JP4171509B2 - Input processing method and input processing apparatus for implementing the same - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an input processing method in a touch input device that processes a touch input operation by touching a screen, an input processing device that implements the method, and an information processing device including the same.

  In an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer (including a notebook computer), a touch input device such as a tablet or a digitizer may be used as an input device instead of a mouse. Generally, a tablet or a digitizer is disposed on or below a screen of a monitor such as a CRT or a liquid crystal display, and senses a position where a pen as a pointing device touches the screen. And they are also called a touch panel or a touch screen by integrating with a screen.

  More specifically, the pressure-sensitive tablet is a resistive film made of a transparent electrode, and is pasted on the surface of the monitor screen. The contact position of the pen is detected by measuring the potential divided by the contact of the pen. The electromagnetic induction type tablet is arranged below the screen and detects the contact position of the pen by detecting magnetism generated from the pen tip. In addition to the pressure-sensitive tablet and the electromagnetic induction tablet, various methods such as a method using ultrasonic waves such as an ultrasonic surface acoustic wave touch panel are realized as the contact position detection method.

  Conventionally, input operations in these touch input devices mainly include processing corresponding to a left click on the mouse, such as designation of a position on the screen by a pointer (or cursor), selection of a menu by icon operation or activation of software. Was assigned. On the other hand, in recent years, various devices for processing an input operation corresponding to processing other than the left click of the mouse have been proposed.

  For example, the map display device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-241506 has a function of changing the scale of the map displayed on the screen according to the pressing time of the touch panel. Furthermore, the input device disclosed in JP-A-11-53115 has a function of moving a cursor on the screen by touch input. Specifically, a movement command is input by moving the touch panel while pressing it with an input pen, etc., and a method for moving the cursor relatively according to the movement of the cursor pen and an arbitrary position on the touch panel A method of inputting a movement command by pressing for a period of time and moving the cursor in the direction of the pressed position at a moving speed according to the distance to an arbitrary position is selectively switched depending on the pressing time. Further, the data input device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-45141 has a function of recognizing an input operation when the touch panel is pressed for a predetermined time or more in order to prevent erroneous input.

  By the way, when touch input is used instead of input by a mouse, it is preferable that a process corresponding to a right click of the mouse is assigned to the touch input operation. Further, in recent years, a mouse having a middle switch or a wheel between a left switch (for left click) and a right switch (for right click) of the mouse is becoming widespread. Therefore, it is also desired that a process corresponding to a middle switch or wheel click (hereinafter referred to as middle click) is assigned. In particular, since scroll processing is often assigned to middle clicks (including wheel rotation), it is also desired that scroll processing be realized by touch input operations.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an input processing method for executing processing corresponding to a plurality of mouse input operations by a touch input operation, an input processing device for implementing the input processing device, and an information processing device including the same. It is in.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, a plurality of mouse input operations are switched in accordance with the contact time with the touch panel. Therefore, it is possible to selectively execute processing corresponding to a plurality of mouse input operations by one input operation called a touch input operation, and the operability is improved.

  In the present invention, the scroll direction of the screen is switched according to the contact time with the touch panel. Therefore, it is possible to selectively execute, for example, up scroll and down scroll by one input operation called touch input operation, and the operability is improved.

Input processing method of the present invention is the input processing method for processing touch input operations on the screen of the information processing apparatus, the information processing apparatus, a step of detecting a contact time relative to the screen, the information processing apparatus is detected In accordance with the contact time, the user selects one of the process corresponding to the mouse input operation and the screen scroll process , and when the scroll process is selected, the screen scroll direction according to the detected time. And a selection step of selecting .

Also, the processing corresponding to the mouse input operations includes a process corresponding to the left click in the least mouse input operations. Further, the input processing method may include a display step of changing an icon displayed on the screen every time a process selected according to the elapse of the contact time changes while the user is in contact.

  Furthermore, according to the present invention, there are provided an input processing device that implements the input processing method, an information processing device including the input processing device, and a recording medium that stores a program for executing the input processing method.

