JPH1027530A - Indicated item operation device and portable electric apparatus equipped with it - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To embody in a thin construction without impairing the operability and establish the controllability for the direction, speed, or amount with which the indications of each displayed item are moved. SOLUTION: This operation device concerned includes an operating element 2 in the form of a circular arc, a guide means 3 to bear the operating element rotatably along the circular arc, a resilient piece 5 to give a restitution force against the rotation of the operating element 2, and a pair of switches 6a and 6b working in cooreration with the operating element 2. When the operating element 2 is turned for a certain angle by a thumb, etc., the corresponding switch is actuated, and therefore, the frequency, etc., of on-signals of the switches 6a and 6b upon introducing such an arrangement that the switches 6a and 6b are put in correspondence to the moving directions of the indications of each displayed item, and on the basis of the sensing result, the indication movement of the display item is controlled.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a small portable electronic device such as a portable telephone or a portable information processing device having a display device for displaying a menu or the like on a screen, and in particular, to display of menu items and display items such as a cursor. And a display item operating device for moving the item.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an example of an operation device for scrolling or moving a display item such as a menu item and a cursor, a menu item of a portable telephone described in European Patent Publication (EP 0 463 856 A2) is scrolled. It has been known. According to this, a wheel-shaped or spherical operating body is freely rotatable, and a part of the operating body is provided to be exposed on the surface of the case, and a means for detecting a rotation direction and a rotation speed of the operating body is provided. Formed. Then, by rotating the operation tool with a thumb or the like, the display menu is scrolled according to the detected rotation direction and rotation speed of the operation tool.

As another conventional general technique of such a scroll operation device, there is known a device provided with two button switches corresponding to a scroll direction.

[0004]

According to the conventional wheel-shaped or spherical scroll operation device, the operation direction and operation speed of the operation device change according to the scroll direction and speed.
For the user, there is a sense of interlock between the operation and the movement of the displayed content, and the operability is good and convenient. However, in the case of wheel-shaped and spherical operating bodies, at least the operating bodies having dimensions corresponding to their diameters and devices related to the operating bodies must be stored in a case. However, there is a problem that thinning is limited.

On the other hand, if the wheel-shaped or spherical operating device is reduced in size in order to reduce the size and thickness, there is a problem that the operation becomes difficult.

[0006] Further, according to the one using the button switch, the sense of interlocking between the button operation and the change of the display content is poor, so that it is necessary to perform external processing such as a graphic indicating the moving direction of the button. It was inferior in that it was difficult to recognize the operation as compared with a spherical operation body.

A first object of the present invention is to realize a display item which can be thinned without impairing the operability and which is suitable for controlling the direction, speed or amount of movement of the display of the display item. An object of the present invention is to provide an operation device and a portable device having the same.

A second object of the present invention is to provide, in addition to the first object, a display item operating device capable of selecting and determining a display item, and a portable device having the same.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the first object of the present invention, a feature of the present invention is to replace a wheel-shaped or spherical actuator with a slide which rotates within a limited range of an arc. An object of the present invention is to reduce the thickness of a display item operating device by using switches, without impairing operability.

That is, the display item operating device of the present invention has an arc-shaped operating body, guide means for rotatably supporting the operating body along an arc, and a position originally opposed to the rotation of the operating body. A slide switch comprising: an elastic body that applies a force to return to the operation body; and a pair of switches that are arranged at fixed intervals along the direction of the rotational movement of the operation body and operate in cooperation with the operation body. It is configured using. According to this, when the operation body of the slide switch is rotated by a certain angle along an arc with a thumb or the like, the switch in that direction is operated.
Therefore, by associating a pair of switches with the display feed direction of the display item and controlling the display feed of the display item by detecting the operation signal of the switch, scrolling or the like can be performed in accordance with the rotation operation of the operation tool. Can be operated in the moving direction of the display, and the thickness can be reduced without impairing the operability.

In this case, the operating body has a projection protruding from the arc-shaped operating portion in the direction of the center of the arc, and has a concave portion having a shape corresponding to the projecting portion of the operating body on the substrate. A pair of switches which are provided on the substrate and which are provided on the substrate so as to support the operation body via the protrusions so as to be rotatable along an arc, and are disposed on the substrate so as to face both ends of the operation body in the rotation direction. It is preferable to include the following. As the elastic body, a material having elasticity such as rubber, a plate spring, and a coil spring can be used.

