JP2020057122A - Electronic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To easily operate a touch UI through only tactile sensation even when a liquid crystal cannot be seen during operation.SOLUTION: An electronic apparatus is configured to include: display means which displays objects to which prescribed functions correspond; a touch sensor; tactile sensation presentation means which presents tactile sensation on a touch surface of the touch sensor; depression detection means which detects a depressing force to the touch surface of the touch sensor; and control means which switches between a first operation mode and a second operation mode.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device and a control method for the electronic device.

Conventionally, when operating an electronic device equipped with a touch panel, there are cases where it is difficult to brighten the liquid crystal depending on the surrounding environment such as a stage or a concert, and it is difficult to operate while watching the liquid crystal such as a crowded train. In such a scene where the operation buttons and the like displayed on the touch panel are not visible, the operability of the electronic device is reduced.

  Here, an electronic device including a tactile panel that provides a tactile sensation at a display position of an object associated with a predetermined function is provided. In Patent Literature 1, when a touch on a display position of an object associated with a predetermined function is detected, a tactile sensation is presented, and when the tactile sensation is presented, the tactile sensation is pressed and data based on the pressing of the contact satisfies a predetermined threshold. Performs a given function. This makes it possible to operate without looking at the liquid crystal while reducing erroneous operations due to unintended contact.

WO2012 / 108203

  However, according to the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1, when the operation buttons are small or a plurality of operation buttons are arranged at close positions, it is difficult to operate only the tactile sensation without looking at the liquid crystal. Further, if a tactile sensation is always presented when the operator touches the touch panel regardless of the state of the operator, there is a problem that power consumption is increased.

  In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to switch an operation mode in a tactile panel so as to present a tactile sense only when necessary according to a state of an operator while reducing erroneous operations.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a display unit that displays an object associated with a predetermined function, a touch sensor, and a tactile sensation providing unit that presents a tactile sensation to a touch surface of the touch sensor. A pressure detection unit that detects a pressing force of the touch sensor on the touch surface, and a control unit that switches between a first operation mode and a second operation mode. When detecting contact with the display area of the object displayed on the display means, the operation corresponding to the object is executed, and the second operation mode is larger than the display area of the object in the first operation mode. When a tactile sensation is presented to the area by the tactile sensation providing means, and the pressing detection means detects that the pressing force to the tactile sensation providing area is equal to or greater than a first threshold value. And executes an operation corresponding to the object.

  According to the present invention, even when the liquid crystal is not visible when operating the touch panel, it is easy to perform the operation only by the tactile sensation by switching the operation mode.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an electronic device 100 according to the embodiment. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation in an example of the present embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a display process of the electronic device in the example of the present embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a tactile sensation presentation process of an electronic device in an example of the present embodiment. It is a figure showing the section of the panel of the electronic equipment in the example of this embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  In the present embodiment, an example will be described in which an operation mode is switched on the tactile panel to perform display and tactile presentation according to the mode, and a predetermined process is executed by a user's touch operation.

  First, a configuration of an electronic device 100 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  Examples of the electronic device 100 include a smartphone, a tablet terminal, and a digital camera. In the present embodiment, a case where the electronic device 100 is a smartphone will be described as an example.

  The electronic device 100 includes a CPU 101, a memory 102, a non-volatile memory 103, an image processing unit 104, a display unit 105, an operation unit 106, a touch sensor 107, a tactile sensation presentation unit 108, a press detection unit 109, an imaging unit 110, and a subject detection unit 111. And a bus 112.

  Here, the CPU 101, the memory 102, the nonvolatile memory 103, the image processing unit 104, the display unit 105, the operation unit 106, the tactile sensation providing unit 108, the press detection unit 109, the imaging unit 110, and the subject detection unit 111 are connected via a bus 112. Connected.

  The memory 102 has, for example, a RAM (a volatile memory using a semiconductor element or the like).

  The non-volatile memory 103 stores image data, audio data, other data, various programs for the CPU 101 to operate, and the like. The nonvolatile memory 103 includes, for example, a hard disk (HD), a ROM, and the like.