  As mentioned above, according to this invention, several mouse | mouth input operation is switched according to the contact time with respect to a touch panel. Therefore, it is possible to selectively execute processing corresponding to a plurality of mouse input operations by one input operation called a touch input operation, and the operability is improved. Further, the scroll direction of the screen is switched according to the contact time with the touch panel. Therefore, it is possible to selectively execute, for example, up scroll and down scroll by one input operation called touch input operation, and the operability is improved.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. However, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to this embodiment.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an information processing apparatus to which an input processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. In FIG. 1, a notebook personal computer 1 is shown as an example of an information processing apparatus. The notebook computer 1 includes a liquid crystal display 12, and a touch panel (tablet) 10 that is a touch input device is disposed so as to overlap the liquid crystal display 12.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a pressure-sensitive touch panel (FIG. 2A) and an electromagnetic induction touch panel (FIG. 2B). In FIG. 2A, the pressure-sensitive touch panel is composed of a transparent film and glass, and is disposed on the liquid crystal display 12. When the film is pressed by the pen 14 or the like and the film and the glass come into contact with each other, the resistance value changes. The contact position is detected based on the resistance value. In FIG. 2 (B), the electromagnetic induction type touch panel is composed of a sensor plate having a sensor coil, and is disposed under the liquid crystal display 12. The magnetic force generated from the tip of the pen 14 is detected by the sensor coil, whereby the position of the pen 14 is detected.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the information processing apparatus 1 in FIG. PCI bus (Peripheral
A multi-chip module (MCM) 32, a south bridge 38, and a video graphics array (VGA) controller 36 are connected to the component interconnect bus 30. A south bridge 38, a keyboard controller (KBC) 51, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 54, and a modem 56 are connected to an ISA bus (Industry Standard Architecture bus) 50. The south bridge 38 is connected to a hard disk drive (HDD) 40 as an auxiliary storage device, and controls reading and writing of data with respect to the HDD 40. The HDD 40 stores a program for executing an input processing method of the present invention described later. Further, a keyboard 41 and a touch panel controller 52 are connected to the keyboard controller 50.

  The multichip module 32 includes a CPU 32a, a North Bridge 32b, and a secondary cache memory (RAM) 32c. An SDRAM (synchronous DRAM) 34 as a main memory is connected to the multichip module 32. The SDRAM 34 operates in synchronization with the system bus clock. The north bridge 32b is a PCI system controller that controls data transmission among the CPU 32a, the secondary cache memory 32c, the main memory 34, the PCI bus 30, and the like.

  The south bridge 38 is a bridge that connects the PCI bus 30 and the ISA bus 50, and controls data transmission between the PCI bus 30 and the ISA bus 50. Further, the VGA controller 36 controls the liquid crystal display 12 under the VGA standard.

  The touch panel controller 52 includes an MPU 52a, a memory (RAM) 52b, and an interface circuit 52c, and controls a touch input operation by the touch panel 10. A program for executing the input processing method of the present invention stored in the HDD 40 at the time of system startup (the program in the flowcharts of FIGS. 4, 6, 8, and 9) is loaded into the memory 52a or the SDRAM 34, and is executed by the MPU 52a and the CPU 32a. Executed. The ROM 54 stores an initial program loader.

  Further, the information processing apparatus 1 is connected to various peripheral devices, for example, a serial port, a parallel port, a communication port, a CRT connector, a mouse connector, and an FDD adapter for connecting to a floppy disk drive (FDD) 61. Etc. The floppy disk drive 61 may be built in the information processing apparatus 1. Further, the information processing apparatus 1 may include a CD-ROM drive adapter and be connected to the CD-ROM drive 62. Further, the CD-ROM drive 62 may be built in the information processing apparatus 1.

  A program for executing the input processing method of the present invention is stored in a portable recording medium such as a floppy disk 71 or a CD-ROM 72, and is processed through an FDD drive 61 or a CD-ROM drive 62, respectively. 1 may be provided. The program may be provided through a communication line connected to the modem 56.