A portable electronic device according to a first object includes a display device, and an arithmetic processing device for storing display items to be displayed on the display device and controlling the display items to be displayed on the display device. The portable electronic device is provided with the above-described display item operation device, and the operation processing device captures operation signals of the pair of switches to detect a rotation direction of the operation body and the number of rotation operations within a predetermined time. This can be achieved by providing a means for controlling the moving direction of the display of the display item according to the detected rotation direction and for controlling the moving speed and the moving amount of the display of the display item according to the detected number of rotation operations.

A first object of the present invention is to provide a display item operating device which includes a pair of pressing members which are inserted between the elastic body and the substrate at a predetermined interval in a longitudinal direction of an arc of the operating body. And a pair of second switches, which are disposed on the substrate and are opposed to each other in the rotation direction of the operating body and perform a pressing operation, and a second switch is provided in accordance with the rotation of the operating body.
This can also be achieved by forming the first switch to operate before the first switch. In other words, when the operating body is rotated in one direction, the first switch in that direction is operated first, and when the operating body is further rotated, the second switch is operated. Therefore, the display is fed at a low speed in response to the first switch operation. And the display feed is performed at a high speed in response to the second switch operation, whereby the feed direction and the feed speed can be controlled.

In this case, if the operating body is depressed without rotating, both of the pair of first switches operate simultaneously. Therefore, such an operation is set as a command for selecting and determining a display item. , The second problem can be achieved.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a structural diagram of one embodiment of a slide switch which is a main part of a display item operating device of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a slide switch 1 includes a slide cursor key button 2 which is an arc-shaped operation body, a guide means 3 for supporting the slide cursor key button 2 rotatably along an arc, and a slide cursor key button. An elastic body 5 for giving a force to return to the original position against the rotational movement of the slide cursor 2 (arrow 4); and a slide cursor arranged at a certain interval along the direction of the rotational movement of the slide cursor key button 2. It is provided with a pair of switches 6 (6a, 6b) that operate in cooperation with the key buttons 2 and is mounted on a substrate 7.

The slide cursor key button 2 is made of plastic or the like, and has an operation section 8 formed in an arc shape in which a part of the circumference of a cylinder is cut off, and a center of the arc from the center of the operation section 8. It is formed to have a wedge-shaped projection 9 projecting in the direction, and a pair of projections 10a and 10b formed at both ends of the operation unit 8 along the arc.

The elastic body 5 has a bottom 1 fixed on a substrate 7.
1 and a bearing 12 protruding above the bottom 11,
The support portion 12 is formed with a concave portion 13 into which the wedge-shaped protrusion 9 can be inserted, and the support portion 13 on the upper surface of the bottom portion 11 is formed.
A cutout portion 14 is formed at a portion where the bottoms of the two meet.
As a result, the elastic body 5 is moved to the slide cursor key button 2
Is rotatably supported along an arc.

The switches 6a and 6b are dome-type switches having the same configuration, and are formed as shown in the enlarged sectional view of FIG. That is, the film 1 having elasticity
A space 16 (hereinafter, referred to as a dome) 16 is formed by expanding a suitable portion of the dome 5, an electrode 17 is formed on the inner surface of the dome 16, the film 15 is attached to the substrate 7, Is provided with a comb-shaped electrode 18 in the region of FIG.

The slide switch 1 constructed as described above
Will be described with reference to FIG. Under normal conditions,
As shown in FIG. 1, the slide cursor key button 2 is held at a position where the urging force of the elastic body 5 is neutral (the state shown in FIG. 1). And slide cursor key button 2
Is rotated by a thumb or the like in any direction of the arrow 4 shown in the figure, and as shown in FIG.
Presses the switch 6a, for example. As a result, the dome 16 is crushed, and the electrode 17 short-circuits the adjacent electrodes of the comb-shaped electrode 18. By electrically detecting this short circuit, an ON operation signal of the switch 6a (6b) can be obtained. Next, the user sets the slide cursor key button 2
When the finger is released, the elastic cursor 5 returns the slide cursor key button 2 to the original neutral position, the protrusion 10a and the switch 6a are separated, and an OFF operation signal of the switch 6a can be obtained.