  The CPU 101 controls each unit of the electronic device 100 using the memory 102 as a work memory according to a program stored in the nonvolatile memory 103, for example. Note that functions and processes of the electronic device 100 described later are realized by the CPU 101 reading out a program stored in the nonvolatile memory 103 or the like and executing the program.

  The image processing unit 104 performs various types of image processing on image data based on the control of the CPU 101. Image data to be subjected to image processing includes image data stored in the nonvolatile memory 103, image data captured by the imaging unit 110, and the like. The image processing performed by the image processing unit 104 includes A / D conversion processing, image data encoding processing, compounding processing, compression processing, decompression processing, enlargement / reduction processing (resizing), noise reduction processing, color conversion processing, and the like. Is included. The image processing unit 104 is, for example, a dedicated circuit block for performing specific image processing. Further, depending on the type of image processing, the CPU 101 may execute the image processing according to a program instead of the image processing unit 104.

  The display unit 105 displays an image, a GUI screen constituting a GUI (Graphical User Interface), and the like based on the control of the CPU 101. The CPU 101 generates a display control signal according to a program, and controls each unit of the electronic device 100 to output a video signal to be displayed on the display unit 105 to the display unit 105. Then, the display unit 105 displays an image based on the output image signal.

  The operation unit 106 is a pointing device such as the touch sensor 107 or an input device such as a button for receiving a user operation.

  The touch sensor 107 is an input device (input surface) that is configured to be planar when superimposed on the display unit 105, and that outputs coordinate information according to the touched position.

  The tactile sensation presentation unit 108 generates a tactile sensation given to an operator such as a finger that operates the touch sensor 107 and presents it to the operator. That is, the tactile sensation providing unit 108 generates a stimulus that can be sensed by the touching user through the touched part. The tactile sensation providing unit 108 is provided integrally with the touch sensor 107 by bonding or the like.

  The tactile sensation presentation unit 108 has a conductive layer panel and an insulator panel, and generates an arbitrary electric tactile sensation under the control of the CPU 101. Here, the conductive layer panel and the insulator panel overlap with the touch sensor 107 and are provided in a planar manner. When the user touches the insulator panel, the conductive layer panel is charged with a positive charge. That is, the tactile sensation providing unit 108 can generate a tactile sensation as an electrical stimulus by charging the conductive layer panel with a positive charge. Further, the tactile sensation presentation unit 108 may give the user a feeling (tactile sensation) as if the skin were pulled by Coulomb force. As another example, the tactile sensation providing unit 108 may include a conductive layer panel capable of selecting whether or not to charge a positive charge for each position on the panel. Then, the CPU 101 controls the charge position of the positive charge. Thereby, the tactile sensation presentation unit 108 can give the user various tactile sensations such as “roughness”, “roughness”, and “smoothness”.

  Further, the tactile sensation providing unit 108 is not limited to a unit that generates a tactile sensation as an electrical stimulus. As another example, the tactile sensation providing unit 108 may generate a tactile sensation by ultrasonically vibrating the surface of the tactile sensation providing unit 108. Due to the ultrasonic vibration, a high-pressure air film is formed between the tactile sensation providing unit 108 and the finger. Therefore, the tactile sensation providing unit 108 may give a “smooth feeling” by the floating action of the air film, and give a “grainy feeling” by instantly switching the magnitude of the floating action.

  The pressure detection unit 109 is provided integrally with the touch sensor 107 by bonding or the like. The pressing detection unit 109 detects the pressing force applied to the touch sensor 107 by utilizing the fact that the touch sensor 107 is slightly bent (distorted) according to the pressing force of the touch operation.

  Here, the CPU 101 can control the tactile sensation based on the touch position detected by the touch sensor 107 and the pressing force detected by the pressing detecting unit 109. For example, it is assumed that the CPU 101 detects a touch position corresponding to a button icon displayed on the display unit 105 in response to a touch operation of an operator, and the pressing detection unit 109 detects a pressing force equal to or more than a predetermined value. In this case, the CPU 101 generates a temporary electrical stimulus. This allows the user to perceive a tactile sensation such as a click when a mechanical button is pressed.

