provided that allows the user to adjust the position, orientation, and size of the sensitivity change region. By doing in this way, the setting of the sensitivity change area can be customized according to the user, and the degree of freedom can be further increased.

Next, an information processing apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In each embodiment mentioned above, it was necessary to use the up / down / left / right information of the touch panel 10. On the other hand, the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment is different in that the sensitivity change area is set without using the up / down / left / right information of the touch panel 10.
Hereinafter, the same components as those in the first embodiment described above are denoted by the same reference numerals, description thereof is omitted, and different points will be mainly described.

  FIG. 15 is a functional block diagram mainly showing functions related to the input control function among various functions provided in the tablet terminal according to the present embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 15, the tablet terminal includes an input control unit 30b. The input control unit 30b includes, for example, a storage unit 34b and an area setting unit 36b. The functions realized by these units are realized, for example, by the CPU 11 reading an input control program stored in the flash memory 18 into the memory 13 such as a RAM and executing it.

  The tablet terminal according to the present embodiment supports pen input using the pen 3 ′ illustrated in FIG. 11. When the pen input is performed by the pen 3 ′, the input based on the first signal generation unit 6 and the input by the second signal generation unit 8 are detected by the touch sensor 16. The device circuit 17 is referred to as input coordinates corresponding to the first signal generator 6 (hereinafter referred to as “first input coordinates”) and input coordinates corresponding to the second signal generator 8 (hereinafter referred to as “second input coordinates”). Are output to the area setting unit 36b.

  The storage unit 34b stores an arithmetic expression for calculating the reference coordinates of the sensitivity change area and the size (for example, width W and height H) of the sensitivity change area as area information. For example, an arithmetic expression for determining the midpoint between the first input coordinate and the second input coordinate as the reference coordinate of the sensitivity change area is registered in the storage unit 34b. Note that the method for determining the reference coordinates of the sensitivity change region is not limited to this example, and may be expressed as coordinates uniquely defined from two points. The sensitivity change area is set to include the second input coordinates.

For example, as shown in FIG. 16, the region setting unit 36b has a midpoint ((x3 + x4) / 2, (y3 + y4) / 2 between the first input coordinates (x3, y3) and the second input coordinates (x4, y4). ) As reference coordinates, and includes a second input coordinate (x4, y4), and a sensitivity changing region 40f having a predetermined width W and height H is set.
As described above, according to the information processing apparatus, the input control method, and the input control program according to the present embodiment, the sensitivity change region 40f corresponding to the dominant hand is set without using the up / down / left / right directions of the touch panel 10. It becomes possible.

In the present embodiment, the method for setting the sensitivity change region 40f by the region setting unit 36b is not limited to the above example.
For example, as shown in FIG. 17, the region setting unit 36b passes through the first detection position P1, passes through the first reference line L1 parallel to one side of the touch panel 10, and passes through the first detection position P1 to the first reference line L1. The sensitivity change region 40f may be set in a region where the second detection position P2 is located (hatched region) among the four regions partitioned by the orthogonal second reference line L2.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated using embodiment, the technical scope of this invention is not limited to the range as described in the said embodiment. Various changes or improvements can be added to the above-described embodiment without departing from the gist of the invention, and embodiments to which the changes or improvements are added are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. Moreover, you may combine the said embodiment suitably.

  For example, in each of the above-described embodiments, the form in which the information processing apparatus is a tablet terminal has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the information processing apparatus can be a desktop PC, a notebook PC, a PDA ( Personal Digital Assistance) and information processing devices such as smartphones may be used.

  Moreover, although each embodiment mentioned above demonstrated the case where the input of a sensitivity change area | region was invalidated, it is good also as reducing input detection sensitivity of a sensitivity change area | region instead of input invalidation. Thus, by reducing the sensitivity of the touch sensor 16, erroneous input in the sensitivity change region can be suppressed.

  In each embodiment, the sensitivity change area is determined so that the four sides constituting the sensitivity change area are parallel to the four sides of the touch panel. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the four sides (x By setting in advance an angle formed with a reference side of the sensitivity change region with respect to the axis and the y-axis), as shown in FIG. 18, the touch panel 10 has a predetermined angle with respect to the x-axis and the y-axis. A sensitivity change area may be set.

  Moreover, the setting of the sensitivity change area according to each embodiment does not exclude other known palm rejection functions that invalidate input detection based on the contact area with respect to the touch panel, etc., and these other palm rejection functions. And may be used together.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Tablet terminal 3, 3 'pen 6 1st signal generation part 8 2nd signal generation part 10 Touch panel 11 CPU
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 15 Display 16 Touch sensor 17 Device circuit 18 Flash memory 19 Communication device 20 Acceleration sensor 30, 30a, 30b Input control part 32 Direction definition part 34, 34a, 34b Storage part 36, 36b Area setting part 38 Candidate area presentation part

Claims (18)