FIG. 4 shows a functional block diagram of a portable device in which the slide switch 1 of FIG. 1 is applied to a display item operating device. As shown, the operation signals 21a and 21b of the switches 6a and 6b of the slide switch 1 are input to the arithmetic processing unit 22, respectively. The arithmetic processing unit 22 implements various functions of a normal portable electronic device. For example, the arithmetic processing unit 22 drives a display device 26 via a driver 25 to output and display necessary information, and key buttons (not shown). The processing is executed based on an instruction input from the input means.

Here, a portion related to the movement of the display of the display item according to the feature of the present invention will be described in detail. The arithmetic processing unit 22 stores display items such as menus to be displayed on the display device 26, controls display contents of the display device 26 via the driver 25, and scrolls display items and moves a cursor. And a control function for moving the display of display items. In this example, the operation signals 21a and 21b of the pair of switches 6a and 6b are fetched, the display feed direction associated in advance is detected based on which switch is operated, and the user operates the slide cursor key button 2 You can know the direction you did.

Further, as shown in a time chart 27 of FIG. 4, patterns A and A of operation signals of the switches 6a and 6b are used.
The moving speed and moving amount of the display item are controlled in accordance with B and C. Here, the operation signal pattern A is an example in which the slide cursor key button 2 is intermittently operated three times, and the pattern B is an example in which the slide cursor key button 2 is operated six times at shorter intervals. Pulse signal. The pattern C is an example in which the pattern C is continuously pressed for a predetermined time. When such an operation signal is input, in the case of the patterns A and B, the arithmetic processing unit 22 detects the number and interval of the input pulses, and displays the display according to the predetermined number and interval of the pulses. The content signal 23 and the display content control signal 24 are output to the driver 25 to control the display content displayed on the display device 26 and the moving speed or moving amount of the cursor. In other words, according to the patterns A, B, and C, the speed or the amount of movement of the display of the display contents such as the display menu, or the movement speed and the amount of movement of the cursor are represented by A <B <C.
Is controlled according to the magnitude relation of. Thereby, the operation of the slide cursor key button 1 and the operation of the contents displayed on the display device 26 and the operation of the cursor can be linked, and operability excellent in a link feeling according to the user's intention can be realized.

In the embodiment shown in FIG.
It is preferable to use rubber or the like because it is easy to manufacture, but a similar outer shape may be formed using a leaf spring. As shown in FIG. 5, a coil spring 28 and a holding member 29 can be provided on both sides of the projection 9 of the slide cursor key button 2.

FIG. 6 shows a slide switch 1 according to another embodiment of the display item operating device of the present invention. In this example, 1
This allows for a function of adjusting the amount of movement of the display for each operation and selecting and determining the display item. 6, components having the same functions and configurations as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1, and description thereof is omitted. The feature of this embodiment is that the elastic member 5 is provided so as to float from the upper surface of the substrate 7, and a pair of protrusions 31 are provided on the lower surface of the elastic member 5 at a certain interval in the movement direction of the slide cursor key button 2.
a, 31b, and dome-shaped switches 32a, 3b
2b. This switch is formed similarly to FIG.

The slide cursor key button 2 is
It is held on a slide rail composed of an upper rail 33 and a lower rail 34. The end of the bottom 11 of the elastic body 5 is held by the lower rail 34. The surface of the upper rail 33 and the lower rail 34 where the operation portion 8 of the slide cursor key button 2 contacts is an arc-shaped surface having the same radius as the arc of the operation portion 8. This makes the rotation operation of the slide cursor key button 1 smooth. The upper rail 33 is formed integrally with the case of the portable electronic device, and the outer peripheral surface of the operation unit 8 is provided so as to be exposed to the outside of the case. Has become.

The switches 6a and 6b and the switches 32a and 3
2b, the positional relationship between the projections 10a and 10b and the projections 31a and 31b is determined so as to enable the operations shown in FIGS. 7A to 7C. That is, as shown in FIG. 7A, when the slide cursor key button 2 is moved by A 'in the direction of the arrow 33 shown in the figure, the switch 32a is operated, and when the slide cursor key button 2 is further moved by A "in the same direction, as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG.7, the switch 6a is formed to operate, and as shown in FIG.
When the switch is pushed in the direction of the arrow 34 without rotating, the pair of switches 32a and 32b operate together, but the switches 6a and 6b are not operated.

