JP5417027B2 - Character input device and character input method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a character input device and a character input method including an input key to which a plurality of characters are assigned.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a character input device including an input key to which a plurality of characters to be input are assigned is known. For example, in Patent Document 1 below, the direction of the force applied to the key is detected by detecting the distortion generated in the input key that is detected to be pressed, and the input information is determined based on the detected direction. An input device is described. As a result, the user can input desired information by applying a force in the direction corresponding to the information desired to be input and pressing the key, thereby increasing the efficiency of the input operation.

JP 2005-190460 A

  However, when the method described in Patent Document 1 is used, the user needs to apply a force in the correct direction to the input key in order to input a desired character, and a fine operation is required. Therefore, an erroneous input due to an erroneous operation may occur.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is to provide a character input device and a character input method capable of efficiently inputting characters with a simple operation.

The character input device of the present invention includes an operation surface having a plurality of input keys to which a plurality of characters to be input are assigned, a press detection means for detecting that the input key is pressed, and a physical to the operation surface. Contact detection means for detecting changes in contact position with time, the input key, the movement direction of the contact operation with respect to the operation surface, the amount of movement determined by the number of input keys that have received the contact operation, and input characters And the change with time of the contact position with reference to one specific input key set as the base point of the contact operation regardless of the input key to be pressed detected by the contact detection means Based on the calculation means for calculating the movement direction and the movement amount, the input key whose depression is detected by the depression detection means, and the movement direction calculated by the calculation means The letter corresponding to the fine movement amount read out from said memory means, and a receiving means for receiving an input of the character.

The character input method of the present invention is a character input method executed by a character input device having an operation surface having a plurality of input keys to which a plurality of input characters are assigned, and the input key is pressed. Press detection step for detecting touch, detection step for detecting temporal change in the position of physical contact with the operation surface , and setting as a base point for the touch operation regardless of the input key pressed in the touch detection step A calculation for calculating the moving direction of the contact operation with respect to the operation surface and the amount of movement determined by the number of input keys that have received the contact operation based on a change with time of the contact position with reference to the specified one input key. Step, input key, moving direction of the touch operation with respect to the operation surface, a moving amount determined by the number of input keys that have received the touch operation, and input characters A step of accepting input of the character by reading out the character corresponding to the input key detected in the pressing detection step and the movement direction and movement amount calculated in the calculation step from the storage means for storing It is characterized by including these.

  According to such a character input device and character input method, characters corresponding to the pressed input key and the moving direction and amount of the contact operation performed on the operation surface are read from the storage unit, It is accepted as an input character. Thus, the user can input characters by simply pressing the input key and performing a predetermined contact operation on the operation surface. Further, since the amount of movement of the contact operation is determined by the number of input keys, the user can easily grasp how much a desired character can be input. Therefore, it is possible to input characters efficiently with a simple operation.

In the character input device of the present invention, the movement direction is a direction along the vertical direction or the horizontal direction of the operation surface, and the movement amount is the number of input keys subjected to a contact operation along the vertical direction of the operation surface, or It is preferable to be determined by the number of input keys that have undergone a contact operation along the lateral direction of the operation surface. In the character input device of the present invention, it is preferable that the storage unit stores the movement amount of the contact operation along the horizontal direction and the characters relating to the abandoned kana or the muddy sound in association with each other.

  In this case, since the input character is determined based on the contact operation performed along the vertical direction or the horizontal direction of the operation surface, the user can input the character by a simple contact operation.

  According to such a character input device and character input method, a character is input based on the pressing of the input key, the direction of the contact operation, and the amount of movement of the contact operation determined by the number of input keys that have received the operation. Therefore, it is possible to input characters efficiently with a simple operation.

1 is a perspective view of a mobile phone according to an embodiment. It is a figure which shows arrangement | positioning of the input key shown in FIG. 1, and allocation of a character. It is a figure which shows the function structure of the mobile telephone shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of the mobile telephone shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the table which the database shown in FIG. 3 memorize | stores. (A)-(b) is a figure which shows contact operation on the operation surface shown in FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the mobile phone shown in FIG.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this embodiment, the character input device according to the present invention is applied to a mobile phone. In the description of the drawings, the same or equivalent elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