  FIG. 4 is a process flowchart of the MPU 52a that executes the input processing method according to the embodiment of the present invention, and is a flowchart of a program executed by the MPU 52a. First, when the MPU 52a detects the contact state of the pen with respect to the touch panel 10 in step S11, the MPU 52a detects the contact position of the pen as an X coordinate value and a Y coordinate value in the XY coordinates set on the touch panel 10 in step S12. In step S13, the MPU 52a generates the following contact status data shown in FIG. 5A and transmits it to the CPU 32a.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of status data. The status data has a flag for identifying whether it is in a contact state or a non-contact state. In the case of a contact state, flag “1” is set. In the case of a non-contact state, flag “0” is set as a status bit. . Hereinafter, the status data of the flag “1” is referred to as contact status data, and the status data of the flag “0” is referred to as non-contact status data. In each status data, an XY coordinate value when a contact state or a non-contact state is detected is set as coordinate data.

  Returning to FIG. 4, when the MPU 52 a detects the non-contact state of the pen with respect to the touch panel 10 in step S <b> 14, in step S <b> 15, the X coordinate value and the Y coordinate value in the XY coordinates set to the touch panel 10. Detect as. In step S16, the MPU 52a generates the non-contact status data shown in FIG. 5B and transmits it to the CPU 32a.

  FIG. 6 is a first processing flowchart of the CPU 32a that executes the input processing method according to the embodiment of the present invention, and is a flowchart of a program executed by the CPU 32a. This program is loaded from the HDD 40 to the system memory SDRAM 34 and executed. In the first process, the CPU 52a selectively executes a left click process and a right click process in accordance with the pen contact time with respect to the touch panel 10. First, in step S101, when the CPU 32a receives the contact status data from the MPU 52a of the touch panel controller 52, in step S102, the CPU 32a moves the pointer to the position of the coordinate data included in the contact status data, and stores the reception time in the SDRAM 34. Record (step S103). The reception time of the status data is measured using a system clock built in the information processing apparatus.

  Further, when the CPU 32a receives the non-contact status data from the MPU 52a in step S104, the reception time is also recorded in the SDRAM 34 in step S105. Furthermore, in step S106, the CPU 52a detects the contact time T from the difference between the reception times of the contact status data and the non-contact status data. Then, the CPU 52a selectively executes a left click process and a right click process according to the detected contact time T. That is, in step S107, when the contact time T is less than the first time T1, the left click process is selected (step S108), and when the contact time T is equal to or longer than the first time T1, the right click process is selected. (Step S109).

  The processing given for the left click is, for example, designation of the position of a pointer or cursor displayed on the screen, selection of a menu by icon operation, or activation of software. Further, the process given to the right click differs depending on the application program being executed, but is, for example, display of an operation menu at the position of the pointer or cursor.

  FIG. 7 is an example of a screen displayed on the display. FIG. 7A shows an example of a screen when the left click process is executed, and FIG. 7B shows an example of a screen when the right click process is executed. FIG. 7A shows a state in which the pointer 3 is moved to the upper left of the screen and the icon 4 at that position is selected by the left click process. FIG. 7B shows a state in which the operation menu 5 is displayed at the position of the pointer 3 by the right click process.

  Thus, according to the first process described above, the left click and the right click on the mouse can be used properly by one touch input operation. That is, a plurality of input operations can be selectively executed by one input operation. Therefore, it becomes possible to execute all processing of the mouse by touch input operation without using the mouse, and the operability is remarkably improved.

  In addition to the left switch and the right switch, a second time T2 (T2> T1) is further set in FIG. 7 to correspond to a mouse having a middle switch (wheel). In the case of the second time or longer, a process for selecting a process corresponding to the middle click may be added.

  Moreover, the order of the process selected by the length of contact time is not restricted above. For example, the right click process may be selected when the contact time T is less than the first time T1, and the left click process may be selected when the contact time T is greater than or equal to the first time T1.