The slide switch 1 constructed as described above
Will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG.
Shows a block diagram of a portable device incorporating the slide switch 1 of FIG. 6, and the same components as those of FIG. A pair of switches 31a, 31
b of the operation signals 21c and 21d
2, and the arithmetic processing unit 22 controls the display feed of the display items in accordance with the flowchart shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 shows an example of the display feed control in the case of the menu selection mode 40. In step 41, the arithmetic and control unit 22 selects one of the switches 6a, 6b,
It is determined whether or not a pulse of an ON operation signal (hereinafter, referred to as an ON pulse) is input from 32a, 32b. If an ON pulse has been input, it is determined in step 42 whether or not both ON pulses of the switches 32a and 32b have been input. This determination corresponds to determining whether or not the state is as shown in FIG. If this decision is negative,
That is, when only one of the ON pulses of the switches 32a and 32b is input, the process proceeds to step 43, and it is determined whether or not any of the ON pulses of the switches 6a and 6b is input. A case where neither of the ON pulses of the switches 6a and 6b is input is a case corresponding to FIG. In this case, the process proceeds to step 44, where the operation direction of the slide cursor key button 2 is detected based on which ON pulse of the switch 32a or the switch 32b is input, and the cursor or menu display screen is moved in that direction. The moving amount or moving speed at this time follows a small value set in advance. On the other hand, step 43
7B, the ON pulse of any of the switches 6a and 6b is input. In this case, the process proceeds to step 45, where the operation direction of the slide cursor key button 2 is detected as in step 44, and the cursor or menu display screen is moved in that direction. The moving amount or moving speed at this time follows a large value set in advance.

In this manner, the processing for changing the moving speed of the display screen according to the operation of the slide cursor key button 2 is performed. Accordingly, the moving speed of the display content of the display device 26 is determined by the difference in the amount of movement of the slide cursor key button 2, that is, the difference between when the amount of movement of the slide cursor key button 2 is A 'and when the amount of movement is A ". In FIG. 7, the relationship between the movement amount A ′ and the movement amount A ″ is A ′ <A ″, and these values are the arcs of the operation unit 8 of the slide cursor key button 2. It can be changed by adjusting the length of.

On the other hand, the switch 3
FIG. 7C shows a case where both of the ON pulses 2a and 32b are input, and FIG.
The menu item is determined and executed. That is, the arithmetic processing unit 22 determines that the user has completed the menu item selection / decision work, and processes the selected menu item. Thus, the menu item selected using the slide cursor key button 2 can be determined. Thereby, the menu item can be selected without speaking the finger from the slide cursor key button 2.

FIG. 10 shows an external configuration diagram of an embodiment in which the above-described slide switch 1 is applied to a portable telephone.
According to this, the display items such as the menu and the telephone number displayed on the display device 26 are displayed and moved by operating the slide switch 1, so that the necessary menu and the telephone number can be easily and easily searched. It can be carried out. Further, if the slide switch 1 shown in FIG. 6 is used, a necessary menu or a telephone number can be searched and selected, and at the same time, it can be determined, so that the usability can be further improved.

Here, the switches 6a, 6b, 32a, 32b described in the above embodiments are of the dome type, but these switches detect the moving direction of the slide cursor key button 2. Because the main purpose is
Other types of small or thin switches, such as a non-contact proximity switch, can be used as long as the object can be achieved.

The speed of the display content is changed by
It is needless to say that the difference in the moving time per operation or the amount of moving the display content can be set as appropriate in order to improve the usability of the user. For example, when the user sets the slide cursor key button 2
The display speed may be increased or decreased by pressing for a certain period of time, which is suitable for changing the moving speed which is the gist of the present invention. Further, the method of changing the moving amount in which the display content is changed once by pressing the slide cursor key button 2 for a certain period of time also simulates the change of the moving speed which is the gist of the present invention.

The display contents or items to be moved are not limited to menu items or cursors, but include display screen units.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to control the direction, speed, amount of movement, and the like of moving a display item, and to realize a thinner device without impairing operability. .

Further, it is possible to select a display item such as a menu item and execute the content of the selected display item without releasing the finger from the operation device, thereby further improving usability.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural diagram of a slide switch according to a first embodiment of a display item operating device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a dome switch.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the slide switch according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a portable device using the slide switch according to the first embodiment as a display item operating device.