  First, the function and configuration of the mobile phone 1 according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The mobile phone 1 is a foldable mobile phone in which a main body 2 where a plurality of input keys 4 are arranged and a lid 3 where a screen 5 is arranged are connected by a hinge. When the user opens the lid 3, as shown in FIG. 1, the mobile phone 1 is in a state where the operation surface 2 a on which the input keys 4 are arranged and the screen 5 are visible.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the input keys 4 are arranged in a grid of 5 columns × 3 columns. Of these, one or more characters are assigned to each of the 12 input keys 4d to 4o except for the top three, for each input mode. For example, with respect to the input key 4d, “1” is assigned in the numeric input mode, and five characters “A line” are assigned in the kana input mode. As for the input key 4e, “2” is assigned in the numeric input mode, “A”, “B”, and “C” are assigned in the alphabet input mode, and five characters “ka line” are assigned in the kana input mode. Assigned. Note that the key arrangement and character assignment in FIG. 2 are merely examples, and various modifications are possible.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the cellular phone 1 includes, as functional components, a press detection unit (press detection unit) 11, a contact detection unit (contact detection unit) 12, a database (storage unit) 13, and a calculation unit (calculation unit) 14. And a reception unit (reception means) 15.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the mobile phone 1 includes a CPU 101 that executes an operating system, an application program, and the like, a main storage unit 102 that includes a ROM and a RAM, an auxiliary storage unit 103 that includes a memory, and data. The communication control unit 104 performs communication, a display unit 105 including a liquid crystal monitor, and an operation unit 106 including input keys. Each function shown in FIG. 3 reads predetermined software on the CPU 101 and the main storage unit 102, operates the communication control unit 104 under the control of the CPU 101, and controls the main storage unit 102 and the auxiliary storage unit 103. This is realized by reading and writing data.

  Returning to FIG. 3, the press detection unit 11 is a part that detects that the input key 4 is pressed. When a certain input key 4 is pressed, the pressing detection unit 11 generates an identifier of the input key 4 (hereinafter referred to as “key identifier”) and outputs the identifier to the receiving unit 15.

  The contact detection unit 12 is a part that detects a temporal change in the position of physical contact with the operation surface 2a. The contact detection unit 12 includes an electrostatic panel 12a embedded below the input keys 4a to 4o (see FIG. 2), and the position (coordinates) of contact with each input key 4 on the operation surface 2a. And the change with time is detected by a capacitance method. The contact detection unit 12 generates contact position data indicating a contact point or surface (contact position) and sequentially outputs the contact position data to the calculation unit 14 until the user's finger touches the operation surface 2a and leaves.

  The position at which the electrostatic panel 12a is disposed is not limited, and may be provided on the upper surface of each input key 4, for example. Moreover, the detection method which the contact detection part 12 employ | adopts is not limited to an electrostatic capacitance system, For example, you may use another well-known techniques, such as a resistive film system and a surface acoustic wave system.

  The database 13 is a part that stores the input key 4, the moving direction of the contact operation with respect to the operation surface 2a, the amount of movement determined by the number of the input keys 4 that have received the contact operation, and the input characters in association with each other. .

  For example, the database 13 stores a table as shown in FIG. The table in FIG. 5 shows an example of a correspondence relationship between the input key, the moving direction of the touch operation, the moving amount of the touch operation, and the characters in the kana input mode. The top row of this table shows the identifiers of the input keys 4d to 4o, and the rightmost column shows the amount of movement in the vertical direction from the input keys 4c. Further, when there is a case of abandoned kana (kana lowercase) such as “A row” or a muddy sound such as “K row”, the rightmost input keys 4c and 4f on the operation surface 2a. , 4i, 4l, or 4o is also considered.

  Here, the vertical direction is a direction along the longitudinal direction of the operation surface 2a, and the horizontal direction is a direction along the width direction of the operation surface 2a. The amount of movement in the vertical and horizontal directions is determined by the number of input keys 4 that have undergone a contact operation along each direction. For example, when the user traces three input keys 4c, 4f, and 4i with a finger, the vertical movement amount is 3, and when the user further traces the key 4h, the horizontal movement amount is 2. Become.

  According to the table of FIG. 5, when the input key 4d printed with "1" is pressed and the input keys 4c, 4f, 4i, 4h are traced in this order on the operation surface 2a, the vertical direction Since the movement amount of 3 is 3 and the movement amount in the horizontal direction is 2, “V” is input. When the input key 4e printed with “2” is pressed and the input keys 4c and 4b are traced in this order on the operation surface 2a, the vertical movement amount is 1, and the horizontal movement is performed. Since the amount is 2, “ga” is input. Further, when the input key 4o printed with “#” is pressed and the input keys 4c and 4f are traced in this order on the operation surface 2a, regardless of the amount of movement in the horizontal direction, “ ) "Is entered.

  Note that the table (data) shown in FIG. 5 is merely an example, and various modifications are possible. In the above description, it is assumed that the base point of the contact operation is the input key 4c. However, the movement direction and the movement amount may be determined based on any input key. For example, the input keys 4a and 4m may be used as a reference for the vertical movement amount, and the leftmost input keys 4a, 4d, 4g, 4j, and 4m on the operation surface 2a may be used as the reference for the horizontal movement amount. Good.

  Similarly to the example shown in FIG. 5, the database 13 also stores a table indicating the correspondence between input keys, moving directions, moving amounts, and characters in an alphanumeric input mode in which alphanumeric characters and predetermined symbols can be input.

  The calculation unit 14 is a part that calculates the movement direction and the movement amount of the contact operation based on the temporal change of the contact position detected by the contact detection unit 12. For example, with the base point of the contact operation as the input key 4c, a set of contact position data indicating that the input keys 4c, 4f, 4i, and 4h are traced in this order as shown by an arrow A in FIG. 6A is input. If it is determined, the calculation unit 14 calculates the vertical and horizontal movement amounts as 3 and 2, respectively. When the contact position data indicating that only the input key 4c has been traced is input as indicated by the black circle R in FIG. 6B, the calculation unit 14 has a movement amount of 1 in both the vertical and horizontal directions. And calculate. The calculation unit 14 outputs the calculation result to the reception unit 15.

