JPH01118918A - Interface for touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize the connection of an interface to a device having a keyboard connector by using a conversion means which converts the X and Y direction data received from a coordinate deciding part having a constitution corresponding to the contact coordinate value into the key codes and a parallel/ serial conversion means which can be connected to the keyboard connector. CONSTITUTION:A key code conversion means 21d converts the X and Y direction data received from a coordinate deciding part 21c having a constitution corresponding to the contact coordinate value into the key codes. While a parallel/serial conversion means 24 can be connected to a keyboard connector. In such a constitution, a matrix type touch panel can be connected to all types of devices having the keyboard connectors with an extremely simple operation where the key codes are previously allocated to the codes corresponding to each key.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a touch panel interface that allows connection to a model having a keyboard connector.

(Prior Art) Various reports have been made regarding interface circuits related to keyboard communication, and there are a wide variety of them, but none related to interfaces with models having a touch panel and a keyboard connector have been found.

Normally, for example, a computer is used with the keyboard attached, and when connecting an external input such as a touch panel, a serial board or parallel board is used. However, there are many inputs and outputs, and both serial and parallel outputs are already used, and if there is no other input board, it is not possible to connect external inputs such as a touch panel, but when using a computer etc. for a specific purpose, the keyboard There is no need to attach a keyboard, and there is one input board for this keyboard, which can be used. However, even in such a case, it has not been possible to directly apply a touch panel to these models because there has been no interface between the touch panel and the models having a keyboard connector.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention is a novel touch panel interface that solves these conventional problems, and its feature is that in the matrix type touch panel interface, the touch coordinate value and the correspondence The present invention is comprised of a converting means for converting data in the X direction and the X direction from the coordinate determining section into a key code, and a parallel/serial converting means having a structure capable of being connected to a keyboard connector.

(Example) The configuration of the present invention will be described below while explaining preferred embodiments 1 and 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows a preferred example of a block diagram showing an interface according to the present invention, and a matrix type touch panel 100 used here has an insulating substrate 1.1' as an insulating substrate 1.1'.
Although a transparent polyethylene terephthalate film is used, the present invention is not limited to this, and examples include appropriate flexible or elastic insulating plates, glass, plastic sheets, etc., and transparent or opaque materials may also be used as appropriate. Electrode 2
．． As for 2', indium tin oxide was formed as a conductive layer on the insulating sheet 1 and 1' in a rectangular shape using a sputtering method, but other transparent or opaque conductive metals, metal oxides, etc. sputtering method or vapor deposition,
It may be formed by an ion blating method, etc., and there are no particular restrictions on the material constituting the electrode, the shape of the electrode, the method of forming the electrode, etc., and there is no particular restriction on the surface resistance of the electrode 2.2'. Although optional, a surface resistance of 5 to 800 Ω/mouth can be exemplified by way of example.

In addition, there is a gap between the two electrodes, and this gap refers to the distance between the two electrodes, and the distance is not particularly limited as long as insulation is maintained. Generally, a spacer is used. A method of forming a gap with or without the spacer 3 is performed.
An example of this is one in which dot-shaped insulating resin is used to form a predetermined gap between conductive layers, and such a spacer is at least wide enough to prevent contact between the two under normal conditions and to maintain insulation properties. Normally, this gap may be about 20 to 50 g, but
There is no particular limitation, and in addition to dot-shaped spacers, line-shaped or grid-shaped spacers can be used, and there is no particular limitation.

In this example, the number of electrodes 2 and 2' is 8 each.

Reference numeral 21 denotes a microcomputer, which includes a scanning signal generator for outputting a 4-bit scanning signal for sequentially applying a constant voltage to each of the electrodes 2 (2-1 to 2-8) in this example. part 21a, and an electrode detection part 21b for detecting an electrode whose potential has exceeded a predetermined value at the other electrode 2'(2'-1 to 2''-8), and further includes an electrode detection section 21b which detects an electrode whose potential has exceeded a predetermined value. It is equipped with an electrode detection section 21b for detecting the electrode, and further includes an electrode 2' whose potential has reached a predetermined value or more, and an electrode related to the signal output from the scanning signal generation section 21a at this time, that is, a constant voltage is applied. From electrode 2, which was
It also includes a coordinate determining section 21c that determines the coordinates of the contact position.

Here, the coordinate determining section 21c has a configuration corresponding to the contact coordinate value as described above, and the data of the contact coordinate value is output as the X direction and X direction data signals from the coordinate determining section. be.

Further, 22 is the 4 output signal outputted from the scanning signal generator 21a.
23 is a decoding circuit that converts a bit scanning signal into a signal for selecting an electrode 2 in accordance with the signal; 23 is a decoding circuit that converts a bit scanning signal into a signal for selecting an electrode 2; This is a switching circuit that applies a constant voltage. At this time, the other electrodes 2'(2'-1 to 2'-8), which do not require the use of a decoding circuit, are input to the electrode detection section 21b via the NOT circuit NOT. 24 is a conversion circuit that converts the key signal from the key code conversion unit that is determined by the coordinate determination unit 21c and output in parallel into a serial signal, and the transfer rate is 1200.2400 in this example by switching a switch. ．．
Five types can be selected: 4800, 9800, and 19200 bps.

