JP5819114B2 - Portable electronic devices - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a portable electronic device that can accept input by contact.

  As a conventional portable electronic device, for example, a touch panel capable of detecting the touch position and the pressing force is provided on the upper surface of the liquid crystal monitor, and different instructions are given to the camera operation system depending on the touch position on the touch panel and the strength of the pressing. A digital camera has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In recent years, various types of mobile phones and smartphones have been proposed in which almost the entire surface of one side of the device body has a display screen and a touch panel.

JP-A-11-355617

  By the way, in the case of input by a touch panel, an instruction can be given according to the strength of pressing by contact. In this case, for example, if the input is not accepted unless a certain pressure or more is applied, it is possible to prevent a malfunction that the input is accepted simply by touching it by mistake. However, on the other hand, the user needs to apply a certain pressure or more to the touch panel for each input. For this reason, when pressing is performed, it is necessary to securely hold the device so that the portable electronic device does not fall from the hand due to pressing, as compared with a simple touch operation.

  However, the portable electronic device usually has a size that protrudes from the gripping hand in the gripping state by the user. Therefore, in a portable electronic device having a display screen and a touch panel over almost the entire surface of the device body, there is no problem when the area corresponding to the place where the user is holding, but the user does not hold it. When an area corresponding to a place is pressed, the device may move due to the pressing. As a result, there is a possibility that the pressure is not applied properly, the input is not accepted, or the device is dropped.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention made in view of such a point is to provide a portable electronic device that can reliably perform an input operation by pressing and can also effectively prevent a device from dropping during the input operation. .

Invention of the portable electronic device which concerns on the 1st viewpoint which achieves the said objective,
A display unit for displaying a plurality of objects;
A contact detection unit for detecting contact at a position corresponding to the object displayed on the display unit;
A load detection unit for detecting a pressing load due to contact with the contact detection unit;
When the contact at the position corresponding to the object displayed on the display unit is detected by the contact detection unit and the pressing load detected by the load detection unit satisfies a load criterion for receiving an input, a process associated with the object And a control unit for executing
When the process associated with one object among the plurality of objects is performed a predetermined number of times, the control unit receives a load reference for receiving an input from another object different from the one object. according to the distance from, be controlled to be lower than gradually load standard for accepting input of the one object, it is characterized in.

Furthermore, the invention of the portable electronic device according to the second aspect of achieving the above object is as follows:
A portable electronic device that accepts input by contact,
A display unit for displaying a plurality of object groups including one or a plurality of objects;
A contact detection unit for detecting contact at a position corresponding to an object belonging to the object group displayed on the display unit;
A load detection unit for detecting a pressing load due to contact with the contact detection unit;
When contact at a position corresponding to an object belonging to the object group displayed on the display unit is detected by the contact detection unit and the pressing load detected by the load detection unit satisfies a load criterion for receiving an input, A control unit that executes the associated processing,
When the process associated with an object belonging to one object group among the plurality of object groups is performed a predetermined number of times, the control unit assigns another object group different from the one object group to which the object belongs. The load reference for receiving the input of the object to which the object belongs is controlled to be gradually lower than the load reference for receiving the input of the one object according to the distance from the one object group. .

  According to the portable electronic device of the present invention, it is possible to reliably perform an input operation by pressing, and to effectively prevent the device from dropping during the input operation.

It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of the principal part of the portable electronic device which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a top view of an example of the portable electronic device of FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining an operation example of the portable electronic device of FIG. 1.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the embodiment exemplified below, the load reference is described as a load threshold.

  FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a portable electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention. A portable electronic device 1 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes a control unit 10, a contact detection unit 11, a load detection unit 12, a display unit 13, and a storage unit 14.

  The contact detection unit 11 includes, for example, a touch panel arranged on the display surface of the display unit 13, and detects contact at a position corresponding to the object displayed on the display unit 13. Information on the contact position detected by the contact detection unit 11 is output to the control unit 10. As the touch panel, a known type such as a resistive film type, a capacitance type, and an optical type can be used.