  Further, the CPU 101 can execute the function of the button icon only when a pressing force equal to or more than a predetermined value is detected in a state where the touch on the position of the button icon is detected. That is, the CPU 101 does not execute the function of the button icon when detecting a weak pressing force as in the case of simply touching the button icon. Thus, the user can perform an operation with the same feeling as pressing a mechanical button.

  Note that, as another example, the pressure detection unit 109 may include a piezoelectric element. In this case, the pressing detection unit 109 detects the pressing force based on the voltage output from the piezoelectric element according to the pressing. Further, the pressure element as the pressure detection unit 109 in this case may be common to the pressure element as the tactile sensation providing unit 108.

  The imaging unit 110 is a camera unit having an imaging element such as a CCD sensor or a CMOS sensor, a zoom lens, a focus lens, a shutter, an aperture, a distance measurement unit, an A / D converter, and the like. The imaging unit 110 can capture a still image and a moving image. Image data of an image captured by the imaging unit 110 is transmitted to the image processing unit 104, and after being subjected to various processes in the image processing unit 104, the image data is stored in the memory 102 or the nonvolatile memory 103 as a still image file or a moving image file. Be recorded.

  The face detection unit 111 reads out the image data processed by the image processing unit 104 and detects whether or not a human face exists in the image.

  Next, a flow of determining an operation mode based on a subject image acquired by the electronic device shown in FIG. 1 and performing an operation with the touch sensor 107 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 2 and FIGS. 3, 4, and 5. Will be explained.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of a screen displayed on the display unit 105 in the first operation mode of the electronic device 100. FIG. 4 shows an example of a tactile sensation presentation area presented by the tactile sensation presentation unit 108 in the second operation mode of the electronic device 100. Here, an example is described in which the electronic device 100 is executing a music playback function. In the electronic device 100 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the imaging unit 110, the panel 301, and the operation buttons 302 are arranged on the same surface.

  FIG. 5 shows a cross section of the panel 301. The panel 301 includes a display unit 105, a touch sensor 107, a tactile sensation providing unit 108, and a press detection unit 109, which are integrally formed. The touch sensor 107 is held on the display unit 105 via an insulator 501 made of an elastic member. The panel 301 displays an image 306 that is music information, an object 303 that pauses during music reproduction, an object 304 that performs music forwarding, and an object 305 that performs music return, and simultaneously displays objects 303, 304, and 305 by the user. Accepts touch input. The objects 303, 304, and 305 are GUIs, and execute respective functions when the user touches the display area of the object. Further, the panel 301 presents a tactile sensation in the shaded tactile sensation presentation areas 403, 404, and 405 in response to a touch by the user.

  Now, the flowchart of FIG. 2 will be described in detail.

  In step S201, a subject is imaged by the imaging unit 110, and various image processing is performed by the image processing unit 104, and then stored as an input image in the memory 102, which is a temporary storage memory.

  In step S202, the face detection unit 111 detects a person's face from the input image, and determines whether a person's face is detected in the input image. In the present embodiment, the face detection unit 111 is configured to detect an image pattern of a human face from an image by template matching. The face detection unit 111 may be configured to compare an input image with a face image of a person registered in advance and detect an area having a high degree of similarity as a face area. May be used.

  Since the imaging unit 110 is arranged on the same surface as the panel 301 and the operation buttons 302 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, when the user operates the electronic device 100 while looking at the panel 301, the input image is Indicates the user's face as a subject. If the user's face is detected in step S202, the process proceeds to step S203, and thereafter, the electronic device 100 operates in the first operation mode. If the user's face has not been detected, the process proceeds to step S205, and thereafter, the electronic device 100 operates in the second operation mode.

  In step S203, the display unit 105 performs screen display. Here, as shown in FIG. 3, an object 303 for performing a pause during music reproduction, an object 304 for performing music advancement, an object 305 for performing music return, and an image 306 as music information are displayed on the panel 301.

