JPH0415752A - Input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the operability of an input device at the switch carried out to a page picture including a necessary item by switching the display page pictures in response to the touch position detection signal obtained from a touch panel and outputting a key code corresponding to the item selected at a touch position detected by the touch panel. CONSTITUTION:When an operator touches one of selected selection items displayed on a page picture by a page picture display means A, a touch panel B set on the means A detects the touched selection item. Then a page picture switch means C switches the page pictures in accordance with the touch position, and a key code output means D outputs a key code corresponding to the touched selection item. Thus the operator can perform an input operation as desired only by touching successively the desired selection items on a page picture displayed by the means A.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention provides a system for selecting and specifying necessary items from a large number of pre-stored selection items for various data processing devices, information retrieval devices, etc. The present invention relates to an input device.

[Conventional technology]

For example, as shown in FIG. 8, a page screen output section 51 is connected to a data processing device 40 using a personal computer.
By connecting the input device 50 provided with the page screen output unit 51, selecting and specifying a desired item from a plurality of selection items on the page screen displayed on the page screen output unit 51, and sending search conditions, work instructions, etc. to the data processing device 40. There is a device that allows various types of input to be performed, and by switching and displaying a plurality of page screens each having a different selection item on the page screen output section 51, it is possible to input a wide variety of items.

The page screen may be printed with a large number of selection items for each page on replaceable sheets or roll paper, or may include various page screen data stored on a memory card, etc.
There are some that switch to a display such as a CD and display it.

The page screen output unit 51 is provided with a transparent touch panel, and when you touch with your finger one of the many selection items arranged in the shape of a key on the displayed page screen, the touch panel displays the selected item. The touch position is detected, and a key code corresponding to the item at that position is generated and input to the data processing device 40.

Thereby, processing according to the contents of the input items is executed within the data processing device 40, and the results are displayed on the display screen 41a of the display 41.

Conventionally, the following methods have been used to switch the page screens that can be input on such input devices.

(]) By pressing the previous page key 52 or the next page key 53, the page screens before or after the currently displayed page screen are displayed in order.

(2) By pressing the page view key 54, a list of all selectable page screens is displayed on the page screen output unit 51, and a necessary page screen is specified from the list.

(3) After pressing the page designation key 55, input the page number using the numerical keys (numeric keypad) 56.

(4) Receive a page number designation from the data processing device 40.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, with such conventional input devices, page screens are usually switched using physical keys provided at a location different from the page screen output section, so page numbers and item types existing on that page are not displayed. Much of it relied on the memory of the person performing the input operations, and intuition and familiarity were a major factor.

Therefore, the user tends to change pages many times before finding the page containing the item to be input, which is a problem in terms of time and operation.

Furthermore, if the page designation is performed from the data processing device, there is a problem in that any change in page operation will affect the page designation on the data processing device side.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to improve the operability of an input device when displaying a page screen on which required selection items are present, and to increase input efficiency.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a page screen display means A capable of selectively displaying a page screen that displays a plurality of selection items on one screen, as shown in the functional block diagram of FIG. , a touch panel B that is arranged to overlap the display position of the page screen and detects the touch position of the selected item in the displayed page screen, and a page screen display means A that displays the page screen in response to a touch position detection signal from the touch panel B. The present invention provides an input device including a page screen switching means C for switching page screens, and a key code output means for outputting a key code corresponding to a selection item of a touch position detected by a touch panel B.

[For production]

In the input device according to the present invention, when an operator touches any of the selection items on the nine-page screen displayed by a page screen display means A, a touch panel B disposed overlapping the page screen display means A displays the selection item. The page screen switching means C switches the page screen according to the touched position, and the key code output means outputs the key code corresponding to the selected item touched, so the operator can use the page screen display means A to Desired input can be made simply by sequentially touching desired selection items on the displayed page screen.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings starting from FIG.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of an input device that is an embodiment of the present invention.

This input device 1 has a page screen display section 2 using an LCD display for displaying a plurality of page screens having a large number of selection items and a transparent touch panel stacked on the top surface, and a page screen display section 2 on the side surface. A card insertion slot 4 into which a memory card 3 containing all page screen information to be displayed is inserted, a power cord 5, this input device 1 and an eighth
An interface cable 6 is provided for connecting the data processing device 40 shown in the figure to a similar data processing device (not shown).