  The accepting unit 15 reads a character corresponding to the input key detected by the press detecting unit 11 and the moving direction and moving amount calculated by the calculating unit 14 from the database 13 and receives the input of the character. It is. For example, when the key identifier “2” and a calculation result indicating that “the amount of movement in the vertical direction is 5 and the amount of movement in the horizontal direction is 1” are input, the reception unit 15 sets the character “ko”. (See FIG. 5). The accepted character data is output to a storage area such as a key buffer and displayed at the cursor position on the screen 5. As a result, the input character is confirmed and the cursor moves to the next input position.

  Next, the operation of the mobile phone 1 shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 7, and the character input method according to the present embodiment will be described.

  When the user first presses one of the input keys 4 to input a character, the press detection unit 11 detects that (step S11, press detection step). Thereafter, when the user traces one or more input keys 4 on the operation surface 2a, the contact detection unit 12 detects a change in the contact position with time (step S12, contact detection step), and the calculation unit 14 based on the detection result. Then, the moving direction and moving amount of the contact operation are calculated (step S13, calculation step). Subsequently, the character corresponding to the key identifier indicating the input key 4 pressed by the receiving unit 15 and the moving direction and moving amount indicating the touch operation is read from the database 13 and received as an input character (step S14, receiving step). As a result, the character designated by the user is displayed at the cursor position on the screen 5, and the mobile phone 1 waits for the input of the next character or a predetermined instruction.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, characters corresponding to the pressed input key 4 and the moving direction and moving amount of the touch operation performed on the operation surface 2a are read from the database 13. Are accepted as input characters. Thereby, the user can input characters by simply pressing the input key 4 and performing a predetermined contact operation on the operation surface 2a. Further, since the amount of movement of the contact operation is determined by the number of input keys 4 that are traced, the user can easily grasp how much a desired character can be input. Therefore, it is possible to input characters efficiently with a simple operation.

  Moreover, according to this embodiment, since an input character is determined based on the contact operation performed along the vertical direction or the horizontal direction of the operation surface 2a, the user can input a character by a simple contact operation.

  The present invention has been described in detail based on the embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. The present invention can be modified in various ways as described below without departing from the scope of the invention.

  Although the present invention is applied to the mobile phone 1 in the above embodiment, the present invention can be applied to various mobile terminals or fixed terminals such as a personal digital assistant (PDA) and a personal computer.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Mobile telephone, 2a ... Operation surface, 4 (4a-4o) ... Input key, 11 ... Press detection part (press detection means), 12 ... Contact detection part (contact detection means), 12a ... Electrostatic panel, 13 ... Database (storage unit), 14... Calculation unit (calculation unit), 15... Reception unit (reception unit).

Claims (4)

An operation surface having a plurality of input keys to which a plurality of input characters are assigned;
A press detection means for detecting that the input key is pressed;
Contact detection means for detecting a temporal change in the position of physical contact with the operation surface;
Storage means for storing the input key, the movement direction of the contact operation with respect to the operation surface, the amount of movement determined by the number of input keys that have received the contact operation, and the input character in association with each other;
The movement direction and the movement based on a change with time of a contact position that is detected by the contact detection unit and is based on one specific input key set as a base point of a contact operation regardless of an input key to be pressed. A calculating means for calculating an amount;
A receiving unit that reads out from the storage unit a character corresponding to the input key detected by the pressing detection unit and the moving direction and moving amount calculated by the calculating unit, and receives the input of the character;
A character input device comprising: The moving direction is a direction along a vertical direction or a horizontal direction of the operation surface,
The amount of movement is determined by the number of input keys that have undergone a contact operation along the longitudinal direction of the operation surface or the number of input keys that have undergone a contact operation along the lateral direction of the operation surface.
The character input device according to claim 1. The storage means stores the movement amount of the contact operation along the lateral direction in association with characters related to abandoned kana or muddy sound,
The character input device according to claim 2. A character input method executed by a character input device including an operation surface having a plurality of input keys to which a plurality of input characters are assigned,
A pressing detection step for detecting that the input key is pressed;
A contact detection step of detecting a temporal change in a position of physical contact with the operation surface;
The contact operation on the operation surface based on the change over time of the contact position with reference to one specific input key set as a base point of the contact operation regardless of the input key to be pressed, which is detected in the contact detection step A calculating step for calculating a moving direction of the input key and a moving amount determined by the number of input keys that have received the touch operation;
From the storage means for storing the input key, the movement direction of the contact operation with respect to the operation surface, the amount of movement determined by the number of the input keys that have received the contact operation, and the input character, the press detection step. An accepting step of reading out the character corresponding to the input key detected to be pressed and the moving direction and moving amount calculated in the calculating step, and receiving the input of the character;
The character input method characterized by including.

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