Next, detection of contact coordinate values in the above device will be explained according to the flowchart of FIG. 2. First, in step S1
The value of is initialized to 1. After that, the scanning signal generator 2
According to the signal output from the electrode 1a, the electrodes 2-1 to 2-8 are sequentially connected to a voltage of, for example, 5V at a predetermined timing.
A DC voltage of
In this state, the other electrode 2'(2''-1 to 2'
-8) The electrode detection unit 21b determines whether any of the voltages has exceeded a predetermined voltage value. The judgment here is
The determination may be made using programmed software or a logic circuit, and there is no particular restriction.0 There is no electrical contact between the electrodes 2, 2', and the electrode 2' When a voltage equal to or higher than a predetermined value is not applied, the value of n is updated by 1 in step S4,
Then, in step S5, it is determined whether the value of n has become 9. In this case, since it is less than 9, the process proceeds to step S2, and then a voltage is applied to the electrode 2-2 in the same manner as described above.

Now, if the area A shown in the figure is pressed while electrode 2-8 is being scanned, and electrical contact occurs between electrode 2-8 and electrode 2'-8, then the voltage applied to electrode 2-8 is The voltage is led to the electrode 2'-8, and the input voltage to the input terminal QB of the electrode detection section 21b becomes equal to or higher than the predetermined voltage value, so step S
3, the process proceeds to step S6, and the coordinate determination unit 21c determines the position of A as the contact coordinate value from the electrode 2'-8 and the electrode 2-8 which was applying voltage to the other electrode 2 at this time. Determined, and corresponding to the pressed contact coordinate value,
A key signal is output from the key code converter 21d. Such key signals are pre-assigned to codes corresponding to each key of a model with a keyboard connector,
If the model is different or the code corresponding to each key is different, the code assigned in advance must be modified to the code corresponding to the corresponding model or each key.Of course, even if the model is the same, the code corresponding to each key may be different. If it is different, it cannot be applied as is, and the above-mentioned modification is required.

In step S7, the key signal, which is parallel data representing the contact coordinate value, is converted into a serial signal by the Valeryl/serial conversion circuit 24.

The serial signal output in this way is output to a model that has a keyboard connector.

Since the value of n becomes 9 in the next step S5, the process returns to step S1 and scanning starts again from the electrode 2-1. In this case, the model with a keyboard connector can be, for example, a personal computer, a normal computer, etc., and there is no particular restriction.The key point is that it has a configuration that outputs key signals so that it is compatible with a specific model. Bye.

Next, a specific example of the output of the key signal from the key code conversion section 21ci will be described.

When a specific coordinate is pressed on the touch panel, pressed (MAKE) and released (BREAK) signals are output. Here, when a certain specific coordinate is pressed, a signal as shown in FIG. 3(A) is output, and the most significant bit 1.0 is a signal representing whether the button is pressed or released.

In the method implemented this time, when a certain specific coordinate is pressed, the above signal is sent out, and if the button continues to be pressed, the above signal is sent continuously.
Figures (B) and (C) show that in this case, Figure 3 (B) is ONL,
(c) is the case where the switch is turned on continuously. That is, when a specific coordinate is pressed, it is pressed (MAKE), II
The BREAK signal is output, and if you continue to press it even after a short pause, the MAKE, B
It outputs a REAK signal, and when you leave it, the output stops. The interface in this example, which is supplied with control signals such as reset signals, ready signals, and power lines from the main body of a personal computer (for example, NECPC9801), checks the ready signal and outputs a key signal to the main body. The output mode is 1 for the computer model applicable in this example.
It is 9.2 KBPS (pit/second), 8 bits with odd parity.

The above is a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and the present invention may take any other embodiments. That is, for example, contrary to the above embodiment, the vertical direction (Y-axis direction)
The potential of the electrode 2 in the left-right direction (X-axis direction) may be measured by scanning the electrode 2', or the scale may be increased by increasing the number of electrodes as appropriate. If you create an interface for a wooden touch panel with 8 x 8 electrodes in the X and Y directions,
The number of electrodes is 8 x 7.8 x 6, ... 7 x 7.7, respectively.
It is also possible to use a touch panel of a size such as ×6...2X2.2X1 or IXI.

Next, the one shown in FIG. 4 is not a scanning type touch panel, but data corresponding to the touch coordinate value is directly detected as values in the X direction and Y direction by the X coordinate detection circuit 11 and the Y coordinate detection circuit 12, and the coordinates are determined. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an interface in a matrix type touch panel of the type in which X, Y coordinate data signals are generated by a unit 13;

The signal from this coordinate determining section 13 is transmitted to a key code converting section 14.
This becomes a key signal, and the following is the same as in the previous example, so the explanation will be omitted. That is, the present invention can be applied to such a type of matrix touch panel, and is not particularly limited.

(Effects of the Invention) The present invention is as described above. 1. By using the interface of the present invention, any model having a matrix type touch panel and a keyboard connector can be connected in advance by changing the key code to a code corresponding to each key of each of the above-mentioned models. It is possible to connect with an extremely simple operation of just assigning it, and its effects are exceptional, and its scope of application is also extremely wide. For example, when using a computer for a specific purpose such as a dedicated machine. In this case, the keyboard can be omitted and the keyboard connector can be used effectively, and in such a case, the general input/output board can also be effectively used for other purposes, which has excellent effects such as expanding the range of use. .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of an embodiment according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart thereof, and FIG. 3 is an output of a key signal from a key code converter according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the system, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of another embodiment. 100... Matrix type touch panel 2 IC
113... Coordinate determination section

Claims (1)

[Claims] An interface for a matrix-type touch panel, comprising a conversion means for converting data in the X direction and Y direction from a coordinate determination section having a configuration corresponding to a touch coordinate value into a key code, and a keyboard connector. 1. A touch panel interface, comprising: parallel/serial conversion means having a configuration that allows connection.