JPH0527904A - Effective range switching system for touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To manage a picture only by a touch panel without requiring any other display recovering function concerning the effective range switching system for the touch panel. CONSTITUTION:This system is equipped with a limit area setting means 15A to set the effective range of touch panel 11 to plural limit areas, full area setting means 15B to set the effective range of the touch panel 11 to one full area, and effective range discriminating means 13 to discriminate the effective range set by the limit area setting means 15A or the full area setting means 15B.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a panel touch effective range switching system. In an input device equipped with a touch panel as a means for guiding an operation procedure, the screen of the display unit is set to disappear naturally after a certain period of time in order to save energy.

A restoring function is required to restore the screen, but it is desirable to manage the screen without providing the restoring function.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 7 shows an example of a conventional input device operated by a touch panel. In FIG. 7A, reference numeral 1 is a touch panel for guiding a procedure of operating the apparatus, and 2 is a display portion thereof. The display unit 2 displays a plurality of rectangular areas 3 to 5 indicating the effective touch range. The rectangular areas 3 to 5 are provided to execute a designated function.

Reference numeral 6 is a keyboard having a plurality of keys 7. An operator inputs data from the keyboard 6. By selecting and touching one of the rectangular areas 3 to 5, the specified function of the rectangular areas 3 to 5 is executed.
When a certain period of time elapses after the input from the touch panel 1 or the keyboard 6 is interrupted, the screen is set to disappear naturally as shown in FIG. 7B in order to save energy.

When the screen disappears, in order to recover the screen, the display recovery function key of the keyboard 6 is pressed to return to the normal input screen as shown in FIG. 7 (A).

[0006]

However, in such a conventional input device, the display unit is set so that the screen disappears naturally after a lapse of a certain time. Had to have another display resurrection feature. On the other hand, in a device that only has a touch panel and does not have another display restoration function, it becomes unclear where the operation display position is when the screen disappears, so it will not play the role as an input device. It could not be erased, and therefore no energy saving measures were taken.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional problems, and does not require a separate display restoration function and can manage the screen only by the touch panel. Is intended to provide.

[0008]

FIG. 1 illustrates the principle of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 11 is a touch panel for guiding the operation procedure of the apparatus, 12 is a display means set so that the screen disappears naturally after a certain time has passed, 1
5A is a limited area setting means for setting the effective range of the touch panel 11 to a plurality of limited areas, 15B is a whole area setting means for setting the effective range of the touch panel 11 to one whole area when the display is off, and 13 is the limited area setting It is an effective range discriminating means for discriminating the effective range set by the means 15A or the whole area setting means 15B.

[0009]

Operation: When the effective range of the touch panel is set to a plurality of limited areas and the touch input to the limited area is discriminated, the function of the specified limited area is executed, and after that, when the display is turned off after a certain period of time, the touch panel is touched. The effective range is set to one entire area, and when the touch input to the entire area is determined, the effective area is switched to the limited area.

Therefore, the screen can be restored only by the touch panel without requiring another display restoration function. That is, the screen can be managed only by the touch panel.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 2 to 6 are views showing an embodiment of the present invention.
In FIG. 2, 11 is an infrared type touch panel as means for guiding the operation procedure of the apparatus, 12 is a plasma display as display means, 13 is a touch panel controller as effective range determination means, and these are touch panel PDP units as a whole. Make up 14.
The touch panel PDP unit 14 is controlled by the main controller 15.

As shown in FIG. 3, the touch panel 11 has a coordinate area 16 of, for example, 192 mm in width and 120 mm in length, detects a touch within this range and transfers it as coordinates. The touch panel 11 includes a plurality of infrared light emitting elements 17 and a plurality of infrared light receiving elements 18 in the vertical and horizontal directions.
Is equipped with. The origin of the coordinates is at the upper left. The plasma display 12 includes a frame memory 19 for storing data and a frame memory 19 as shown in FIG.
Driver 20, Y driver 2 driven by the output of
1 and a plasma display panel 22 that emits light by the X driver 20 and the Y driver 21.

Reference numeral 15 denotes the main control unit, which is the main control unit 15.
Controls the touch panel 11 and the plasma display 12. The main control unit 15 also sets the limited area setting unit 1 that sets the effective range of the touch panel 11 to a plurality of limited areas.
It has the functions of 5A, an entire area setting unit 15B for setting the effective range of the touch panel 11 to one entire area, and a timer 15C for turning off the screen after a certain period of time.

The touch panel controller 13 has a function as an effective range discriminating means for discriminating the effective range set by the limited area setting means 15A or the entire area setting means 15B. Next, the operation will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart explaining the operation.

In FIG. 5, first, the power is turned on in step S1, and the effective area of the touch panel 11 is set to a plurality of restricted areas by the restricted area setting means 15A in step S2. Next, in step S3, the main controller 15 gives an instruction to the plasma display 12 to turn on the display. The screen at this time is shown in FIG. Reference numerals 23 to 25 denote a plurality of rectangular areas (limited areas) for executing the designated function.

Next, in step S4, it is determined whether or not the touch has been made. When the touch is made, the function of the rectangular areas 23 to 25 designated in step S5 is executed, and then step S4.
Return to and repeat each function. Next, in step S6, it is measured by the timer 15C whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since the input from the touch panel 11 was interrupted. When the predetermined time has elapsed, the main control unit 15 instructs the plasma display 12 in step S7. To turn off the display. The screen at this time is shown in FIG.

Next, in step S8, the whole area setting means 15
With B, the effective range of the touch panel 11 is set to one entire area. Then, in step S9, it is determined whether or not the touch is made, and when the touch is made, the process returns to step S2, and the effective range is switched to the plurality of rectangular areas 23 to 25 (see FIG. 6A). In this way, the touch panel 11
By setting the effective range of 1 to all the one area other than the rectangular areas 23 to 25, the screen can be restored without the need for the display restoration function separately. That is, the screen can be managed only by the touch panel 11.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, means for setting the effective range of the touch panel in a plurality of limited areas and means for setting the effective range of the touch panel in one whole area are provided. By switching this, it is possible to manage the screen only with the touch panel without requiring a separate display restoration function.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a touch panel

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a plasma display

FIG. 5 is a flowchart explaining the operation.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of screen switching.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a conventional normal input screen and a screen after a certain time has elapsed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11: Touch panel 12: Plasma display (display means) 13: Touch panel controller (effective range discrimination means) 14: Touch panel PDP unit 15: Main control section 15A: Limited area setting means 15B: All area setting means 15C: Timer 16: Coordinate area 17: Infrared light emitting element 18: Infrared light receiving element 19: Frame memory 20: X driver 21: Y driver 22: Plasma display panel 23-25: Rectangular area (limited area) 26: Keyboard

Claims (1)

Claim: What is claimed is: 1. An input device, comprising a touch panel (11) for guiding an operation procedure of the device, and which is set so that the screen of the display means (12) automatically disappears after a certain period of time. In the above, a limited area setting unit (15A) that sets the effective range of the touch panel (11) to a plurality of limited areas, and an entire area setting unit (15B) that sets the effective range of the touch panel to one entire area when the display is turned off. , The limited area setting means (1
5A) or an effective range discriminating means (13) for discriminating the effective range set by the whole area setting means (15B), and switching the effective range according to the discrimination result.