  In step S204, the CPU 101 determines whether or not a touch operation by the user has been detected on the display area of any object in the screen displayed in step S203. Since the touch sensor 107 is configured to be superimposed on the display unit 105, the user can perform a touch operation by intuitively touching various objects in the screen displayed on the display unit 105. When the touch sensor 107 detects a touch operation by the user, the CPU 101 acquires the coordinates of the touch position. Further, the CPU 101 determines whether or not the acquired coordinates are within the display area of the object. For example, in the example illustrated in FIG. 3, when the coordinates of the touch position are the coordinates within the objects 303, 304, and 305, the CPU 101 determines that the user has performed a touch operation on the display area of the object. If a touch operation on the display area of the object is detected in step S204, the process proceeds to step S210. If a touch operation on the display area of the object has not been detected, the process proceeds to step S201, and processing is performed again from imaging.

  In step S205, the tactile sensation providing unit 108 sets a tactile sensation providing area corresponding to the object. In the first operation mode, objects 303, 304, and 305 are displayed on panel 301 as objects on which the user performs a touch operation. On the other hand, in the second operation mode, the tactile sensation presentation areas 403, 404, and 405 as shown in FIG. 4 are set in order to realize the same functions as those executable in the first operation mode. The tactile sensation presentation area 403 is an area corresponding to the object 303, and is associated with a pause function. The tactile sensation presentation area 404 is an area corresponding to the object 304, and is associated with a music forwarding function. The tactile sensation presentation area 405 is an area corresponding to the object 305, and is associated with a music return function.

  Here, the tactile sensation providing unit 108 performs area setting so that the tactile sensation providing areas 403, 404, and 405 are larger than the display areas of the corresponding objects 303, 304, and 305. Further, the tactile sensation providing unit 108 displays the relative positional relationship of the objects 303, 304, and 305 corresponding to the relative positional relationship of the tactile sensation providing regions 403, 404, and 405 (the object 304 is displayed on the right side of the object 303, The tactile sensation providing area 404 is set to the right of the tactile sensation providing area 403, and the tactile sensation providing area 405 is set to the left of the tactile sensation providing area 403 so that the object 305 is displayed on the left of the tactile sensation providing area 403. Further, the tactile sensation providing unit 108 sets the area so that the distance between adjacent tactile sensation providing areas is wider than the distance between the display areas of the corresponding objects. Specifically, the tactile sensation providing areas 403 and 404 are arranged so that the distance D41 between the tactile sensation providing area 403 and the tactile sensation providing area 404 is larger than the distance D31 between the objects 303 and 304. Similarly, the tactile sensation providing areas 403 and 405 are arranged so that the distance D42 between the tactile sensation providing area 403 and the tactile sensation providing area 405 is larger than the distance D32 between the objects 303 and 305.

  Further, the shaded tactile sensation presentation areas 403, 404, and 405 illustrated in FIG. 4 are for explaining the sizes of the areas, and the display unit 105 does not actually perform the screen display in the second operation mode. . This is because the second operation mode is based on the premise that no user face is detected in step S202, that is, the user does not look at the panel 301. By not performing unnecessary screen display when the user is not looking at the panel 301, power consumption by screen display can be reduced. On the other hand, depending on the settings and status of the electronic device 100, a screen display may be performed on the display unit 105 so that the tactile sensation presentation areas 403, 404, and 405 can be confirmed.

  In step S206, the CPU 101 determines whether a touch operation by the user has been detected on the tactile sensation providing area set in step S205. When the touch sensor 107 detects a touch operation by the user, the CPU 101 acquires the coordinates of the touch position. Further, the CPU 101 determines whether or not the acquired coordinates are within the tactile sensation providing area. For example, in the example illustrated in FIG. 4, when the coordinates of the touch position are coordinates in the tactile sensation providing areas 403, 404, and 405, the CPU 101 determines that the user has performed a touch operation on the tactile sensation providing area. If a touch operation on the tactile sensation providing area is detected in step S206, the process proceeds to step S207. If a touch operation on the tactile sensation presentation area has not been detected, the process proceeds to step S201, and processing is again performed from imaging.