  FIG. 8 is a second processing flowchart of the CPU 32a that executes the input processing method according to the embodiment of the present invention, and is a flowchart of a program executed by the CPU 32a. This program is loaded from the HDD 40 to the system memory SDRAM 34 and executed. In the second process, the CPU 32a selectively executes a left click process and a scroll process in accordance with the pen contact time with respect to the touch panel 10. First, in step S201, when the CPU 32a receives the contact status data from the MPU 52a of the touch panel controller 52, in step S202, the CPU 32a moves the pointer to the position of the coordinate data included in the contact status data, and stores the reception time in the SDRAM 34. Record (step S203).

  In step S204, the CPU 32a determines whether or not the screen is currently being scrolled. If scrolling is in progress, the CPU 32a stops scrolling in step S205.

  In step S206, when the CPU 32a receives the non-contact status data from the MPU 52a, the reception time is also recorded in the SDRAM 34 in step S207. Furthermore, in step S208, the CPU 52a detects the contact time T from the difference between the reception times of the contact status data and the non-contact status data. Then, the CPU 52a selectively executes a left click process and a scroll process according to the detected contact time T. Specifically, if the contact time T is less than the first time T1 in step S209, nothing is executed. That is, in step S202, the pointer or cursor only moves to the contact position. As described above, a process in which only the pointer or the cursor is moved by contact may be included.

  In step S210, if the contact time T is not less than the first time T1 and less than the second time T2 (T2> T1), the left click process is selected (step S211). Furthermore, in step S212, when the contact time T is equal to or longer than the second time T2 and the third time T3 (T3> T2), an up scroll process for scrolling the screen upward is selected (step S213). Is equal to or greater than the third time T3, the downward scroll process for scrolling the screen downward is selected (step S214).

  Thus, according to the second process described above, the left click process and the scroll process in the mouse can be used properly by a single touch input operation. Furthermore, with regard to the scroll process, the up scroll process and the down scroll process can be selectively executed according to the length of the contact time. Therefore, a plurality of processes can be executed by one simple operation called a touch input operation, and the operability is remarkably improved.

  In the case of corresponding to a mouse having a middle switch (wheel), if the middle click process is not a scroll process, a fourth time T4 (T4> T3) is further set in FIG. In the case of the fourth time or longer, a process for selecting a process corresponding to the middle click may be added.

  Also in the case of FIG. 8, the order of processing selected according to the length of the contact time is not limited to the above. For example, the order of the up scroll process and the down scroll process may be reversed.

  As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of processes are selectively executed according to the contact time in the touch input operation. That is, the selected process changes while touching the touch panel. Therefore, it is preferable that the user can discriminate the process selected according to the contact time. Therefore, for example, the icon display of the pointer or cursor may be changed according to the contact time. Thereby, the user can discriminate the process selected by putting the pen in a non-contact state.

  FIG. 9 is a process flowchart for changing the icon display of the pointer corresponding to the process of FIG. 8, and is a flowchart of a program executed by the CPU 32a. This program is loaded from the HDD 40 to the system memory SDRAM 34 and executed. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a pointer icon. As shown in FIG. 10A, in normal times, the pointer icon has, for example, an arrow shape indicating the upper left direction. In step S301 in FIG. 9, when the CPU 32a receives the contact status data, in step S302, the timer is started using the timer function of the system clock. The timer measures an elapsed time T after receiving the contact status data. In the following steps S303, S306, S309, and S312, when the CPU 32a receives the non-contact status data, the timer is stopped and reset (step S313). Further, if the pointer icon has changed, the pointer is returned to the normal icon (upper left arrow) (step S314).

  When the elapsed time T becomes equal to or longer than the first time T1 (step S304), the pointer icon changes to the first icon shown in FIG. 10D (step S305). The first icon has a mouse shape and is displayed such that the color of the left switch portion is different from the colors of the other portions. Thereby, the user can recognize that the left click process is selected by making the contactless state while the first icon is displayed.

