JP5707519B1 - Input device, input method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

To input information quickly and accurately without looking at a screen. An input device 100 generates an operation position detection unit 11 that detects an operation position on a screen, a center area having the operation position as a center position, and a plurality of adjacent areas adjacent to the center area. The adjacent region generating unit 12, the gap region generating unit 13 that creates a gap region that decreases in width as the distance from the central region increases, and the operation position on the screen is moved from the central region to the gap. A selection processing unit 14 that invalidates selection when moving to an area and validates selection when the operation position on the screen moves from the central area to the adjacent area; [Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an input device, an input method, and a program for inputting information according to an operation on a screen.

  In recent years, portable terminals having a multi-touch screen, such as smartphones and tablets, are becoming popular. It is preferable for the visually impaired to enjoy the benefits of the terminal, and there is a demand from them to use the terminal used by the healthy person. The touch operation of the multi-touch screen realizes an intuitive and simple operation for a healthy person, but it is difficult for a visually handicapped person because there is no tactile sensation.

  Therefore, in Non-Patent Document 1, as a character input method using a touch operation of a multi-touch screen for visually impaired persons, a finger can be moved from any position where it touches the touch screen without moving the finger. There has been proposed an operation method that enables character input corresponding to the selected direction. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, an area centered on the position touched by the finger on the screen (hereinafter referred to as a center area) is provided, and a cursor in the center area is a plurality of adjacent areas. This is a method of selecting a menu item by moving to any one of the areas (hereinafter referred to as adjacent areas).

Ryosuke Aoki, Satoshi Hashimoto, Shunichi Seko, Yasuyuki Kataoka, Masayuki Ihara, Masahiro Watanabe, Toru Kobayashi, "Drag & Flick: A Character Input Method for the Visually Impaired Using Touch Screen", Information Processing Society of Japan, Interaction 2013, pp. 72-79 , Mar, 2013

  According to the above character input method, the smaller the size of the central area, the smaller the amount of movement of the cursor, so the burden on the user is reduced. However, if the central area is reduced, the passing area of each adjacent area (arc EF in the case of the adjacent area P0 in FIG. 5) is narrowed. Desired. In particular, when moving the cursor directly with a finger, or when moving the cursor by pointing from a position away from the screen, the accuracy of moving the cursor is worse than using a mouse or pen, so the center area cannot be reduced. is there.

  To deal with this problem, Non-Patent Document 1 adopts a method of preventing a reduction in selection accuracy by creating a gap between adjacent regions as shown in FIG. However, as the gap between the adjacent areas is further away from the central area, it is larger and it takes time for the cursor to move on the adjacent area.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an input device, an input method, and a program capable of inputting information at high speed and accurately without looking at a screen.

  In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention includes an operation position detecting means for detecting an operation position on a screen, a central area having the operation position as a central position, and a plurality of adjacent areas adjacent to the central area. An adjacent area generating means for generating an area; a gap area generating means for creating a gap area that decreases in width as the distance from the central area increases between the plurality of adjacent areas; and the operating position from the central area to the gap. An input device including selection processing means for invalidating selection when moved to an area and validating selection when the operation position moves from the central area to the adjacent area, and an input method and program corresponding thereto I will provide a.

  According to the first aspect, for example, in the pie-type menu, based on the characteristic that the moving direction of the target cursor and the actual moving direction of the cursor are closer to the center position, the gap region is further away from the center region. A pie-shaped menu with a reduced width can be generated. In this way, the user can easily learn the appropriate finger movement direction, and the distance between the central region and the adjacent region can be shortened without reducing the selection accuracy of the adjacent region. .

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the gap region generating means is a point that is a predetermined distance away from the center position on the boundary line between the adjacent regions, and the width of the gap region is The gap area is generated on the basis of the position of 0 and the width of the gap area in contact with the center area.
According to the second aspect, the time required to move the cursor over the adjacent area can be shortened, and the selection accuracy of the adjacent area can be improved.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the predetermined distance is determined based on a distance from the center position to a boundary of the screen.
According to the third aspect, it is possible to expand the adjacent area and increase the selectable ratio within the limitation of the screen size, and it is possible to easily input accurate information.

  That is, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an input device, an input method, and a program that can input information quickly and accurately without looking at the screen.

The block diagram which shows the function structure of the input device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows an example of the clearance gap area | region produced | generated by this embodiment. The flowchart which shows a menu production | generation process. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a gap region generated in the second embodiment. The figure which shows a center area | region and an adjacent area | region. The figure which shows an example of the conventional clearance gap area | region.

Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of an input device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The input device 100 is configured by an information terminal such as a smartphone or a tablet terminal, and includes a control unit 1 and a touch screen 2. The touch screen 2 includes an operation input unit 21 that inputs operation information by a touch operation, and a display unit 22 that displays characters, images, and the like according to display control by the control unit 1.

  The control unit 1 includes an operation position detection unit 11, an adjacent region generation unit 12, a gap region generation unit 13, and a selection processing unit 14. The operation position detection unit 11 detects the operation position on the screen of the touch screen 2 from the operation information input by the operation input unit 21. The adjacent region generation unit 12 generates a central region having the operation position as a central position and a plurality of adjacent regions in the adjacent region adjacent to the central region. The gap area generation unit 13 creates gap areas whose width decreases as the distance from the central area increases between the plurality of adjacent areas. The selection processing unit 14 invalidates the selection when the operation position on the screen moves from the center area to the gap area, and validates the selection when the operation position on the screen moves from the center area to the adjacent area. And

  In the present embodiment, based on the characteristic that the moving direction of the target cursor and the actual moving direction of the cursor are closer to the center area, for example, as shown in FIG. Create a pie-shaped menu.

