JPH09282100A - Touch panel device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize the equivalent functions of the left key and the right key of a mouse device without the need of an external device, to execute the two operations of coordinate input and instruction input only by means of a finger or the like, to miniaturized and simplify a touch panel device and to improve operability. SOLUTION: When a piezoelectric sensor 6 arranged on a touch panel part 2 is depressed, a potential difference occurs is a pertinent part. Since the size of the finger is larger compared to the arrangement interval of the piezoelectric sensor 6, voltage is generated in the plural adjacent piezoelectric sensors, and the signal is transmitted to a position arithmetic unit 3 and a pressure distribution judgment unit 4. The position arithmetic unit 3 calculates position information according to from which piezoelectric sensor the signal arrives. The pressure distribution judgment unit 4 compares output voltages from the plural adjacent piezoelectric sensors, and judges whether voltage distribution is normal distribution or deflection distribution of either one side or the other side. There position information and the distribution in formation are transmitted to pseudo mouse control driver software 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pointing device for pointing and inputting an arbitrary point on a screen in an information processing apparatus having a graphical user interface, and more particularly to a touch panel for specifying a position by pushing the screen with a fingertip. The present invention relates to mouse motion emulation using a device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An example of a conventional touch panel system (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-77912) is shown in FIG.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a touch panel control stick,
Reference numeral 12 is a first button constituting the click instruction means, 13 is a second button constituting the click instruction means, 14 is a cable for connecting the contents of each of the first button 12 and the second button 13 of the stick 11 to the system bus, A display device 15 is provided with a touch panel 16 on the front surface of the screen so as to correspond to the coordinate values of the screen in a one-to-one manner. Reference numeral 17 denotes a personal computer main body (information processing device) in which a control unit is housed. 18 is a keyboard.

Another example of a conventional touch panel system (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-77913) is shown in FIG.

Reference numeral 21 denotes an information processing apparatus main body, and inside the main body, a RAM, a ROM, and a CPU for holding various register information.
Etc. are accommodated. Reference numeral 22 denotes a display unit, and the touch panel 23 is configured to be capable of pointing coordinates in one-to-one correspondence with the coordinates of the display unit 22.

A floppy disk unit 24 serves as an external storage device into which an application system disk and a data disk are inserted.

Reference numeral 25 is a keyboard for keying desired information. 26 is an installation stand, 27 is a stepping device,
The pedal 28, the second pedal 29, and the like are provided, and the user depresses in response to an operation of clicking the content instructed by the touch panel 23.

[0008]

A normal touch panel device has only a coordinate pointing interface by pressing one point of a fingertip, and does not have a left button and a right button mounted on a mouse device, and therefore points a coordinate. But you can
I cannot enter a command.

The drawbacks of the two examples of the conventional touch panel system are that, in order to substitute the functions of the left button and the right button of the mouse device, a device other than the touch panel (a dedicated stick equipped with two buttons or two treads). Pedal) is needed. The reason is that the structure of the touch panel itself is left as it is, and an external device is added to replace the left and right buttons.

Therefore, the present invention realizes the equivalent functions of the left button and the right button of the mouse device without using an external device (for example, a dedicated stick equipped with the above two buttons or two foot pedals), and thus a touch panel. The device is downsized and simplified, and the operability is improved by realizing two operations of coordinate input and command input only with a fingertip or the like.

[0011]

The touch panel device according to the present invention is configured so that the output voltage from the piezoelectric sensor (6 in FIG. 1) depends on how the force is applied when the touch panel portion (2 in FIG. 1) is pressed with a fingertip or the like. Fluctuates, the output voltage from the piezoelectric sensor (6 in FIG. 1) varies depending on whether the fingertip is pressed down with a uniform pressure or when the finger is pressed toward one side (or the other side). Since the distribution is biased toward one side (or the other side), this is processed by the pressure distribution determination device (4 in FIG. 1), and it is determined that one button (or the other button) of the mouse has been pressed. .

[0012]

In the present invention, the operation is performed as follows.

The piezoelectric sensors are arranged in a grid pattern on the touch panel portion, and when pressed by a finger or the like, a potential difference (voltage) is generated in proportion to the pressed pressure.

The position calculator calculates and outputs the X and Y position information according to which line of rows and columns on the grid the signal is output.