  When the elapsed time T becomes equal to or longer than the second time T2 (step S307), the pointer icon changes to the second icon shown in FIG. 10B (step S308). The second icon has an arrow shape indicating an upward direction. Thereby, the user can recognize that the up-scroll process is selected by making a non-contact state while the second icon is displayed.

  Further, when the elapsed time is equal to or longer than the third time T3 (step S310), the pointer icon changes to the third icon shown in FIG. 10C (step S311). The third icon has an arrow shape indicating a downward direction. Thereby, the user can recognize that the down scroll process is selected by making the contactless state while the third icon is displayed.

  FIG. 10E shows an icon corresponding to the right click process, and FIG. 10F shows an icon corresponding to the middle click process.

  6 and 8, the contact time T is detected based on the difference between the reception times of the contact status data and the non-contact status data in order to detect the contact time T. As shown in the processing, the contact time T may be detected using a timer function of the system clock.

  In the above-described embodiment of the present invention, the case where the pen is used to contact the touch panel has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the present invention is also applied to a case where a finger touches the touch panel.

  The protection scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but covers the invention described in the claims and equivalents thereof.

It is a perspective view of an information processor to which an input processing method in an embodiment of the invention is applied. It is a figure for demonstrating a pressure sensitive tablet and an electromagnetic induction type tablet. It is a block block diagram of the information processing apparatus of FIG. It is a process flowchart of MPU52a which performs the input processing method in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of status data. It is a 1st process flowchart of CPU32a which performs the input processing method in embodiment of this invention. It is an example of a screen displayed on the display 12. It is a 2nd process flowchart of CPU32a which performs the input processing method in embodiment of this invention. FIG. 9 is a process flowchart for changing the icon display of the pointer corresponding to the process of FIG. 8. It is a figure which shows the example of the icon of a pointer.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Information processing apparatus 10 Touch panel 12 Display 14 Pen 32 Multichip module 34 SDRAM
40 Hard disk drive 52 Touch panel controller 54 ROM
61 Floppy disk drive 62 CD-ROM drive 71 Floppy disk 72 CD-ROM

Claims (9)

In an input processing method for processing a touch input operation on a screen of an information processing device,
The information processing apparatus detecting a contact time on a screen;
When the information processing apparatus selects one of a process corresponding to a mouse input operation and a screen scroll process according to the detected contact time , and the scroll process is selected, the detected time And a selection step of selecting a scroll direction of the screen according to the input processing method. In claim 1,
The process corresponding to the mouse input operation includes at least a process corresponding to a left click in the mouse input operation. In claim 1,
The information processing apparatus further includes a display step of changing an icon displayed on the screen every time the process selected by the selection step changes while the screen is being touched. The input processing method. In an input processing device that processes touch input operations on a screen,
A detection unit for detecting a contact time on the screen;
In accordance with the detected contact time, one of the process corresponding to the mouse input operation and the screen scroll process is selected. Further, when the scroll process is selected, the screen is selected according to the detected time. An input processing apparatus comprising: a selection unit that selects a scroll direction . In claim 4,
The processing corresponding to the mouse input operation includes at least processing corresponding to a left click in the mouse input operation. In claim 4,
Furthermore, an input processing apparatus comprising: a display control unit that changes an icon displayed on the screen every time the process selected by the selection unit changes while the screen is touched. . In a recording medium storing a program for causing the computer to execute an input processing method for processing a touch input operation on a computer screen, the program includes:
Detecting a contact time for the screen measured by the computer;
In accordance with the detected contact time, one of the process corresponding to the mouse input operation and the screen scroll process is selected. Further, when the scroll process is selected, the screen is selected according to the detected time. And a selection step for selecting a scroll direction . In claim 7,
The process corresponding to the mouse input operation includes at least a process corresponding to a left click in the mouse input operation. In claim 7,
The program further includes a display step of changing an icon displayed on the screen every time the process selected by the selection step is changed while the screen is being touched. recoding media.

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