  In addition, the method of moving the cursor includes a method of moving the cursor indirectly using a mouse, a method of moving the cursor directly with a finger using a touch screen, and a direction in which the finger points using a camera or a distance sensor. There are multiple methods such as a method of moving a cursor (pointing).

Details of the operation of the input device 1 configured as described above will be described according to the following embodiments.
(Example 1)
FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating menu generation processing according to the first embodiment.

[S1; Pie menu start step]
The user transmits an activation command for activating the pie-shaped menu to the input device 100. For example, it is assumed that the activation command is executed at the moment when a finger touches the display screen of the touch screen 2. However, instead of the above-described operation method, other operation methods may be used, such as when a mouse click is pressed, when a finger is turned to the input device 100, and when a certain time has elapsed.

[S2: Step of determining the center position of the pie menu]
The operation position detection unit 11 detects a position touched by a finger on the screen of the touch screen 2. The adjacent region generation unit 12 determines the cursor position at the time of pie-type menu activation detected by the operation position detection unit 11 as the center position of the pie-type menu.

[S3: Step of determining a position where the width of the gap area becomes 0]
The gap area generation unit 13 sets the position where the width of the gap area becomes 0 as a point on each straight line (boundary line) that separates adjacent areas, and sets the position away from the center position by a predetermined distance R. In the second embodiment to be described later, a process for adjusting the distance R is added.

[S4: Step of determining width of gap area in contact with center area]
The width of the gap area in contact with the central area refers to a passing area (arc EF) to an adjacent area in FIG. The gap area generation unit 13 sets the arc connected at the intersection of the straight line of ± Y ° of the straight line angle dividing the adjacent area from the center position of the pie-shaped menu and the center area as the width of the gap area.

[S5: Step for generating a gap region]
The gap area generation unit 13 generates a gap area by drawing a line segment connecting each end of the width of the gap area and a position where the width of the gap area determined in step S3 becomes zero. The selection processing unit 14 invalidates the selection within this gap area so that no command is generated. Further, as an assistance before getting used to the input method, for example, a visually impaired person may be notified of which area has been selected by voice when selecting an adjacent area. On the other hand, since a healthy person can utilize vision, operation assistance can be performed using screen display by the display unit 22. By displaying the pie-shaped menu on the screen of the touch screen, it is possible to obtain an effect of visual feedback for a healthy person.

  By doing so, it is possible to shorten the time for the cursor to reach the adjacent area while retaining the effect of reducing the error due to the gap area. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to realize an input device that can input information quickly and accurately without looking at the screen.

(Example 2)
When the screen size is physically limited like a general smartphone or tablet terminal, it is not preferable that the finger move outside the screen before the finger reaches the adjacent area. Therefore, in the second embodiment, a function is added to the processing method for determining the position where the width of the gap region in step S3 of FIG. The gap area generating unit 13 adjusts the distance R based on the distance from the center position of the pie-shaped menu to the boundary of the screen. Specifically, for example, the point where the straight line dividing the adjacent area from the center position of the pie-shaped menu and the boundary of the screen come into contact is the point where the width of the gap area becomes zero.

  FIG. 5 shows an example in which the center area of the pie-shaped menu is on the right side of the screen. The position where the width of the gap area between the adjacent area P0 and the adjacent area P1 and between the adjacent area P0 and the adjacent area P7 becomes 0 is the position of the boundary portion of the screen.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, the adjacent area can be expanded within the limitation of the screen size, and the selectable ratio can be increased.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Further, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, you may combine suitably the component covering different embodiment.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Input device, 1 ... Control part, 2 ... Touch screen, 11 ... Operation position detection part, 12 ... Adjacent area generation part, 13 ... Gap area generation part, 14 ... Selection processing part, 21 ... Operation input part, 22 ... Display section.

Claims (7)

An operation position detecting means for detecting an operation position on the screen;
An adjacent region generating means for generating a central region centered on the operation position and a plurality of adjacent regions adjacent to the central region;
A gap area generating unit that creates a gap area that becomes narrower as the distance from the center area increases between the plurality of adjacent areas, and selection is invalid when the operation position on the screen moves from the center area to the gap area. And an input device comprising selection processing means for validating selection when the operation position on the screen moves from the central area to the adjacent area.   The gap area generating means is a point that is a predetermined distance away from the center position on the boundary line between the adjacent areas, and a position where the width of the gap area becomes 0, and a width of the gap area that is in contact with the center area. The input device according to claim 1, wherein the gap region is generated based on the input.   The input device according to claim 2, wherein the gap area generation unit determines the predetermined distance based on a distance from the center position to a boundary of the screen. An input method executed by the information processing apparatus,
An operation position detecting step for detecting an operation position on the screen;
An adjacent region generating step for generating a central region having the operation position as a central position and a plurality of adjacent regions adjacent to the central region;
A gap area generation step for creating a gap area that becomes narrower as the distance from the center area increases between the plurality of adjacent areas, and selection is invalid when the operation position on the screen moves from the center area to the gap area. And a selection processing step for validating selection when the operation position on the screen moves from the central area to the adjacent area.   The gap area generation step includes a position at a predetermined distance from the center position on a boundary line between the adjacent areas and a position where the width of the gap area becomes 0, and a width of the gap area in contact with the center area. 5. The input method according to claim 4, wherein the gap area is generated on the basis of the input.   6. The input method according to claim 5, wherein the gap area generating step determines the predetermined distance based on a distance from the center position to a boundary of the screen.   The program which makes a computer function as each means which comprises the input device of any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3.

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