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the input device 1 of FIG. 2. As shown in FIG.

This input device 1 includes a touch panel 7 as a key input unit.
, a key management section 8, a key code output section 9, a memory card 3 as a page screen storage section, and a page screen reading section 10.
．． It consists of a page screen management section 11.degree. and a page screen display section 2 shown in FIG. 2, and the functions indicated by the broken line are realized by a microcomputer.

The touch panel 7 has a large number of touch keys formed in a matrix, and is scanned by the key management section 8.
The position of the touched selection item is detected and the detection signal is sent to the key management section 8.

The key management unit 8 sends the key number corresponding to the touch position detection signal from the touch panel 7 to the page screen management unit 11, and sends the item information sent from the page screen management unit 11 to the key code output unit 9 according to the key number. .

The key code output section 9 outputs a key code corresponding to the selected item input based on the item information sent from the key management section 8.

The page screen reading unit 10 reads page screen information instructed by the page screen management unit 11 from the memory card 3 and sends it to the page screen management unit 11.

Based on the key number sent from the key management unit 8, the page screen management unit 11 sends an instruction to the page screen reading unit 10 to read the page screen and key information corresponding to the selected item from the read page screen information to the key management unit 8, Based on the read page screen information, the page screen is displayed on a page screen display section 2 using an LCD display.

Next, with reference to FIG. 4, a format for storing each page screen information in the memory card 3 of FIGS. 2 and 3 will be explained.

Reference numeral 14 denotes an area for storing page screen information of the ROM in the memory card 3, and sequentially stores page screen information from the first page to the Nth page to be displayed on the page screen display section 2.

The page screen information is key information for all selection items on the page screen. For example, the page screen information area 15 of the Mth page contains the storage start position and end position of the Mth page screen information in the area 14. Store each key information between each data shown (only one key information is shown in the figure)
.

Then, in the area 16 for storing each key information, key start data indicating the key information storage start position, key start data indicating the key information storage start position,
Stores the number of displayed characters, key position data, single key type data, page screen number, and displayed characters.

In addition, when using a sheet roll etc. as the page screen display unit that does not require character data for page screen output, the key start data and the number of characters to be displayed.

and display characters are unnecessary.

Next, the processing related to page screen switching and item input, and the operating procedure at that time will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

When the input device 1 is activated, in step 1 it reads out the screen information of the first page from the memory card 3 as an initial page screen and displays (outputs) it on the page screen display section 2, and then proceeds to step 2, where the operator reads the screen information from the touch panel 7. It will be a long wait.

If there is a key input on the touch panel 7, the process proceeds to step 3, the input key position is checked, and the process proceeds to step 4.

In step 4, it is determined whether the key power is valid or not. If it is valid, proceed to step 5, but if not, proceed to step 10, perform error processing (for example, output a buzzer sound, etc.), and then proceed to step 2. Return to

In step 5, it is determined whether the input key is a page key for switching page screens, and if it is an item key other than a page key, the process proceeds to step 9 and sends the key code corresponding to the item key to the data processing section. Return to step 2.

If it is a page key in step 5, proceed to step 6, check the input page screen number, proceed to step 7, determine whether or not there are both sides of the page with that page screen number, and if there is, proceed to step 8. If there is no error, the process proceeds to step 10, executes error processing, and returns to step 2.

Then, in step 8, the page screen information corresponding to the input page key number is read from the memory card 3, switched to the currently displayed page screen, and the process returns to step 2, waiting for the next key input. .

Next, with reference to FIG. 6, a display example and an operation method when switching page screens by the process of the flowchart in FIG. 5 will be explained.

Pl is the page screen of the first page, page screen display section 2
This is the initial page screen displayed.

On the screen Pl, a page key group 20 whose selection item is a page screen and other selection item key groups 21 are displayed. For example, if you touch the key 21a of item A with your finger, the corresponding key code is input. will be done.

Here, if the operator touches, for example, the 53rd page key 20a in the page key group 20 with a finger, a 53rd page page screen P53 is displayed instead of the initial page screen P1.