The pressure distribution determination device determines whether the pressure applied to the fingertip when pressed is uniform (normal distribution) or biased to one side based on the voltage information from each line of the adjacent piezoelectric sensors. The bias tendency is determined, and normal distribution → nothing is pressed (position pointing only), partial left distribution → left button pressed, partial right distribution → right button pressed.

The pseudo mouse control driver software is
An OS / application interface equivalent to the mouse device is emulated based on the outputs from the position calculator and the pressure distribution determiner.

[0017]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, the piezoelectric sensors 6 are arranged vertically and horizontally in a grid pattern so that arbitrary points can be recognized by vertical and horizontal addresses. The touch panel unit 2 is composed of the transparent piezoelectric sensors 6 in a lattice shape, and the output signal line of each piezoelectric sensor 6 is connected to the position calculator 3 and the pressure distribution determiner 4.

Calculation of position calculator 3 and pressure distribution determiner 4
The judgment output is passed to the pseudo mouse control driver software 5.

Now, it is assumed that the touch panel portion 2 installed in the display device 1 is pressed with a fingertip. A potential difference is generated at a pressed portion of the piezoelectric sensor 6 arranged in a grid on the touch panel portion 2. Since the size of the finger is larger than the arrangement interval of the piezoelectric sensors 6, a voltage is generated in the adjacent piezoelectric sensors 6, and the signal is sent to the position calculator 3 and the pressure distribution determiner 4.

The position calculator 3 gives the designated position information X, according to which line the piezoelectric sensor 6 receives the signal from.
Calculate Y. Since signals are actually received from a plurality of adjacent piezoelectric sensors 6, the center position in them is output as X and Y.

The pressure distribution determiner 4 compares the output voltages from a plurality of adjacent piezoelectric sensors 6 to determine which type of voltage distribution pattern shown in FIG. It is considered that the touch panel unit 2 is only touched (only pointing to the position), and if it is deflected to the left, it is considered to be the left button press, and if it is deflected to the right, it is considered to be the right button press. Now, if the fingertip is pressed to the left and the touch panel unit 2 is pressed, it can be regarded as pressing the left button.

The position information X, Y from the position calculator 3 and "nothing pressed" or "left button.
Information regarding whether or not the right button is pressed is sent to the pseudo mouse control driver software 5, and the pseudo mouse control driver software 5 emulates an OS / application interface equivalent to the original mouse control driver software. The touch panel device looks as if it were a mouse device.

[0024]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the button pressing operation can be substituted by detecting the angle (bias of pressure) of the finger or the like when pressing the touch panel portion. Therefore, an external stick or pedal is not required to replace the button function of the mouse device, so that the device can be downsized and simplified.

Further, according to the present invention, the piezoelectric sensor in the touch panel unit can detect both the acquisition of the position information and the substitution of the button pressing due to the difference in the pressing method. Therefore, both the coordinate input and the command input can be performed only by pressing the touch panel unit, so that the operability can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a pressure distribution and a determination result of the touch panel according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an example of a conventional touch panel system.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of another example of a conventional touch panel system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Display Device 2 Touch Panel Section 3 Position Calculator 4 Pressure Distribution Judgment Device 5 Pseudo Mouse Control Driver Software 6 Piezoelectric Sensor

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A piezoelectric sensor for converting pressure when a fingertip or the like is pressed into an electric signal, a touch panel section in which the piezoelectric sensors are arranged in a grid pattern, a display device in which the touch panel section is installed, and the touch panel section. The position calculation unit that calculates the position where the fingertip or the like contacts based on the electric signal of, and the pressure distribution when pressed based on the electric signal from the touch panel unit, and the pressure is applied to one side or the other. A touch panel composed of a pressure distribution judging device for judging whether pressure is applied to the side and a pseudo mouse control driver software for providing an application interface equivalent to a mouse based on the output information from the position calculator and the pressure distribution judging device. apparatus. 2. The touch panel device according to claim 1, wherein when the position calculator receives a signal from a plurality of adjacent piezoelectric sensors, the position calculator outputs the position of the center thereof. 3. The touch panel device according to claim 1, wherein the pressure distribution determination device determines whether the pressure distribution of the piezoelectric sensor is a normal distribution or one side or the other side deflection distribution.