  The load detection unit 12 detects a pressing load when the contact detection unit 11 is pressed, and outputs the detected pressing load to the control unit 10. The load detection unit 12 may be configured by a known pressure detection element or load detection element, and is configured by, for example, a piezoelectric element.

  The display unit 13 displays a plurality of objects according to an application to be executed and displays a character in accordance with an input operation.

  The storage unit 14 uses a memory necessary for the operation of the portable electronic device 1 as a single storage unit for convenience, such as a memory for storing a load threshold for setting a load reference, a working memory of the control unit 10, and a program storage memory. It is displayed. The storage unit 14 stores a load threshold set for an object or object group displayed on the display unit 13.

  The control unit 10 controls the overall operation of the mobile electronic device 1. And the control part 10 performs a process based on the input information from the contact detection part 11, and the press load input from the load detection part 12, and displays the result on the display part 13. FIG.

  FIG. 2 is a plan view of an example of the portable electronic device 1 incorporating the functional block shown in FIG. The portable electronic device 1 has a rectangular outer shape on the surface, and almost the entire area excluding the outer frame portion 1a on the surface is the screen 13a of the display unit 13 in FIG. And the transparent contact detection part 11 which consists of a touchscreen is arrange | positioned on the screen 13a.

  In such a portable electronic device 1, for example, when a character input application such as a memo pad or a mail input screen is activated, a plurality of objects are displayed on the screen 13a, for example, as shown in FIG. The In FIG. 2, a numeric keypad object group G1 that accepts character input is displayed in the lower half display area of the screen 13a, and a move key and enter key object group G2 is displayed in the upper 1/4 display area from the center of the screen 13a. An example is shown in which an object group G3 such as a re-conversion key and a menu key is displayed in the display area from the top to the bottom of the screen 13a. Note that the object group G1 in the lower half of the screen 13a may include a QWERTY key or the like instead of the numeric keypad.

  That is, in the character input application, when the numeric keypad object group G1 that is frequently operated during character input is displayed in the upper display area of the screen 13a, the screen 13a is hidden by the user's own hand during character input. This makes it difficult to input characters. Therefore, the object group G1 with high operation frequency is displayed in the lower display area of the screen 13a, and the object group G2 of the movement key and the decision key with lower operation frequency than the object group G1 is located above the center of the screen 13a. An object group G3 such as a reconversion key or a menu key displayed in the 1/4 display area and having a lower operation frequency than the object group G2 is displayed in the 1/4 display area from the top to the bottom of the screen 13a. . Then, the character input result is displayed in the display area between the object group G2 and the object group G3.

  In this case, the user generally holds the portable electronic device 1 so that the holding center is located in the lower half of the portable electronic device 1 on which the object group G1 with high operation frequency is displayed. Therefore, there is no particular problem when the user presses the object group G1 corresponding to the part gripped by the user, but when the user presses the object group G2 or G3 corresponding to the part not gripped by the user, The portable electronic device 1 may move. As a result, if the load threshold value for accepting a pressing input by contact is set to be constant for all object groups, the portable electronic device 1 becomes unstable and the pressure is not applied appropriately, and the input cannot be accepted, There is a possibility that the device 1 may be dropped.

  As a countermeasure, in the portable electronic device 1 according to the present embodiment, when there are a plurality of object groups in an application to be executed, the object is associated with an object belonging to one object group based on the operation frequency of the object. The load threshold of the object group is set based on the number of executions of the process. Therefore, a plurality of load thresholds that can be set in the device 1 are stored in the storage unit 14 of FIG. Here, for convenience of explanation, it is assumed that three load threshold values, ie, a load threshold value A, a load threshold value B, and a load threshold value C (A> B> C) are stored. Here, the load threshold A is a reference load threshold set in advance for all objects displayed on the screen 13a.