Then, the selection item key group 22 in this page screen P53
If you touch the item key 22a in , the key code is input,
When b is touched, the page screen P1 of the first page is displayed again.

Next, an example in which the input device according to the present invention is applied to a book inventory management system in a bookstore will be explained with reference to FIG.

This book inventory management system is a system that, when a publisher name and book category are input into a data processing device, outputs information such as the number of books in stock by the publisher.

P1~Pm are page screens for publisher selection, Q1~
Q3 is Pit P2. Page screen for entering the book category by the publisher selected in Pm, R1-R
n is a page screen for selecting a relatively infrequently used publisher name other than the publishers displayed in P1 to Pm.

Each of the page screens P1 to Pm displays a plurality of different publisher selection keys (only one is shown in the figure). Press the “Company” key 25 on the page screen Pm.
If you touch the "Company A" key 26, the key codes for the respective publishers "Company C, J, 8" and "Company A" are output, and a page screen Q3. Q2. Switch to Ql.

Page screens Q1 to Q3 are from the respective publishers “Company A J”.
Multiple keys are displayed for inputting each field of the book "R13 Company J r□ Company" (only one key is shown in the figure). Then, the key codes for publisher A's field a, publisher B's field A, and publisher C's field C are output.

Page screens R1 to Rn each display selection keys for a plurality of publishers that are used infrequently.

For example, FX company J key 30 on page screen R1. When you touch the "Company Y" key 31 on the page screen R2 and the "Company 2" key 32 on the page screen Rn, the key codes of each publisher are output, and books from companies X, Y, and Z (not shown) are output. The screen switches to a page where you can enter the field.

Further, the "Others" key 33 on the page screens P1 to Pm is a key for instructing switching to the page screen R1 for selecting other publishers, and the "All fields" key 34 on the page screens Q1 to Q3 is the publisher of the page. Keys for inputting all fields, page screens P2 to Pm.

The "end" key 35 for Q 1 to Q 3 and R1 to Rn is a key for ending input of items and switching to the initial page screen P1, and the "primary" key 36 for page screens P1 to Pm and R1 to Rn is a key for ending input of items and switching to the initial page screen P1. This is an instruction key for switching to the page (for example, when touching the "Next" key 36 on the page screen P1, the screen switches to the page screen P2).

Therefore, when the operator inputs items to output inventory information about the book category of publisher B, for example, first touch the "Primary" key 36 on the initial page screen P1 to display the page screen P2. When the user touches the "8 companies" key 25 on the page screen P2, the page screen Q2 is displayed.

Then, if you touch the "field b" key 28 on the page screen Q2, the key codes of "publisher B" and "book field b" are input into the data processing device, and the data processing device searches the inventory status. and display the results on a display device.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the input device according to the present invention is
Switching between multiple page screens with various selection items can be done simply by touching one of the items on each page screen, so it is easy to use when switching to the page screen with the desired item, and it is easy to select items. You can input efficiently.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the basic configuration of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an external perspective view of an input device that is an embodiment of the invention, and Fig. 3 shows the configuration of the input device shown in Fig. 2. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the format for storing page screen information in a memory card. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the process and operation procedure for switching page screens and inputting items. FIG. 6 is a page diagram. An explanatory diagram showing an example of a display when switching screens, Fig. 7 is an explanatory diagram of each page screen when the present invention is applied to a book inventory management system of a bookstore, and Fig. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional input device and data processing device. It is an external perspective view showing an example. 1. Input bag M 2...Page screen display section 3.
Memory card 4・Card insertion slot 5・Power cord 6... 7... 8・ 1゜Interface cable touch panel (key human power section) Key management section 9...Key code output section...Page screen reading section...Page screen Management Department Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 5z Figure 4 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A page screen display means capable of selectively displaying a plurality of page screens that display a plurality of selection items on one screen, and a displayed page that is placed overlapping the display position of the page screen. a touch panel for detecting a touch position of a selection item on a screen; a page screen switching means for switching a page screen to be displayed by the page screen display means in response to a touch position detection signal from the touch panel; An input device comprising: key code output means for outputting a key code corresponding to a selected item at a touched position.