FIG. 5 is a structural diagram of a slide switch according to a second embodiment of the display item operating device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a structural view of a slide switch according to a third embodiment of the display item operating device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an operation of a slide switch according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a portable electronic device using a slide switch according to a third embodiment as a display item operating device.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of display movement control of a portable device using the slide switch according to the third embodiment as a display item operating device.

FIG. 10 is an external configuration diagram of a mobile phone according to an embodiment of the mobile phone of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Slide switch 2 Slide cursor key button 3 Guide means 5 Elastic body 6a, 6b Switch 7 Substrate 8 Operation part 9 Projection part 10a, 10b Projection 11 Bottom part, 12 Support part 13 Depression 14 Notch part 22 Processing arithmetic unit 25 Driver 26 Display Device 31a, 31b Projection 32a, 32b Switch 33 Upper rail 34 Lower rail

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Tomihara 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside the Visual Information Media Division, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor Kunito Kawamura 1-280-1, Higashi Koikebo, Kokubunji-shi, Tokyo Address Hitachi Design Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Inoue 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa-ken Hitachi Image Information Systems, Ltd.

Claims (9)

[Claims] An arcuate operating body, guide means for rotatably supporting the operating body along an arc, and an elastic body for giving a force to return to the original position against the rotation of the operating body. A display item operating device, comprising: a pair of switches arranged at regular intervals along the direction of the rotational movement of the operating body and operating in cooperation with the operating body. 2. An operation body having an arc-shaped operation portion and a projection projecting from the operation portion toward the center of the arc, and a concave portion disposed on a substrate and having a shape corresponding to the projection of the operation body. An elastic body that supports the operating body via the protrusion so as to be rotatable along an arc, and a pair of pressing members disposed on the substrate so as to face both ends of the operating body in the rotation direction. A display item operation device comprising a switch. 3. The display item operating device according to claim 2, wherein the elastic body is rubber. 4. A portable electronic device comprising: a display device; and a processing device that stores display items to be displayed on the display device and controls the display items to be displayed on the display device. A display item operation device according to any one of the above is provided, and the operation processing device receives operation signals of the pair of switches to detect a rotation direction of the operation body and a number of rotation operations within a predetermined time. Means for controlling the moving direction of the display of the display item according to the detected rotation direction, and controlling at least one of the moving speed and the moving amount of the display of the display item according to the detected number of rotation operations. Characteristic portable electric appliances. 5. An operation body having an arc-shaped operation portion and a projection projecting from the operation portion toward the center of the arc, and a concave portion arranged on a substrate and having a shape corresponding to the projection of the operation body. An elastic body that supports the operating body via the protrusion so as to be rotatable along an arc, and is inserted between the elastic body and the substrate at a constant interval in the movement direction of the operating body. A pair of first switches that are arranged to perform a pressing operation, and a pair of second switches that perform a pressing operation arranged on the substrate so as to be opposed to both ends of the operating body in the rotation direction, A display item operating device formed such that a first switch is operated earlier than a second switch according to rotation. 6. A portable electronic device comprising: a display device; and a processing unit that stores display items to be displayed on the display device and controls the display items to be displayed on the display device. A display item operation device is provided, and operation signals of the pair of first and second switches are taken into the arithmetic processing device, and when only the first switch is on, the operation signal is displayed in accordance with a rotation direction corresponding to the first switch. In addition to controlling the moving direction of the display of the item, the moving speed of the display of the displayed item is controlled according to a predetermined first speed, and the first and second switches located on the same rotation direction side are both turned on. At this time, the moving direction of the display of the display item is controlled in accordance with the rotation direction corresponding to the first and second switches, and the moving speed of the display of the display item is controlled in accordance with the second set speed which is higher than the first speed. A portable electronic device provided with control means. 7. The portable electronic device according to claim 6, wherein the display item is a menu item, and the arithmetic and control unit is configured to: when both of the pair of first switches are on.
A portable electronic device which processes as a command to select a menu item displayed at a predetermined place on the display device. 8. The portable electronic device according to claim 4, wherein the display item operation device exposes an outer surface of the arc of the operation portion to an outside through an opening formed in a case of the portable electric device. A portable electronic device characterized by being provided with: 9. The portable electronic device according to claim 8, wherein the display item operation device is provided near the display device.