A touch panel having an input area in which the vertical and horizontal directions are defined, and capable of detecting an input operation with a pen and a hand;
An information processing apparatus comprising: a region setting unit that sets a sensitivity change region that invalidates input operation by the hand or reduces detection sensitivity based on input coordinates of the pen with respect to the input region and user's dominant hand information. The region setting unit
If the user's dominant hand is the right hand, set the sensitivity change area on the right side of the input coordinates of the pen,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the user's dominant hand is a left hand, the sensitivity change region is set on the left side of the input coordinates of the pen. An acceleration sensor capable of detecting the tilt and rotation of the touch panel;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an up / down / left / right direction of the input area is determined based on an output of the acceleration sensor. A storage unit storing the user's dominant hand information;
The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the area setting unit sets the sensitivity change area using the user's dominant hand information stored in the storage unit.   The area setting unit acquires the user's dominant hand information by communicating with a device having information on the user's dominant hand, and sets the sensitivity change area using the acquired dominant hand information. The information processing apparatus according to any one of the above. The pen includes a first signal generation unit provided at a first position, and a second signal generation unit provided at a second position, which is a position farther from the pen tip than the first position,
The region setting unit
A positional relationship between a first detection position on the touch panel where a signal from the first signal generation unit is detected and a second detection position on the touch panel where a signal from the second signal generation unit is detected; and 4. The system according to claim 1, further comprising: a dominant hand determination unit that determines a user's dominant hand based on an up / down / left / right direction of the input region, wherein the sensitivity change region is set using a determination result of the dominant hand determination unit. Information processing device. A first storage unit that accumulates the relationship between the first detection position and the second detection position in the vertical and horizontal directions of the input area as dominant hand determination element information;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the dominant hand determination unit determines a user's dominant hand by statistically analyzing the dominant hand determination element information accumulated in the first storage unit. A second storage unit that stores a determination result of a dominant hand by the dominant hand determination unit;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the region setting unit sets the sensitivity change region based on a determination result by the dominant hand determination unit stored in the second storage unit. A pen input operation comprising: a first signal generating unit provided at a first position; and a second signal generating unit provided at a second position that is a position farther from the pen tip than the first position; A touch panel capable of detecting input operations by hand,
The input operation is invalidated or detected based on the relationship between the first detection position where the signal from the first signal generator is detected and the second detection position where the signal from the second signal generator is detected. An information processing apparatus comprising: a region setting unit that sets a sensitivity change region that decreases sensitivity.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the first position is a tip of the pen. A touch panel having an input area in which the vertical and horizontal directions are defined, and capable of detecting an input operation with a pen and a hand;
A candidate area presenting unit that displays on the touch panel a plurality of candidates for a sensitivity change area that invalidates an input operation or lowers detection sensitivity with reference to the input coordinates of the pen with respect to the input area;
A storage unit that stores the positional relationship between the vertical and horizontal directions of the input area and the input coordinates of the pen and the selected sensitivity change area when any one of the candidates is selected. When,
When an input operation of the pen is detected, the sensitivity change area is determined based on the vertical direction of the input area stored in the storage unit and the positional relationship between the input coordinates of the pen and the sensitivity change area. An information processing apparatus comprising an area setting unit to be set.   12. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one of a relative position of the sensitivity change area with respect to input coordinates of the pen and a size of the sensitivity change area can be adjusted by a user. An input control method applied to an information processing apparatus having an input area in which vertical and horizontal directions are defined and having a touch panel capable of detecting an input operation with a pen and a hand,
An input control method for setting a sensitivity change region for invalidating an input operation by the hand or reducing detection sensitivity based on input coordinates of the pen with respect to the input region and user's dominant hand information. A pen input operation comprising: a first signal generating unit provided at a first position; and a second signal generating unit provided at a second position that is a position farther from the pen tip than the first position; An input control method applied to an information processing apparatus including a touch panel capable of detecting a manual input operation,
The input operation is invalidated or detected based on the relationship between the first detection position where the signal from the first signal generator is detected and the second detection position where the signal from the second signal generator is detected. An input control method for setting a sensitivity change area that lowers sensitivity. An input control method applied to an information processing apparatus having an input area in which vertical and horizontal directions are defined and having a touch panel capable of detecting an input operation with a pen and a hand,
A candidate area presenting step for displaying on the touch panel a plurality of candidates for a sensitivity change area that invalidates an input operation or lowers detection sensitivity with reference to the input coordinates of the pen with respect to the input area;
When any one of the candidates is selected, the vertical and horizontal directions of the input area and the positional relationship between the input coordinates of the pen and the selected sensitivity change area are stored in the storage unit. A storage process to
When an input operation of the pen is detected, the sensitivity change area is determined based on the vertical direction of the input area stored in the storage unit and the positional relationship between the input coordinates of the pen and the sensitivity change area. An input control method including an area setting step for setting. An input control program applied to an information processing apparatus having an input area in which vertical and horizontal directions are defined and having a touch panel capable of detecting an input operation by a pen and a hand,
An input control program for causing a computer to execute a process of setting a sensitivity change area that invalidates an input operation by the hand or reduces detection sensitivity based on input coordinates of the pen with respect to the input area and user's dominant hand information . A pen input operation comprising: a first signal generating unit provided at a first position; and a second signal generating unit provided at a second position that is a position farther from the pen tip than the first position; An input control program applied to an information processing apparatus including a touch panel capable of detecting a manual input operation,
The input operation is invalidated or detected based on the relationship between the first detection position where the signal from the first signal generator is detected and the second detection position where the signal from the second signal generator is detected. An input control program for causing a computer to execute a process of setting a sensitivity change area for decreasing sensitivity. An input control program applied to an information processing apparatus having a touch panel capable of detecting an input operation of a pen having an input area in which vertical and horizontal directions are defined,
Candidate area presentation processing for displaying on the touch panel a plurality of candidates for a sensitivity change area that invalidates an input operation or lowers detection sensitivity with reference to the input coordinates of the pen with respect to the input area;
When any one of the candidates is selected, the vertical and horizontal directions of the input area and the positional relationship between the input coordinates of the pen and the selected sensitivity change area are stored in the storage unit. Amnestic processing,
When an input operation of the pen is detected, the sensitivity change area is determined based on the vertical direction of the input area stored in the storage unit and the positional relationship between the input coordinates of the pen and the sensitivity change area. An input control program for causing a computer to execute area setting processing to be set.

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