  In step S207, the tactile sensation presentation unit 108 presents a tactile sensation. In the example of FIG. 4, for example, when the user touches the coordinates in the tactile sensation providing area 403, a tactile sensation is provided at the touched position, and the user can be notified that the touched position is an operation area for executing the pause function. . Furthermore, if different tactile sensations are presented in the tactile sensation presentation regions 403, 404, and 405, the user can easily determine which function is to be executed by using only the tactile sensation.

  In step S208, the pressing detection unit 109 detects a pressing on the touch sensor 107, and acquires the pressing force as a pressing value.

  In step S209, the CPU 101 determines whether the pressure value acquired in step S208 is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold. If the pressure value is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold, the process proceeds to step S210. If the pressure value is less than the predetermined threshold, the process proceeds to step S201, and the processing is performed again from imaging.

  In step S210, the CPU 101 executes an operation associated with the object corresponding to the touch position. For example, in the first operation mode, when the user touches the object 303 to be paused displayed on the panel 301 while watching the screen, the CPU 101 performs the pause function during the music reproduction on the electronic device 100. Execute Similarly, in the second operation mode, the user touches the panel 301 without looking at the screen, and presses the touch position when the user touches the touch position in the tactile sensation presentation area 403, thereby performing the electronic device operation. While the music is being played back by the CPU 100, the CPU 101 executes the function of pausing.

  According to the electronic device configured as shown in the present embodiment, even if the liquid crystal is not visible when operating the touch panel on the tactile panel, it is easy to perform the operation only by the tactile sensation by switching the operation mode.

  The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above. However, the configuration of the electronic device shown in FIG. 1 is an example, and the configuration of the electronic device according to the present invention is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. The configuration is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG.

  The present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications and changes can be made within the scope of the gist.

100 electronic equipment, 101 CPU, 102 memory, 103 non-volatile memory,
104 image processing unit, 105 display unit, 106 operation unit, 107 touch sensor,
108 tactile sensation presentation unit, 109 press detection unit, 110 imaging selection unit, 111 face detection unit,
112 bus

Claims (6)

Display means for displaying an object associated with a predetermined function;
A touch sensor,
Tactile sensation providing means for presenting a tactile sensation to the touch surface of the touch sensor,
Press detection means for detecting a pressing force on the touch surface of the touch sensor,
Comprising control means for switching between the first operation mode and the second operation mode,
The first operation mode executes an operation according to the object when the touch sensor detects contact with a display area of the object displayed on the display unit,
In the second operation mode, the tactile sensation providing unit presents a tactile sensation to an area larger than the display area of the object in the first operation mode, and the pressing detection unit applies a pressing force to the tactile sensation providing area. An electronic device that performs an operation according to an object when detecting that the value is equal to or greater than a first threshold.   The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the display unit does not display an object in the second operation mode. Imaging means for imaging a subject;
Subject detection means for detecting a subject from a subject image captured by the imaging means,
When a subject is detected by the subject detection means, the control means switches an operation mode to the first operation mode,
2. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit switches the operation mode to the second operation mode when the subject is not detected by the subject detection unit. Further comprising a brightness setting means for setting the brightness of the display means,
The control means switches the operation mode to the first operation mode when the brightness is set to a second threshold or more,
The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit switches the operation mode to the second operation mode when the luminance is set to be less than the second threshold. The tactile sensation providing means,
When there are a plurality of objects, a plurality of tactile sensation presentation areas presented by the tactile sensation presentation means in the second operation mode are displayed in the plurality of object display areas displayed by the display means in the first operation mode. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device is presented so as to have the same positional relationship as the positional relationship. The tactile sensation providing means,
When there are a plurality of objects, the interval between the plurality of tactile presentation areas to be presented in the second operation mode is longer than the interval between the display areas of the plurality of objects displayed by the display means in the first operation mode. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device is presented so as to be wide.