  Then, based on the operation frequency of the object, the control unit 10 keeps the load threshold for the object belonging to the object group with the high operation frequency as the reference load threshold A, and sets the load threshold for the object belonging to the other object group to the load threshold B. Alternatively, the setting is changed to the load threshold C. Hereinafter, the operation of the portable electronic device 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of the present embodiment. First, the control unit 10 activates, for example, a character input application based on a user operation (step S101). Then, the control unit 10 contacts the position corresponding to the object displayed on the display unit 13 while maintaining the load threshold value for the objects belonging to all object groups displayed on the display unit 13 at the reference load threshold value A. When the pressure load detected by the load detector 11 satisfies the load threshold A, the process associated with the object is executed.

  Moreover, if the control part 10 performs the process linked | related with the object for every object group, the execution frequency will be counted (step S102). When an object group whose number of executions first reaches a predetermined value is detected (step S103), the load threshold value for an object belonging to an object group other than the object group is set to a value smaller than the reference load threshold value A for each object group. Setting is made (step S104). Note that the predetermined value of the number of execution times of processing in the object group is set to an arbitrary value of 2 or more according to the application.

  Here, the load threshold is, for example, when the object groups G1, G2, and G3 as shown in FIG. 2 are displayed on the display unit 13, and when the number of executions in the object group G1 first reaches a predetermined value. In this case, the load threshold value for the objects belonging to the object group G1 remains the reference load threshold value A. For the object groups G2 and G3, the load threshold value for the objects belonging to the object group G2 that is relatively close to the object group G1 is changed to the load threshold value B so that the load threshold value decreases as the distance from the object group G1 increases. . Further, the load threshold value for the object belonging to the object group G3 farthest from the object group G1 is changed to a load threshold value C smaller than the load threshold value B.

  In FIG. 2, when the number of executions in the object group G2 first reaches a predetermined value, the load threshold for objects belonging to the object group G2 remains the reference load threshold A and is relatively close to the object group G2. The load threshold value for the objects belonging to the object group G1 is changed to the load threshold value B. Further, the load threshold value for the object belonging to the object group G3 farthest from the object group G2 is changed to the load threshold value C.

  Thereafter, the control unit 10 detects, for each object group, contact at a position corresponding to an object belonging to the object group, and the pressing load detected by the load detection unit 11 satisfies a load threshold value corresponding to the object group. The process associated with the object is executed. When the control unit 10 detects that the character input application has been terminated in step S105, the control unit 10 sets the entire load threshold on the screen 13a to the reference load threshold A (step S106), and the character input application. Exit.

  Thus, according to the present embodiment, when the number of executions of processing associated with objects belonging to the same object group out of the object group displayed on the display unit 13 exceeds a predetermined value, that is, the operation frequency is high. When the object group is detected, the load threshold for objects belonging to the object group other than the object group is set to a value smaller than the initial reference load threshold A. Here, as described above, the mobile electronic device 1 generally tends to be gripped by a user in a portion corresponding to an object group to which an object with a high operation frequency belongs.

  Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the object group corresponding to the gripped portion by the user is automatically detected by detecting the object group having a high operation frequency. Then, the load threshold value for an object belonging to an object group other than the object group is set smaller than the reference load threshold value A for an object belonging to the object group corresponding to the gripped portion. Thereby, while being able to perform input operation by press reliably, the fall of the portable electronic device 1 in the case of input operation is prevented effectively. In addition, in the present embodiment, the load threshold for objects belonging to the object group other than the object group with high operation frequency is set small according to the distance from the object group with high operation frequency, so that the effect is more remarkable. Become.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, Many deformation | transformation or a change is possible. For example, in the above embodiment, when the object group G1 is detected as an object group with a high operation frequency, the load threshold values of all objects belonging to the other object groups G2 and G3 are set regardless of the distance from the object group G1. Alternatively, a predetermined load threshold smaller than the reference load threshold A, for example, a load threshold B may be set uniformly. Further, the load threshold value of an object belonging to another object group other than the object group with high operation frequency is based on the number of executions of processing corresponding to the other object group at the time when the object group with high operation frequency is detected. Thus, a load reference with a smaller difference from the reference load threshold may be set as the number of executions increases. The present invention is not limited to the case where three object groups are displayed, but can be effectively applied to a case where two or more object groups are displayed.

  Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the case where the load threshold is set in units of groups of object groups as in the above embodiment, and the load threshold may be set in units of objects. In this case, as described above, the load threshold for other objects may be set to a small value according to the distance from the object with high operation frequency, with respect to the load threshold for the object with high operation frequency. You may set uniformly to the predetermined | prescribed load threshold value smaller than the load threshold value with respect to the object with high operation frequency.

  In addition, the display unit 13 and the contact detection unit 11 in the description of the above embodiment are integrated by an apparatus that has both functions of the display unit 13 and the touch panel constituting the contact detection unit 11 on a common substrate. It may be configured. As an example of the configuration of the device in which both functions of the display unit and the touch panel are integrated as described above, a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements such as photodiodes are regularly mixed in the pixel electrode group of the matrix arrangement of the liquid crystal panel. Can be mentioned. This device displays an image with a liquid crystal panel structure, while reflecting the light of a backlight for liquid crystal display at the tip of a pen that touches and inputs a desired position on the surface of the panel. The reflected light is reflected by peripheral photoelectric conversion elements. The touch position can be detected by receiving the light.

  In addition, it is not essential for the contact detection unit 11 to physically press the contact detection unit 11 with a pressed object when detecting contact. For example, when the contact detection unit 11 is optical, the contact detection unit 11 detects a position where the infrared light on the contact detection unit 11 is blocked by a pressed object such as a finger or a stylus pen. It is not necessary to press 11.

  Moreover, in this invention, if the press load detected by the load detection part satisfy | fills the load reference | standard for recognizing as an input, the process linked | related with the pressed object on a display part will be performed. Here, satisfying the load standard for the pressure load detected by the load detection unit to be recognized as an input means that the pressure load detected by the load detection unit has reached a predetermined value recognized as an input. It may be when the pressing load detected by the load detector exceeds a predetermined value recognized as an input, or when a predetermined value recognized as an input by the load detector is detected.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Portable electronic device 10 Control part 11 Contact detection part 12 Load detection part 13 Display part 13a Screen 14 Storage part G1, G2, G3 Object group

Claims (2)

A display unit for displaying a plurality of objects;
A contact detection unit for detecting contact at a position corresponding to the object displayed on the display unit;
A load detection unit for detecting a pressing load due to contact with the contact detection unit;
When the contact at the position corresponding to the object displayed on the display unit is detected by the contact detection unit and the pressing load detected by the load detection unit satisfies a load criterion for receiving an input, a process associated with the object And a control unit for executing
When the process associated with one object among the plurality of objects is performed a predetermined number of times, the control unit receives a load reference for receiving an input from another object different from the one object. According to a distance from the mobile electronic device, the mobile electronic device is controlled so as to gradually become lower than a load reference for receiving an input of the one object. A portable electronic device that accepts input by contact,
A display unit for displaying a plurality of object groups including one or a plurality of objects;
A contact detection unit for detecting contact at a position corresponding to an object belonging to the object group displayed on the display unit;
A load detection unit for detecting a pressing load due to contact with the contact detection unit;
When contact at a position corresponding to an object belonging to the object group displayed on the display unit is detected by the contact detection unit and the pressing load detected by the load detection unit satisfies a load criterion for receiving an input, A control unit that executes the associated processing,
When the process associated with an object belonging to one object group among the plurality of object groups is performed a predetermined number of times, the control unit assigns another object group different from the one object group to which the object belongs. A portable electronic device, wherein a load reference for receiving an input of an object belonging to the object is controlled so as to be gradually lower than a load reference for receiving an input of the one object according to a distance from the one object group. .

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